ramblings about last night

warning ... last night was a biggie and i get a little wordy here ... patience is required on your end, i'm afraid ...

we stayed inside most of the day yesterday and met up with the amazing imam around 6pm and headed into downtown mumbai for the diwali fireworks. we've been staying (and hope to live) in bandra, where all the bollywood stars and most artists live, and it's considered to be close-in, but this city is soooo huge that it still takes 20 or so minutes to get to the heart of downtown. mumbai wraps around a c-shaped bay and in the evenings of diwali, everyone heads to the waterfront and the entire length of the waterfront is packed with people basically competing with their fireworks. in the states, every fireworks show i've seen has been super regulated and lasts for maybe an hour and presented by people with the proper permission from the city. there are no such restrictions (about fireworks or just about anything, for that matter) here. any person can buy any sort of firework and set it off basically anywhere they want at any time. please realize that almost half of the 20 or so million people in mumbai are hindus celebrating diwali. this leads to a LOT of effing fireworks. we viewed the show from the waterfront hilton, which has an outdoor pool and gooooorgeous grassy terrace on the 5th floor. we had a view of the entire length of the bay, the other side being about 3 miles away across the water. at our vantage point of 5 floors up, there were fireworks exploding right above our heads and we were having to dodge burning debris! there were so many fireworks going off CONSTANTLY along the entire lengty of the bay, that at times the noise was an enormous din ... it sounded like a hail-storm on a tin roof. and then, being right downtown, the sounds were echoing off the skyscrapers. we had to shout to hear each other talk. this went on for a good 5 hours ... and apparently will be happening tonight as well. this place is CAH-RAY-ZEE.

imam brought us around downtown and we hopped around his favorite bars. we also waltzed through the taj hotel and scared the other whiteys. we get stared at all day by every local who lays their eyes on us, and at the super swank taj hotel, in the middle of the old money section of town, the other westerners stared too. us in raggy jeans and t-shirts, tattoos everywhere, and imam in all his fabulously over-the-toply dressed flamboyancy, it was hilaaaaarious. they all looked like back-assward southerners with sticks up their butts and very, very proper attire. major yawn.

and then the drive home. so, so sad. the edges of the streets were lined with families sleeping, it was around 2am and some of them were still working, sitting in the street stringing flowers to sell for the holiday. imam says they work all day and night, whole families, sleeping in shifts, and this is just the life they live. it is overwhelmingly sad. there are SO MANY OF THEM in this immensely densely populated city ... it's just too much for me to wrap my blonde brain around!

this is long. i need to stop.

next up? viewing 4 apartments today and dinner tonight will be home-cooked pot roast at a canadian named sparkle's house! i know you're jealous. you wish YOU had a friend named sparkle!