I recall wondering in Film tutorials as to why Bollywood was so popular. Here are my revelations based on a Pen, Raigard movie experience:
BOLLYWOOD
Just got home from watching The Three Idiots. New release Bollywood film with the classic Bollywood movie traits in Hindi. I recall wondering in Film tutorials as to why Bollywood was so popular. Here are my revelations based on a Pen, Raigard movie experience:
1. The cinema is the cleanest place (it is cleaner than the hospitals)
2. Everybody is treated the same (unless you're white in which case everybody looks at you instead of the screen perhaps wondering if you understand and why you mostly only laugh at the slapstick.)
3. It is the only place in Pen with Air Conditioning
4. It is 40 to 70 Rs per ticket ($AU1 = Rs. 42)
5. The films are typically feel-good and fantastical - things have to be rock-bottom bad before they are so good and all expectations are fulfilled
6. Songs are catchy, I will get the three idiots soundtrack as soon as I get home
7. People don't have tv
8. Books are difficult to come by
9. In Pen, there are two movie theatres in the cinema complex, so it's a real treat to get tickets
10. The door boys say "namaste" - first and only time a "namaste" has been offered to me (they assume white people only need a "hi" in greeting; fair call.)
11. A range of toilets to choose from. (of course no toilet paper or soap but at least there are Western loo's) Ps: there are STILL mozzies; no escape.
TRANSPORT
The more time I spend in India, the more I understand the way the road system works. I tried to explain to one of the kids that people only beep their horns in anger, frustration or for a negative action. She simply didn't understand "But how do you know if there is someone who wants to get through?" We use lights and signs and everybody obeys the signs and rules. The concept of orderly traffic is so foreign to the locals; no wonder they stare at us, we are aliens.
I have learn't how to cross the road. At first I simply followed the locals but they walk at times where I simply wouldn't dare. The thing to understand is that people don't drive very fast. It is nearly impossibly to drive fast when there are sellers, motorbikes, bicycles, autorickshaws, dogs, cows, pedestrians, rubble, buses (never think a government bus will dodge you just because every single other vehicle will - it won't), cars and who knows what else. Motorbikes are safer than bicycles. Taxi's are not found in rural areas as they are much more pricey than an autorickshaw (Maximum price Rs. 20 in Pen to somewhere in Pen) and a more touristy means of transport. Even so you can go in a half an hour taxi ride for less than Rs 300 (that was between 5 of us).
The more city you get - the autorickshaws die out. The more rural - the taxi's die out. These vehicles are yellow and black, avoid the front seat and be stern. Fix a price and haggle it down before jumping in. Blue and white buses and taxi's are air conditioned and expensive. I wouldn't bother. If you are in a sleeper bus or an AC bus - bring woolens. It is icy. I was sleeping next to Christine and we were frozen, it was so difficult to sleep in minus zero. Well worth lugging warm stuff around on hot days to survive the AC bus.
WEEKENDS
So far our family of five has been to Mumbai and Goa on separate weekends.
To get to Mumbai from Pen it is a bus ride (Rs 23) to Panvil, rickshaw ride(Rs. 150) to the train station (where the rickshaw driver may or may not stop in the middle of nowhere and try to sell you a different means of transport to Mumbai for more than quadruple the normal price, we were just stern and demanding because after all - we are the ones who call the shots.
This guy, who tried to explain to us with little English wanted us to take his friends taxi for Rs 500 or something to Mumbai - our train tickets were Rs 15 each) and from the train straight into the heart of Mumbai where white people roam around in Western clothing. It was a real shock. So much for my traditional dress and pants combo - this was the first time I had showed my knees in public. The problem I had with this part of Mumbai was that the line between the rich and the poor is so visual. Talking about it and reading about it can make you get an idea but, of course, it is nothing like actually seeing it and feeling it. The Gate Of India is beautiful and we enjoyed taking family photo's but the people around it are just so poor. There are not too many beggars, the most of beggars I saw was while in a bus or taxi or car. (As soon as i came out of the airport our taxi was approached by a young teen boy wrapped in Ram Ram cloth.)
They approach the bus and ask for money for school or something. Another form of this is selling things like drinks, sweets, picture books, fruit, (bad) smelly flowers or they want you to put coins into a tin with a picture of a God. Reminds me of the Northbourne Ave window washer in Canberra. In Mumbai they sell packets of balloons "for sister or daughter or mother...", postcards, maps and touristy stuff. In hindsight I wish I'd grabbed balloons for the kids but I automatically turn approachers down due to personal safety and not wanting to hold up the group. So, there is a mass amount of poverty around but the city is essentially very clean and Western. I don't recall the normal piles of garbage on the roadside, or blue tarp which is everywhere else and a sincere sign of poverty. The people make more money because they are in the touristy city and their asking prices are Western prices (i call it the White Markup or White Price).
I have seen items identical to items in Tree of Life and the asking price is very similar to our shelf price - the settling price however is dramatacally less. They like to see how far you would accept. Always haggle in Westernised areas. It is fun and worth your while. Some sellers even know the exchange rates, they are tough to haggle and they know that Rs 250 is not that much money to us so why would Rs. 100 matter. They also know when you really want something. My best bargains are from when I walked away. So, I bought my silver (brutally haggled) in Goa and it was way cheaper.Anyways, the point is, Mumbai was fun and I really got a feel for what cost things should and should not be or at least on how is works. In Pen, there is not really a White Markup because there are only 5 Westerners in Pen at the moment.
