Locomotive Excursus

Hey all! Even though we're enjoying our time here in Mumbai, we're getting the itch to travel. We've booked passage to Chennai, Tamil Nadu on the south-east coast. From there, we'll bus-it on over to Pondicherry for the Holi Festival (which coincidently falls on Good Friday) and some dank French-Indian food. (For those of you not in the know, Pondicherry is one of the settings in a little book called "Life of Pi". For those of you in the know, we'll be avoiding the primary location as well as the rather antagonistic antagonist, Richard Parker.) We'll be leaving tomorrow at 2:00 pm local time, and stuck en route for a total of 24 hours in a sleeper car. Alledgedly it's air-conditioned. We'll see though. We're hoping to work our way up the west coast before the "hot season" starts, as it's already a ball drencher now (not that I have balls, but if I did, I'm sure they'd be...well you know...). Since we'll be travelling and leaving the quasi-westernized megalopolis of Mumbai, we may not be able to update for a bit until we return to the west coast, but we'll do our best!

An amendment...
So after conversing with some fellow Bollywood Bigshots, we realised we didn't go to Elephanta Island at all...or perhaps we were on the island, but certainly not at our intended destination. The guys who sold us the tickets took us somewhere else in the ocean - it was a lovely island with really charming people - but no where near the ruins and temples we wanted to see. It was a great time all told, but it was disappointing to hear that we completely missed our destination due to the language barrier (or trickery!). I guess Elephanta is blantently tourist-y whereas our island was strangely deserted and very peaceful. I also feel better knowing we were nowhere near the Shiva Temple, as I was really bummed we had to turn back after an impossibly long hike up basalt stairs. So no big loss.

Walking back to our place from the train station, we happened to spy a little pet monkey (a Capuchin!) and it reminded us of two little monkeys back home... The wildly energentic and mischievious hairless monkeys of Colorado Springs - Cale and Caedryn. Hi guys! We miss you! Somehow, the monkey's kisses weren't quite the same...

Well I guess it's ciao for now - Now that we're major Bollywood Stars, we'll see if we can pencil a few of you in after we return. But no promises. We're jet-setters now.
Thanks Kass for the updates on the buddies. It's good to hear they're still making trouble. We put them both through a rigorous training program to ensure the most destructive tendencies possible.

Sniff you later - Colie

Hooray for Bollywood!

Howdy, all! Yes, we are still in Mumbai. It just keeps growing on us. We find ourselves quite comfy here now and have had some amazing times . . . and we just got here. We did visit the Elephanta Island, made it to the interior, scaled a mountain in some very muggy conditions, saw a dolphin, encountered a Reeces Monkey (unfortunately, no peanut butter cups . . . damn monkey), visited a village and met our rickshaw driver's mother and sister, and made it back to the mainland in time for sunset. I'm simplifying things a bit, but we'll take more time later to wax philosophic.

Okay. Here's some crazy stuff. Colie and I were asked by a scout to be in a Ballywood movie. So, after a long stretch of not working (parents, pay attention), we got jobs yesterday. Rupees 500 each for a full day's work. They bussed us across Mumbai to the studio, fed us all day, put us in wardrobe, applied make-up, and shot several scenes of what will be "Lucky Charm". The great news for me is that my past work really helped, as I played a banker. Even better, we got to pick our costumes - and I say this because that's what they were - costumes, so naturally I went for the white cotton pimped out suit with jet black polyester shirt. The suit sleeves rolled up nicely, and the highwater pants and overall color combo packed quite a wallup with my black and yellow striped trail-running shoes. If you've seen "I'm Gonna Get You, Sucka", that's what I was going for. The producers felt that Colie would look good in a power suit . . . and they were right. She pulled her hair back and really looked the part of some power broker or law office barracuda. Her make-up was crazy! ROUGE galore and psychotic cheekbones. I looked like a freak, but the producers deduced from my professional behavior that I was legit, and would lend credibility, since that's how people in Toronto (the scene's setting) dress, right? We are excited for 1/6 the world's population to see the film we worked on, and perhaps will be spotted in a few shots with some of India's most popular actors. They wanted us to come back for 4 days and have expanded roles . . . but despite how hilarious that would be, our egos couldn't win out over sloth. That's hard work. There are no labor laws here, and even though we were "actors", we were treated like commodities. We would have had to come back for the 4 days if we wanted comfort trailers . . . but the treatment still would be bad. Our day went from 8:00 am to 11:30 pm . . . well past the 8:00 to 8:00 promised.

