Sirens and Showers

Today I was at home most of the day working. I'd embraced it and felt motivated to do some of the work, especially planning for a teachers writing group. 

I constructed my usual work at home scene. Pillow on floor. Laptop on coffee table. Third cup of coffee. Little bit of Modest Mouse on iTunes. The photo, scene and activity really isn't new. What was new was the other activity going on in my building.

Today must have been declared fire preparedness day by my building society. What is fire preparedness day you ask? 

 It's a day where the building society checks to make sure all the fire alarms and hoses are working.  That's a good thing, right? In all fairness it is. I just had a few very special encounters with the checks today.

Wheeerr! Wheeerrr! 

Wait? What's that you ask? Oh. 

Wheeerrr! Wheeerrr! 

That's just…

Wheeerr! Wheeerrr!

the fire alarm being tested as I plan my writing group's background building and activities for Tuesday. The elusive siren failed to be captured on video. One fail due to Coldplay insisting to be turned up louder than the siren to help drown out the noise as I worked. Hence when I tried to capture the siren's "Wheeeerrr", it wasn't audible.  The second time the siren stopped just as I pressed the red record button on my iPhone. Arg! Fire alarm! Just when I'm trying to appreciate you, you stop.

After some time, I grew accustomed to the siren's periodic shouts and screams I glanced up from one of the screens and was distracted by water spraying sideways out my kitchen window. Now it is monsoon season so sideways rain can be an occurrence in Mumbai but there was no rain out my front window so I got up off the floor to investigate.

I walked into the kitchen, opened the door to the balcony, stepped out and looked down to see my car and a few others begin sprayed with water. When I took two steps forward to get a better view, the direction of the spray turned significantly to the right. I was on the right so suddenly I was sprayed with water. Drenched is more accurate. My Reese's t-shirt and pink pajama bottoms soaked. Shocked, I turned around, walked down the hall and into my bedroom to another balcony to assess what was happening outside. 

When I opened the curtains and door, outside I saw two members of my building society who both were watching the spray with appreciation. The two men nodded and smiled at one another. They didn't see me but I did slam my door loudly which to me meant they would surely know that something happened, right? 

As I was drying off and changing my clothes from the surprise shower, I started to laugh out loud. If I'd only watched the spray from inside or gone straight to the bedroom balcony, I wouldn't have had my second shower of the day. A case of wrong place, wrong time and seriously how does someone get sprayed on an inside balcony on the 2nd floor anyway? You just have to shake your head and laugh.

Sometimes you just gotta embrace and appreciate it. The unpredictability. The thoroughness.  The sideways sprays and sirens that bombard you and remember how they'll be some of the things you miss the most when you're gone.

Drive Slow! Life is Not a Race.

One of the things I wanted to do when I purchased my new car was to drive myself to school in the mornings.

When I bought my cute white car, which still remains nameless, it came with manual transmission. In most countries outside the US, manual transmissions are cheaper and a lot more common than automatic.

Until I bought the car 3 weeks ago, I'd never driven manual. Not in Drivers Ed. Not in some ancient or enormous car my dad made me drive. Not in a one of the countries I've lived in. Nope. Never.

In Mumbai, you have to remember, we don't have grocery store parking lots. We don't have school parking lots. We don't have open roads. We have 20+ million people living in a city whose roads include cars and trucks. There are double decker buses and motorcycles.  Rickshaws and bicycles carrying deliveries. There are men carrying baskets on their heads filled with yummy food and fruit vendors pushing their carts. Oh yeah, I didn't even mention all the pedestrians.

I also haven't mentioned the quantity of speed bumps, pot holes and other potential road obstacles.

I knew I'd need to practice driving stick to reach my goal.  I asked if my friend Martin, who's been my car guide along the way, would give me some driving lessons. He agreed and my good friend Shannon asked if she could crash the lesson (figuratively).

Today's lessons would be in Bandra along Carter Road which stretches around the Arabian Sea in Bandra and other suburbs. Our focus would be to practice manual by driving in real Mumbai. Okay, I should be honest. It's more like semi-realistic because Sunday mornings in Mumbai are quiet and a small percentage of the 20+ million are out in the streets.

Martin pulled the car over to the side of Carter Road. I was up first. Before today's lesson, I'd done a bit of a little blended learning about driving stick (which really means watching YouTube videos and reading a few online tutorials) just to make sure I was up to speed since lesson #1 was about 3 weeks ago.