We spent the night at a YWCA Hotel. $20 each for 5 of us. Nice. Western toilet, toilet paper, water pressure, our own beds and stuff, locker storage, fans, free/included breakfast and dinner. Bottled water was Rs. 20 so that was a rip off... shouldn't have needed to have spent more than Rs. 15. I recommend it.
On our second day in Mumbai, we visited The Taj Palace Hotel and Resort thing. This is where the wealth contrast struck me so visually. The important thing to remember is that spending a few hours at The Taj was a fun, fantasy land moment. Beauty care is still in Rs. so Rs 600 for a decent pedicure, i hear, was well spent. I personally didn't get anything done at the beauty parlour but the girls really enjoyed it like nothing else. I went with Bertina for a walk around The Taj. We snuck into The Taj swimming pool - it's beautiful. The pool boy even assumed we were guests until after he took our photo and I confessed. He said so long as we didn't do anything it was ok despite the fact we waltzed past the "Residents Only" sign. We went into The Taj shops and everything was so expensive. Rs 10 000 for a jacket. The service was amazing though. Also snuck into a main restaurant. It was beautiful. Everywhere you go in The Taj has (Bertina's description) Sim's style music. She is so right. It is a repetitive, mood setting tune that plays softly in the background to add a sense of atmosphere. It was in the bar that it hit me at the wealth divide. The bar overlooks the beautiful harbour with coloured boats. Through the window you can see the clean street with people in brightly coloured sari's and turbans walking past each other, some selling and some buying wares. And all it is is a window between the rich and the poor.
We gawk through the glass, placed firmly on either side. It was difficult to see especially the balloon sellers - brightly coloured, happy, eager, eye catching yet so terribly poor this is their livelihood. It is the contrast that gets me. How awful would it be if this experience was all you ever had of India. Sitting in The Taj with a drink after a hair cut in Indian silk listening to easy jazz watching the coloured fabrics. and from the other side? They have everything money can buy yet they won't part with Rs 100 for some balloons.
I stole a stack of tissues (very soft) and a "The Taj" piece of phone paper (hilarious). One for the travel diary and one because you can't buy tissues. Romantasised, unrealistic and just one great divide. It was fun and novel to sneak around the Taj until we were starting to get followed around by the security staff. It would've been an easier transition if we were in the suburbs like on my first night in the Mumbai guesthouse and it would've been easier if I didn't philosophies on Coloba. I will probably go back there for some hand and foot care before i return to Australia because the DIRT here is just so inescapable and non removable that a few hours at a disgustingly wealthy hotel salon is called for. I also had the choice to eat non-veg but... i ate veg anyways. Veg is good. Mumbai was fun but i prefer real India which starts in the suburbs and just gets more real as you go out and the people have less belongings.
To get to Goa from Pen, you must travel to Panvil to buy bus tickets for Rs 650. The bus stopped in Pen to pick us up and it was freezing cold. We tried to sleep in recliner chairs but this was less than fantastic. Wasn't too bad though. We got off at Mapusa and caught a prepaid taxi to Anjuna Beach for Rs 250 (i think). We had no bookings for accommodation and it was 7.30am and people don't check out til 10am to 1pm so we went into a cafe and had breakfast. Pretty quickly an employee of the Sea Queen called to us as we walked down a hotel strip wearing our big backpacks and such. We scored a room for all 5 of us (we refused to be separated) for Rs 1000 per night. We stayed for 2 nights but paid for 3 nights so we could stay after the 10am checkout time as our bus wasn't to leave til 9.30pm in Mapusa. Goa is a dodgey area but if you're smart it doesn't have to be. The Indian beach town wasn't always a part of India but it is very wealthy so i think India forced Goa to be a part of it. There are lots of people types in Goa. You can wear whatever you want in Goa. You can eat what you want in Goa. It is a tourist town so people are culturally relaxed. Some classic visions were on the beach and old couples wearing nothing but a too small ugly g-string plus knee length dread locks occurred more than I care to recall - pretty hilarious.
We ate at a place called Curlies several times which is on the sand of a nice beach. Everywhere you go in Goa - the people live off the water by selling boat rides, water sports, massages, drinks, henna.... they don't give up either. Christine and I went Jet Skiing and Tubing while Bertina lay on one of the free yellow fold out chairs (blue ones range from Rs 50 and up). All the beach bars employ people to invite tourists to eat and drink at their particular bar, etc... it is impossible to get RID of these sellers. They are fairly harmless. The women vendors however grab, pinch, scratch, complain and will drag you to their shop by your hair.
It happened to me - my arm was grabbed to a stall - luckily I was always with somebody and luckily when it comes down to it, I was the one with the wallet and ability to say no to insanely whitely marked up prices. The shopping in Goa is good. It's like a giant Tree of Life on the beach... I bought pants Rs250, a swimsuit Rs200, fooooooooooooood Rs don't ask and had a fantastic time in the warm Arabian Sea. I wish I had taken out more cash. I did not get burnt. I was able to wear a dress that showed both my knees and shoulders.I could wear my hair down and out. I felt like a girl. It was nice to not be so oppressed by clothing. i had no idea how it actually made me feel to wear such baggy pants and dresses all day to protect my figure from being viewed until I didn't have to anymore. But in saying that, Goa is still a part of India and full of Indians shouting "you want taxi? taxi? taxi?" after you only when you don't need a taxi. but the beaches are fantastic and you can buy anything at anytime laying on that beach from necklaces to lighters to coconuts.
It's pretty cool. There are beggars (those spiritual guys who leave everything behind because of a calling or something) but they earn quite a lot, I watched one for a while and the coins came pouring in. I personally don't give to beggars.
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