The weekend
This weekend (World Cup Final Weekend) I am in Mumbai as my Mom is visiting her parents (...making them my grandparents), so I decided to visit her. My flight there was pretty awesome, SpiceJet was on time this time! Woohoo. The best part was meeting a Spanish guy who felt the same pain I did after his team got smacked in the World Cup... Just kidding, the best part was speaking to him in French. We spoke in English at first, but I soon discovered that he is from Pays-Basques, which is close to the border of France and Spain. So I asked him 'Parlez-vous français?' and things would never be the same. I never thought I would speak French in India! (Actually, there is a place called Pondicherry which was a French Territory at one point and was used to trade with India. The Dutch, English and French fought many wars over this place). Anyway, my seat-buddy was a businessman who had a client near Hubli, and he was flying to Mumbai to return to Spain. We spoke about the World Cup, Jose Calderon, our countries respective economies, and how much pork Spanish people eat.
That evening, we went for dinner with my aunt's family at a mall called 'The Phoenix.' My cousins told me this is the place where people come to hang out after they finish exams... and it's not hard to see why. This mall is F-A-N-C-Y! It is Yorkdale on steroids. My uncle then explained to me that this is an escape from the realities of India as outside, there is poverty. That is the hardest thing to digest, the disparity in income levels of the people.
Ate at a restaurant across from a TGIF, I had a Philly Cheese Steak...
F-A-N-C-Y
Breakfast - Mini-Mangoes and Mini-Bananas... the smaller the sweeter.
The following day it was raining as it does every day from June to September (Monsoon season), but that wouldn't stop us. My mom and I went shopping, and I bought some Kurtas. These are traditional outfits for men. Here are some pictures... I did not buy all of them, even though I wish I could.
One
Two (should be worn with pants)
*GAME OF THRONES SPOILER ALERT - SKIP TO BELOW PICTURE*
For some reason, they make me feel like I am the late Prince Oberyn...(you know, before he died a peaceful death)
Traffic on the way...
The rest of the day, I spent on skype working on a project for school... so I will spare you the exciting details. The next day, I headed back to Hubli.
Interesting stuff about Mumbai...
It was actually given to the British as dowry when the Portuguese Princess Catherine de Braganza married King Charles I. Not a bad wedding gift if you ask me.
Mumbai is made up of seven islands, and is the largest city in India with a population of 18 million #wikipedia (although, apparently Delhi has recently surpassed that number).
Mumbai is the commercial capital of India... makes sense.
Pickpocketing is a big deal here, my parents have told me many stories. For example, my Grandpa once withdrew some money from an ATM and put it in a pocket of his bag... when he got home, the entire pocket was gone.
Mumbai is also known as Bombay - Originally, it was called Bombaim by the Portuguese, Bom meaning "good" and baim meaning "bay"... so the name means Good Bay.