What is it about water...

The rains are beginning.  Monsoon season is upon us.  After not seeing rain here for the last 8 months (that's right - NO rain since October), it comes as a welcome relief to the heat and the dust.  The trees have collected dust on their leaves; the rain will clean them.  The blue tarps will start to come out - protecting many of the make-shift homes on the sides of the roads. And the lakes will start to fill up again to provide water for the villages and farms.

Imagine 8 months without precipitation.  The weather is always warm, the sun is always out, and you can expect no rain.  It's no wonder the wedding season begins after the monsoon rains go.  Most of these 1000+ guest weddings are held outdoors due to their size.  Just think - you don't need to worry about whether or not the weather will be good in these dry months.  Rooftop parties and outdoor eating is basically guaranteed for this time as well.  But then, just as others have the change of season, we finally experience the change from dry and unrelenting sun to cooler rains.

 Mumbai doesn't have it that bad, heat-wise.  Delhi, Kolkata and many other cities have been laboring with 43+ degree heat for the past month of May.  (That's 43 Celsius = 114 Fahrenheit!!)   We have maintained a fairly consistent high of 35 C = 95 F.   In fact, we have had daily highs between 85 F and 95F for the whole time we have been here.

So, the rains come as a welcome relief.

Water, in general, is an interesting aspect of life here.  Not just the monsoons.

We, in our high-rise, have never had a shortage of water.   Trucks filled with water bring extra water to our apartment building.  Have you seen them around your town?  Water trucks?

Our driver and household help, however, receive water only during set times of the day. They need to store the water in 400+ liter containers to use for the rest of the day.  Our driver can only get water from the water taps from 5:30 - 6 am in the morning and again from 6:30 - 7 at night.  So, their home tank is filled during that time twice a day for their family water needs - bathing, washing dishes, water for cooking, cleaning vegetables, washing hands, drinking.  Our cook can fill up her tank from 9pm until 1am at night.  And, she has water delivered for her drinking needs because she doesn't really trust the water that she receives during that time for drinking.

What we take for granted...

You can find an interesting photo-story about the water pipes in Mumbai - some from the British days - at the following link:

http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/news-life-along-mumbais-waterpipes?image=18

The rain has stopped for the morning, the clouds are moving out to sea, and the heat has dried up most of the evidence of the rain I was just enjoying.  Perhaps the roof-top parties can continue without concern for another few week or so.

Maha Kumbh Mela - Pilgrimage of 100 million

Happening right now (from 14 Jan - 10 March 2013) is the largest religious gathering in the world.  Kumbh Mela is a mass pilgrimage, held every 3 years in one of four alternate places.    Although most of those attending the Kumbh Mela are Hindus, people of every caste, creed, color, and religion come  - they come to bath in the sacred river.  A dip in the sacred river at this "auspicious time" is believed to liberate one from the sins of past lives, to bring one closer to the divine.

This year the fair is held at Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh, the same state where the Taj Mahal is located.  Allahabad is a city at the confluence of the rivers Ganges,  Yamuna, and the mythical Saraswati.

(I don't know what is meant by a "mythical" river.  I just looked it up.  The Saraswati river was referred to in the Vedic texts - oldest Sanskrit Hindu scriptures from approx 1500-500 BC. According to the texts, it would be in this area with the other rivers.  It is believed to have dried up since the time of the Vedas.)

A whole city is created for the pilgrims - 14 hospitals are set up as well! 

People are there throughout the 55-day festival, but it is estimated that over 30 million devotees took a holy dip in the river this year on one of the most auspicious days - 10 Feb 2013.  Over 100 million are expected to journey to the Kumbh Mela at some point in time over the 2 months of the festival.

Taking a dip in the holy river.  

As one article I read summed up the Kumbh -
"the Kumbh Mela epitomises both the best and the worst of India.... It is loud, dirty and dusty.  It is crowded.  However, these pale in comparison to the best of India....Imagine - wave after wave of humanity, every color, size, speaking every language ... and for what?  There is no sporting event, no rock concert.  It is quite simply, the faith that brings over 100 million people to have a bath in the holy waters of the Ganges, Yamuna and the Saraswati.  It is the readiness, nay the eagerness, with which tens of millions of Indians abandon the comfort, convenience and even the luxury of their homes to come and sleep in tents, their eyes brimming with tears of devotion and gratitude."

The Naga Sadhus are the first ones to bathe in the water.

"Naga Sadhus belong to different Akharas (which means camps).   The identification feature of Naga Sadhus include being naked with long hairs knotted with different metals and body smeared with ashes."  

India is a fascinating place...

