Mumbai Week 1 - First Impressions:
1. Airport beaming, gets better each time I visit; on its way to becoming world-class :)
2. Driver "madam's" me for the first time. Didnt figure the name would stick, wherever I go.
3. Spacious apartment; 3 bedrooms, in-apartment gymnasium. Seems like I could live here.
4. I live in Powai, where concrete towers abound within green jungles, where concrete mixers roar in sync with sparrows, mynahs and koels' and where I come home to atleast 100 children playing in the building garden downstairs.
5. Home-made breakfast everyday with anna's (read "burly men" in tamil. Not a girl's name.), all inquiring, "Where is it, that you are frumm Madumm?"
6. Introduce Satish, my faithful driver and punching bag-to-be for the next few weeks/ months. Short, lanky and "madumm-ing" Satish. Never been around Mumbai, as much as he did in the first few days of driving me around. Together, the two of us lose and find our way in the city :)
7. At work, tamilians galore. Tamilakaran, Mahadevan, Elangovan, Muralitharan, Ananthraman, Muthuraman, even Veerappan. I now consult with L&T; known to me as Larsennan & Toubronnan. L&T is also known to other non-tamil speaking employees as Learn Tamil!
8. No work email, no phone, no desk, no computer, nothing but chai and snacks for the Madumm!! Madumm calms her self thinking, it will take time and reminds herself, to not lose it over 'trivial unprofessional issues". "Chalta hai" she tells herself.
9. "I didnt recognise you maaa. Marriage has made you fattt, Swethaa" (note the emphasis on the bold, underlined part of the name) says D.K, Project Director for the Airport. Swethaa swears to go looking for a gym that evening.
10. Swetha makes sure her spelling is corrected everywhere, to be Shweta or Shweyta. Thankfully the pronounciation is OK.
11. Cafetaria lunch, home cooked. Standing in line with steel plate in hand. Two types of sabji's, daal, rassam, rotis, rice, pickles, papad, salad, dahi, dessert and my favourite tayeer-chadam (south indian style dahi-rice). Life nalla irkaa (Life is good) I said to myself.
12. Gym search ended that evening, with the Club Bloomingdale next door. Amazingly affordable pay-as-you-go membership with personal training sessions at rates that would put my Newport trainer to shame.
13. Slim, slender Sanober hanging on a trapeze from the apartment buildings terrace, 15 floors high. Being hauled up and thrown down; this must be a suicide scene. The whole building watched and 'sssshhhed" each other when the director yelled "Action". Sanober went up, 15 floors high, flying sort of, trapeze unseen and came rushing down, falling flat, on thick cushioned mattresses below. Director yelled "Cut" and we all clapped. "Mast tha na!!!" ran the chorus around. My Mumbai moment of the week :)
14. First night's dinner at Snehi, Atit and Ira's new apartment, in 7 bungalows. Ira darling posing away to multiple pictures "Shetta Maasi" wanted to take of hers. Snehi's awesome cooking, that I ve already feasted on twice and many more such feasts to come, I am told by her.
15. Working Saturdays, took some time to digest, but once done, they breeze by now. Its also fun to see 'casual Saturday' wear, ranging from jeans to "collar-ed t-shirts" for men and literally anything casual for women.
16. Dinner with the ex-co workers at Chakra on Kurla road, on Cho's request. Seafood fried rice, Kingfisher, Chicken malai kababs..good price, good conversation, good company.
17. Saturday night dinner with Kunal at Salt Water Cafe at Bandra, over pictures, talks and how it feels to be an expat in Mumbai.
18. Hot Oil head massage, pure bliss, on Sunday afternoon.
19. Sunday evening, spent at The Expressions Dance Company's Annual Show and watching Gayu (Amit's sister) dance, with exceptional fervour, grace and enthusiasm. She even got a trophy for her performance and is now selected to be part of the dance troupe's formal group. A wonderful evening, spent with family and Cho whom I dragged along to the performance, watching Ballet, Argentinian Tango, Salsa, Bollywood all possible styles.
20. Soon the once-exclusive Madumm's office, is filled with staff working with the Madumm. "Space constraint no, Madumm. Please adjusssttt-ma!! ". It so happens, that most of Madumm's staff is also foreign-return, so the office space swears to become a breeding ground for anti-tamil jokes.
21. Thirty years of being best-friends with a Tamilian may have had a lot of benefits, but none supercede this one - of being able to understand the language. Very conveniently people in office, break into Tamil, literally sentence two onwards; at meetings, work discussions, everywhere. To be able to understand them, and even mutter a line or two in return, while grinning at their stunned face, is pretty priceless :)
On that note, Mumbai Diary - Week 1, ends :)
Enjoy Week 1 in pictures here:
Mumbai diaries Week 2 will reach you as soon as I pen it down :) Until then, stay safe and keep in touch. I ll go back to my vada-pav and chai for now :)
Love,
Shweyts
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