I've Got You, Under My Skin

My arrival back to Bombay this year is really no different than the other three but it feels different. After spending just over 24 hours back at my home away from home (Mumbai), the small stuff remains small.

My cell phone was shut off due to non-payment for the months of June and July. No shocker there. I visited Vodaphone this morning at 10:30 to pay my bills. After making my payment, I asked if there was any other step I needed to take to have service again. The smiley representatives replied, "No," and let me know I'd have service again in between 30 minutes to 2 hours.

5 hours later, still…

This afternoon I didn't mind returning to Vodaphone. I went out in the monsoon rain, caught another rick and went to the store. This time, after some help from one of the friendly Vodaphone assistant managers, we were able to work out my account's status and why service had yet to be returned. And, with fingers crossed, they were able to return service (or so I hope as I'm still in my 2 hour window of service being returned) the same day.



I'm fortunate today because at 10:30 this morning, the inside of my car looked like this…

and now it looks like this.

With a month or so of monsoon rains (Espy told me they didn't start this till late June) my shuttered car became an enormous petri dish. Mumbaikers are used to it.  My car is my first summer mold casualty but as you can see, it's not any longer. Well, it's still smelly but at least mold removal phase one is complete. I've got loads of appreciation for my building car washer who advised me to "give oxygen to the car tomorrow" which translates to leave the windows down in the parking garage at school.

In years past (and I even think in June of last year), these events would have got under my skin and felt like an itchy, allergic rash that just pestered me.

Today however, I don't need an anti-itch cream. So I'm a little unsure whether Mumbai's under my skin in the Frank Sinatra way after living here for 3 years or if my long summer holiday is letting the small stuff roll like water off a duck's back or some other wordy analogy. Whatever the reason, it's good and if you're wondering, by the time I finished my post, I officially had service again.

Sunny Days Didn't Keep the Monsoon Away

So Saturday afternoon looked like this...

Beautiful and rare blue Mumbai skies on my rickshaw ride home from school.

And this evening around five o'clock it looked and sounded like this...

You know monsoon's finally arrived when many friends and colleagues post photos and videos on Facebook. Funny how many of us did. Sorry for the cheesy narration.

Now back to my perfect evening of listening to the rain with the windows open while reading a good book.

Growing Clouds

Clouds over St. Theresa Church along with same orange blossoms I had outside my window in Brasilia

Clouds have been growing in the skies over Mumbai. Makes me think the pre-monsoon showers may be on their way.

The monsoon's hit Kerala in the South. It usually arrives there in late May. Not this year.

It usually arrives in Mumbai on the day of the 8th Grade Celebration. Again, not this year.

From reading in the Times of India, the monsoon system stalled while out at sea. And not just for a day, it was stalled for much longer. Weeks.

Today, while I was riding in a taxi, I saw some men helping a rickshaw driver who's rick had stalled.  I'm just ready for somebody to push this system along in the same way they did.