December 31 2014

Today Fernando and I took a tour of Mumbai with Moira to get some shots for our documentary. Our first stop on the tour was the Bandra Train Station. This is a well known station in Mumbai most commonly used for people to commute to work. I was quite surprised to see the amount of people there. In most trains they pack as many people into the trains and in many cases people are hanging on the outside of the train. Also one oft the things that surprised me was that they had separate train cars for the men and women here, although they do have some co-ed cars as well.

Then we went to the Dadar flower market. In the flower market we watched the vendors make various garlands for New Years.

Next we went to Dhabi Ghat which is the largest outside laundry service in the world!Apparently 100% of the workers there are male, and all of the clothing is hand washed and dried. What I found the mostly surprising is that all the cloths are returned to their rightful owner with out any tags or identification or labels.

Although we did not stop we drove by the Flora fountain which is absolutely beautiful! The next stop on the tour was the Oval Maidi which is an open park to the public that is most commonly used for playing cricket. On average there are approximately 5-6 games going on at the same time. 

After that we went to "Chimanlals" which is a wonderful little shop that specializes in homemade paper cards and crafts. Some of which include bookmarks, decorations,wedding invitations and much much more! This is the place were Fernando and I managed to get a few souvenirs for our friends and family. 

Shortly after that we made our way to the St. Thomas Cathedral, which was a beautiful Catholic church was 200 years old! The statues and engravings throughout the church were so intricute and detailed.

We took a mini break from the tour and went into an India Starbucks which was so really cool! It was really interesting how the menu differed from America.

As we resumed the tour we went to the Victorial Terminals (VT) just to get get a quick glimpse of the hustle and bustle for the afternoon commute. In india it is custom that your family would make your food and send it in a lunch box called a “Tiffin”. Then people called the “Dabbawala” who would pick these tuffin boxes up from your own (again they do this without the use of tags or any for of identification like they do in Dhobi Ghet) with the expection of a number printed on the front and they would deliever it to you around lunch time.Then once you have completed your lunch the “Dabbawala” would return pick up empty tiffin boxes and return it to your home.

Then we took another break on the tour to have lunch at a popular restaurant

here in Mumbai called “Brijannia”. The food was absoultly delicous! We had Bomaby Duck, Dal (Lentil sauce) and Chicken Berry Pulao. And to drink we had a lime soda.

In India a common drink of the culture is fresh lime soda which contains freshly squeezed lime with a bit of soda (seltizer water). The taste of the drink is best described as a fizzy limeade in America.

It was then that we made our way to the Gateway to India. This is the gate to the border of India. Not far from there we were able to see the Taj Mahal hotel. Unforuntely we were not able to see the actual Tah Mahal because it is located in Delhi (which is approxiamtely 3 hours by plane from Mumbai).

After thatn Fernando and I walked around Marine Drive, otherwise known as Nariman point which is fairly close to Chowpatty beach. As the tour

came to a close we briefly drove by boththe Haji Ali ( which is a mosque on the sead) and the sea link.

Throughout the tur we took many many pictures to document our discoveries and in addition we were able to caputure plenty of B-roll footage for our documentary using our camcorder and the Go Pro silver.

Then after resting for a couple of hours after a long but eventful day Shakhar, Moira, Fernando and myself went out to dinner with 15 of Moira’s friends at a nice Italian restuarnat called Bali Village Cafe. Which is whre I had the most amazing lobster with Risotto!

Then we had a awesome New Years party!