get me gone / home again home again jiggity jig

i was going to post a picture but looking through them they all seemed too depressing and i can't bring myself to post/look at/take any more pictures of sad brown people.

i just had one of those days/weeks where i am officially ready to come home and be done with mumbai. my backpack was inadvertently attacked by monsoon and molded through (RIP backpack), i got more bug bites last night than i've gotten the entire time i've been here, something i ate or drank liquified my insides, i went to colaba for a last souveneir expedition and my taxi broke down on the way back AND tried to overcharge me.

i'm so tired of being tired all the time from heat/exhaustion/haggling over prices/getting myself to and from places.

i'm counting down the hours until my flight. i can't wait to be somewhere else so that i can look back at this experience...but i'm kind of tired of experiencing it....

savor the flavor

that's what i keep telling myself anyway --- i'm alone again for another five days (total days alone = 10) but doing a much better job filling the time and not going crazy.

pictures: top one is a young girl cleaning laundry next to the tent where she lives on the sidewalk, middle is a woman on her way to sacrifice live chickens (hens? roosters? difference?) at the fishermen's temple i visited, bottom is the view from the karle caves (i climbed up the stairs on the right side of the image to get there)

on saturday i hired a car/driver and told him to just take me away from mumbai and get me out of the city - so he took me to these amazing caves and temples in the hills/small mountains outside the city. predictably, even though it was gorgeous when i woke up, it started pouring at soon as we got outside of the city, right when i started climbing slippery stone steps. less predictably, i came back with a really bad sunburn. you win some you lose some...although i'm not sure where the winning was between the rain and the sunburn...anyway it was fantastic to get out of the city and see GREEN and breathe fresh air and climb things and walk around. towards the end of the day my driver took me up to the top of this hill with a supposedly beautiful view of a lake and a dam and the hills --- and in typical Curtis family style, the fog rose with us as we drove and we couldn't see more than three feet off the lookout point once we got there. ahhh i love visiting places during monsoon/rainy season.

i don't know how to properly express how oppressive and aggressive mumbai feels - it truly feels like a constant battle in the city, no matter what's going on. to start, the air is incredibly heavy and thick with the heat and humidity and pollution. Add to that the constant noise of stray dogs and people and cars and the fact that the streets are always overcrowded and no one speaks english so every time you try to ask for something or go somewhere it's a battle to make yourself understood and taken together all the time everyday the city just starts to really feel ridiculously overwhelming. i feel exhausted at the end of every day, despite not usually having done that much - just getting there (wherever 'there' is) and back is an ordeal. it was amazing to get out for a little while.

i've also begun to haunt the restaurant across the street - ShreeJee's Vegetarian Wonders - going there for meals and chai and just sitting and reading and eating. it's surprisingly nice - i'd be tempted to write it off as being suspicious because its located so close to where i live and so far from nice areas of mumbai where most of the reliable restaurants/shops are, but it's one of the better/cleaner/cheaper places i've found. i like to just sit and people watch in the heat, although i will admit people watching is much less fun when all of the people you are watching are already watching you.... if you're curious about food, most places here are vegetarian, and it's only safe to eat meat/fish in nice restaurants. as i said when i came back from delhi, most of the food i usually associate with indian food in the states (chicken tikka masala, anything tandoori or served in saag) i have learned is from Rajasthan, or northern india - NOT mumbai. mumbai is more partial to peasant food b/c of the uber-impoverished majority, so food that's typical of mumbai is dal (served in the states as "lentil soup") - which is yellow and naturally pretty tasteless but they add spicy spicy peppers to give it flavor - the common cure for most food - served with plain white rice or roti/chappati (little pancake like things that are kind of rubbery and no where near as good as naan...or real bread, or actual pancakes...) usually i order a paneer (indian cheese) tikka masala gravy with butter naan, sometimes i mix it up with a mushroom tikka instead - those are basically creamy tomato sauces that are the least spicy of anything else on the menu. it's important to note that the spicy-ness scales here are soooo different from the states, they've killed their taste buds to the point that if you dare ask for something THEY think is spicy you will really really regret it. so i ask for no spice and still find it spicy.

overall the best foods i've had have been in my favorite two restaurants in mumbai - the rice boat ( the most amazingly sweet and creamy and delicious shrimp coconut curry i've ever imagined), and urban tadke (butter chicken that puts any chicken tikka masala or similar chicken dish to shame) - which even though i've only been here two months i've been to each of those place twice...and counting b/c i have yet to take the new roommates to them....hopefully i'll get one more meal at each before i go...

other than that i've been going to dance and yoga and reading and sleeping and taking care of whatever else i wanted to do. i'm particularly proud that tonight i went to this documentary/short film screening i randomly found a posting for online. the screening was at this high school in Mahim, which was a part of town that i was vaguely aware existed, and probably could've even pointed to on a map, but i'd never actually ventured into, and trying to get there and find it was was a great reminder of how narrow a slice of mumbai i've experienced/seen - even though i feel like i've been here forever and know my way around fairly well. the films were all very underwhelming (the final documentary was 75 minutes long and i probably would've cut 30 minutes from it --- not a good sign when it was a first time director who had worked his entire career previously as an editor...) but it was an adventure to try and find a strange building in a strange neighborhood and get in and around.

more later --

- h

rollercoaster mumbai

pictures: family on a motorcycle! (in case you didn't believe me), beggar with a naked baby (it's never for sure if the baby belongs to the beggar, lots of poor communities send people out to beg and give them children b/c they get more money that way), moment between impatient woman and bratling little boy at the bus stop.

first of all, everyone should check out this article in the nytimes about hollywood trying to break in to the bollywood market. very interesting.