Catholicism in Mumbai

Many faith traditions converge in Mumbai.  Hindus (67%), Muslims (19%), Jains (4%), Parsis (.4%), Christians (4%), Catholics, Jews, Buddhists (5%), Sikhs (.6%) all reside here with, what appears now to be, relative harmony. The people embrace faith traditions, whether their own or those of other faiths.  What a great place to learn about the different religions.

CATHOLICISM in MUMBAI

Our Church in Mumbai - St Stephen's

The population of Catholics here in Mumbai is similar in size to the population of Catholics in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati (my hometown), just over 500,000.  Of course with Mumbai's extremely large population,  the percentage of Catholics in Mumbai is only 2.5%, compared to Cincinnati's 17%.

To continue the comparison, (with perhaps somewhat old stats - 2006 in both cases):
Parishes: Mumbai - 121, Cincinnati - 221
Diocesan Priests: Mumbai - 277, Cincinnati - 291
Religious Priests: Mumbai - 283, Cincinnati - 223
Male Religious: Mumbai - 383, Cincinnati - 362
Female Religious: Mumbai - 1530, Cincinnati - 1036

The real difference in the counts for the two dioceses is in the number of parishes, fewer parishes, same number of priests, thus creating a better situation for priests per parish.  I have heard of some churches in the near suburbs of Mumbai (Bandra) with 6 priests.

Although Mumbai has fewer parishes,  in the suburb Bandra, there are 9 Catholic churches within a 3 km (less than 2 mile) radius.    I printed off a Mass schedule for these churches and they all have at least 4 Masses on Sundays, sometimes up to 7 Masses on Sundays, as well as 1 or 2 on Saturdays!.  In addition, many of these churches have 3 daily Masses.  So, Catholicism is alive and well in Mumbai.

My helper (staff) Helen is Catholic.  Today, she was telling me about St Michael's Church in Mahim, Mumbai.  This is a pilgrimage church, and people regularly do Wedneday novenas there.  They offer novena services throughout the day on Wednesdays.

I found the Wikipedia information about the church very interesting:

"Not only Christians, but also adherents of other faiths congregate to pay their respects to the Virgin Mary and attend mass every Wednesday. Devotees believe that visiting the Church on nine consecutive Wednesdays (Novena) will grant their wishes. They offer floral garlands according to the Hindu customs and repeat prayers before the image.^[1] Some of them offer wax figures of what they desire, for example, a wax house. According to Father Hugh Fonseca, around 40-50,000 devotees visit the church every week.^[3]

The weekly Novena services were started in 1948, when a priest Fr. Edward Placidus Fernandes from Mumbai noticed a similar ritual celebrating Our Lady of Perpetual Succour at Belfast, Northern Ireland, during his visit to Europe. Fr. Fernandes brought with him a picture touched to the original Our Lady of Perpetual Succourpicture at Rome. On the 8th of September, 1948 - the Birthday of Mary, concurrent with a Wednesday that year, Fr. Fernandes as the vicar held the first Novena services. Initially, only two services were held every Wednesday, but today from 8:30 am to 10:30 pm, the thirteen services are held in various languages: English,Konkani, Marathi, Tamil and Hindi.^[4]"

Helen has been going for the novena service every Wednesday since her 16 year old daughter was born, changing only her wish/request for each interval of nine weeks. Helen, like many others, is a very devout Catholic.

Another example occurred at a local furniture shop, owned by a man in the Bandra suburb.  As I entered the store at 10:30 to talk to the owner about some furniture we were considering, he said that he would be with me in 10 minutes.  He was standing at his desk, but then I realized that he was performing a ritual - making an offering and saying a prayer in front of the wooden crucifix on the wall.   Afterwards, he came over to me, and he told me that he was saying a prayer of thanks to "his God, because without Him he would be nothing."  He always starts his day at the shop in this way.

Basilica of Our Lady of the Mount in Bandra - known as Mount Mary Church

Very well-attended novenas are also held at this church - Mount Mary - for the nine consecutive days from Jan 31 - Sept 8, Mary's Birthday.

"And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street"...

Diwali holiday (Festival of Lights, Hindu New Year) brought us a week off of school in mid-November.  We took this opportunity to visit Ambar's parents while they were relaxing in the countryside of Suriya/Hazaribagh in the state of Jharkhand (creamy state to the west of yellow West Bengal).

Sitting there on the veranda at the country house with the gate in front of us, 

I watched and listened as many different vehicles, people, sounds passed our way.  The trucks usually pass with a loud blast of Indian Bollywood music and a roof rack full of people.  The bullock carts passing can be spotted by the  up and down movement of their contents.  And then, you hear the cows...it all brought me back to that old Dr. Seuss book (his first), 

"And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street"  

The images often seem like they could have been taken 50 years ago, even hundreds of years ago, when you see the women in their saris carrying the water jugs to the well or sticks from the field.

