surviving the first day

Not incidentally, our flight to India included a 22-hour stop in Helsinki. Culture shock addicts will understand the extra boost that a visit to one of the quietest, coldest and roomiest lands of the world gives to the kick of being engulfed by tropical heat and total chaos, the first wave of which comes at you full throttle in the form of a million taxi drivers and beggars. The contrast gives a good shake to all the body systems and senses.

Mumbai is arguably on top of the list of the most congested places on the planet. 16 million people are crowding on a peninsula the size of a middle sized European city, all somehow finding a living in the chaotic sprawl of streets where even taxi drivers have difficulties getting around. Chaotic but promising - Mumbai is India's economic capital, accounting for over a third of the national BDP. Whether it's computer software, a share of fame in Bollywood or scrapheap challenge in one of Mumbai's many slums, the city seems to fulfill just enough dreams to keep the river of immigrants, fed by nationwide periphery, flowing.

The chaos has obviously found it's way to the Indian cuisine as well - anyone unfamiliar with Indian food will be at a loss when looking at menus. Luckily, the staff at a random restaurant apparently knew better what we wanted and brought us a selection of food of unknown origin. All of it was nothing short of delicious and even the two of our party that seem to know their way about Indian food, licked their fingers. That would be right hand fingers of course, the left hand is used by Indians at other parts of the body… Let’s just say it’s a good thing to keep toilet paper in stock here.

Anyway, our first encounter with local food was very positive, I hope my gastro-intestinal response will be just as accepting.

Today we’re in for another dose of chaos – Indian Railways, the most complicated and intricate railway system in the world. Not surprisingly, it’s also the largest single employer on the planet. I guess we should be able to book some tickets there.

Alright folks, take care, and make sure you keep a healthy measure of chaos.