Hannah BW

Mumbai: Day 10

Okay, so it's been a while since my last update, but I've been trying to find a cheaper place to use the netz. Done and done! Observation: India is very protective of its technology. If you aren't Indian, you have to produce photocopies of your passport to get a cell phone or to use this internet cafe that I'm in right now. I didn't have a photocopy on me (seriously, why would I?) but I finagled my way in despite this.

Since my last update, I have visited the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, fmrly known as the Prince of Wales Museum; read all of Atonement and Unaccustomed Earth; visited the jewelry bazaar and the fabric market; eaten 6 puris in one sitting;

[okay, the dude next to me is talking baby talk to his girlfriend over webcam and has a freakishly high-pitched voice. he just kissed the computer screen.]

had two banana milkshakes; gone to Chowpatty Beach and walked on Marine Drive; and so much more! Actually, not really that much more.

Here are some awesome name changes that I really like.

Victoria Terminus->Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus
Regal Circle->SP Mukherjee Chowk
Flora Fountain->Hutatma Chowk
Churchgate St->Veer Nariman Road
Marine Drive->Netaji Subhash Marg

Essentially, everything here has two names, and it's really difficult to tell which one to use, which makes taxi-riding confusing. Also confusing is the meterage on cabs; because the meters are out of date, the drivers use a conversion chart, except when they are trying to rip you off, which is +/- 50% of the time.

[the man on the other side of me is looking at his telugumatrimony.com profile.]

About the kids? I already have favorites, which I feel a little guilty about. In the morning session I like Akshata and Nakshatra, the tiniest, baddest girls in the class. Today Akshata refused to sing "head shoulders knees and toes" so Pratidnya-didi pulled her off the mat and made her sit in the corner and sort paper shreds by color. I felt bad for her. Every time Akshata is about to do something bad she looks at me and grins. Then she usually hits someone. Nakshatra is the class tomboy.

[webcam dude to girlfriend: "Man, you look so glorious, man."]

She seems to be trying not to be bad, but is inexorably drawn to badness.

In the afternoon session I like Mahesh and Samir. Mahesh is the class smarty-pants. He has a shaved head and knows how to spell everything, but he's a little show-offy. Samir studies in an Urdu-medium school and so he's always writing things backwards. He is the cutest. Today I dictated all the days of the week and months of the year to him and made him promise to study at home. I think he's mad at me. Yesterday one of the girl students took her bindi off and stuck it on my forehead when I was helping her with the math classwork. Quid pro quo.

It didn't rain yesterday or the day before.

Monsoon: 2 HBW: 1

posted by HBW @ 11:01 AM