The Mumbai experience - by Joao

How can I describe my three days in Mombay?

Well, it was special, very special... and I'm not talking about the people living on the streets, the traffic chaos or the dirtiest streets you have ever seen. That, we had all seen or heard about.
No, I'm talking about 3 major experiences which I will tell one day to my grandchildren:


1 - Crossing the streets: There are traffic lights but they don't have the effect you would expect. Cars come when it's red and people cross everywhere, it's impossible to understand how it works and you almost get smashed by a bus or a cab. After a while you just start doing like everybody else and cross along with the crowd even if it's red for you.


2 - Going to the cinema: This is one thing that one must live to understand its magnitude. It's amazing to see people talking to the characters on screen during the film, but they also applaud when the main characters appear or when something really striking is said. In Europe people are always asking one another to shut up and answering the cellphone can get you in to trouble... well in India everyone talks and you just hear phones ringing and people answering. Someone even told us that some of them learn the lines by heart to go see the movie again and repeat them during the film.

3 - An outdoor sex shop: in Mumbai there are markets everywhere. They sell everything one could expect, from old car pieces to clothes or perfumes, from food food food to souvenirs and jewelry. But they also sell some things one wouldn't expect: sex toys! In Mahatma Gandhi street, there are a lot of people selling vibrators and porn movies (some with Indian actresses in it, others Chinese or European). And when a female tourist passes by, they just point at the hundreds of vibrators, very naturally, and offer them saying "Yes, madam"... the same goes for men, but then they offer the porn movies. We made no picture of it yet, but we will not forget it.


Here is a good advise: never show a seller that you are interested in his products because he will get bananas to sell the tiniest thing, lowering the price as you walk away 300, 250, 150, 90, 80...


Yes, the price can change a lot from the first proposition, it's amazing how you can buy a 300 rupee fridge-magnet for 80 rupees.Which is still expensive by the way... Dunno about the prices of the sex toys, 'cos we were too shy to ask ;)