On the way to the airport, we passed by a lot of beggars, women carrying very small babies through freeway density 7 lane traffic, stopping at stopped cars to ask through the windows for some money.
I saw one woman sitting under a flyover, cloth over her head, forearms on knees, looking down at the road.
Her eyes were so acutely sad.
posted by wtanaka at
3/12/2003 09:40:00 AM
Later that evening in Mumbai, I tried to get a cab to the airport (this was what was suggested to me by the people that I met on the train). I forgot the price that it should cost, so I did a little shopping:
to cab driver 1: i want to go to the airport
[he waggles his head in the Indian 'yes' and waves his hand toward the back seat]
how much?
meter only
i want to know about how much..
meter, meter
just tell me about how much it will be
[pause] 200 Rupees only.
I walk off.
to cab driver 2: i want to go to the airport
[he waggles his head in the Indian 'yes' and waves his hand toward the back seat]
how much?
meter
tell me about how much
200
I walk off.
At this point, others are starting to get into the action. One punjabi guy comes and says I can take you for 160. I say someone said it should be about 100. He says no no..
I keep walking. Next driver says 200. No wait come back, 180... 170!!! OKAY 150!!!
So I start walking back toward the cab. There's now one of the guesthouse hawkers following me around saying, go with him, he'll give you 150 (pointing at each different taxi driver that we pass). I'm about to climb into Mr. 150's car's back seat when he says ok 170. I turn right back around and walk away again, this time for good from someone who is clearly going to be dishonest about the whole thing. He yells 160! Ok 150, 150 150!!!!
He then proceeds to grab my left arm with both his hands and pull me toward his cab with all his might. This was actually very irritating, and it was difficult to keep my balance with my large pack on. I'm thankful someone didn't try to pick my pocket at the same time, as I wouldn't have been able to do anything with this 100 kilo guy hanging on my arm. However his plan to kidnap me into his cab did not work, as he pulled me so hard that I stumbled and ended up standing on his sandaled foot. He was determined enough to continue pulling for a second or two more, but then let go and I walked along my way.
The next quotes went higher: 200, 300, 250, 180... Another man materialized next to me. This one was saying that he was going near the airport since he lived near there and did I want his help with a cab. I said, are you going to the airport, and he said something about no, but he lived near there only. This answer confused me enough to convince me that he might not be actually only trying to help, so I started to ignore him.
Then the punjabi guy appears again, and says ill take you for 150. After hearing the range of quotes, I know that 150 is probably only about a 30 to 50% markup if I am lucky, and this guy has been the most honest so far out of everyone that i had dealt with the entire evening. So I go with him.
In the car, I kept wondering if I was getting ripped off... wanting to go back on my decision.... But I didn't say anything and tried to keep myself feeling centered. I wonder if 'resolve' will always feel this uncertain.
posted by wtanaka at
3/12/2003 09:37:00 AM
On Udyan express from Bangalore to Mumbai, I met some professionals living in Mumbai. They were interested in my digital camera and started up a discussion about it. They told me that instead of waiting to get to the main Mumbai station that I should get off at Dadar, which was only about 10km away from the airport, and the location of food, internet cafes, and shoes and shirts (since I was thinking out loud of partaking of all of these things). I arrived in Dadar and was pretty quickly accosted by people asking if I wanted a guesthouse. I told them no, but I did want to find an internet cafe. They actually pointed me in the right direction.
Along the way, I saw a shirt place with a shirt that looked interesting from afar. I just wanted to look at it. The guy outside the store really wanted me to go in the store. The conversation went like this:
[i look at the shirt]
guy at store: come inside sir
[i look at the shirt more]
guy at store: what would you like to buy sir? please come inside.
me: maybe if I could look at this one shirt
[he takes out the shirt from the display case]
[i look at the shirt]
guy: please come inside
me: i think i'll pass on this shirt
guy: please come inside, i can sell you a shirt
me: thank you very much
I walked to the internet cafe which had a CD burner but no windows 2000, so I couldn't burn a CD of pictures there.
posted by wtanaka at
3/12/2003 09:23:00 AM
This kezboard is all swissified. The z kez is where the y kez should be, and the y kez is where the z kez should be. It�s verz frustrating. Not onlz that, several of the punctuation characters are in different places+++++
posted by wtanaka at
3/12/2003 09:14:00 AM
2003-03-12
After being in Asia for a while, walking through the Z�rich airport seems surreal, fluorescent, new, clean. I get the impression that I'm walking through an MC Escher painting
