Pamela Day Designs - With Love From Bombay

With Love from Bombay

Sent: Friday, February 11, 2011 08:42 PM
Subject: Hello from Bombay!

Having a little time to kill after a nice American breakfast I decided to venture out and explore the garden I’ve been watching people meditate and wander around all morning. As I rode the elevator down to the hotel lobby I realized it was full of smoke like the place was on fire, but no one seemed alarmed and the desk informed me it was medicine for the mosquitoes. She said it was very safe to breathe, so I walked out into the bright sunny cloud outside and was immediately almost mowed down by a bicycle, and then approached by a beggar. Needless to say, I never made it to the garden. I thought I could handle sitting alone at the little cafe safe inside the hotel, but suddenly the metal detector and all these loud alarms started going off and everyone started scrambling. The front desk yelled up to me leaning over the balcony concerned, not to be alarmed and all was okay. I am safe and sound locked in the room now.

Mumbai is pretty well as I pictured it. We arrived late last night and our pilot reported the current weather as 87 degrees, smoky and hazy. Our arrival was very exciting I felt like I was on a red carpet. Hundreds of people waiting under what looked like a big festive circus tent, I was thrilled to see our hotel pick up was actually there waiting for us. He navigated us carefully thru the smoky, hazy city, all of which seems to be under construction. There are nice buildings, like our hotel, dispersed amongst the slums and trash. Everyone was out and about, bicyclists, scooters, rickshaws and stray dogs everywhere we looked.

The hotel hosted a talented lounge singer last night named Strummin Norman. An Indian Michael Jackson look-alike from Goa. My friend Peter and I enjoyed a couple Kingfishers and watched everyone dancing to love songs of the 80’s. They eat late here, the restaurant was packed at 11:00 and the nice waiter brought us some chicken livers from the buffet. Peter enjoyed them and despite his urging me to try it, I have thus far avoided eating any Indian food. Michael Jackson came over to our table and before we’d even introduced ourselves he was giving us his mom and brother’s name and number to go stop by for a meal while in Goa. The people are nice here! I love it so far! It’s foreign and exotic yet everyone speaks English! We are now headed to the airport and I’m super excited about Goa!

Sent: Saturday, February 12, 2011 10:54 PM
Subject: Greetings from Goa!

Goa is lush and beautiful but there is trash EVERYWHERE and the people drive like maniacs! I was blessing myself the entire ride from the airport and whimpering “Ohhhhh God!” We were basically in a high speed go-cart with no airbags and I was sure we were going to get in a head-on collision. Peter eventually pointed out that the girls riding on back of the motorcycles were texting, I then noticed the women were carrying infants (they were scared I bet!) on the back of their husband’s scooter, so I thought, “Okay, maybe I am not gonna die on my vacation?” The retreat is very cozy and I haven’t ventured out of Purple Valley yet. I’m sitting poolside relaxing and Peter is off with some girls already. I was, at first, a little intimidated by the people here. The first person I met was the girl with the dragon tattoo- a mohawked & tattoed Swede who was not at all friendly, but I met a great English girl, and a nice couple from Germany last night and everyone else seems pretty cool. I ate some very tasty Indian food last night. It was super fresh, light and flavorful, none of the oily, scary stuff I’m afraid of. I had a terrible time falling asleep on the rock mattress in the mosquito net with the fan shaking precariously overhead, and the neighbor’s barking dog all night long so I missed the 5:30 am yoga, but made it to the 6:45 session. It was quite intimidating! I know I should be focusing inward but dragon tattoo girl seemed to be judging me, and pretty much everyone else was way better than me. I then took the beginner class with Peter after that so I had a nice 2-3 hours of yoga and then enjoyed some fresh coconut water, after which I used the coconut to kill a spider in my room. I have absolutely no plans for the rest of the day and couldn’t be happier with that.

Sent: Wednesday, February 16, 2011 02:05 AM
Subject: Re: Greetings from Goa!

Hello again!! I’ve spent the past two days doing lots of yoga, eating delicious Ayurvedic meals and hanging out at Aswem Beach. It is the most gorgeous beach I’ve ever seen! The ocean is warm like a bath tub, and there’s not so much as a piece of seaweed floating around. You can rent a tented beach chair all day for $2 and dine on fabulous French cuisine right there on the beach. I’ve mostly been hanging around with Liz from London, Lina, an Italian girl from Stockholm and a great couple from Frankfurt (he’s American, she’s French) but there’s all kinds of interesting people with fun accents here. Lots of lawyers and bankers which surprised me.

