today the nice, friendly, smiling night guard (though sometimes he's there during the day), who always waves in a nice, friendly, smiling manner, halted me today when I was coming home from the mall.
He smiled in his nice, friendly manner and asked me for a hundred rupees while I was waiting for the lift to arrive.

I asked why, so he proceeded, smiling, to fetch a pen and wrote "100" on the palm of his hand.
I repeated my question, telling him I understood the "100"part of his question/request very well, but that I wanted to know why.
He then fetched, smiling still, the other night guard. This night guard (though of a less smiley nature) then confirmed the earlier mentioned "100 rupees" whilest indicating the first night guard's palm.
I then, again, repeated that I understood the 100 rupees part, but that I wanted to know why they were talking about this. And, if they wanted / needed the 100 rupees, why they did so.

They both smiled, in a friendly, unassuming manner, and the nice night guard indicated, with the very hand that had the number "100" written on it, that I could go.

Oh, the joys of being caucasian in the financial capital of one of the up-and-coming countries of the world.

Impression From The Rain

Wet tiles in front of the office

Reflection of the Three Towers

More Sky

Laptop

mijn laptop is tijdelijk beschadigd door een heftige regenbui.
mijn internetgebruik zal dus tijdelijk beperkt zijn tot kantooruren.

Chums and Stuff

Lately I've been hanging out with Rashmi (The Ice Cream Girl) and her buddies.

Rashmi
Abhijit

Buddies
(these are actually not Rashmis friends. They are random guys that I saw on the street and that I took a picture of because they walked in this typically Indian fashion)

The whole "lets go out for a beer" thing doesn't really exist here. On the other hand, the "let's take a rik, a train, another rik, another train, another rik to get to your place" thing is Very popular. Especially at noon. Especially when it's sizzling hot. Especially when you're so close to other commuters you can feel the shape of their cell phones.

They haggle here. Which is why Abhijit is a very handy fellow to have around. Because he's actually quite good at it. I still stare ahead of me in shame whenever the haggling starts. Silly Western soul....

I've been trying to spread "our music" a bit. People seem quite partial to Stromae - Alors on Dance. My other attempts have been less successful.

The Rain

It rains relatively often now. It almost feels like home.

When it rains, however, it's of the slightly more "downpoury" variety, with slightly more thunderous thunder and lighteningy lightening than I'm used to.

The fact that my unnamed road is barely finished also adds to the fun : dodging riks with puddles on all sides is about as fun as it sounds. (which is actually relatively fun) (or at least would be if you weren't wearing leather shoes and nice pants for work)

Those puddles, by the way, are deeper than they seem. Trust me on this.

Another nice example of the rains is the little open-air-incineration-facility we have behind the garden behind our building. (aka : a dumping ground in which they regularly burn the waste).

I took a picture of it a couple weeks ago. and did the same yesterday. the difference is.. noticeable.

The Sky

The heavens seem to be slightly more outspoken here than they are at home.
Slightly more vibrant, anyway.

I've picked up the habit of taking a picture of the sky from (an attempt at) the exact same spot as often as possible. This has produced some , I think, nice results.

Verkiezingen

Ik ben amper een maand en half weg
en het land ligt al ondersteboven.
Wat krijgen we nu, een Old-School-Socialistische Pro-Vlaamse regering?
Dat belooft.

Ik hoop dat de vlaggenzwaaiers nog een maandje of twee wachten voor ingrijpende veranderingen aan te brengen aan het land, kwestie dat ik geen problemen wil met een "Belgisch" paspoort ipv een Vlaemsch of Brusselsch.

Varia

Today I have officially stopped counting cats, cows and goats. there are too many of them.

3 chickens (amongst which one very pretty rooster who happened to crow exactly when we passed).

All this, of course, should be read with the knowledge that I haven't actually left Mumbai yet, nor ventured in the really backwards areas...

Apart from that,
nothing really new...

I hung out with my colleague & a friend of hers this weekend.
Fun.
More travelling by train, rik and taxi.
Getting used to it.

Had some stomach problems.
Nothing I couldn't handle.
Increased my daily amount of Muesli though. Just to be on the safe side...

In Memoriam

And seeing that some members of my small audience seem to regard my stories with a ... critical eye. I hereby feel obligated to add a picture of the former mother-of-two.

We miss you girl...

The Weekend

Friday, I didn't do anything really. Stayed home with the intention of catching up with some sleep. Didn't really work out as planned. Stayed up watching silly movies till 5 am.

Saturday, as usual, I was abruptly shaken from my sleep by the Cleaning Lady.
The very same CL that got rid of the Pigeons Nest.
And potentially my awesome pink lighter as well.
At least, it is gone and she IS the usual suspect. After all, isn't it usually the Butler that is guilty of all crimes? And, lacking a butler, isn't the CL the next in line?

Personally, I think it was the CL, in the Library, with the candle stick.
Though how the candle stick helped in the theft of the Lighter, I can not fathom.


Back to Saturday.
After being rudely awakened by the Dustman (to quote a nice song)
I saw that Rashmi had attempted to contact me several times.
I then proceeded to call her back in order to arrange a meeting.

I took a rik to the Malad Station, where I purchased a 2nd class ticket and embarked on the perilous quest that is taking-a-second-class-train-by-yourself. It turned out to be quite feasible.

I went to my first Indian McDonald, where I feasted on a McMaharadja. A Massive Burger, worthy of the name. I felt quite decadent indeed.

The Mc Maharadja

Afterwards We proceeded to a Mall. Where we (Rashmi and her Roommate Shwetta) hung out a bit. Or, as they would put here "roamed around".

I was then picked up by a Brazilian Chauffeur and driven to the Four Seasons Hotel, which sports a lovely roof terrace. Thirty floors high & a lovely loungey atmosphere.

Afterwards I went to the Blue Frog for the birthday party of Sjoerd, one of the Dutch guys I met at the Dutch/Flemish meeting.

It was Delectable, Delicious, Delightful Decadence all over.

I met an Indian Girl who proved that Queen & Tarantino aren't entirely unknown on this continent after all... I also met a fellow from Brughes whose accent and dancing style made me feel arrogantly superior.

Sunday I was sick all day. Probably due to the first-rate hamburgers I had eaten in the Four Seasons. A month of almost-veggyness has turned my body against the goodness of Meat.
My very being is being corrupted by this continent. The Horror.

They have started.

As I speak,
the waters of the heavens are coming down.

Outside, it is cool and pleasant, be it a tad wet.

The Cleaning Lady

There was a pigeons nest on my balcony.
One bird, two eggs.

The little bird tolerated me. I read Murakami to her.


Until today.


The nest is still there. But the bird's gone. And so are the eggs.

A damn shame.

I blame the cleaning lady. Decent woman, no doubt about it. But no heart.