Monsoon Monlater

From the roof access of our building, right above us on the twelfth floor, you can see from the fishing villages of Madh Island to the string of lights leading to Cuffe Parade. Friday evening after the sun went down, the sky became just a cloudy expanse, absorbing the light and air pollution produced by the city below. As much as I would have loved to lay face up and watch the night sky in such clear weather, smog is a pretty boring view. You will never see stars in the Mumbai sky - they all fell and landed around the Arabian Sea. The monsoon was late again this year. With the wind picking up, you instinctively knew that something was coming and the dry heat was into its last days hanging around the city.

Saturday was spent in the south at HR College. Our organization taught the medical portion of a monsoon preparation seminar. The session included volunteers modeling makeshift flotation devices from water bottles, produce bags, and other trash - probably the greatest 20 minutes of my job.

The entire event was in Hindi so it was a welcome break to have a performance. I absolutely loved this. You don’t even know.

Sunday was spent at the national park outside of the city. On our “Lion Safari” it began pouring outside – the first real rain of the year. I was soaking wet but glowing – the kids kept screaming on the playground and couples moved under trees to take shelter. Within moments the entire forest was transformed and dusty patches of lawn where we laid down for a break in the afternoon were massive muddy puddles, soon conquered by large and excited Indian families.

There were also some [ Incredible! ] caves on a peak in the center of the park. We were only able to spend 10 minutes since the park was closing but I am definitely going back. If I am ever the head of Top Model - Bombay I would do a ridiculous shoot on the large black rock covering the bald mountain. You should watch it.