Bombay (Mumbai): 7June07

Welcome to Bollyhood!

This would be the last day for 3 of us to hang out together. It was the end of the trip for Vivien. He needed to go back to Coimbatore (near Chennai). He is doing his finally year University internship in an Institute over there. By this time, we had talked about so much of our life: our family, our job, our love story and our dreams. There was a kind of affection that making the separation sounded bad.

We had no particular plan. We walked from Colaba (where we stayed) to Victoria Terminus Railway and took a rishaw to Chowpatty Beach. There were beggars every where, but they kind of 'work' in a family. i have mixed feelings on whether to give or not. If one ruppee could help them to not to starve for a while, why not? But in the other way, i feel reluctant to be surrounded by other beggars who in the end will push and pull me trying to get the same. i don't want the one rupee to be an encouragement for the children to 'inheritage' the career as a beggar too.

Bombay has the biggest slum in the world. This is a place with absolute rich and poverty gap. i think India is really in need of population controls. Why people wanted to born a dozen of children if they couldn't even feed themselves? Matt said, Hindu believed that you will go to hell if you don't have son and like Muslim, child is a gift of God. So there is simply just no education to many regarding on this issue. This is probably a problem with no solution.

Something interesting for the day was, we were wanted by some 'star search' from Bollyhood. Basically, they need foreigners to walk at the background of the main characters to feature some foreign university scene. They would pay us 500 Rs for one to half day. It would be an interesting Bollyhood experience, but too bad, we did not have enough time for that and we rejected the offer.

Cost: 700 Rs



Around Victoria Terminus, many auto-rickshaw and taxi drivers were waiting for passengers. Golden rule: Always agree with a price before you go to any where.



Chowpatty beach and many birds...