T I I (This is India).....

Got to Mumbai last night in one piece. We're staying at a friends place in downtown Mumbai. The drive from the airport to Sujals place took about an hour but it was an eyeopening combined with a burst of senses hour. I will try to paint a picture in your mind of what I saw and some of my thoughts.

We got into an old taxi (rickshaw) and headed south towards downtown. Instantly, the traffic was bumper to bumper with cars, bikes, scooters, rickshaws and people. When you arrive at a new place it's like an overload on your senses.. you smell different things, see different things, taste different things and hear different noises. I guess it all hit me at once... oh my god I'm in India.

Blink. Breathe (try not to choke from the smog).

We inched our way further into downtown. It was interesting to be in a nice neighborhood with tall skyscrapers, a Jimmy Choo store then the next turn see stacks and stacks of slum developments and kids running through the streets without shoes.

Blink. Breathe.

For me, I've been to India before I've seen the socioeconomic diversity. But every time I come here I just question it. How is there a Jimmy Choo store here but right outside of the store there's a kid running around without shoes? How does this country of 1.1 billion people function? The answer..... T I I (This is India as the expats here say).

Margee