Photo safari in Bombay

Mumbai might not be the prettiest, cleanest, most lovely or the richest city seen with a conventional set of eyes. But after living here for almost a year - I know where to look to see the beauty of this vibrant city. I have learned how to look into the trains and see the ocean of colours that can't do anything but make you smile, stand in the doorway of the same train and watch how the most amazing picturesque scenes float by - Beauty is in the eye of the beholder - And where most people (even me in the beginnig) would just see all the garbage, pollution, dirt and poverty, i now look past all that and see a lovely beautiful city filled with warm, open and always friendly Mumbaikars (the people of Mumbai).

I wanted to capture my view. And share my Mumbai with everyone, so i took my Nikon with me and started shooting...


Marking of the 2nd class ladies compartment on the Western Railway in Mumbai.


Passengers in the ladies compartment waiting to get off the train at Andheri.


Elphinstone Road, a South bombay stop on the Western railway.


Slum-area at Mahim Junction seen from the train tracks.


Old women sitting in the 2nd class ladies compartment in an afternoon Churchgate-Borivali train


Mango stand on MG road in Goregaon


Two ladies crossing the street in the MG road - SV road crossing in Goregaon.


Street food. Pani Puri stand outside inorbit mall.


Rickshaw-meter.


Me having a (much needed) cold coffee in Colaba after a long day!

Home (in Mumbai) again

This will not be a long blog post, Im very tired after 36 hours in a train with a bad cold and topped with a rotary meeting 3 hours after my arrival yesterday. Just wanted to let you all know that I am back after 18 fantastic, wild, wonderful, funny, exhausting, hilarious, crazy and beautiful days in Northindia. We were first in Rajasthan (Udaipur, Jodhpur, Jaisalmer and Jaipur) then we went to Delhi and we saw the Taj Mahal in Agra, we went further on to see the Ganges river at Haridhwar and last, but certainly not least we went to Amritsar before returning to Mumbai.

Happy New year!

Hey everybody, Happy New Year!

I had a great time along with most of the other exchange students. Our New years bash was thrown by the Sweet Keerthana (from the rotex) who was nice enough to have us all over! We had a blast and danced all night... There was no fireworks - not at all like in Denmark. I guess this year is just all about trying new things and having different experiences that I could not have dreamed of when at home!

But the celebration of new years also means that I have only 5 months left of my beloved exchange :( Cant even dream of packing my bags anytime soon... I feel really great in my current host family and I really wish I could just stay here for the rest of the time (they are my 3rd), but I dont know whether or not that is possible.

I feel like I have been living in Mumbai for my whole life - I've become so accustomed to the food, I listen to the Bollywood music that in the beginning just seemed annoying to my danish ears, but that i now enjoy very much (Sheila Ki Jawani, Anjaana Anjaani, Tujhe Bhula Diya, Badnaam Munny and all those) I actually enjoy the crowded trains (hate to admit that I very much enjoy getting to push those -very- pushy ladies! If they push I push!), I cant Imagine not getting up in the morning and going to Santa Cruz for my yogalessons and stopping for coconutwater or a guava on the way back to the stations afterwards. I love having a day at home just wearing my extremely comfortable Salvar Kameez all day and having a Mango lassi in the afternoon (everything is better with Mango!!!!!!!!!!!!). Taking a rickshaw to go to the station even though its just 2-300 meters away just because its only Rs.11 (ca. 1,4 kroner). I cannot Image how it is going to be to live in a city that will not be completely on hold for a day or two just because of one of the million annual festivals :)The people, the food, the surroundings, the home, the families, the clothes, the way of life - I enjoy every minute of it!

That was my little ode to my life as an exchange student in Mumbai... Ill go now, dinner time! ... more food! yum!

Status

162 days spent in India so far.

201 days to go.

5 trips out of Mumbai(Safala, Lonavala, RYLA, South tour and Bordi + Kutch and Pune coming up).

3 hostfamilies.

52 hindi letters - 10 vowels, 2 modifiers (?) and 40 consonants i had to learn by heart.

Uncountable numbers of mango juice.

Insane amounts of hours spent in Mumbai's local trains...

1 big fat indian wedding - soon to be two :D

5 major religious festivals celebrated (Ganpati, Janmashtami, Nav raatri, Diwali and Rakhsha bandhan)

14 letters and packages from home (friends and family together)

5 letters sent back home + 6 packages

waaaayyy too many rupees spent

7 times did I bake danish pastries - alt fra Kringle og brunsviger til hinbaersnitter og kanelsnegle altid vellykket og vellidt - Selvfoelgelig!

4 yogaclasses per week! lately they have been done along with Janina (USA) <3

15 other exchangestudent-friends + many many many indians!

4 danish dinners cooked (f.eks. lammefrikadeller med remoulade og kartoffelsalat eller vegetarlasagne med raakost, groen salat, og floede kartofler)

very few times have I been up before 7.30 in the past 5 1/2 months :P

1 run after I stepped unto the scale the first month and realised I had put on two kg's in 30 days.

3 kg's gained since my arrival (a number I'm rather proud of! for other inbounds it has been as high as 10 !!! )

16 degrees is the coldest i have experienced in the past 5 1/2 months

100000000 ... new dishes tasted (or at least that is how it feels)

1 birthday with 3 birthday cakes and tiramisu-cake in my face and my hair (det lignede til forveksling at nogen havde knaekket sig direkte i frisuren :S )!

3 saris!

7 indian outfits, punjabi suits, salwar kameez or whatever you choose to call it.