I didn't kill the car the first time I pulled away. I just almost hit a rickshaw. As I was busy watching for traffic from behind and concentrating on making sure I had the clutch pushed down, the transmission in first gear and was working on the finding the balance between the gas and clutch, I hadn't thought about the left side of my car one bit.

One of the things that adds an extra challenge as an American learning to drive anything in Mumbai is you're driving on the opposite side of the car and road. Oops. Forgot about that. Luckily my Driver's Ed teacher (Martin) pushed the steering wheel away from the rickshaw so we didn't get off to a crashing start on driving lesson #2.

Other lesson highlights:

• My Driver's Ed teacher only had to push the wheel a couple more times to make sure I didn't hit any people and vehicles.
• I drove like a grandma or my first driver here who let everyone/thing else have the right away. Luckily my teacher knew I'd be annoyed at the comparison so I'm definitely more (read that as a little) aggressive than I first was.
• Being in the backseat you realize just how challenging the other side of the road driving is.

Driving range #1 in Bandra (two blocks of open road)

• Our driving instructor gives lots of positive reinforcement. 
• My fellow student is also really encouraging even when you almost hit something. She only made one noise for a close call.
• Having your Driver's Ed teacher drive you to Starbucks in Juhu for completing lesson #2 is the perfect reward.

I did have a few minutes where I felt like maybe I had it. Maybe I could really drive in Bombay. I drove into a very crowded fishing village area. I had to pass through narrow lanes. I had to navigate lots of people, trucks and rickshaws. This meant lots of slowing down which when you're learning to drive manual can be one of the hardest parts. I don't think I stalled the car once.  If I did, I can't remember because I was so worried avoiding people or other things. Shannon and Martin, please don't tell me if I did stall because I just wanna remember my awesomeness.

I'm getting better. It's about learning to find the friction point and the place where the engine wants to bite without causing the car to shake, stall or lurch to a stop so much. I also need to work on the added layer of being a little more aggressive like my fellow Mumbaikers. And I need to work on that final layer of sharing the road with all my Mumbai "friends" (which I refer to as anything else on the road). So, really, I need to work on everything.

Shannon and I have plans for Sunday Driver's Ed to continue. We figure if we can make it on our own to the Juhu Starbucks, then we've passed.

For now, I'm embracing the sign on the left.

Go Granny go!

Hammer Time!

For the past 8+ weeks there's been construction in my apartment building. They've completely torn up the apartment on the 7th floor (2 floors above mine).

The construction, really I should say deconstruction, lasts about 8 hours each day. It begins (on the weekends) around 9:30 am and lasts until about noon. Then the work picks up again around 4 and ends at 8 pm.

I'm lucky that I'm not here most days. Just here on the weekends if I just stay in to relax. On those days I've gotten used to it. It hadn't bothered me much lately. Even during my yoga lesson last night I was able to concentrate and not even notice it. Guess my meditation's paying off!

But today the builders raised the ante. When I got home from school around 5 pm, today there was a noise that was just a little bit louder. A jackhammer! Truly. They've been jack-hammering on the 7th floor. The jackhammer stopped just before I started to write this post.

WAIT! Ironically as I write this post, my doorbell just rang. The guard came to my door with a letter's been written by someone in the apartment society complaining. It complained of the noise and especially the recent loud hammering between 2-5 p.m. which must happen during the week while I'm gone. This hammering has disturbed the senior citizens in my building. Finally somebody else noticed! The letter also noted worries about possible leaking during monsoon season. Leaks are a huge problem already in the building. Of course, I signed the complaint.

With all of the construction, there's not just the noise pollution. There's been dust and dirt.  Spit and grime.  Some of that's a product of just work happening. Construction = dust.  But the floors of the building haven't been washed since the construction started. The walls are filthy.

Construction workers usually carry large bags of cement and things up barefoot

Recently I asked school for support in making a complaint to the landlord who's completing the remodel. I wanted help, not about stopping the noise, but about cleaning the dirt and dust that coat our stairs and hallways.  They made the mess, so they should clean it up. School replied and said that unfortunately communication with my building was difficult and suggested I consider moving to one of the available apartments. 

The hammering may continue but the dust and dirt won't bother me any longer after this summer. I decided to take school up on the offer to move. I'll be a block away and down four floors from my current spot.

Here's to hoping the blessing across the hall (and the society letter too) helps to end all of the pollution happening inside my apartment building.

Garland across on the door across the hall