India Day 5: Hindu Temple and Islamic Mosque

Today was a difficult day for me.  This morning we went to a temple and a mosque.  It was interesting...the mosque is built out over the sea.  To get there, you have to walk on a jetty of sorts.  Tide wasn't all the way out when we arrived, so we went and had a juice.  We went back a little later and we got very wet.  I have no real way of describing the smell that is this place.  It was a mix of sea water, garbage, sweat/BO, food....not very nice.  It’s pretty gross actually.  The mosque itself was pretty and an interesting experience.  A couple of our group members, both American and Indian are Muslim, so it was nice to talk to them about their customs and what I saw.  

I had a bit of a breakdown in the middle of the day.  There is absolutely no organization among our group.  Plans get made, they get changed before we leave to go to them, they change again before we make it into cabs, and at least twice more before we actually arrive at our destination.  I'm so over it.  I just got very overwhelmed by the chaos.  I want structure.  So I was going to go with Ria, Zaheer, and Ria’s friend Ridi to see a nearby town and do a little shopping, and decided at the last minute that I should go to the Bollywood dancing workshop (out of a feeling of obligation more than anything) that had been set up for us.  I did, but I was acting a bit sluggish as I/we are all very tired and quite exhausted.  Dr. Dembla asked what was wrong and I couldn’t help but cry.  I try to explain that crying is my stress reaction, but most people don’t understand.  She insisted that I go back to the hotel to rest instead of taking part in the workshop.  I agreed, came back to my room, and sobbed for a minute while taking out a favorite picture of my Erik and Stitch. 

After a few minutes, I calmed down and took a nap.  I woke feeling alright and was getting excited when everyone arrived back and we all started getting ready to go out to a club here in Mumbai.  Ria, Zaheer, Ridi, and I were all going to go for a bit, and then share a taxi back to the hotel:  Only to find out that we Ria and I are not on the list.  Apparently the student who was arranging our entry into the club preferred us not to be there tonight as she asked the whole group twice yesterday who was going, and Ria and I both said we were attending.  Ria even asked about Ridi joining us.  It was a bit hurtful, and a very ugly thing to do on her part.  But we enjoyed a short cap ride to Marine Walk which is a shopping area near the sea overlooking “The Queen’s Necklace.”  We had pizza (chicken tikka masala) at a nice restaurant, and went for a walk and chatted a bit.  It was nice to slow down some and enjoy.  Ria bought us these strings of flowers which have a name that I can’t remember.  They’re jasmine flowers that go in your hair.  It’s sitting on the shelf above my head now and I can smell its sweet fragrance reminding me of my tea at home.  It was strange to be out at midnight and see families talking as their children run wild on the walkway.  A whole family slept on the sidewalk; 3 adults and 3 young children.  My heart broke.  A little boy was playing with some sort of light-up spinner toy which flew into the street.  He nearly walked in front of a car to go get it, which is bad here because drivers just go.

I also had a very interesting encounter today.  I’ve mentioned that Indians are very curious about us.  Some have posed with my classmates for photos on their phones and cameras.  I was asked for my first photo today.  A woman and her two children stood around me and she was so excited for me to know that these are her children.  As if that wasn’t enough, she held her infant out to me expectantly to hold for a picture:  Very strange!  Another woman asked for a photo as well and was also holding a small boy.  I felt awful when she pushed her young daughter away so that she wouldn’t be in the picture.  I’m told that Indians think we are “exotic.”  It’s all quite Bazaar, if you ask me.  

I’m hoping that tomorrow will be better.  I’ll be excited to hear about everyone else’s adventures on the town tonight.  I’ll try to post tomorrow before we leave for Goa on Friday morning.

Keep on Burning…