Half marathon

Last Sunday Mumbai had to wake up early since the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon 2011 hit Mumbai. In a crazy mood a few friends of mine and myself had decided to run the half marathon which is 21.098km or 13.1miles. Of course it sounds a little crazy to expose yourself to such physical endurance in this climate but I had ran the half marathon a couple of times in the past so the decision was easily made in the end.

After months of preparation and the last 2 weeks even refraining of all kind of 'bad' behaviour like drinking:-) finally the day was there. On Saturday evening there was a "little" stress moment when I found out that my ladies had chucked away all my marathon stuff, e.g. my bib and my time chip. Luckily like a good Indians behave they did not really put it in the garbage but had stored it and I could retrieve it. Needless to say that my blood pressure went up just a bit..:-) Since the event started at 6.15 am (pfff) I got up at 4.00. After a huge breakfast we went off to the start. For the half marathon 11.000 runners were expected so it was kind of busy... It was surprisingly well organised in a way that crowd stayed clam and there was not a lot of pushing and shoving as we expected. They even had a separate holding pen for Veterans (yes unfortunately the category where we were running in...:-( at least that was what the sign said, but after 20 meters everybody ended up in the same area and we all had to start from the same place. All of us were relieved when finally we started and were heading for the Sealink which was one of the absolute highlights of the race. It was still dark when we crossed. When the sun came up behind the high risers it was a wonderful sight. Gabriela and I ran the majority of the race together which was a pleasure. Experiencing Mumbai by foot is totally different than going around by car. Another positive thing was that at this early hour the temperature was fairly low and chilly sometimes which helped a lot or could have helped a lot to achieve a good time. When we almost hit Chowpatty Beach we saw the front runners of the marathon passing by and it felt like a flock of gazelles passed us. It was a wonderful sight and both Gabriela and I got goosebumps just watching them. Of course when you realise that they run the full marathon faster than we the half one it is slightly dis encouraging....

Well we all made it safely to the finish and were proud of ourselves that we achieved it. It was a great event to be part of and I am very happy that I have shared this with my friends who all ran. Also thank you to the friends who came to support us at that ghastly hour.

My time is NOT worth mentioning since I did not improve myself at all and am disappointed after the all the effort I have put in. So for the half marathon in Vienna (17 April) the goal is set and a lot of work lays ahead:-))

The Bandra shopping experience

After spending 3 weeks in Europe and enjoying even the Czech supermarkets I thought it was time to share the grocery shopping experience here in Mumbai and in particular in Bandra. In Bandra we have a market for veggies, fruit, meat and all kinds of other things called Pali Market. Even before I moved I was told that this is the place to be for a great shopping experience. At first sight I was a little surprised, is this where everybody was raving about??? It looks dirty, I see rats running through the shops and where is the refrigerated dairy section???:-) But after a closer look I do understand why people tend to go there. They simply got (almost) everything you would want. The stalls sell fruits and veggies and all try to lure you in. Of course you choose your stall based on recommendation by your friends so the sellers are very keen to draw your attention and make you their client. Whenever they see you approaching they will instantly help you, it doesn't matter that they are already helping another customer. Furthermore they always keep something 'special' for you hidden under the counter, either it is better quality or some rare European vegetable..

Across from the stalls are the shops that sell almost anything you wished for and if they don't have they can order it for you. When you enter the shop somebody will run to you and you either point out what you want or you handed it to them. Madame shouldn't carry anything herself obviously..:-) Once finished they use the good old calculator to determine what you must pay. No money on you? No worries, they will write it down and you pay them later:-) The butcher is also worth a visit. The first time I went there and asked for chicken he took me to the back asked me which one I would like to have. They keep live chickens in cages and you take your pick. I declined the offer firmly but friendly and we agreed that he will just give me chicken without any options to choose from..:-) The best thing though is the fact that everything will be delivered to your home or at the neighbors who happen to be Dutch too and of course we all look alike… But no more carrying of shopping bags is one of the great things of being an expat in this country.

Monsoon Mumbai

After spending a long summer in Europe we returned to Mumbai on 10 August. It was quite an adjustment after being in Spain, Holland and Prague for almost 10 weeks. We had to get used again to the aspects that expat life brings into your life, especially living in Mumbai. No unplanned car trips, lovely supermarkets with a great variety of products or just popping over to see grandma and grand dad. But everything comes to an end and the kids had to go back to school.

At the moment it is monsoon season which started on 5 June and will continue till approximately the end of September here in Mumbai. According to the media this at least 2 weeks later than normal.

The amount of rain varies from day to day. There are days that it rains only a couple of times, sometimes drizzle and sometimes heavily. Last week it was really bad and I even lost the view of the ocean because of a rain curtain blocking it.

It is heart breaking to see the circumstances that people who live on the street are dealing with now. Everything gets soaking wet and a blue plastic cover won't keep the heavy rains of their belongings. In this time of year people use great amounts of blue plastic to protect their belongings, houses and even verandas are covered with it.



Even the inside of our apartment is damaged by the monsoon, clothes and leather goods are getting moldy and some of the walls that are exposed to the water too long are giving in. So we have the ventilators and ac's running day and night. Last week the first batch of workers started their repair works in the maids quarters and stair case. Also our play room and bed room is damaged. I am afraid it will take a long time before everything has dried and the walls are back to normal.

The monsoon also has a positive side. The air is clean so running outside is actually enjoyable and everything is green and the streets are washed clean. The reservoirs for drinking water are filled and because of the heavy rains the expectations for the crops are very positive. And this is what India needs: enough water and food to feed all its people. So no complaining but grateful for nature is delivering.