It was hot in the studio, and a very tiring day. We both felt the process was fascinating and we are glad we did it, but one day was enough. We met other "extras" from around the world, had some beers afterward, and are meeting out again tonight for some fun. It is interesting to gain perspectives from Swedes, Norwegians, Germans, Indians, Africans, Brits, Slavs, French, Israelis, etc. The younger leading male actors were hilarious. They were certainly proud, and one refused to work past 6:00 pm, which led to some lengthy delays. The director is a top filmmanker here, a perfectionist, and was fond of yelling at the actors . . . especially the ones who were serious about their craft. Man, that was an experience. We have a new appreciation for what Pete went through working on movies in Austin, TX. We also have a new appreciation for labor laws.

I'd better get . . . again, we'll keep looking for a port to upload photos. Till the next - टेक करे एंड एन्जॉय एवेरी डे!
-John
Oops, almost forgot! We're unemployed again. At least no one was fired.

You know where you are? . . .

• . . . You're in the jungle, baby!!!
  
  Hello, everyone! We made it to the other side. We are in southern Mumbai, just off the coast of the Arabian Sea (2 blocks). The city is immense. Population of 17,000,000, where 55% live in ramshackle shanti towns. Traffic is crazy, and only stops for plump, stray dogs that cross whenever and wherever they please. We feel like we are in the midst of a primordial soup of humanity. At first, one wants to pull a Ron Burgundy (Anchorman), find a glass phonebooth, and scream, "I'm in a glass case of emotion!" Though after a stroll or two, one gets a bit used to being under the microscope.
  
  The area is visually stunning. Mumbai assualts all senses. From the architecture, the people, the animals, the mobs, the vehicles, the pace, the ocean, the bazaars, the flora . . . everything all thrown together in utter chaos. I have no idea how it works day after day. We really like it here at times, other times - not so much. We are being cautious, and plan to make it to Elephanta Island today, catch a Bollywood Flick (loved the ones on the plane) then catch a train out of here tomorrow.
  
  We'll try to post some pictures soon. These computers may be a bit slow for the task. Please take care . . . miss you all!
  -John
  
  Hey all! After an 18 hour flight, we landed in Mumbai at 2:00 am, local time. Not exactly the most reassuring hour to start an adventure in a foreign country, but we got it done. After a terrifying cab ride, we ended up in a nice little lodge in the Colaba province at 3:30 am, and we've been exploring the province ever since.
  Life here in Mumbai is fast-paced and frantic. During the day, the city is filled with sounds of business transactions, attention seeking touts, and non-stop honking. It's a bit overwhelming to the Western psyche, but we're adapting ahead of the curve and really starting to enjoy the big city adventure.
  We plan on checking in as often as we can, but for now we're ready to experience the day!
  Much love!
  Colie

*Edit - Above are a few pictures of the shoreline right near our hotel. As you can see, the architecture is astounding and its character only seems to improve with age. Unfortunately, the shantytowns are not nearly so appealing to the eye, but they are an important part of the residential structure - they are functioning sub-cities with limited ammenities and (relatively) cheap rents. The contrast is certainly very startling, and incredibly frustrating to wrap one's mind around, especially after seeing it day in and day out. The sunset picture was taken returning from faux-Elephanta Island, and it's the Gateway of India. It commemorates British Royalty visiting their Colonial Empire - an Arc de Triumph.

Test Drive

Willkommen . . . Bienvenidos!  This, our inaugural posting, is being carefully monitored by none other than Bijou, himself.  All is well, as he has yet to swat me in the eyeball.  He could, however, be internalizing his rage.  Hopefully, if that is the case, we'll be gone before he can act on it.  Most likely then he'll take it out on Kassia - who will be watching "the buddies" (Farnsworth and Bijou) while we are on our excursion.  

Please let us know by e-mail if you are having trouble posting comments to the blog.  It will most likely be difficult for us to call while in India, so the comments you post here will be a primary link for us to home!  So, post comments!  PLEASE!!!

Nothing exciting to report, yet.  We are still in Colorado, though our Spring/Summer begins on Friday!  Can't wait to explore an enormous, small portion of the Asian subcontinent, and hopefully send a little piece of it your way.  Stay tuned for more!