this has been a rather eventful, extremely up-down week for me. on monday, i officially quit my "internship" with epigram -- i've started dancing everyday, 10-12ish, and then on mon/weds/fri i still do yoga from about 12:30-1:30, and after all of that on monday the idea of driving for two hours to do office work/nothing for six and then another two hours to come back late at night just felt overwhelmingly not worth it so i didn't go and haven't been back since - i gave them my apologies/resignation etc on tuesday.

dance has been absolutely incredible -- i'm going to this studio run by Habiba, a bollywood legend who has choreographed over 500 films - and, unlike most studios with famous choreographers names above the door, habiba has basically retired from most of her film work/travelling, so she comes and watches class most days. when she shows up everyone stops dancing/stretching/whatever to go and touch her feet ( a sign of respect) and then she sits on the side of the studio yelling at people and giving corrections from the sides for the rest of class. it's funny and fantastic. it took me a few days to get the hang of things and now i am just LOVING class every day. first of all, it's been more than 2 years since i've attended dance classes regularly, and second, bollywood dancing is just so much fun. it's cheesy and light and i can't help but smile the entire time i'm going through the moves (a big shift for those of you who have seen me perform before...usually i never smile - but here i can't help it i just grin like a buffoon the whole time). i think ariadna is going to come to class next week and record some of the routines i learn so that i can have them to remember and post them on the internet for my embarrassment and everyone elses enjoyment/amusement.

another odd thing about dancing here: in the states, i ALWAYS feel inadequate and insecure during most dance classes because of my lack of ballet technique, it's considered standard in the states and expected that you have a certain level of technique - and here i'm in a culture where it is rare for anyone to have any ballet training at all, i feel self concious during class b/c of all the little ways in which the technique i do have comes out. i always make fun of ballerinas who try and do hip hop (they can't help having technique and it comes out all funny when they try and dance hard), and that's the exact problem i'm having here -- all my western ballet and hip hop makes it hard for my style to look right doing the bollywood moves. but i'm having a blast anyway and that's what matters.

so that's the up for the week - moving on to the down: des and ariadna can't go to goa this weekend b/c ariadna's friend in delhi is going to go out of town soon so they're going to delhi this weekend instead. and not just forthe weekend - they're going friday-weds. which is a long time. and that not only leaves me alone for the weekend (during which there's no dance), that also means that i probably won't get to see goa at all (unless i go by myself this weekend - my time here is running out!). so that sucks. hopefully i'll find something to do with the time.

another good thing is that as the end of my time here nears, i'm finally getting good at creating activities for myself/being in mumbai - i'm determined not to leave any of those things that i wanted to do during my time here undone and watching the days go by on the calendar is really motivating me to get off my ass and make things happen for myself. i'm finally hassling the program coordinators into helping me tie all those loose ends together and hopefully i'll leave here feeling good about the way i spent the last two months.

it's been a really eventful and interesting summer - hopefully i can pick up the pace to cram in as much stuff as possible before heading back into the real world.

- h

happier, non-whiny, no longer lonely post

it finally occured to me that i should write the picture descriptions up near the top of the post where..you know...the pictures are - more pictures from rickshaws - they seem repetitive to me but i'd like to think they give you a more complete picture of mumbai -- the bottom picture are these shacks by the side of the road made from sheets of metal and tarps where some families live and work. shocking, but actually better living conditions than the people who live on the sidewalks near the busy roads and just have makeshift tarp/tent constructions. the shanty towns of mumbai look a lot like that third picture, except that they go on forever

happier note: people are here!!!! the apartment is full again!!! quick rundown of NEW apartment-mates:

lindsay: my new roommate, just came in from pen, she's doing her second month of the ymedical program now - from ohio, goes to ohio state, is also 20 and seems nice and drama free (desiree if you're reading this she doesn't compare and i still miss you and you should come back)

ariadna: came in two days ago, she's from argentina but lives in washington dc where she works for voices of america (the former dean of annenberg AND his dad were both presidents of said organization -- fight on) as a video journalist, she's here together with the other new roommate (with whom she attended a masters program in documentary film production in barcelona), taking a month off from work to learn about india/travel/etc -- oh, in case you couldn't get from that that she's a bit older than i am....she's 29 - but looks 23 i swear - i've had time to talk to her the most b/c she's been here an extra day and she is just super lovable and sweet -

des: came in late yesterday night, she's from greece, and still lives there, and produces documentaries for some production company there...i think...she and ariadna were roommates during their masters and haven't seen each other in a long time and it was fun watching them catch up last night, switching back and forth between spanish and english (ironic that all i've been craving during my alone time was people who spoke english as a first language and 2/3 of the people that arrive speak it as their second or third....but they're fluent and that's all i really wanted) she has a really dry sense of humor - i like her.

even though it was getting later and later into the evening and i was tired from stupidly going to work today -- it's been raining really heavily, and i couldn't go to work or really leave the apartment on friday b/c of flooding (which was the day after ariadna arrived - i think heavy flooding is mumbai's way of saying "hi, welcome" to new residents of 202 sargam society) anyway it took me over 2hrs to get there, and my taxi driver was an absolute moron and got us lost, and then when i got there they had more mind numbing work for me, although towards the end i got to "help" with photosets which was fun except the person i was "helping" doesn't speak english so it was more like watching with a purpose --- BUT, even though i was exhausted i stayed up for an hour or so just sitting in the living room and listening to people talking in languages that i partially and completely understood. it was magical. plus i really like ariadna/des -- we're planning on going to goa next weekend together (sans lindsay, who went last month with her roommates from pen) and i'm SUPER excited for that.

it's funny b/c each of them arrived seperately, but was brought here by mukesh (the coordinator who speaks the best english -- i'm learning to love and appreciate him dearly), who was always standing right there when they all asked me the same first question, "how long have you been here?" the answer to which was "about a month", and then "five weeks" and then "too long" and he thought it was very amusing - but honestly every time they asked (even though all three questions came within a 48hr period) i felt like i'd been here for longer and longer and longer...

