that's probably part of what makes the place so wonderful. All in
all, it took Lexi and me 12 hours to make the trip from Glenburn Tea
Estate to the hotel in Mumbai: 3hrs of curvy mountain road to the
airport in Bagdogra, 1hr waiting for flight, 1hr flight to Kolkata,
3hr layover, 3hr flight to Mumbai, 1hr to collect bags and get to
hotel. Whew! Needless to say we were exhausted by the time we made it
there. That, and we had no one to wait on us hand and foot anymore!
Poor us!
Carlos, a good friend of Lexi's, was the groom. Lexi worked with him
for years at the public defenders office in DC. His bride to be,
Aashumi, is from Mumbai, but has been living in NYC and now DC for the
past six or ten years (I'm not sure of specific number of years).
There were also a number of people who had also made the trip from the
States, mostly other public defenders and their tagalongs (ie. me) as
well as the cousins, aunts and uncles of Aashumi's that live there too.
Lexi and I set out to do some shopping in the morning before the
Mehendi ceremony that night (during which henna is applied). We took a
cab down to Colaba, the main tourist hub. The main sight there is the
Gateway of India- an emormous arch at the seaport that was originally
built to commemorate King George V's visit in 1911. As you might
imagine, there were plenty of people there trying to sell you
everything from maps and tours of the city to enormous baloons (I have
no idea what those were all about). From here we went to Cottage
Industries, an absolute wonder of a store housing articles from all
over India. Three separate Indian friends told me to go here, and boy
was I glad. I'll spare you the details, but an hour and a half and
$180 later, we were primed for lunch. The other great thing about this
store is that all the prices are fixed, which means no haggling, and
that no one working there even approaches you unless you want to buy
something; it's quite the departure from the rest of my buying
experiences in India.
Upon reccomendation, we decided to go to the Taj Mahal Hotel for
lunch. The Taj was the site of the most recent terror attacks back in
November when armed men came in and started shooting, eventually
holeing up and starting a fire before the authorities took control. I
believe it lasted a couple days. For those of you worrying- mom- the
Taj is probably the safest place to be in India. There are three metal
detectors you must pass through to enter. The hotel itself is probably
one of the nicest hotels I have ever been in. It's in the same
eschelon as the Four Seasons. The story has it that it was built in
the beginning of the 20th century by an extremely successful Indian
businessman after he was refused entry to a European hotel on the
grounds that he was "native". Way to stick it to the man!
Our waiter at lunch has worked there for 33 years and was there when
the attacks went down. He ended up hiding in the bushes for 25 or 30
minutes, witnessing two people get shot, and then helped another man
who was bleeding escape to the nearest hospital. They have a lovely
memorial to those killed set up in the lobby, with a guestbook to sign.
Next we went to FabIndia for more shopping. It's kind of like an
Indian Urban Outfitters. I bought traditional Indian wear for the
wedding - I looked awesome! Then it was back to the hotel to get ready
for the mehendi ceremony- how fun!
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