Pictures, Long Overdue

Okay, so these pictures are very old... but they help add some color to stories that I really haven't talked about yet. These first few are from my 4th of July weekend in Mumbai.

**Note: I realize now that I've already talked about the 4th of July weekend adventures in an earlier post, meaning that the following picture captions are bit redundant. I'm sorry, but I'm also too lazy to change them now that I've typed them. :)

There was really nothing to do on Saturday, the actual 4th, since the expat BBQ was on Sunday, so Liz, Reilly and I decided to go watch Kambakkht Ishq-- the Hindi movie with that addictive song! It was CRAZY-- as in Sylvester Stalone was in it, beating up people with a parking meter he'd ripped out of the ground. And sidenote: this movie was worse about horribly political incorrect portrayal of African Americans than anything I've seen in the US. It was so shocking it made us laugh. In total, absolutely nothing was realistic, and I could understand everything that was going on even though I didn't really understand all the dialogue. If that gives you an idea... but it was fun! We laughed more than Reilly (left) and Liz (right) posed by the poster afterward.

And we emerged from the theater in to THIS. The whole city was swamped by monsoon for the next 24 hours. It took us over an hour to get home from the theater because all the rickshaws were taken, we got almost submerged IN our rickshaw as we were going home, and I found out that my shirt didn't hold color well because it bled blue all over my skin and clothes from getting so wet. Still trying to figure out how to fix that.

Miraculously, we did make it home and it dried up enough the next day to go to the party the next day. It was in a lounge by Juhu Beach, and seriously one of the nicest places I have gotten to be in since I got here. There was a wall of windows so that you could see the beach in the background, there was a grill with unlimited (veg) burgers... just very relaxing. Thank goodness, after the adventure of the previous night!

Reilly, me, Theo, and Liz. Theo and I hung out while Liz and Reilly saw friends and played DJ-- I could only be there for 2 hours, but it was nice to finally chill out with good food.

This is a terrible picture of me, but it's a cute one of Liz and you can see the beach in the background. :)

I added some new people to the walls once I got home (only took me 4 weeks to put up all my pictures, lol). Even when it's fun, it's always good to reminded of home/Princeton. :P

More pictures. The bottom one is of me and my 09-10 roommate-- Amy!!

Two weeks ago all of us went out together to Soul, a lounge which is in the same district as the Shisha Cafe that we'd visited before. This place was awesome! I had Goan fried shrimp and the atmosphere was incredible (if a bit loud).

Here was our live band... playing classic American rock songs. I liked it.

Surveying view of the rest of the restaurant. We ate a little "early" so that we could get home before 10:00pm. Some of the hostel girls (not me) get locked in their houses at that time, and we were really bummed we couldn't stay! It wouldn't be until later the next week that we really experimented with curfew...

Kaitlin and Preston-- very cute. We were taking bets on how long it would take them to officially admit they were together... and the people with the shortest bets won. :)

Hyun ordered popcorn shrimp... and this is what she got. Hysterical! We all took pictures.

Rebekah and I

Preston getting ready to pay the bill.

I was so busy with school and work that I didn't really take pictures again until we went out last Wednesday night. We went on a mission to find the Hard Rock Cafe, which we were told was straight down a well-known road. What that APPARENTLY meant was "go way down the main road in the dark while passing sketchy construction sites looking for a gravel road on your right that has no markings for HRC and then walk all the way down that muddy path and then you'll see the restaurant." Hyun, Jessie and I were so happy when we got there!

The front of the place, which was hidden behind 2 other places besides being down a backroad. Not really prime time real estate.

Teehee. Hard Rock in Devanagri.

FINALLY everyone arrived in one piece (we took different rickshaws)... including Kaitlin and Preston, who had accidentally sat down at the wrong restaurant!

The menu was expensive, but there were good food and drinks. Rebekah and I got matching mocktails.

Here's the stage where the cover band played. I was happy that they played Guns n' Roses, and Rebekah liked the MJ (we've come to the conclusion that he may really be dead).

The chandelier of saxophones! It just made me laugh.

Okay, so I thought I'd take pics of Devaki's house at least once. Devaki's family has lived in Pune for generations, so this is the entrance to her family compound in the center of the old city. It's called the "Erande wada"-- home of the Erandes (her name).

All of these rooms inside the door belong to Devaki's family (and extended family). The rooms are small, but the whole place has this historic feel to it. They've also done a nice job with decorating.

Speaking of decorating, this is Devaki's "backyard" behind her set of rooms-- she and her friend painted the stone steps around the temple and tree! It makes the whole place much more colorful, and it seems to fit the cultural character of the whole old city.

Okay, class time now, but I'll post more pictures as soon as I can. :)