Mumbai, not the wedding

Treated myself to a couple nights of this.

Then reverted back to more of this.

Can you say slacker advertising staff?

Hey I used to wear a Fubu hat, too.

On the Haji Ali causeway.

Couldn’t resist.

Beast of a train station.

Lots of pick-up cricket.

I spent several painful months writing my senior essay about this kind of thing, but I’m still always amazed how, on a quiet Sunday afternoon, some streets in Mumbai or Hong Kong or Kuala Lumpur or Shanghai can all look the same, with that twisted charm of Empire, at once appeal and disgust that you’re suddenly in Victorian England only it’s hot and muggy.

I didn’t come across any kind of official markings or memorials, at least not in English. There was one long wall parallel to Marine Drive that I saw while speeding by it in a taxi that had a mural of not-quite-graffiti, “I love Mumbai” painted every few meters, accompanied by some pretty graphic artwork as well as stronger statements against terrorism and evil and that sort of stuff. But in the places where it all went down, the only explicit recognition of the attacks, that I could read, was on the boarded-up perimeter of the Taj Mahal Palace, which pronounced that it was “Restoring a symbol of Mumbai’s enduring spirit and dignity.” And even that doesn’t really count as explicit.

The creepiness of the carnage was its nonchalant-ness, right? That those guys pulled up in a little boat like this to a ramp like this and just ambled their way up and across the road and into the city’s most luxurious hotel. It’s straight out of Counterstrike, and that’s not meant to be amusing; that’s exactly what freaks me out the most.

I’m sure throngs of people have always gathered at this waterfront and just hung out for hours watching the boats come in, probably for centuries, even, as long as they’ve been allowed to. I’m sure if I had come on November 25 last year, I could have taken the same picture. But I couldn’t help but see all these people and think about what happened here and imagine that they were all almost standing guard, keeping an eye out for who or what might be coming over the horizon, and making sure those bastards stay the hell out of their city from now on.