The travel doctor I went to see before the trip had prescribed me ambient to help with adjusting with the time change quickly. I heard some bad side effects from people’s personal experiences with it so I decided to take a benadryl instead because I didn’t want to be sleep walking the streets of Mumbai in the middle of the night. Sleepiness kicked in about 30 min after taking the benadryl and I got a solid 5 hours of sleep and woke up when housekeeping knocked on my door at 9:30 because I had forgotten to put the do not disturb sign up.
I’ve been working out a lot lately and started using a fitness app in December called Centr which is associated with Chris Hemsworth somehow? Obviously by downloading the app you’re already well on your way to have a body like Thor. The workout room here is more than just ok and has a nice view of Powai Lake
I missed the breakfast buffet and had to order off the menu. I’m VERY inexperienced with Indian food and have no idea what Indians eat for breakfast. Naturally, I had butter chicken and naan because that’s the only thing I recognized on the menu. Hopefully by the end of this trip, my knowledge of Indian food will have diversified.
Jeff, the director of the project invited me to the club level at the hotel to do some prep for this week’s breakout sessions. The view was really nice here where you could see most of Powai Lake and the buildings in the area. There were some cows or water buffalo wandering the edges of the water and lots of birds flying around too. Interesting to see this much wildlife in the heart of a major city.
At 5:30pm, Ketan, one of the managers on our team came to pick us up to take us around town. A total of 8 of us came from the US office but most people had just woken up or wanted to keep it a low key day so it was just Jeff, Ketan, and myself who went out. Since it was a small group, we took a tuk-tuk to the train station. I was SO excited because I loved riding these in Thailand. This is like a taste of the “authentic” travel experience where you’re inches away from the car next to you, everyone’s honking just because, and there’s so much going on at the same time.
We arrived to the train station and had to catch a train further into the city. I think the cost for the three of us for a one way ticket was $.60. The train stopped for a very short period of time and people jumped on and off quickly even while the train was moving. There are no doors which is totally normal for here because why bother spending the time opening/closing doors? It was wild that people just hung out of the train while going at full speed, even crazier when another train passed going the opposite way just several feet away.
There was a little girl with messy hair and dirty clothes that came up to Jeff and put her hand out. He handed her 500 rupees which is like $6usd and she jumped off the train. Ketan said Jeff was lucky that we left that station otherwise he’d be swarmed with more kids asking for money. Jeff said he couldn’t help it because she reminded him of his own kids.
There also was a woman walking through the train car who clapped her hands loudly once then touched several people on the forehead, including us. People would hand her money after she touched them. We asked Ketan what was the significance of it but he wasn’t able to explain it, I wasn’t able to find anything on Google about it either maybe someone can enlighten me on this practice?
Ketan took us to a vegetarian restaurant called Ram Shraya famous for south Indian dishes. It was established in 1939, opens at 5am every morning, and has been open every day since they first started back in the day. I loved the authentic experience that I would never have been able to get on my own. Ketan just kept ordering things that I was unfamiliar with but were all good.
Here’s kind of my breakdown of each of the dishes
- Ghee Mysore Onion Dosa $1.26 crispy and oniony
- Goli Bajji $.70 kind of like a chewy mini donut without the cinnamon sugar
- Malagapudi $.12 Banana flavored buns that were hollow inside
- Pudi Idli $.61 steamed dough, didn’t taste like much
- Pineapple Sheera $.23 My surprise favorite out of the meal, almost like a sweet mushy consistenty served hot with chunks of pineapple inside
- Tomato Onion Uttappam $1.02 Almost like a korean pancake, crispy on the outside, slightly spicy
I enjoyed all of the different dishes but I definitely noticed that most things I’ve had were fried or baked breads. This type of food is really “yeet hay” 熱氣 and I have a bunch of mouth ulcers. Not really sure what kind of cooling food I can have here to reduce my internal temperature.
To explain Chinese “yeet hay” or hot air, food either has heating or cooling properties. “hot” foods are baked, fried, spicy, oily. “Cool” foods are the opposite like watermelon, cucumber, chrysanthemum tea. Speaking from personal experience when I eat too much fried or spicy food I get mouth ulcers or I get pimples on my face. I guess because my body is imbalanced?
After dinner we walked around the neighborhood where people were selling vegetables along the street and we found ourselves on Marine Drive which was like a boardwalk area along the ocean. A lot of people were hanging out here with their families enjoying the cool night air. There were very nice apartment buildings facing the ocean built when the British controlled India. Ketan said he looked up the price of one for fun and it was being sold for $2 million USD!
I definitely have to show my appreciation for Ketan to take time out of his weekend to show us around town, he’s a great tour guide.
While we walked along the boardwalk there was a group of people playing guitar and drums with a large crown surrounding them singing along. Ketan said it’s a well known song about coming home after being gone a long time.
We caught an uber to head back to the hotel which was an hour long ride. I noticed right away that the fuel gauge for the car was beyond empty and the light was flashing to refuel. I could feel my anxiety rising because at home, I’ll fill up if I’m even close to 40 miles remaining in the tank.
I was worried that the car would stop in the middle of traffic and the driver would have to ask us to push or something. Almost an hour later, the car was still running. The driver saw I was shooting a video of it, laughed, and said the fuel gage was broken and there was “no problem”. We got to a stop light and he turned the car off and turned it back on. No change to the gauge. Then he restarted the car another 5 times and finally the meter went up to 1/4th tank. I can’t believe “have you tried turning it off and on again” also applies to cars here.
I asked Bard.
There are a few possible reasons why an old lady might clap loudly once and then touch some people’s foreheads on a crowded train in Mumbai.
To get people’s attention. In a crowded train, it can be difficult to get people’s attention. Clapping loudly is one way to do this.
To bless people. In some cultures, it is believed that clapping your hands can create positive energy. Touching someone’s forehead with your hand is a way of transferring this positive energy to them.
To ward off evil spirits. In some cultures, it is believed that evil spirits can cause harm to people. Clapping your hands and touching someone’s forehead is a way of protecting them from these spirits.
It is also possible that the old lady is simply trying to be friendly and welcoming. In India, it is common to greet people by touching their foreheads. This is a sign of respect and affection.
Ultimately, the reason why the old lady is clapping loudly and touching people’s foreheads is unknown. However, it is likely that she is trying to do something positive for the people around her.
The woman in the train touching forehead: removing bad vibes/giving a blessing. Forehead is believed to be the energy center.
Drink fresh coconut water or buttermilk to cool ulcers (it’s not American buttermilk. Indian buttermilk is very light. It’s just yogurt thinned out with water and stirred until foamy). Also, hydrate, hydrate, hydrate!