it's really interesting talking to new people and answering questions about life here and the program and assuaging fears and kind of giving them the intro/orientation i never had (and creating realistic expectations about the somewhat lacking film program's programming). it gave me a lot of perspective on how much i've adjusted to being here and how much i've gotten a handle on mumbai and india etc. it always feels nice to realize that you know things and have gained insight/knowledge - especially after a week of feeling like india was just a frustration and a waste of time.

this is a useless story but i found it amusing so here it is: the first night ariadna was here we went to the mall so that i could buy some more books (my suitcase is going to weigh SO MUCH coming back filled with blankets and statues and the library of books i've accumulated while here it's ridiculous) - and we stopped in at the little supermarket in the mall so that she could pick up some facewash etc that she'd forgotten and just as she was commenting while we got online that we were the only foreigners in the entire store/mall -- i turned around and noticed that the man standing online behind us was white, with incredibly blue eyes. we waited online for about 20 minutes (only behind three people to begin with, i might add -- lines in india are painfully slow and inefficient and i have no idea why), and as we were finally paying i turned to the white man, who had been waiting all this time just to buy a single jar of mango jam, and asked him, making small talk, "wow - i hope that jam is worth the wait" and he smiled, and said "well it's not for me (at this point i realized he was russian), it's for a friend who requested i bring it back - and we call him 'Jam' as a nickname, so i thought it was funny, to go and get jam for Jam (at this point i laughed...i guess that is kind of funny - like me bringing back an ugly doll for rachel - OOOOOHHHHHHH, and then he added - ) Plus, i very much like the color of your hair, and enjoyed looking at you while we waited" awkward silence ensued....but it did answer why the only other foreigner in the ENTIRE mall/greater andheri area had chosen our line out of all 20 to stand in. (end of useless space filling story)

to answer zurow's (big haired gandhi? really?) question - no i don't have a shaved head, in fact quite the opposite - it's weird but my hair and nails grow freakishly fast here so my hair has gotten really long, and b/c of the rain it's not quite hot enough to warrant going bald in the name of comfort/conformity (sorry to disappoint) - also the matching little boys/children are seen everywhere b/c all schools here have uniforms and many have delightfully pink ones for the boys (oh and these ugly blue potato sack dresses for the girls) - and the fact that they're holding hands is one of those weird mumbai things that men/boys do where they....hold hands -- it's really disconcerting at first to see grown men holding hands while they walk down the street (when you KNOW they're not gay) -it's a friendship thing apparently.

it's amazing how much having people here has improved my mood/outlook on india and life.

love - h

lonely whiny post

so i've been here at the apartment all week by myself - going more than a little insane due to the combined factors of having no one around who speaks english as a first language, a lack of things to do, and being really frustrated with the program and really homesick.

the program coordinators failed to...well...coordinate anything for me for the past three days, so i spent them going stir crazy in the apartment after going on an 8hr bender and reading harry potter start to finish in one go. it was all fine and good for them to fall through on activities when there were other people in the apartment to laugh it off with and most importantly, go do something else with -- but when it's just me here it's not so funny and really frustrating.

however, today i finally got to start my internship with this company called epigram that does print and promo material for white feather films as well as LOTS of other bollywood movies so that's good. downsides are that it's an hour and a half away (each way), and that apparently interns are treated the same in every country (when i first got there they gave me a computer with photoshop and all the still images from a movie and told me to make a preliminary one-sheet...very exciting and scary and legit --- twenty minutes later a woman came in and told me that i had to scan 130+ pages of storyboards into the computer. interning = the dream/lure of doing something worthwhile and the reality of doing someone elses bitch work). upside: i like the people that work there, they do good work, and most importantly, it will keep me busy and give me something to do.

i started taking pictures while driving places in rickshaws - all taken while we're moving and with the camera perched on my knee so don't be too harsh --- i thought they might give you a good idea of some of the things i see all day everyday.

more later

- h

bunty and babli!!

it's been a while - i know, and i'm sorry.

i got back from our whirlwind trip to delhi/agra/jaipur on weds and have been unusually busy the rest of the week because all of the roommates are leaving this weekend so we were doing a lot of last-minute-before-i-leave-india things for everyone.

the trip: AMAZING. there's a weird LA vs NY type thing that goes on between Mumbai and Delhi - and everyone from Mumbai had been warning us about how 'aggressive' delhi was and how it was too spread out and miserable -- completely opposite from our experience. Delhi was beautiful and fantastic and made me hate mumbai a little bit. we lucked out and it rained before we got there and was overcast the entire time so instead of being 115 it was only 95-100 while we were there. the roads were clean and people obeyed traffic lights and we got a driver so we didn't encounter the "aggressive" side of delhi (apparently dealing with taxi's and rickshaws there is always a huge ordeal and they're very adament about ripping you off)-- and on our first night there at twilight we were taken to the india gate which is a huge public park where hundreds of family were eating and laughing and playing and there was bollywood music playing in the background and men blowing bubbles and selling ice cream and children playing in the fountains - it was incredible. i haven't seen a single public park since i arrived in mumbai and this one in delhi was one of the most beautiful and friendly i'd seen - ever.

additionally, our hotel directed us to a tourist agency that took our previously vague itinerary of tooling around delhi for a day and a half and then making our way to agra to see the taj and completely changed it to site-seeing in delhi, jaipur, agra, the taj - seeing all the important forts etc and putting us in better hotels -- all four days taken care of for $150 each. incredible. also - our driver was awesome and spoke english and was funny and perfect. his name was bunty, so naturally, i had him call me babli all week (oooh bollywood film reference!!!) however - the pace was pretty breakneck and i still feel like i'm recovering/absorbing some of the sights we saw.

all in all - i discovered that mumbai is kind of a shithole compared to delhi, and that when i was thinking about coming to india, all of the things i had anticipated were things found in northern india - the kinds of foods, sites, smells, clothing, culture -- all northern india and NOT found in mumbai. eh - you live and you learn.

best sights:

1) the fort in jaipur was incredible and you ride an elephant up the mountain/large hill to get there so that automatically makes it worth mentioning

2) the red fort in agra was beautiful and expansive, but unfortunately for it, right next to the taj so it's kind of the underestimated, underappreciated little brother of a wonder of the world.

