Gorgeous sunny morning here (tried to check actual weather - like temp for instance as feels hot - but Times of India site reporting Mumbai weather as "N/A"). India up and bustling: squatting man on curb being given a proper straight edge shave, lady bent double washing feet in a puddle, men rising from stall-top sleeps to ready merchandise for the day and the drum sellers emerging from wherever it is drum sellers go at night...
Free hotel buffet breakfast and the Times under my door got me up--personal pot of coffee with hot milk got me revving. Discovered two excellent Indian travel mags yesterday and pouring over them for story ideas. Almost seems like cheating but they've got so many - boating Assam on the Brahmaputra, the Paragliding World Championships in Himachal, the refurnished Hotel Metropole in Mysore (previously guest house of the maharaja of Mysore - dad and i stayed here in 1999?) . The perks of paying over $20 for a room (plus AC, plus CNN, plus bath in room...).
Slept so well, talked to R in Sofia last night and downloaded and tweaked yesterday's photos. forgotten how photographic this country is: mounds of marigolds, beetle leaves laid out at the paan stands, the ladies in saris (of course), the buses and taxis, bracelet vendors and on...And people lovely about being photographed for the most part. A few grimaces but few that a smile and head bobble won't appease.
Still wrestling with how to link photos to this - I think I need to transfer to a CD, upload to Ofoto and then link but if others have ideas...
Also found the fab FabIndia now on the main drag (used to be only in the north) and bought up ethnic garb - jeans and polyester shirt not cutting it. So all cotton-ed out and baggy panted and a kurta to sleep in. If not careful, will return to NYC a full fledged ethnic-gone traveler.
Day's plans - VT for tomorrow's mornings tickets to Matheran via the Shatabdi (my old train to Pune!), Chor bazaar (for old time's sake - see what my old sources are up to and get very dirty, Kemp's Corner, back to Colaba - out to Elephanta Island where I haven't been since childhood and the monkeys stole Linds' Easter candy then to pee at the Taj and check out their bookstore. And tomorrow -
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