Solo adventure

Since Matt has been working long hours Mon - Sat (they have a 6 day work week here) it sometimes it gets a little lonely trying to navigate through the day. Today I got bold and decided to explore on my own, leaving the hotel on foot to walk around the surrounding neighborhood. The day was extremely hot. My fear during the adventure came from it being a foreign territory to me, I don't know the people and the myriad of dogs everywhere are sick and I cannot predict their actions.

I only walked around the area. My camera battery was dead. I did not go into any shops (I am not a haggler) and there are not many museums or actual sites tied to history here or conserved for any reason. As I mentioned in my first post, the fascination with the city is its people... 55% live in slums here in Mumba. There is filth, pollution, etc... but nonetheless, they look somewhat happy, there is a camaraderie and a resiliency to them. It's fascinating... I was reading something about the city saying that one of the main attractions is that it is a city that found itself growing in population exponentially, wasn't prepared in terms of its infrastructure / drainage / sewage / etc, yet still, after all of this time it defies logic and hasn't imploded on itself. People just keep on living. The city itself actually could have potential of finding its way out of some of this mess, but leadership of the city is consumed with arguing about culture and dialect rather than proper fixes to inadequate infrastructure, etc. As a tribute to how peaceful the people are but also to the city's downfall and why it is in such a bad position, all the people do is complain but it doesn't amount to much more than that... so no real improvements or advances are made... life goes on.

Though I don't feel completely unsafe around the people, I am bothered by the relentless unfaltering stares that I get I'm told because I am white. I can't tell if they hate me or are just not used to seeing people like me because the area is so homogeneous. But literally, people will stop and turn to stare... turn 180 degrees around in their seats and look. Our hotel is full of business travelers from all over the world of various backgrounds, but when you step outside of these walls it is a different story.

In any case, it wasn't much but it was something new for me.

Tonight I am going to Caryl's for dinner / girls' night while the boys are out in Surat on business until about 10 PM.