3) the lotus temple in delhi is gorgeous and somewhat reminded me of the sydney opera house for some reason

4) no surprise, but the TAJ -- absolutely takes your breath away when you walk through the east gate and see it. incredible. i have no words -- but fortunately lots of pictures.

now were back in mumbai and everyone is leaving. it's a happy time in the apartment b/c everyone is in that 'make the most of it and laugh i have less than 40 hours left here' state of mind - but incredibly bittersweet for me b/c i have over a month left.....and thinking about all of them going home soon is making very homesick/peoplesick/foodsick/familiar things-sick etc. and- to make things worse - i found out that my new roommates don't come until next weekend so i'm alone in the apartment ALL WEEK. probably going to go insane- my one saving grace is that i purposefully saved the final harry potter book for when this time came.

pictures to be posted - for now you'll just have to make do with these three - just to mix things up, i'm in all three pictures -- can you find me?

i'll probably post a lot of whiny lonely posts in the next few days.

pre-departure pre-delhi post

no picture, sorry --

just wanted to give a quick update/hello before i leave for the week for delhi/agra -- i had the most ridiculous frustrating day so i'm going to try to keep this short so that i can go to bed and bring this day to an end

the week: visited post production facilities, including the editting bay where peter works. interesting to see nice really expensive machines and the people they lock into little rooms to work on them all day, but overall not really exciting and kind of completely underwhelming as a days activity. but - i did get to see the first edit for the Pankh trailer which was interesting -- i can't wait to see it when it finally comes out. and - i did decide FOR SURE that i do not want to do post-production next month. so that's something i guess...

today: i'm feeling completely bogged down by technological issues/obstacles. life here seems filled with simple things that get unneccessarily complicated by one element not working (examples: the key to our apartment only opens the door about 40% of the time, the internet is very spotty, my cell phone only charges if you hold the cord at the right angle and stand there...) little things like that were just building throughout the day leaving me VERY frustrated - today's specific battles included not being able to add money to my phone so that i could call home, not being able to send a letter i had written b/c i discovered the envelopes they sold me only had glue at one end and were basically folded pieces of paper, and my camera card breaking so i had to go buy a new one (which was ridiculously expensive - ironic and odd since they MAKE the camera card in india -- all in all i would say that little pieces of equipment that i can't fix myself and are completely dependent upon are the most frustrating things imaginable - ie cellphones, ipods, and camera cards) - and i was feeling time pressured because we leave for delhi early tomorrow morning and i obviously need a working camera card before seeing the taj/lotus temple/other beautiful things.

icing to the cake: weather forcast for delhi/agra is around 110-115 degrees for the week. i might die. but hey, at least i'll have died seeing the taj, right? now one of the official seven wonders of the world?

i might not have internet in delhi and depending on how things work out with the phone i might not be able to call anyone - so it's a possibility that you'll just have to take it on faith for the next week or so that i'm alive.

pictures to come of beautiful places --
- h

PS: quick clarification for zurowsky: when i use the $ sign i mean american dollars - i usually translate the cost of everything before putting it in the blog - and when i say rupees or rps i mean...rupees....which i think you already understood....anyway the conversion rate is about 40 rps to the dollar - and the gold seats cost 350rps, which is about $8.75

escapism 101

(aka the genius of harry potter and gold seats)

bollywood = escapism. plain and simple that is what the entire film industry of india is devoted to. everything about bollywood is about fantasy; the gorgeous people, the lush sets, the vibrant dance sequences, the fact that they're never shorter than two hours long (the better to get you out of the heat and into AC), and 9 times out of 10 have a happy ending. i knew most of this coming in - the delightfully campy nature of bollywood was what i loved. as a sidenote (b/c this is a whole different conversation) - what i didn't realize until i got here was exactly what they were escaping from.

but let me tell you, this emphasis on escape extends beyond the films themselves and to the very movie going experience. i saw diehard in the regular theater - which was already nicer than most american movie theaters. last night - i saw harry potter in the GOLD SEATS, which is a whole other story. in the GOLD SEATS - you don't go in the regular doors, you enter through the red lounge, which is a separate waiting area, with separate concession stands, bathrooms, massage chairs, and MTV playing on giant plasmas. the theater itself has far fewer seats and rows (no such thing as a bad seat in the gold section) - and each seat is a reclining red lazyboy. during intermission (in india they have intermission during all films -- they're built in to indian films and they just add them arbitrarily into american ones half way through) waiters will come through to see if you want more popcorn or chai or anything and overall it's absolutely the best theater going experience i've ever had. did i mention the tickets were less than $10? and only $3 more than regular seats?? i'm a little in love.

that said - i really enjoyed the movie - against incredible odds daniel radcliffe is actually becoming attractive - and my only complaint was my usual one for those movies which is that because of how much stuff is in each book the pace of the movies feels off b/c you know that they're rushing but they're trying so hard to make it seem as though they're not (example: long slow pauses in the scene where harry is discussing his first kiss w/ ron and hermione). as an added bonus, i LOVE helena bonham carter and thought she was super fun to watch on screen.

update for the week(end)

last week i went to go check out a dance academy and i had really high hope for it --- and was extremely dissappointed. not what i was looking for at all and a really bad fit for me. so the search continues for a studio.

