TRAINS
One of my favorite moments of the entire Mumbai trip was the day we got on our first train. We were extremely punctual, and decided to wait for our train for an hour under the shade at one end of the platform. When the train finally rolled in, we grabbed our bags and walked alongside the train trying to find our car, labeled S-3. Unfortunately, we had camped out around S-14, so we had a bit of a walk.
We had each just been given a fresh liter of cold water to take on the train with us, and we were dragging our bags and our bottles along. We had just passed the car labeled S-5, when the train started moving. It started rolling slowly at first, but then we realized it was speeding up...a lot. From there it was everyone for herself.
I started to run to the first door I could find. I hopped onto the train pretty easily, but my suitcase and my arm were still hanging out the door. I didn't have enough strength to pull my luggage (and I'd even managed to pack light - quite a feat for me) into the train, so I had to jump off and try again...as the train began to speed up. I had to break into a full on run and in the process chucked my water bottle over my shoulder and to the ground. I held my bag up into the doorway of the train and hoped someone would pull it in if I yelled, "Take. Bag. Take. Bag" loud enough. But nope...some lady sitting in the hallway just stared at me.
Thank god an angel of a man told someone to take my bag in Hindi (key!) and literally pushed me on to the train.
The next step was to make sure everyone else had made it! Yep! More water bottles were lost in the boarding process, which we started to feel desperately at about hour two of the trip, but all in all, it was quite exciting - I'd always wanted to run for a train before :)
---
KULFI
My Gujurati friend living in Mumbai met me after a long day of touring NGOs in Bbay, and took me with his girlfriend to see the city. We saw the Queen's Necklace all lit up and beautiful and then retreated to the car and Kulfi Center when it started to rain. I had soooooo much kulfi, and it was so delish, and I wanted to go back the next day, and I still dream about it. My fav flav was def malai.