Pamela Day Designs - With Love From Bombay

“So… that… was called… silent meditation… there was no… talking.” Our world renowned yoga instructor, Petri Raisanen, is amazing, but I can never tell when he’s finished his sentence. It’s like he’s always in very deep thought. He looks like a young Mikael Barishnakov and many of the yogis here follow him around the world, including a large Finnish woman of about 70, who is madly in love with him and wears red lipstick and perfume to class. The style of yoga we are doing is called Mysore and its way harder than what I am accustomed to at home. I’ve been doing the 6:45 am and the walk to the Shala in the morning is my favorite part of the day! You hear cows mooing, birds and crickets chirping, dogs barking and frogs croaking. It’s like a misty, tropical Old McDonald had a farm! Oh but the noise gets to be a little too much sometimes, like the freaking dog barking in the middle of the night- finally at 2:30 a.m. I had to tell him off and yelled some obscene words at him (in the middle of peaceful India!!) I figured my neighbors wouldn’t know it was me, but of course, Liz said she had a good chuckle. It worked though, the damn dog finally shut up!

I’m again sitting by the pool as we had a busy morning at the market. It was sensory overload. There’s tons of white skin here in Goa and I can see why. It is so wonderful (except they really do need to figure out the trash)! The people are just lovely and so polite. They have that most adorable Indian head waggle thing- I love it! Okay, time for a dip in the pool!

Sent: Saturday, February 19, 2011 12:19 AM
Subject: Re: Goodbye Goa

We are waiting at the Madgaon Train Station for our delayed train to Kerala and I’m now getting a taste of real deal India. I almost cried in the ladies room because I’d forgotten the BYOTP rule and the floor was soaked and just nasty (and it’s really hot, and I’m tired and hungover). I just watched Peter and Parisian Anne eat lunch while I tried to discreetly hold my nose and not touch anything. I took a little stroll down the platform really standing out like a sore thumb and bought some Magic Masala Lay’s Potato Chips (to at least try something Indian) and only ate one. I miss Purple Valley. I will write more from the 13 hour train ride.

Sent: Saturday, February 19, 2011 04:56 AM
Subject: Calgon, take me away!!!!!

I don’t even know where to begin other than I just had a good cry for myself and am now holed up in the top bunk trying to calm myself down. Our three hour delayed train is now my moving prison. The nice young man sharing the prison cell with us is stifling his laughter. It is so unbelievably dirty!!! There’s all kinds of discarded fruit, containers of yogurt and juice boxes and what looks like actual urine in our First Class AC cabin and everyone seems super cool with it. I had pictured sipping tea and playing cards in a mahogany cabin watching elephants roam the countryside. Peter just told Anne it looks a lot like San Diego. I am really regretting canceling our flight to take the train. This is truly awful. A cool customer I am not! Oh and I have bird shit on me. Ughghghhh I need some pranayama and copious amounts of wine. It was actually the second time I cried today. I was super sad to leave Purple Valley and all my new mates and cried like a big baby while saying goodbye to them. I am confident I will see at least some again in the future, and now I have some more great places to visit! It was just sad to go, I would have been perfectly happy staying on there with them the full two weeks. Especially since Part Two is yucky so far. Alas, we’ll see what new adventures await. I hope it is memorable, in the good way.

Sent: Sunday, February 20, 2011 07:55 PM
Subject: Welcome to the Jungle

I survived the train ride and arrived in Kerala in one traumatized piece. I’ve enjoyed seeing monkeys, elephants, waterfalls, cows, and tall trees, from our private, clean air conditioned car. However, there have been more tears- I cried on the elephant ride, it was truly awful! The trainer kept screaming at the poor baby- Undi Ah Nani! (Crack!) Undi Ah Nani! (Crack! ) I’d decided early on, I didn’t want to ride any elephants, but our driver Roxy, took us there anyway. He’s a male, and thus my opinion does not matter. Despite the fact that he’s supposed to speak English, somehow he still thinks I am Peter’s wife.

Kerala is much more provincial then Goa, at least in Munnar, where we spent the first day driving around the gorgeous mountain town. The Brits planted tea here some years back and it is everywhere! It’s an absolutely breathtaking city of perfectly groomed hedgerows and pretty colorful house tucked into the mountains. Did I mention the driver is really bugging me? He’s super sexist and only addresses Peter. “How was your meal, Sir?” “Good Morning Sir!” He will actually interrupt me while I’m speaking and start a conversation with Peter. I can’t understand his English anyway so I’m just sitting back here enjoying the view. Add chauvinism to my (short) list of things about India, that while trying to be culturally open and sensitive, just ain’t cool! Number one being- the absence of an adequate waste management system, and Number Two being the complete absence of toilet paper and soap (it’s just gross, especially after number two). Despite the customs the people here are very polite- “Yes, Madam.” But alas, in protest, and after ten days in India, I decided it was time for the red lipstick to come out and I’m wearing a tank top too. Yesterday as we toured Munnar we were asked several times by everyone from cute teenagers to old people if they could take our picture. We’ll see what we get today. Okay, we are driving on road like that one to Hana and I’m getting a little car sick so will write more later.