went out on thursday night with desiree's friends from UVA, shefali and anisha - and we met up with these people anisha met through facebook (bombay interns 2007!) at the hardrock cafe for drinks...really overpriced drinks. most of them went to yale and were interning in real offices doing actual jobs and seemed baffled by the idea that desiree and i just kind of...observe and hang out. oh yale. but it was good to meet other english speaking people and a lot of them live near us in andheri so i'm trying to make a friend in that group so that i can still have a life when all of my apartment-mates leave in two weeks...

went shopping in colaba over the weekend - determined to find lenghas for me and desiree (traditional indian outfit w/ short top and long skirt) and we found nothing. however, in searching we successfully refined what we wanted to the point that we figured it would be easier to buy fabric and get it made by a tailor - so saturday we bought fabric and monday our mission was to find a tailor. which we did, and i'll see the results of that adventure on saturday. if it's good then i will get a bunch more stuff made, so fingers crossed.

also, on sunday we went back on set to the song shoot - where they were shooting another dance break in front of this wall of lights (and again with flame throwers - see picture above). it was fun to watch for a little while, but it hasn't rained in a few days and the sun was out for the first time all trip and it was SO HOT it felt like i couldn't breathe.

so... after a few hours of observing and hanging out and sweating, desiree and i left to go see a play with shefali at the national center for performing arts. it was called "Sammy! the word that changed a nation" and was about gandhi's personal life. the first half was really good - especially scenes between gandhi and his wife that highlighted the ways in which he tried to implement his beliefs at home tore apart his family. ie - he never discussed his decision to be celibate and not be in the same room with his wife alone with his wife ahead of time, he refused to let his son recieve a scholarship to go to university b/c he didn't want people thinking he had only gotten the scholarship b/c he was gandhi's son (even though the son apparently deserved it) - things like that. it was nice to see a play and sit in an air conditioned room for a few hours. all in all a good night.

more later - i think we're visiting post production facilities this week and then on sunday we're leaving for delhi/agra to see the taj majal. pictures etc to come....

the streets of mumbai

double picture post! (to make up for my laziness over the past few days)

to start with the shittier picture on the left, i'd like to describe for your entertainment the streets of mumbai. to begin with, you must understand that there are no enforced driving laws here, and no traffic cops to enforce the laws were they to exist. driving in mumbai is a free for all. the roads are all quite wide, and because lots of different things of different sizes use the road, no one uses lanes and everyone just squishes together and around each other and gets in about 100 near-accidents per day. regularly occupying the road are stray dogs, stray people, cows (always causing traffic), bicycles, motorcycles (often with entire families on them - mother, small child, father, small child - and the women all sit side-saddle which is particularly terrifying to watch) small cars, big cars (almost always for tourists, or celebrities), trucks (usually with something that smells awful in the back), buses, rickshaws, and - as you can see from the picture above - the occasional elephant (the picture is bad b/c i was caught by surprise and didn't roll down my window and the flash went off and then we drove away so i couldn't get a better one). oh, and a few days ago i saw a man walking down the street with a monkey on a leash.

\transportation here is a big problem b/c it's a big city with lots of people and everything on the road is at least 15-30 years old so the fumes and exhaust are relentless and its very polluted. i thought israeli driving was crazy - this is absolutely INSANE. in order to turn right (across traffic - they drive on the left here) - they don't wait for lights or turn signals, they just inch into the intersection beeping like a maniac while other people stop short inches away from each other - beeping like maniacs - and then you hold your breath and pray you don't die as your rickshaw driver swerves across the lanes. this is something i deal with every single day. also - pedestrians don't have right of way or crosswalks so i have acquired a very rational fear of crossing the street here b/c cars WILL NOT slow down but will opt to speed up and swerve close instead.

OK -- update for the week! we've been visiting random sets all week - monday we went to a TV set where they were shooting a sketch comedy show (as one actor described it to us - "it's like SNL, only not live, and it doesn't air on saturday, and we have a lot more censorship...and we're not as funny...") and that was a fantastic day - the set was really relaxed and the actors were hilarious and really fun to hang out with and talk to. we had a long discussion with one of the girl actors, purbi, about her impressions of america when she visited (people were surprised in NY that she spoke english, one person remarking, "oh but it makes sense you speak english now that i think about it -- isn't india under british rule??" - no surprise people think americans are ignorant....) and how she felt about being a non-bollywood actress in bombay (now here's something interesting: people in the city above a certain income mark and involved in things that are seen as "western" - ie cinema - all call mumbai bombay -- odd, no?) and lots of other things and she was very articulate and funny and hopefully we'll be seeing more of her later.

tuesday we visited the set of a white feather film called, "Pankh" which is their first 'art house' film and looks really good and interesting. when we asked the directed what it was about he just waved his hand at us impatiently and said "oh - it's a mindfuck----" and then didn't elaborate. laster on he explained to us that it's about a little boy whose mother forces him to dress and act like a girl so that he can act in bollywood films (a really common practice here in the 70's/80's - not so much now), and the film follows him in his early twenties as he struggles w/ identity and as his mother is trying to push him back into film but this time as a male actor etc etc --- actually sounded really interesting and the lead male actor was really cute.

weds - ben came back from his trip to delhi and since it was his last day our friend robby (owns the bar across the street and a hotel in juhu) decided to take us all on a scenic drive outside the city to a resort town called lonavla (picture on the right). it was SO NICE to get out of the city and breathe fresh air and see green living things -- b/c it's monsoon season the landscape was just ridiculously green and lush with waterfalls everywhere and monkeys congregating all over the side of the road. it was a really nice drive and break from the city/road/noise/pollution. i was happy for the occasion to get out of the city, and not particularly sad to see ben go.