Calcutta

Last week Dick had to go on a business trip to Calcutta and I decided to tag along. That turned out be a great idea. Calcutta or Kolkata how it is called today used to be the capital of British India until 1912. There are a lot of old English building and the majority of them are reasonably well maintained. I was actually surprised how the clean and well organized the city is, especially in comparison to Mumbai.

I found a tour agent on the Internet and booked myself a guide for the whole day. He took me to most of the interesting sites and we strolled along the river Ganges, the holy river. We also went to the Mother Teresa house. This is the place where she lived and is buried now. I found it really impressive, the whole atmosphere is very serene. The organisation it self is still operating and continues with their work to help the poorest of the poor. Here is a link to their website with photos when they celebrated her centennial birthday last year. Unfortunately the memory card of my camera was corrupted so the majority of the photos are deleted. Another highlight was a tram ride in a very ancient tram which was good fun.

The next day I went to visit a school called Loreto Day School Sealdah. This school is a run by an Irish nun who is living in India since the fifties, Sister Cyril. When she came to the school she thought that the space should be used more efficiently and she decided to use parts of the building as a shelter for the slum kids, called Rainbow children. These kids are taught here (partially by the kids who go to school here regularly), fed and well looked after. This initiative has resulted in a wide spread organisation with many different projects to support the poorest children and provide with basic education. I met Sister Cyril when I was there and she is an amazing woman. I have deep respect for her and her organization and all the projects that they run. They really make a difference in the lives of the poorest kids. ING is sponsoring this project through Holland through an organisation called the Partnership Foundation.

This month India accepted the Right to Education Act which means that every child in India has the right to go to school. Unfortunately there are not of schools nor staff to provide this, furthermore child labour is still something very alive. Even in domestic households children are still put to work and are not able to got to school, even very young ones like 5 or 6 years old. Here is an article on this subject. I am still shocked that this is happening here. Probably very naive of me.

It was a great trip and I hope I will be able to return with the kids to take them to the school and show them the nice places that Calcutta has to offer..

Go Indians go!!

Yesterday we went to an IPL 2010 cricket match together with a group of friends. This a yearly event which runs about 4 weeks. There 8 teams participating from all India. Usually the owners (or co-owners) are Bollywood stars and you may even catch a glimpse of them if you're lucky..) They play so called T20 matches. A T20 match hardly takes more than 3 hours to finish. In this fast paced world, people don’t want to wait for 5 days or even a single day for the result of a cricket match. We were intrigued by all the controversy beforehand since Shah Rukh Khan, one of India's Bollywood heroes had publicly disagreed with the political decision to refuse the Pakistani players their visas. This stirred the whole country so we had to check for our selves what is was all about and we were in for a big surprise. T20 matches are indeed a big spectacle, it is party time for 3 hours. The whole crowd goes crazy and they use everything to show how they feel.

The match started at 3pm and finished at 7.45 and WE WON(Ok the Mumbai Indians..) with 4 runs (4 points in human language) !! I had never expected that I would like this game so much. It got a lot of similarities with baseball so that makes life a lot easier. Noah and Milan also came a long but they both were not very interested unfortunately. We went to Breach Candy afterward where we evaluated the game and had a few drinks and food. My throat was hurting because of the cheering. Hopefully we can go again this series since it is great fun and very exiting!

Here are a few pics of the match and the spectators. See anybody familiar..??

Update and miscellaneous

It has been a while since my last posting, apparently not enough time to sit down and write something. Highly surprising since I have the feeling that my days are basically filled with hanging around, waiting and sitting in traffic. The latter is not surprising since the traffic can be horrid sometimes.

Kids have settled in quite nicely at school and seem content and so is Dick. The boxes are almost unpacked and I am afraid that the majority will remain unpacked..:-)

The children are enjoying their after school activities, merely organized by school. For Milan we found a football club where he goes 3 times a week called the Indian Tigers. (http://www.indiantigers.co.in/)

Our apartment in very comfortable and the BBQ is working perfectly. Up until now the weather has been gorgeous. Relatively cool with a breeze, but it is changing. You can feel the humidity is getting higher so it will feel warmer. I started running and training for the half marathon next year January. Found a running buddy who is very kind to put with me because after doing nothing for 2 years there is a lot of work to do. We run outside early in the morning because of the heat which is lovely, it definitely beats the treadmill. I will take some photos of the run we are doing, quite interesting and distracting. It is nice to have this goal to work to and hopefully a few of my friends will come over for this special event. Will keep you posted.

Finally moved!

Not for Indian standards that is. We managed to get everything, more or less, organized within 2 months after we left Prague. According to people here that is not bad at all.

Ok the house is still a mess..:-)) But that is nothing new.

We are living in a neighbourhood called Pali Hill in Bandra West. This is in the north of Mumbai. It is a very green and relatively quit area where a lot of famous Indians reside. In the building next door lives an actor and whenever he has a party the street is completely blocked by news channel vehicles.

We live on the 11th and 12th floor which is very pleasant since we can keep the windows open, even at night. There are not that many mosquitoes so sitting outside on the terrace at night is very nice. Furthermore we have a a nice garden and a swimming pool for the kids and there is even space for Milan to play football and Rosa can ride her bike.

The best feature of our apartment though is the roof terrace where we have put our Boretti outdoor kitchen (thanks to Gijs!) and all we have to organize is a gas bottle and some decent meat.

Needless to add that the house suits us really well and we feel at home already!

View from our living room terrace at 8am this morning.