Sent: Wednesday, February 23, 2011 07:40 AM
Subject: Just a dream and the wind to carry me

The sun just set on the most relaxing day in my memory. I actually took three catnaps and I never nap. We embarked on our luxurious houseboat at noon following a nice swim and a Cosmo at the Zuri in Kumarkoram, we set sail on the Vembanad Lake. I was overwhelmed by how well appointed, comfy and odor free the boat was. The trip has really been on the up and up! It’s like how I pictured the train- mahogany and stained glass with deck hands serving tea.

Pamela Day Designs - With Love From Bombay

I came to India to see the wonder of this exotic, magical land, and practice yoga of course, but also to step way way out of my comfort zone to make me less… high maintenance? More tolerant of things that I am uncomfortable with, or find unsanitary (aka gross). Well, looking back on the train I would never ever do it again but it was something I will never forget; watching Peter kill cockroach after cockroach in our cabin, and the rusted out, dirty hole in the floor I was required to use as a toilet in the middle of the night. My hope is, by experiencing this extreme, my “middle ground will expand” (those were actually Peter’s words). That said, I was delighted to arrive at our Disneylike hotel with western toilets on Monday. The pool was a bit filmy and smacked of curry but the new “low maintenance” me took it like an Ayurvedic bath. We have since driven through town after town of breathtaking landscapes, towering coconut trees, pineapple and sugar cane stands, tea shops, falling down huts and store fronts and lots of happy faces that wave as we go past. The men dress so charmingly in collared button down shirts tucked into sarongs (loonghis?) and the women look so beautiful in their brightly colored saris. The kids run barefoot down the street lined with cows and stray doggies (and tetanus). Peter best summed up the driving as a big game of chicken, and it is amazing cause no one seems to get run over (probably just us tourists). Yesterday, when we arrived at the Zuri, an even nicer hotel, I was feeling somewhat bad because we weren’t experiencing “the real India,” but I soon got over it.

This afternoon, after being served a leisurely home cooked lunch of Kerala fish and some curried things that I actually kind of like, I watched a guy jump off a neighboring boat and decided it was a nice idea to go for a swim. Well it was fun, but I hadn’t thought the whole thing thru and gave my two deckhands a really good workout and even longer laugh as they pulled my fat arse back onto the boat. The neighbors really enjoyed the show too. We wiled away the rest of the afternoon doing crosswords and moving from chair to chair staring at the horizon. The big excitement today was when the driver blew his horn and the mass migration of birds flew away. Then we had a large infestation of bugs in the boat and I remained cool as a cucumber just sittin’ in the dark til we flushed them out. And now as we finish up a delicious dinner it’s pouring down rain. More on the tail end of our Indian adventure coming soon…

Our last days in Kerala were spent lounging around the beaches and backwaters of Allepey and running around Cochin trying to take in the historical significance in a few short hours. Allepey is known as the Venice of the East and it really is quite impressive. I will never forget the backwaters, it was like flipping through a National Geographic. Most of the people busy washing clothes and dishes, bathing and doing the morning’s chores, waved as we sailed past. We watched fully saried women play in the waves, made friends with a sweet stray dog, and saw a family of five cruise by on a motorcycle (no helmets of course).

Pamela Day Designs - With Love From Bombay

I love the fearless attitude in India! At lunch today I saw a man washing some dishes in the sink next to the restroom with a shriveled up piece of soap and while totally grossed out I actually went with it, cause it was a “good place” according to our driver. I just blew through security with my Uggs on. The people don’t live in constant fear and OCD-like state like in the US. You wouldn’t make it very far if you did. Our driver in Cochin played the most delightful Indian music all afternoon. I shut my eyes and listened to the constant horns beeping and breathed the smoke and sandalwood. For a country with a trash problem it sure smells wonderful here! Our driver took us to his house to show us his daughter’s art work. I had a sneaking suspicion there was a strong Indian style sales pitch coming, but I was wrong. His home was modest, to say the least, and his daughter and wife welcomed us. The artwork was actually amazing and he gave us our pick of any piece we wanted. It was so gracious.

While reading Vogue India on the beach yesterday it occurred to me that the country seems a lot like the US back in the fifties or something. The articles talked about wearing trousers to exude confidence, and seem like a girl full of surprises. The humor and commentary all seemed very un- Vogue, but that’s how the country seemed to me too; it’s just sweet and innocent, and eager to become more modern. I’m waiting around (aka having a cocktail) at Mumbai airport til my 3:15 am flight. What a hideous departure time! I told Peter – See you Monday! And it’s back to reality, and the home of the clean! Hopefully, by the time I return here it won’t have lost all its innocence. No hand sanitizers everywhere, helmets on babies and full cavity scans at the airports. Hope you enjoyed reading about India!

With Love from Bombay!
Pam