today: so far somewhat dissapointing - we went to the movie theater to get tickets for harry potter and they were sold out ALL WEEKEND. it's ok we'll go back on sunday and get tickets for monday but it's sad b/c i was very excited to see it tonight. oh well. we were supposed to go back to the pankh set but instead they set up a meeting for us (well, me really) to talk to Farah Khan - one of the biggest and most highly respected bollywood choreographers. i'm trying to convince him to let me enroll in his dance academy for six weeks (even though the term is six months) and just generally i'm excited to talk to him. when choreographers get respected enough they also direct and produce -- so for song sequences in the bigger movies the whole movie is directed by whomever, but for the songs they completely hand the reigns over to the choreographer - they set up the budget, book locations and dancers and decide everything for those scenes (another reason why songs sequences in the big bollywood films seem incongruous iwth the rest of the film)


that's it for now - more later...

weekend update

very frustrating/exhausting weekend. we were supposed to go on set on saturday - but they never called or came to pick us up...and by the time we figured out it wasn't happening it was too late for us to go back to our original saturday plan - which was to go into calaba and shop etc. so we sat around. ALL DAY. i thought i was going to go insane. the downtime here is killing me. plus - i was on kind of a vonnegut kick (man without a country, slaughterhouse 5...) so i started to read breakfast of champions when i found it lying around the apartment (there's a very bizarre "library" of books here left by past students etc) and i started hating it but didn't want to abandon it so i didn't feel like reading so i really just did nothing all day. however, to compensate i made desiree and eric go out to dinner with me to this restaurant eric had heard of called "the rice boat" where i had shrimp in the BEST coconut curry i have ever imagined. absolutely incredible.

sunday desiree and i headed down to colaba - we took the train on the way there (an experience by itself - the trains are all ridiculously overcrowded and notoriously agressive - even in the women's only carraiges. the day after we arrived i read a story in the paper about a guy getting beat up and then smothered to death during rush hour on the train -- people's commentary were things like "he probably deserved it" and "the trains are aggressive - if you can't handle yourself you should find other transportation" -- very scary. we however went on the first class ( a few rupees more) women's carraige which was basically empty - plus it was the middle of the day - and had no problems)

we went shopping through the street shops (like market place shopping everywhere - same shit repeated every three booths or so, only here it's cool indian shit) and around various stores. you have to argue every price aggressively or they rip you off insanely. if they say 400rps to start, odds are you can walk away with whatever it was for 150rps or less. you just have to play the game of talking them down and then pretending to walk away and then coming back and then talking them down etc etc etc.

oh and the picture above is of the famous gate of india.

love,

- h

fire and rain!

not natural rain this time, fake rain! and huge flamethrowers~! another long night on set (got back at 7:30 again and am again having trouble catching up on sleep -- hopefully i won't get sick but i already feel stuffy from lack of sleep, i'm taking cold meds to try and stave it off so fingers crossed...)

we mostly finished close ups and then shot the main 'dance break' of the song. this song is the second scene in the movie, and the introduction to the main guy character -- the male actor i talked about before, sidanker -- it's his first big role in a film but both of his parents are stars so he kind of has a head start, even so he gets very insecure at times and needed constant reassurance that he was doing well, kind of cute, kind of annoying. the song is an indian pop song from about three years ago that they remixed for the movie (a very common thing here) called "fire and rain" all about how the woman he's talking about is so elemental and beautiful that she has a power like fire and rain over him...or something like that...i think the real meaning gets more than a little lost in translation.

i manuevered my way behind the dancers/choreographer when they were teaching/rehearsing the dance break (a very "western style" (read: hip hop) dance) and was ultimately depressed by how long its been since i've danced and how ridiculously slow i've gotten at picking up choreography - but happy that i got a chance to move a little after just sitting around on set for hours on end.

later on i was talking to an extra while they were re-setting the lights and he asked my what i was doing on set (a common question that i get, no surprise) - and i responded "nothing" (which is true) and he said "oh - me too!" -- only his nothing was being done on screen and mine was off. i still found it amusing. after that he preceeded to ask me questions about what drugs people do in the states:

do they do the E? (yes) do you do the E? (no) what about the cocaine? (we have it - i don't do it) why don't you do the cocaine? (...)

it was odd and amusing.

for the final shot of the night they did they did the showstopping elements - namely adding two huge flame throwing things to the back of the set and soaking the entire set in fake rain at the same time and having the dancers/sidanker dance all crazy-like. it was very intense and fun to watch during the takes - i could feel the heat from the flames ten feet off set so i can't really imagine what it was like to be in the middle of the dance floor - although i guess the rain would balance out the heat...?

we have today off and then we're back on set saturday to finish the scene/film (these have been the last four days of production for the entire film) -- which is good and bad b/c i need today off but at the same time i needed saturday to go to south mumbai and go shopping for clothing b/c i'm out of shirts and even though i'm planning sending my stuff to the laundry service today it's 48hr laundry so that still means i will be shirtless tomorrow... i'm sure i'll figure something out...

