Mumbai and the Ganesha Festival

My day started like most others. Actually, I can't really say that because everything that I have done in India has been just a little different. I started my day with a shower, but the showers here are not like showers I am used to. The shower head in the bathroom seems to have been an afterthought as it is haphazardly just put into the wall. It is about normal height for a shower head, but it is a foot right of the toilet and there is no curtain or shower basin, so you just shower and the get the floor all wet. I swear it feels like I'm doing something wrong because I just get water all over the place in that 8 square foot little bathroom.

Regardless, I showered and headed out into the world. I was excited because I would have to ride the train into Mumbai today. My hotel is about a 40 minute train ride outside of the city center so I got a tuck-tuck (that is the name for those little three wheel half motor-bike, half Volkswagen things. They got their name because that's how they sound, "tuck, tuck, tuck, tuck"...you have to say it with an Indian accent though, seriously that's how they sound) and I headed to the rail station. Once there I got into line, which was quite a long line, but moved rather efficiently. I purchased my first class ticket, which meant that I got a padded seat instead of a prison-style stainless steel one, and I headed to platform 2.

Once the train came I was already smiling. People are hanging outside, running on and off before the train even stops, it is organized chaos at it's best. I really wanted the full experience so I waited for the train to get going before I jogged and jumped on. Once on I had to make my way to the open door and hang out. It is an awesome feeling holding onto the train and letting your body hang out. I thought people just liked doing it but as the train started getting more full it got real hot and muggy and I realized that hanging outside with the cool breeze was the best spot on the coach.

I got off the train in downtown Mumbai and started to do my normal wandering. Mumbai is definitely more of a European/industrialized city than Delhi. Mumbai is India's largest city and the second largest in the world, and it definitely lives up to those stats. At any time in any nook and cranny there is a flood of people. The city itself looks right out of the Jungle Ride at Disneyland. Besides the smattering of modern buildings, most of Mumbai is buildings that the British built while India was still a colony. The buildings are all uniquely Mumbai, and they look as if at any moment the safari guy from Jumanji is going to come out riding an elephant.

I didn't have a plan for the day so I just walked around and tried to get into something. As luck would have it, I got into a mess. At around 5 o'clock I started to make my way back to the train station to catch my train home. Once at the train station I started hearing all kinds of drums, hollering, and then fireworks. I had a few minutes so I walked over to see what the commotion was about. There was a parade, people dancing in the streets, throwing this colored powder on everyone, guys on other guys shoulders playing drums, it was a huge party. There was another train later so I took out my camera and started to get closer to get some pictures. I made my way to the side of the street and started snapping away and as I was taking pictures I noticed that the people dancing and parading were hamming it up for my camera. I looked around and quickly realized that I was the only one who looked like me around. All of the paraders seemed to like that I was taking pictures so I kept snapping and wouldn't you know it after a minute I was surrounded.

All of the people dancing in the street were begging me to take their picture, tugging at me to dance, and introducing themselves and inviting me into the parade. Me being the opportunist that I am quickly jumped in the mix. Within seconds I was dancing with dozens of people in the middle of the street, throwing magenta colored powder at others as they threw it at me, and eating cake. I went from observer to participant in seconds flat. I still wanted to document this, so I was there trying to snap pictures, dance, introduce myself to the scores of children coming up to me asking me my name and where I was from, shaking hands, and being pulled in ten different directions as every kid there had something to show me. One of the kids grabbed my hand and whisked me away to a little room that housed a statue of Ganesha. That was when it hit me that this must be something having to do with Ganesha.

A few of the guys there tried to describe what the party was for, but they did not know English and my Hindi, even with all the practice I had yesterday, is non-existent at best. There are somethings that transcend language, however, so we all danced, clapped high fives, threw colored powder, and ate the cake of Ganesha. I felt like a celebrity with all of the people asking me where I was from and wanting me to take their picture. It was an unbelievable experience. As I walked back to my hotel covered in magenta powder, fireworks blasting in the distance, I just smiled and laughed to myself. I had seen an Indian color festival before on TV and I always thought they looked fun, but I had no idea they were like this. People on top of cars stopping traffic just to dance in the middle of the street, playing drums while the people in their cars let up on their incessant horn honking for a moment and enjoyed the party. Some of them even left

there cars in the middle of the street and started to dance as well.

When I came back to the hotel the owner, who is a really nice guy and always there, looked at me, covered in magenta powder, and his eyes got as big as saucers. "Oh my, goodness!" He rang out, in his perfect Indian accent. "Get a camera," he said to the other guy working there. "We need a picture. Oh my god man, what did you do?" He asked me. I told him the story and he filled me in on the 10 day Ganesha festival that is going on, then he laughed at the magenta mess I was in. He told me to get cleaned and he would make me some rice, he really is a nice guy.

I still can't believe that one moment I was taking some pictures and the next I was hanging from a truck throwing powder, dancing with kids, and eating cake. It really makes no sense to me. I came to India really on a whim, with no expectations and absolutely no plans, other than to see the Taj Mahal, and I have been overwhelmed. This is a day that I will not forget, I will just look back on it and smile.