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| A leisurely stroll about Bandra, Mumbai |
26 March 2012
Here I am, at 1:50 in the
morning, wide awake and in a mass strike of hunger consuming what I must
terribly admit is cold, unsalted pasta.
Needless to say, I have yet to adjust to the nine-hour time difference
(EST). In California, where I grew up,
it is 12 hours earlier: while it is early morning on Monday in India, it is
mid-afternoon on Venice Beach. Please
keep this in mind if you decide to call me and er-hum, it is three o’clock in
the morning. Not that it would really
matter now, as I am up, full of vigor (or vinegar?!), and ready to start the
day. I even did a little dance moving my
green tea with milk and sugar for breakfast from the heated kitchen to the
fanned and cooled back-room office…
Later: Today I was up and working
from midnight to 9 pm. So, so
tired. I am starting to see flurries of
color around me, because my tired self is in sensory overload. Must-get-sleep! How long will it take for my body to re-adjust
its circadian rhythm to the new time and waking hours? My hope, surely, is soon.
28 March 2012
It is Wednesday morning in India
at 5:26 am and I have already been up for an hour. What does that say about my sleeping
habits? I don’t know, really, but at
least the last two nights I have actually slept through ‘til (incredibly early)
morning, rather than waking up every two hours convinced that it is break-the-fast
time. Ah, morning. How coffee tastes so sweet!
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| The Bagel Store, Pali Hill |
Throughout Mumbai, most local stores
do not open until 10 am. The bagel shop,
which in America generally has store hours from 5:30 am to 4 pm, here runs
business from 9 am to 10:30 at night. (Yes
there are bagels!) Conversely,
restaurants for the most part begin serving dinner around 7 pm, and most
Indians consume the evening meal well after dark. (Not many early bird specials, here!) The morning hours are great for walking
around because the city is quieter. The
neighborhood literally wakes up around 9 or 10 in the morning. When we’ve walked our dogs at 7, there are
only a handful of people awake and on the streets, usually including dog
walkers, joggers, and the night-watch security guards surrounding most housing
complexes, some cars, and shopping sectors.
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| Morning and evening joggers run in less crowded areas throughout the city. |
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Noises in the morning are muted,
and the rise of cacophonous birds calling each other to wake begins around 5:30
am, reaching its staccato crescendo at 7:30 am.
Most people’s work hours here are from 10-7, or 10-9, which is frankly
more up my speed for getting work done. For
Indians working at call centers catering to US times, the work day ends at 3
am! (Just remember that next time you
get frustrated on an international helpdesk call—people here have to change
their entire living schedule to cater to American needs.) Nevertheless, driving to work in earlier
hours, say before 7:30 am, means that rush-hour traffic is missed and so there
is less road frenzy generally.
In larger crowded areas, imagine
an 8-lane road without designated painted lanes or traffic signals that are
religiously followed. Theoretically,
four lanes of traffic going east should seamlessly roam past the four lanes of
traffic moving west on the paved road’s other side. In reality, however, if more cars at the
moment are moving to the right, six of the lanes will literally become the
right-of-way, until, 30 seconds later, the left side has more oncoming traffic,
hence encouraging the car merging dance where three lanes of (unmarked) traffic
compete for status on who goes first and in what direction. In America, this would be equivalent to
several lanes of traffic on the freeway suddenly turning around and trying to
move in the opposite direction, despite cars in their lanes furiously moving
directly toward them. Uh-hmm. The name to this driving game is thus, swerve
swerve swerve and hold your nerve nerve nerve!
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| City buses and local transport are often creatively painted and individualized based on personal preferences, auspicious colors, and localized symbology. |
So far in Mumbai, I have walked about the
surrounding neighborhood three times during the day and twice throughout the
evening until 9 or 10 pm. I must say
that I prefer the morning time for walking and exploring, hands down. By evening the chaos of bright lights,
swishing and honking cars, tired drivers, rushed passengers, and eager-to-sell
vendors is less than favorable for a long, leisurely walk. The later it becomes in the afternoon to
early evening, the more the nightlife and general city loudness begins to come
to life. While I enjoy the hustle and
bustle of a flourishing city, 22 million people is, well, a lot of people. Having a bit of quietness here is quite the
luxury, one that, I am thankful, is provided to us in our neighborhood haven
the majority of the time. Other American
housing arrangements appear to be in the thick of things. We are, comparatively, a few blocks walking
from restaurants and crowded streets, making it easier to slowly ease into the
joyful mayhem of vendors, street hawkers, traffic, loiterers, street sleepers, blaring
radios and buzzing rickshaws. The birds’
chirping squeaks and squawks, happy little songs, are much to my preference for
a natural alarm. Let us give thanks… and chirps.
