hot train-y mess

today, the team and i ventured out to colaba to do some shopping. colaba causeway is a huge market in downtown mumbai where you can purchase everything that is indian and awesome..and a little ridiculous at times. we went the first week while we were here but we decided to go again. last time, though, reverand wankhede's wife drove us. she couldn't drive us today so we opted to make use of mumbai's finest mode of public transit..the train.

if you are ever in mumbai, you need to take the train at least once for the experience. i've taken trains/subways in LA and boston, and they were pretty ghetto at times, but at least you got a seat and could breathe. mumbai is a city of almost 20 million people and a lot of those people rely on these trains for their daily transportation. needless to say, the train station was was packed.

we purchased our trickets at the booth for a mere 8 rupees each (about 23 cents). after waiting about 30 minutes for the train (there was a delay because of a shooting at the mall the day before..the sichs against some other religion...we were at that mall hours before it happened and saw the sich man the other religion people were mad about. he had an enterauge of men around him carrying guns. one man was killed. don't worry mom, we're ok!), i saw that there was a mad rush at the platform: the train was coming and i was in the line of fire. mara, phil, and whitney somehow quickly managed to get inside the train while allie and i were not so fortunate. people literally hang on the outside of these trains (there are no doors) because of how crowded it was. i was right outside the door when the train started moving. i started to panic a little and back away. allie screamed at me to get on and i jumped on while the train was moving. luckily, the men were very nice (and laughed a little bit at us because we were obviously scared) and let us squeeze through to come inside. it did not smell good in there, but after about twenty minutes we got to sit down. the people on the train were very nice and helpful. as i sat there on the train, though, it just occured to me how many people in this world there really are, and how many people i will never get to know. it was a strange thought to look around and wonder about their stories: the woman with the crying baby; the man carrying a really large book in marathi; the guy across from me that kept falling asleep...there are just so many people!


(this guy was hanging on the outside of the train while it was moving)

when we finally arrived at colabo, it was the madness we expected. calabo is a very long street with little stands set up covering every inch. it gets a little overwhelming when the vendors are shouting prices at you and telling you they will "make you very good deal" on their jewelry/purses/etc. at first i am always nice and say "no thank you" but after a while, i had to start ignoring them or shaking my head "no" and walk away quickly. i've become quite good at haggling, but sometimes the vendors can be stubborn. i literally got bombarded about 20 times with different men selling these stupid drums. it was RIDICULOUS. they would come by and bang them in your ear and say "you like drum? very good price, 200 rupees just for you". after i tell him i don't want one, without missing a beat (ha), another man with the drums comes up and tells/asks me the same thing. maybe he thought his drums had tighter leather or a better twang than the previous man's drums, and he had to let me see his...i mean i could have changed my mind in that two second time span.

anyways, i am still loving india and its craziness. i'm having a great time and i can't wait to go live at the orphanage for two weeks. we are also planning on visiting a home the church helps that is for child prostitutes trying to get out of the red light districts that are all over mumbai. the average age of the girls there is 7 years old. that will definetely be an experience...pray for us!