YOGA: my instructor is this odd little man, who gave me a signed copy of his book and an exercise map (and then charged me for both at the end of the hour...) -- he definately knows his shit but i've never really thought of myself as a "yoga person" and after the first hour i am still kind of wary but if there's ever a time/place to become (or at least try to become) a yoga person it's in india w/ my own yogi. i need to continue pestering safeena about finding me a dance studio though...that's a definate priority. it's weird that i haven't really exercised in about a year and now that i'm in the most miserable climate imaginable my body is just craving activity. it's a good feeling that i haven't had in a while.

i have more to say about india in general (details unrelated to day-to-day activies) but this post is getting long so i'll save them for later.

exhausted/elated...but mostly exhausted

it's 11:30am and i just woke up. i didn't get enough sleep and i'm hoping i'll be able to back to sleep soon but unfortunately i think that it's one of those things where the more i want to sleep the less i'll be able to. i'll probably just write emails and finish my fourth book thus far (sidenote: dara horn's novel, "the world to come" was absolutely phenomonal and i highly recommend it - esp if you like jonathon safron foer). i only went to bed around 7:30am, after having been on set for 11 hours, and awake for 22 (not counting a nap from 4-5 and a shorter nap from 1:15am-1:45am...which was really just me passing out in a chair on set...).

the night shoot was absolutely incredible and fun. the male star who was working on his scenes was SO MUCH more fun/friendly than the woman from tuesday (neha), and also a much better dancer -- he was actually surprisingly coordinated considering he's 6'3'' and absolutely an enormous person. the picture above is of one of the assistant choreographers going over the opening sequence of the chorus with the dancers on the pub set they created from scratch (and will soon destroy very violently)-- a very fun scene.

we didn't burn down the set last night b/c of the rain, so we're scheduled for another night shoot tonight where we'll get the last of the shots needed and then burn the whole thing down and explode some TV sets. the rain delayed the whole shoot by about 2-3 hrs yesterday b/c right when they'd finished putting this fuzzy white fabric on the walls and hanging heavy red curtains as drapes to make the ceiling of the bar, the tarp that had been the ceiling for the set collapsed with the weight of the rain, making it necessary to make a lot of adjustments/rebuild a bunch of shit. towards the end of last nights shoot (actually more around 3am...4 hours before the end of last night's shoot...) another huge bulge of water was showing through the tarp and threatening to drop right on top of the camera/set/dancers/etc but luckily the wind never picked up again and didn't rain hard enough to send the whole thing to shit.

i had an absolute blast hanging out with the dancers and talking to the choreographer's assistants and just wandering. we have absolutely no purpose on set other than to observe and chat-- which is nice for a little while but it gets a little frustrating being so useless. especially frustrating when the song we were shooting was super catchy and the choreography was really fun and i just wanted to be dancing on camera instead of sitting and wistfully watching the entire time. however, safeena made it seem as though interning w/ a choreographer was not a difficult thing for her to set up so fingers crossed i'll spend the last month here doing nothing but dancing.

also- i'm starting yoga tomorrow~! i haven't really elaborated much on how ridiculously inexpensive everything here is, but i will tell you that to have an instructor come to my flat and teach me yoga three times a week costs 3000 rupees, which breaks down to around $7 an hour. meals rarely cost more than $2, and transportation from my apartment to anywhere in my neighborhood is usually less than that. it's a little ridiculous.

that's all for now. i'm going to eat something and try to go back to sleep.

PS you have to click on the title of this post to be able to see the picture....don't ask why i don't know and can't make it work without doing that...

on set!!

first thing first: HAPPY BIRTHDAY JACOB!!!!

ok -- now to the juicy stuff. i spent the last two days on various sets and want to share. on monday i finally had my orientation, where not a whole lot was said but i got the impression that things were under control and that's all i really wanted to know. the program coordinator, Safeena, is a very nice woman, and the film program basically exists because her husband, Hansel, is one of two heads for White Feather Productions - a company that produces around 4 films a year. Hansel takes us to his sets (he also directs) and around to the other sets that are going on and we hang out. and that's about it.

on monday we visited the set of a film that was just about to go into production and was having its first day filming shots for the trailer and promo stills etc. hansel has an adorable habit of forgetting about us and leaving us in places for hours at a time after saying "back in five minutes" so we hung out aimlessly watching them do one shot over and over and over again for about three hours, trying to find people who spoke english to talk to us and generally just observing the process. it wasn't hansel's set, unfortunately - so i couldn't take pictures. however, the set was just absolutely gorgeous - in this giant bar/restaurant called Shiro in south mumbai, and they take such care to make every shot really color saturated and light the female stars really well it was kind of breathtaking to watch.

On tuesday hansel picked us up and we went to his set, which is in its last few days of production and is just finishing up the song and dance numbers (!!!) - in the car on the way over (it took three hours to get to the set b/c of flooding), he handed us an indian newspaper, and on the first gossip page were pictures of all the actors we had been hanging out with yesterday. apparently they were very big time and we just had no idea. his movie was being shot in this amazing dilapidated old abandoned mill that's right on the water in south mumbai and we watched while they finished up the last of the shots they needed of the lead actress (a huge bitch - but very pretty and extremely photogenic). however, she was a horrible dancer, and at one point as it started to pour on set and rain came through the ceiling the director commented, "she's so bad even the ceiling is crying" - it took about 15 takes for him to be satisefied with less than two eight counts of choreography.

were on set for about 7 hours (add three hours there and two and a half back) so it was a ridiculously long day -- especially since i am still jetlagged - but it was sooooo much fun to watch the dancing. i was talking to one of the dancers (a tall lanky guy with light blue eyes -- very attractive - - he's been working and dancing in bollywood for ten years.) and he was telling me that they rarely have rehearsals for any of the scenes, they just go shot by shot learning two or three eight counts at a time - which is pretty ridiculous.

today we're supposed to hang out and rest, because we're going back to the mill for a night shoot to finish a song that has 5 guys and 5 girls dancing in this pub we saw them building into the mill and at the end of the scene they're going to light the entire set on fire (the dancers literally "burn the place to the ground") and then explode a wall of television sets. i'm ridiculously excited - but a little nervous that we're being picked up around 5:30 and he told us not to expect to be back at the apartment until at least 3 or 4 in the morning. which will really help my timezone adjustment...

more later (and pictures! - hansel gave me permission to shoot tonight!)

LOVE - h

more details...

Still pouring -- so i thought since i'm apartment-ridden i'd give some more details:

to start, mumbai is....dirty. lots of high rises and shitty housing, lots of homeless people. we're at the ass end in that we are NO WHERE NEAR the tourist centers, so places to shop / eat / etc are all at the other end of town - calaba, which is where most westerners visit, is about an hour and a half away when you include traffic.