These are some of the things that I really did see when I went walking on this road - Hazaribagh Road - just outside the gates.  

Dung patties drying

Concrete Mixers and Deliverers

Many deliveries by bicycle

All decked out for Diwali
Cars are often decorated here.  When we first bought our car, they decorated it with a "marigold lei" (sold on almost every street corner).

I think they win the contest of how many people you can fit in a Jeep!

a Tempo

INDIA is really a contrast of the old with the new.

Notice the 3 satellite dishes on the building.  

We thoroughly enjoyed our week of relaxing.  When we did go walking, we had a profound affect on the productivity of the villagers [they stopped, gathered and stared :) ].

Time

TIME 

Your greatest resource is your time. ~Brian Tracy

Time is money. ~Benjamin Franklin

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 Time and 'making good use of it' are often considered together in our Western culture. But, time is a whole different concept here in India.  

There is a new meaning here of IST.  Usually it means Indian Standard Time.  But, many people here, foreigners and locals alike, say it stands for "India Stretchable Time".

In addition, I often hear the phrase "I'll be there in five-ten minutes", repeated rapidly, which usually means "I am aware that you want me there in five-ten minutes, and I am working towards getting there but I'll be there when I get there".  

Waiting is an occupation in India.  There are a huge number of people whose job it is to stand and wait for those who keep them waiting.  Most of them are drivers, but also door openers, security guards, cooks, as well as delivery people and staff in our complex who wait (sometimes up to 15 mins) for the service elevator.  (taken from "A Dead Hand", Paul Theroux).

"Taking time" is an important aspect here of many industries:

• sorting recyclables by hand 
• weaving textiles by hand
• tying knots to create beautiful rugs
• hand-stringing flowers for all the garlands used in weddings, poojas, funerals

I have a lot to learn with regards to IST for special events like weddings...

We went to an Indian Hindu wedding on Sunday (Ambar's cousin's son).  We were told that it would start at 6pm.  This would be just one of the several aspects of the wedding of the bride and groom.   Not surprisingly, we couldn't find the location of the wedding, despite having the address and despite pulling over at least 5 times to ask the whereabouts of the street (including one gentleman who was relieving himself - he turned around to help when the fellows at the corner didn't know).  

We arrived at 6:30, and the bride's father greeted us and took us to a decorated, but empty of people, hall.  

Groom in traditional dress (dhoti) with hat

At 7 or so, an hour after the time we were told, the groom and his family arrived - the father, sister, cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents - all except his mother.  Evidently, mothers of grooms do not come for the wedding ceremony!   Pictures were taken, blessings were given.  Typically in Bengali weddings, the groom wears a hat to symbolize the weight and responsibilities that he takes on with marriage.  (pictures below)

The Groom (on the right)

The happy couple after exchanging garlands.
That indicates they have accepted one another.

TWO hours later, at approximately 8pm, the service began in a smaller area where a pandal (temporary structure) had been erected with only about a dozen chairs around.   Obviously not all of the 200 people there would be watching the ceremony!  As the ceremony went on, people milled about, some stopping to watch, some leaving after having eaten dinner, many talking.   I am not sure that the bride's parents watched much of it either.  

We began to understand the process  --- after watching the ceremony for a long time, long past us understanding what they were doing, we went off to eat dinner and then depart, goody bag in hand.   I guess next time i won't push to arrive on time.  

Although sometimes we feel like time is wasted here waiting for the delivery, calling for the nth time to have the gas cylinder delivered, or the chipping paint fixed, there is much to be gained in slowing our the pace of time.   From Mother Teresa:

“In the West we have a tendency to be profit-oriented, where everything is measured according to the results and we get caught up in being more and more active to generate results. In the East -- especially in India -- I find that people are more content to just be, to just sit around under a banyan tree for half a day chatting to each other. We Westerners would probably call that wasting time. But there is value to it. Being with someone, listening without a clock and without anticipation of results, teaches us about love. The success of love is in the loving -- it is not in the result of loving. ” 
― Mother Teresa, A Simple Path: Mother Teresa

All that really belongs to us is time; even he who has nothing else has that. ~Baltasar Gracian

Happy Thanksgiving to all!  (Enjoy your relatively inexpensive turkey - a raw roaster turkey here is being sold for $22/lb! And this, for just a regular Butterball.)

A Stroll through Mumbai

There is no better way - in my eyes - to get to know a place than to take a long walk around.  So, I have been riding in with Ambar to work, then walking home (about a 6-7 km walk).  Half of my walk is along the seaside on Marine Drive where there are many apartment buildings constructed in the Art Deco style.  Evidently, Mumbai is second only to Miami, Florida in Art Deco architecture.  Or, so i have heard.

