Over here, a very common sight at traffic lights are the beggars. You can see children, men, women, handicapped person, or a woman carrying a child begging for money when vehicles stopped at traffic lights. (BTW here they call it signal). In picture 1, a woman and a child is getting ready to "prowl" on any vehicle that stop near them and the second picture is a girl approaching a motorcyclist. As you know, my transport is the "famous" ricksaw, so its kinda easy for them to come to you. If you are a foreigner they tend to come to approach you first before the others. I remember a valuable advice given by a friend of mine, Priscilla Patrick (yep the traffic gal) NEVER give them a dime however pityful they look (infact they all look pityful) as when you give 1, you stand the risk them coming in droves as they are usually in a group. I myself had a rather uneasy encounter once. It happen when i got down from the ricksaw and reach for my wallet to pay the driver. The minute i took out my wallet, they just came surrounding me. To make matters worse, that bloke (driver) does not have any loose change. He went around asking for change while these "scavangers" crowd all round me asking for money. I scolded them, they won't go away, and they dun understand English and i can't speak their language. I was tempted to throw a bundle of 10 rupees that was in my shirt pocket so they can go away, but decided against it. Throwing money, naw not really the right thing to do. So the moral behind the story is make sure you have loose change when sitting in a ricksaw. Anyway if you have watched Slumdog Millionaire, the movie shows these people being owned by a master. I spoke to a local friend of mind who also happened to have watched the movie confirms that this is a fact and its a business.......Can you beat that?........

Food Glorious Food

So far i have my meals at shopping malls and food stalls and occasionally at fine dinning rest. This time, its buffet and eat till you drop paying a single price. The place we (me & my colluegue) went to is in Bandra West. This place is basically something like our Bangsar where richer ppl leave here. The restaurant is call Chinagate. Basically there is Sushi and Oriental Food. The funny thing is there is different price on weekends and weekdays. Since we went there on a Friday, the weekend charges applies so we had to pay more. Its Rs 650 per pax (RM49) per pax w/o tax. You see in the pic there is a glass of actually mango juice, we have to pay Rs100 (RM7.50)each. At the end i have to fork out RM 70 for this glatonous meal. I have a funny feeling we will be back again next month(wait for salary loh). Can't afford to eat here often....

Anyway, here we can see how the rich dine and with a price like that i can say only the more well to do can afford to dine here(I'm not saying i'm well to do). :-)

Food Part 2

Well this is part 2 of the food segment and food is something of a concern to anyone coming to India. My advice is be brave and have faith and as long as you dun take food from the side stalls, you should be ok.To be save, its better to get some "cirit" pills on standby. If you are looking for chinese food, forget about India. OK the first pic is Chicken Manchurian sold at the food stall near my place. Its chicken and the gravy is green in colour and a bit spicy(compared with the others), the 2nd pic is chicken manchurian combo (kinda set lunch) i had at the shopping mall near my place. And the final pic is chicken dosa (tosai) my colleague had. Tasted a bit and its not too bad. The soup here is different as it looks like those campbell soup you get from the can.

Kalian

Went to a place call Kalian last Sat, a town located on the outskirts of Mumbai. Went there by train, you know my "torture" whenever I get onto the train. Well went to visit this Mall call Metro Junction, nice place, peaceful and serene, but biz wise not too good if you know what i mean. The first thing, when we step out from the railway station is to see this horse or it is donkey (cud not differentiate) with the cart. I suggested to my colluegue to take this as our mode of transport to the mall, but looks like some one beat us......Anyway, dun think I'll be going to this place again...its just too far.

Food

Food, something that I took some time to get use to. To be honest, the food here is rather tasty. The curries are much tastier, spicier and there is more variety compared to the nearest mamak joint in M'sia. Besides McDonalds, the other dishes are typical local indian food at shopping mall and shops. The Maharaja Burger (probably the local version of BigMac) cost only Rs65. (RM 4.70). Dun know if the BigMac is cheaper or the Maharaja is cheaper. Tasted the capati the other day, well not too bad if you take it with the egg masala. The capati costs only Rs 3 per piece (RM 0.22). Extremely cheap and its no wonder the locals here eat capati more than rice. I have yet to taste the Dosai (local version of tosai). One thing that I'm am looking for an answer is why do they serve onions? Need to know...BTW one of the pics above shows 5 little drumstick. Its actually chicken wings, I've been told. I have tasted it myself a couple of times and its not too bad. Its called chicken lollypop.

Riding the train in Mumbai.

OK, one of the main means of transportation in India is the train. When my colleague suggested that we take the train to Thane, the venue of the family day organized by the M'sian Consulate, the first thing that came to my mind was a cramp journey. Well, I was partially correct. The train routes here in Mumbai is divided to 3 different lines, the Central Line, Habour Line and the Western Line. I have no idea which line to take as its so confusing and complicating and no proper signages at respective stations.

The journey was fast, as the trains come every 7 mins. Compared with our infamous KTM, these trains are really punctual. The locals use the trains often as it is more convenient compared to the forever congested Mumbai traffic.

The coaches here are segregated by the sex. So the women have thir own coach and vice versa for the men. As you can see from the pics, the men coach is packed to the brim while the female coach looks rather empty. A fine will be imposed on anyone who breaks this rule.

OK back to my journey, I boarded the train at Jogeswhari station (near my place) to Dadar and then change to another line to Thane. The journey from Jogeswhari to Dadar is like sardin. I have to pratically pushed myself inside the train, however from Dadar to Thane, I sat comfortably(pics enclosed). I bought a first class ticket for the entire journey.

In a nutshell, it was an experience sitting on a train here. After the ride, I can't really complain much about our KTM Kommuter. Afterall, it is airconditioned and here the trains have natural air.

Life in Mumbai

When you take the auto rickshaw as often as I do, you are bound to come across interesting things like I enclose in the picture above. I have no idea what this guy is carrying but the way is being carried calls for respect. When I took this picture, this guy was walking and is anyone's guess how long or how far has he been walking. The afternoon sun here is scorching and maybe the way he is carrying his stuff, his head is protected from the sun. Talk about back breaking job, this is more like neck breaking job.

We are well aware of the social status of the people. The rich are extremely rich and the poor practically have no roofs above their heads. Some will take any jobs they can find and the wages are low. But anyway survival is the main thing on everyone's mind. You can see one of the pictures of, i assume a family living on the side of the main road with only a canvas above their heads. This sorry sight is rather common here.