Maria in Bollywood

Dear all, I recieved a call from my parents wednesday night saying that my grandmother's not well. So, going home tomorrow night and don't really know what will happen. Just wanted to let you know. Miss you all, kisses ... read more

Dear all, I hope you all are doing great and are enjoying the last summer days (well, it should be summer for most of you). It’s two o’clock in the morning and I’m all alone in the apartment which, in this city and with these living conditions, is an amazing feeling. I just got back from a day of shopping followed by watching the latest Bollywood success. It’s all in Hindi of course but following the dialogue is not really necessary to get the picture… The funniest part was actually not the movie but the moment before when everyone in the audience had to stand up while they were playing the national anthem. This Tuesday was a public holiday (Independence Day) so we took the opportunity and went to Goa over the weekend. We are still ... read more

dear all, I hope you are all well. Thank you so much everyone who's been writing asking if i'm ok. Well, this city never seize to amaze me... Within one week one thing after the other happened and before tuesday's horrible events I really though I'd seen it all. Funny thing though, everything is goin on as normal. people are just as stressed and hard-working as always and the trains are jammed-packed again. I talked to an Indian friend yesterday who is punjabi and asked him why everyone stays so calm, not afraid to take the trains just a few hour after the bombs, and he just said "well, that's Mumbaikars, they just live their lives like that but I'm not from here so I'm getting scared". I guess that really explains it, people her have ... read more

Hi everyone! This is Maria's sister writing to tell you that she is safe. She is still in Mumbai, but is trying to stay out of the worst areas. /Sofia... read more

dear all, Ever since I came to Mumbai, I've been caught up in philosophical discussions on religion, healing, energy flows etc so I guess I'll start this entry in a somewhat related way by stating that life really does offer some rides sometimes but to every end there's a new beginning... Ok, sorry bout that, I guess I'm not so good at being philosophical after all but things have been a bit shaky lately... As you know, I have been working a lot and the organization is really in a start-up phase with all the problems of communication and lack of structure that comes with it. With a boss that's trying desperately to micro-manage everything and getting different directions from other people I have found it really hard to be efficient and I've tried over and ... read more

Hey everyone! I hope you are great! So I think I'm finally getting used to this place, monsoons and all. Unfortunately the job-situation has gotten really bad. I won't go in to what's happening though, to depressing :) So, some good news, I'm moving to a new appartement next weekend! No more bed bugs, no more slums and three people in two bed rooms as opposed to six! The area is a lot safer and fairly close to shopping and some bars so I'm really happy. Ellen, my norwegian room mate left the 14th so right now its just me and the boys. Not too bad though but i do sometimes get aslight allergic reactions to all the testosterone flying around :) Anyways, Elllen was taking a nightflicght the day before my birthday, and after having ... read more

Hi everyone! A new, more positive Maria has come to life and therefore last weeks exteremely wining input has been deleted! Well, the truth is I just realized that writing the name of the campaign I am working on, while at the same time complaining might not be the best idea considering that this is a public forum... I hope you are all well, still miss you, as always. I will put some pictures on this sight soon, but since I've fallen into the Mumbai-trainee habit of thinking that every thing that takes more than five minutes is a huge effort, I am still trying to collect enough energy to move my pictures to a memory stick and then actually bring it to the cyber cafe. Anyways, last thursday a guy from the office took me ... read more