3746 photos

and

infinite numbers of priceless experiences that i wouldnt have missed for the world! I love India, I love Mumbai and I love life as an exchangestudent!

October summed up.

This has indeed been a crazy month, I’ve been so overly busy and I can honestly tell you that blogging hasnt been a top priority on my list. Ill try to make up for it now though.

There was the country celebration with the rotex and amazing danish pastries! I went to Safala with Shaila-auntie (my hostmom) and Janina, and enjoyed the beautiful sunset over the arabian sea.

The ‘october heat’ has indeed been equally draining and energizing. I love it in spite of the dull feeling you sometimes get after too long a day in the sun. Its one of the main reasons of why I came to India - the sun! As long as I remeber to drink a lot of water during the day I can just enjoy the light and totally recharge on energy. All in all I appreciate this bright season that is coming and replacing the monsoon.

Last weekend Janina and I went for a weekend in Lonavala with Janavi from rotex. She was turning 18, and we went there by bus along with all of her friends. We had a lot of fun, and this time it wasnt the sunset but the sunrise that I was fascinated by ;) We left from Charni Rd station on saturday morning and were back late in the afternoon on sunday.

I recieved a parcel from my Grandma with a couple bags of (very needed) liqourice and a donald duck magazine :) And Anna (my best friend from home) sent me a package that I am not allowed to open untill the 31st - my birthday - she wrote it like 10000 times on the outside of the parcel! tusind tak søde unge.

I already slowly started celebrating my birthday, Janina had taken me for the breakfastbuffet in the Taj Mahal Hotel (I have to do the same at her birthday though)! We were all dressed up, and decided to take a cab there, even though its like 100 metres from her house. It was soooo classy! I loved it, doubt I have ever eaten that much for breakfast. We had been fasting since noon on the previous day becouse we wanted to be able to eat like crazy. We ate non-stop for 2 hours and 15 minutes when we just couldnt have any more without cracking, and even around dinnertime I was still uncomfortably full! But it was good - definately good.

Later that same day, we went to meet with Nishita, rotex member who had gone on exchange to Germany, and her friends. We met in one of the many hookah-bars ( på dansk: vandpibe-caféer), smoking and talking all night. Then we walked across the street to see the scarred building across from Nariman Point, where the terrorists had hit 2 years ago, it was a bit odd to see how they, in preparation to Obamas upcoming visit, had repainted the entire front and made small red circles around the bulletholes in the brickwall and doors...

On the 30th I will be moving my hostfamilies. I will leave the Vyas-family to go live with Bal and Nilima Inamdar. They too live in Goregaon west, quite nearby to my current family. On my 2nd day there, we will be hosting a birthday dinner for all the inbounds, it will be really fun! Im so excited.

My parents, brother and grandmother sent me money for my birthday. I have already spent the money from my brother on buying the most amazing orange sari with a gold and purple border, and I have already handed it in to get the blouse stitched:)

111 days, almost 4 months, 2 hostfamilies, 2 trips outside Mumbai, 10000000000 new friends, a new language, a new culture, a new country... one third of my exchange-year has gone by, and Im still enjoying every moment. It still feels like I just arrived, just when I have fallen into a slow rythm something happens and all things are shaken up again (in a good way). This is indeed Incredible India.

Since my small (blue) camera drowned during the junglewalk in the monsoon season, my photoghaphy is only possible with my big Nikon. Because of the overly crowded trains, I prefer not to bring that to townside, and therefore I do not have a lot of photos from the past month :( ill upload some as they magically appear on my memorycard...

take care
Maria

News

So a short update:
Yesterday I took the train to Bandra to meet up with some in-, out- and rebounds. It was really nice to finally meet someone besides Christian and Neha... We went walking on Carter road and shot a bunch of pics with the indian and the danish flag (I dont have them, but once theyre on facebook they will somehow find their way to the blog :)) Then we went to mcDonalds for lunch (just needed somethin non-veg and non-indian)...

Then when I got home I had to go to the rotary meeting. My 3rd host mom came and told me that she'll pick me up monday around noon, and then Ill live with them for 8-10 days because thay cannot host me at the end of the year. A rotarian came over and invited me to come and see the YMCA-boyshome and vocational training - So ill probably go there in the upcoming week, I think it will be really interesting to see the work that is done for the street children...

Today is the inbound orientation, it will be great to meet all the inbounds (all14) in Mumbai !

-Maria

one 10th of my stay is now completed!

Now Im back again, we passed the first month, my host sis (Janhavi) has left India and gone to Denmark and I have gotten through my one-month-crisis (although; to call is a crisis might be to overstate it just a tiny bit)... I knew when coming here, that there would be more rules than I was used to in Denmark. But when I was not allowed to travel alone for 7 stations by train to meet with some other inbounds, outbounds and rebounds. I felt as though I was being treated like a kid. Luckily we sorted things out. My host mom took me to the station during peak hours to show me what it could be like. Seeing that, I were able to see that there might be some sense to their restrictions, and we made a deal that I could go if it was out of peak hours.


2nd class in the Ladies compartment during peak hours (7pm)

And yesterday I actually went, by train, alone, all the way to churchgate (a one hour journey) and then to my college to pick up another sigature needed for the FRRO registration (have lost all respect for anything that has anything to do with the bureaucracy that going on there)... And I met up with Stuti, one of Janhavis friends from the college. We went for ice cream, and she followed me to the station where i took the train to Goregaon and a rickshaw home.