My Many Mumbai Mates

Being here in Bombay we are very privileged to be with Denise. Not only has she arranged our stay here at ADAPT where everyone is so friendly, but she also has all kinds of friends who have come in and talked to us about all kinds of stuff. I've already mentioned Manav, who was an excellent tour guide our first two days here and Joy who is just that, a joy, to be around. Also there is Manav's wife Carissa who is a very busy and successful woman so we have not been around her too much yet but she is also great to learn from as a Westerner who has fully integrated into Indian life. There's also her friend Leenata who has set up our meditation retreat at the end of the course and is just a fabulous woman.

Recently we got to meet Baba Ji, a hindu holy man and a very entertaining intellectual. He has basically renounced all of his worldly possessions (including his family) to completely devote himself to Hinduism. He found out that Ren and I have Jewish roots and immediately got excited and started talking Old Testament. He is a wealth of knowledge and a very talkative, fun guy to be around for someone who once took a vow of silence for three years.

The four of us with Baba Ji


Then there was Claire, a young woman from the UK who works with Joy. After three years of working in London after graduating college she packed up and came to Bombay, not knowing a single soul here really (talk about chutzpah!). The other night we had dinner with her, Joy and another of Denise's friends Tushar. Tushar, as I put it at some point in the night is really India incarnated. By that I mean he is the perfect example of the clash between modernity and tradition that you see all over India. He is a very spiritual Hindu, but at the same time a very successful business man and probably one of the smartest economic minds in Bombay. Again a great guy to talk to whether you want to learn about hinduism, discuss the world's struggling economy or just hang out and talk about movies.

Also there's Johney, who lives down the hall from us with his roommate Nickel, a busy lawyer. Johney works with software and is a real hoot. He loves movies and he and I talk every day. Yesterday he asked me to go with him for a walk on the waterfront at an area called bandstand. I assumed he meant a walk on the beach so I slipped on some sandals and off we went. In fact he meant he was going for his nightly power walk along the water. While I wasn't expecting the exercise (or the resulting sweat bath it gave me) it was nice and the conversation was great. He especially liked when I told him about America's Food Network and how, to me, it is produced just like porno but with food instead of sex and a resulting hunger instead of horniness. We talked everything from sports to women to Sri Lanka which he tells me is amazing and even cheaper than India. Here are some pictures from our walk by the waterfront:





One morning I had Johney explain an Indian phenomenon for everyone back home. Basically, here, they not only nod "yes" and shake there head "no", they also have a third, very common expression in which they sort of wag their head back and forth to say "maybe" or sometimes "ok". Check out Johney's explanation:


Yesterday I whipped out a basketball I bought at Big Bazaar (basically India's target) for the school here and pretty soon made several new friends here at adapt who joined me for a shoot around.

Last night Denise threw a party for us and we met all kinds of successful people from all over Bombay. The best part was that most of them work in media, photographers, a record producer and several people in TV and film. I got to talk shop with a Bollywood producer and cinematographer, as well as a commercial director and cinematographer. Overall it was a very fun night though I restrained from trying to get a job here. As much as I'm loving my trip I don't know if I could handle the climate year round, especially considering that the temperatures and humidity we're getting now are as mild as they get.

Oh, and here are some Indian school children who I randomly met on the street and taught how to high five: