Welcome to Mumbai!

Long before Amit and I talked about traveling to India together, I heard about his cousin, Hardick. Amit described how Hardick, a 25 year old speed demon, would navigate the streets of Mumbai on his motorcycle, dodging pedestrians, rickshaw cabs (which are small, motorized cars), and whatever else was in his way. Once we started making plans to go to India, I asked if he thought Hardick would take me for a ride on his bike. Amit thought so, although he also told me that it might be a good idea to wait until I had some time to adjust to Mumbai's street life before I went baralleling through Mumbai on the back of Hardick's bike.

Today, we went in a rickshaw cab with Hardick's wife from their house with his wife to the drug store that he owns. From the side window of the rickshaw, I looked out on the clatter of Mumbai's streets: multiple small storefronts, vegetable stalls on the side of the road, people resting crosslegged in the dirt, women walking in saris, a cow chained to a wire fence. Hardick's store was close.

After chatting for awhile in Gujarti (with an ocassional translation from Amit for my benefit), Hardick, the brother-in-law of his wife, Amit, and I walked outside. Hardick was going to take us to an ATM since we hadn't managed to get money yet. He motioned to me to get onto the back of his bike. Amit was across the street climbing onto the bike of the other man. I got on a little awkwardly, but thanks to riding on Duncan's bike, I kept my balance as we tottered off.

Hardick went slow at first, no doubt due to my presence, but after awhile it was as if he couldn't help himself. He sped up, and we went swerving and zig zagging through the streets in the midst of rickshaw cabs, other motorbikes, groups of pedestrians, some with baskets on their heads, wild dogs, and an ocassional cow. No helmet, of course; I didn't see a single person on a motorbike with one on.

Most of the time, we couldn't go faster than, maybe, 15 miles an hour, but when we could, Hardick sped up. Sometimes, Hardick cut off a rickshaw cab so that he could speed up. The streets were full of the rumbling of engines of motorbikes and rickshaws, as well as horns. Hardick used his horn frequently. At one point, he stopped on the side of the road, and repositioned me; I sat back further, and he instructed me that I didn't need to hold on, my hands could rest on my thighs. We also waited for the other man and Amit who had fallen behind Hardick (as I would have expected). As they caught up, Hardick yelled to Amit in Gujarti, "Does she like it?". Amit nodded enthusiastically, and yelled back, "Hah, hah" which means "Yes! yes!".

I think he went faster after that. We beat them back to the apartment house by 15 minutes on the way back.

We are in Mumbai, staying with Umakaki (Amit's aunt on his father's side), Hardick (her son), Heena (Hardick's wife), and Pravati (her daughter and Amit's cousin). I don't seem to be having any trouble adjusting yet, and we had an excellent lunch.

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