To add some fun to the jetlag/timezone equation, apparently, in order to distinguish/separate itself from pakistan they decided to add that extra half hour in as a bonus, so i'm only 11.5 hours ahead instead of 12.

quick rundown of apartment mates:

ben (accidentally called matt in the previous post: leaving, has been here for a month and cannot wait to leave, from somewhere east coast. he knows his way around really well so that will be a loss.

peter: british, been here for a month and is here interning for another month. really nice and funny. actually really likes tea. and cliches.

desiree (roommate): goes to UVA, from that area, just graduated and this is her grad present. here for a month. nice, she seems neither here nor there but perfectly drama free and livable. no complaints there. i think we're going to buy plane tickets to go to delhi and from there agra (taj mahal) together, maybe with peter as well (if you buy more than 2 weeks in advance it's basically the same cost as taking the fast AC train - only minus about 14 hrs of travel time).

eric: goes to villanova, just got here today, is part of the medical program, seems nice enough - reminds me of scott...sort of...not really... he's been in penn for a month (rural piece of shit town) doing med work w/ townies and now he's in the big city for his intern part - also here for a month

apparently people come and go and rotate on a fairly regular basis so someone should show up to keep me company around when all of these people start to leave. i hope.

i didn't get orientated again today b/c of rain so we just bummed around the flat, and then met up with this guy ben and peter befriended who owns the bar across the street, a bar downtown and a hotel in the middle - sounds shady, should've been shady, but wasn't shady -- who took us to his apartment where his SUPER NICE wife had their maid prepare us/order in this feast of a lunch and we talked and ate for four hours. he's mid-40's least with an adorable 4 year old daughter and an apartment that is really really nice and upper class despite the deceptively shitty exterior of the building - which is basically what all buildings look like.

after that we went to the mall and saw DIE HARD 4 -- which was AMAZING. i love bruce and ADORE justin long and it was just a super enjoyable experience.

apparently i shall have orientation tomorrow and then be on set (a set, i don't know what set but i do know it's a musical) tues/weds/thursday.

love - h

i'm alive!

this will probably be the longest post i write but first impressions deserve detail so here i go:

24+ hrs on a plane and 36+ hrs lost due to time zone transitions and i'm thoroughly exhausted. they served indian food on the second leg of my flight from amsterdam to mumbai and it made me happy for two reasons: 1st, it was the best plane food i'd had in a long time, and 2nd, i knew it was going to be the worst indian food i had while in india. about an hour before we arrived, the flight attendant announced that they would be going through the aisles spraying a chemical that would kill any bugs or pests we might be unintentionally bringing into the country. "We are told that this will not cause you any harm" i quickly locked myself in the bathroom.

i stepped out of the airport and it immediately started to pour - no, not pour, monsoon. i stared at the massive crowd of people holding signs and shoving each other for a moment before the man behind me pushed me forward into a gigantic puddle. Welcome to India.

(sidenote: i saw NOT A SINGLE PAIR of crocs, everyone was wearing leather sandals or flip flops -- i feel like an ass)

made it back with my guide nasir and went to my new apartment, where i met my apartment-mates (for now). matt is leaving next week, and both desree (my roommate), and peter is leaving in a month. matt and desree signed up for month long programs, and peter is finishing the last half of his two month program. apparently people come and go randomly b/c the program runs all year so hopefully someone else will show up in a month so i'm not here by myself.

the apartment is a basic two bedroom/two bathroom with a kitchen and a nice common room. apparently a woman comes and drops off meals three times a day. bathrooms are completely western, showers are only cold water.

i woke up in the morning to the sounds of extremely hard rain, shouting, and car horns and knew two things simultaneously: 1) this was not going to be a summer-camp style program, 2) this is going to be two of the hardest months of my life.

because of the monsoon our orientation was cancelled this morning b/c so many roads were flooded - but my roommates informed me that it's not usually raining this hard and that activities rarely get cancelled. matt also told me that he thinks we're visiting a music video set on monday or tuesday so i'm very excited about that

list of things i should have brought/forgot to bring:
1) batteries
2) an umbrella (i'm a fucking idiot)
3) more books - i finished one on the plane and only have three more, hopefully they'll hold me over until harry potter arrives
4) pictures - i'm already missing faces :(

also - taking the natl geographic all about the scary details of malaria to india during monsoon season was not the best idea. it was a horrible idea.

i'm excited for seeing what's in store...more after orientation etc in a few days -- i have internet in my apartment so i have no excuse for not posting regularly.

First Post

getting ready to leave and thought i'd write in the first post before i left --

i didn't really get nervous for leaving until about a day or so ago when i actually started to tackle packing, and then all of a sudden i was terrified -- i'm realizing now that israel probably would've been enough of an experience for my summer so i'm feeling a little over my head going into india but i know that it will bring nothing but good things and experiences so i'm trying to just focus on that and not how scared shitless i am for leaving. there's no real way to prepare for a trip like this (packing-wise or mentally) and i hate feeling unprepared.

i remember doing the ropes course at camp and the last obstacle was standing on this pole 25 ft up and being forced to jump to try and reach a ledge 10 ft away. It was basically impossible to reach teh ledge, but you were strapped into the ropes course system and they weren't going to let you die so it was as much about trying for the ledge (and failing) as it was about trusting the rope. i remember watching other people go before me and noticing that the longer they stood on top of the pole, contemplating the jump and staring at how far away the ground was the more likely they were to be paralyzed by fear and the less likely they were to jump. it was one of those "take a deep breath and just go" things - don't even think about all the possibilities for failure or fear or disaster, don't even think at all, just GO.

this is also one of those moments.