Going Native

We have enjoyed watching them destroy the old hotel across the street from the Taj. For one thing it blocks the view from some reasons. But the tearing down of the hotel is being done very differently from the way it would happen in America. We would use explosives and implode the building. Here they just use muscle power. There must be men on the roof, only equipped with a sledge hammer, banging away. Labor is very cheap in India. That is a view of SRK’s house from our window. You are looking at the top 3 floors of his 7 story house, his curtains are drawn.

In the morning we had massages then headed back shopping in Bandra, jewelry capital of the world - I think. Bandra has more jewelry stores then I have ever seen in one place. It was very hot and humid as we walked the streets of Bandra. It is very strange Bandra is supposed to be a rich city, but to us there were a lot of very poor people living very close to a lot of very rich people. Like all of India, the streets are very crowded.

When we returned to the Taj, a new store in the hotel had a grand opening. It sells a lot of textiles from places in India that we have visited. We were very surprised to see a whole display of clothes from Darshan Shah who we met in Calcutta.

We really went native for dinner. We took a tuk-tuk to a local seafood restaurant that had been recommended to us. We had Crab, Shrimp, Bombay Duck (a fried fish dish) and Vegetable rice. The whole dinner cost less than 500 rupees or 10 dollars. We ate it with our fingers in true Indian style. Tuk-Tuked back to our Hotel. Tomorrow is our last full day in Bandra and then we take a 3:30am flight home to LA, ending our time in India.