Prasoon informed me that if you look into the Guinness Book of Records you will find that India more has most of it's records in there for not actually doing anything. Such as, the man who grew the longest beard, or the man who had the longest nails. Or my favourite, the man who sat in the same spot for 5 consecutive days,
As the day went along I noticed that Prasoon kept picking into these little foil wraps and chewing on what appeared to be sweets. So I thought I'd ask if I could have a try. He warned me wouldn't e offended if I spat them out as a few people had asked before and not enjoyed them. They were small stone like sweets of varying sizes rather like the spacedust you can get back home that you put on your tongue and it fizzes. It smelt sort of fresh and I imagined it would be somewhat refreshing to the mouth. I soon discovered that to eat it was rather like chomping into a bar of soap, a little bit to fresh. It was really quite disgusting and sure enough I spat it out, much to Prasoons amusement. As it turns out it is very popular in India and men often eat it like chewing tobacco. This was in fact the very tobacco version I'd heard about. They also do a sweet variety, wish I'd had that one. My mouth for the next day still had the taste in it, it is called Masala Pan and I shall never eat it again.
Friday arrived at last and I was up and breakfasted and awaited Chodu to pick me up.
I told myself that I would ask Chodu to help find me a flower garland on the way that I could give to Suzie as a welcome present. A traditional Indian blessing I thought. As you might guess, in my haste to get to the airport on time, fidgeting in the back of the car, checking my watch every 5 minutes, I clean forgot. It wasn’t until I mentioned it to Suzie later that I was chastised for it. If only I kept my mouth shut. Naturally when Suzie arrived I excitedly told her all about Mumbai and gave her a running commentary in the car with a brief outline of the lay of Mumbai city, as if I was the seasoned resident who knew the City like the back of his hand, . . . as if!
I let Suzie head back to the hotel where she could have a few hours sleep after the sleepless flight. Suzie made fast work of demolishing the room with her stuff neatly thrown around the room and sure enough she had arrived. I of course had kept the room spotless since I had been there.
Yohann invited us over to the local offices later in the afternoon, so we took a stroll over and Suzie took in the sights of the local shops, Mango, Wrangler, Nike & Puma. A very modern Mumbai. Aijaz met us there sat us down and chatted to us for a few minutes then the next thing I knew we had been given a brief tour of the office and paraded in front of Namit, Narij (his Dad) and the head accounts guy (can’t remember his name). I certainly found it quite daunting to when it happened to me so it was particularly weird when it happened again with Suzie.
Later on we headed down to the Sea View hotel on Juhu beach to eat have some cheap food and a couple of fine quality Indian Fosters. More importantly it would give Suzie a chance to relax in the company of Chodu. He had been my guide and helper for the past few weeks so I had got used to him, Suzie would also need too. I should explain that since my time in Mumbai, when I often go out for dinner in the evenings I am somewhat reliant on Chodu to guide me to a suitable eating venue and one, which I hope, is as he says good quality and popular with the Mumbai residents. This very oddly entails me sitting and ordering for myself while Chodu sits and watches. He may occasionally join in, depending on the restaurant and how much I nag him to eat. I understand the nature of our relationship means he will never really sit with me in a restaurant or anywhere and join in but I guess that is just the way. As it often turns out Chodu manages to find the right kind of restaurant where he can join in not just with the food but the odd beer too. I don’t mind this at all and it eases any kind of awkwardness I feel. Hence the Sea View suited Chodu ideally and he tucked into the odd beer or three. I regaled Suzie with my adventures of Mumbai and the people I had met and the many temples I had visited, little did she know she would be visiting them the following day.
So henceforth that morning we headed down for a whistle stop tour to South Mumbai and revisit (for me anyway) the popular tourist sights. This is of course mostly made up of sitting in the car watching out the window. Getting to South Mumbai from our location takes a good hour or so. We stopped of for a Thali lunch in a very friendly local restaurant in the area called Chetana. A very smiley chap served us our food with explanations as to what was what and why – which I’ve forgotten already. I politely asked if I could take a photo of him, at which point he became duly embarrassed and the smile disappeared. I caught it eventually but it took a few goes. After the heat of the day and evening approaching we headed back to the hotel where we promptly passed out. Sunday was also lurking down upon me with a grim 7am job. Far too early.
A long hard day was had with a South Indian director who I struggled to understand. He was very sweet but it was slow getting things done. I explained to a few of his team that I was having trouble understanding him and they nodded and said, “Yes we do, he’s South Indian you see”. They didn’t seem to have any problem? The footage was lovely so I as tough as it was I enjoyed it.
Suzie and I have a trip to Goa planned now at the end of the week for a few days of sun and relaxation. Having spent what will have been five weeks of living and breathing the intensity of this chaotic city it will be a pleasant relief.
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