At 8 am, Marine Drive is fairly quiet because the cars and their honking horns are not in full force yet.  However, it is well-populated with walkers, runners, many meditators (or ones who meditate), romantic young couples, stray dogs as well as some families that have slept on the walkway, or down on the beach.  It's a nice, easy walk because the sidewalks are wide and the pavers are all flat.  But, the real interest, to me, comes when I finish that portion, and walk along the inner roads, passing the shops, the many small shrines set up along the path, the cows eating the grass throw down for them, the people cleaning the sidewalks, various bicyclists loading up their wares to transport around town, the school children in their different uniforms.  So much to see and experience that it is hard to capture with words.

Here are some of the sights along my way home.

Add caption

Women quilting on the pavement in front of a home

YES, there are 6 people on this motorcycle - don't try this at home

shirt reads "Mom's BFF Forever"

Our Cotton Candy Sunset






I am sitting out on our balcony, enjoying the breeze and the slightly cooler night air tonight...I can't complain.

Shave and a Haircut...2 bits

I wanted to give you an idea of costs here in Mumbai.  Over the weekend, Ambar did have a shave and a hair cut (and a bit of a head massage) - all for 80 Rupees.  That, with the rupee hovering around $.02.  Yes, that's right; he  was charged $1.60 for his shave, hair cut, and head massage - and in a barber shop, not in a stall on the side of the road.  He was generous with his tip, he gave 25%,  leaving him with $2.00 less in his wallet.!  Supercuts - watch out!

A few other examples of things that are amazing;y inexpensive here -

• Sam's roller bag - canvas restitched on the length of one side - Rs 25 = 50 cents
• Alter my Indian tunic to make it a bit shorter - cut and hem - Rs 20 = 40 cents
• Having shoes polished - by cobbler on side of the street - Rs 10 = 20 cents
• a 15 minute taxi ride - Rs 100 = $2.00, in an autorickshaw - Rs 50 = $1.00
• made-to-order shirt with covered buttons - Rs 600 = $12.00 for labor
• A dozen bananas - Rs 40 = 80 cents
• Our cook, Tina, bought a nice big head of cauliflower and felt she was overcharged at Rs 40 (you can do the math!)
• Two weeks of 2 newspapers (The Times of India and The Economic Times) - Rs 162 = $3.24
• Today's tour of the dhobi ghat (the clothes and linens washing area here in Mumbai) - Rs 100 for  two of us (picture below)

Dhobi Ghat

These prices exist in the city of Mumbai with one of the highest rental markets in the world, where i might pay:

• Rs 525 = $10.50 for a box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal
• Rs 31549 = $630 for our electricity bill for August (when we were there for only 2/3 of the month)
• Rs 254,900 = $5098 for an Ekorness leather ecliner (I resisted) for our living room 

The general rule of thumb is that imported items are expensive, labor is cheap.

Another interesting aspect of money and life here is that we pay almost everything in cash.  As one of my acquaintances here said, "when you first arrive, you feel as if you are hemorrhaging cash".  I can certainly relate to that feeling.  We pay our cook and driver in cash.  It is quite common to give cash to your driver to have them go to pay your utilities bills (mobile phone, cable, internet).  

Delivery is quite common here even from the small shops (labour is cheap), so an oft-heard phrase is "Cash on Delivery".  I ordered a printer from a small shop on Lammington Road (a street filled with small technology stores) and they delivered it (probably by bike) to my home.  The delivery person refused the tip that I offered.  

One of the problems i have faced is that some vendors show up announced requesting payment (for bread delivery, newspaper delivery, milk delivery, dry cleaning).  They never carry change, and they never seem to offer to bring back your change, so it is best to have some smaller notes at home to give them the exact amount.  

Another interesting aspect of numbers here is that they break their numbers into Rupees (up to 99,000), then lakhs (100, 000 Rupees) and crore (100 lakhs).  Because of these quantities, they place their commas differently. 

So 354,000 Rupees is usually written Rs 3,54,000, read as 3 lakhs, fifty-four thousand rupees

And 123,000,000 Rupees is written as Rs 12,30,00,000 - 12 crore, 30 lakhs rupees

This isn't a big problem, but it is a problem in my Excel spreadsheets - it just does not understand these extra commas.  Ah well, perhaps I should just give up on using Excel...

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We had a taste of Americana the other day - Ambar set us up to have Monday Night Football - even though it was the Patriots game from Sunday night, and I had pretzels for the first time in over 2 months!   

Looking forward to the debate tomorrow morning (here).