Back to Mumbai Baby

I’m back in Colaba, Mumbai, and you know what . . . its good to be back.
Last night I arrived after a fairly easy bus ride from Pune, and a short rickshaw ride (that cost almost as much as the bus ride) from the bus stop to my quaint home in Mumbai.
It’s been two weeks since I’ve been away, and two weeks since the terror attacks, and I've been enjoying taking a much needed break from it all in my lovely country ashram home. It was never nicer to be back, but alas, the call of the wild has brought me back here to this concrete saffron jungle.

Mumbaikers Can't Be Held Down

And here in Colaba, it’s as if nothing ever happened. Things are swinging as usual, maybe a little slower than it should be for this time of year, but everyone is back at it. Perhaps even a feeling of defiance in the air. Indians have a remarkable ability to pick up the pieces and get on with things. Its like its not even an ability, it is a through and through way of being, a way of life. Its inborn. Its like the way they get up from naps or sleep, they just get up, there is maybe a split second of shaking themselves back into reality, if you look really close you might see them take one long blink or a hand wiped down the face but then its boom, back to action. There is no grogginess. Show me a groggy Indian, just try, I'd love to see one, but they don't exist.

I’m sitting in my favorite internet café, working on my laptop deep in Colaba, next to me some German girl is chatting away on the STD. Just as before, young men full of vim and vigor whispered to me as I made my way down Colaba causeway: “hash, hash, charras, Charlie,” and then really low with a devilish grin if they get right next to you, “ladies."

Everything's pretty normal.

Return to Leopold's
UPDATED
To take my night in reverse order, before this I went back to Leopold’s Cafe for the first time since about 8:30pm on November 26, approximately one hour before terrorists attacked the restaurant, shooting and killing employees and patrons with automatic weapons and grenades.

It was emotional returning to the scene where I had been close to sitting down and ordering a meal myself just an hour before the place was put under seige. I was relieved to find that my buddies who work the front as floor managers were all in one piece, as well as my friend Santosh the waiter. As luck would have it, all of them had been in the back of the restaurant when the terrorists opened fire, and neither had a scratch on them. But apparently, had I come a week earlier, there would have been a scratch, as my buddy Eric literally had the hair above his ear grazed short by a bullet, so slightly that it has already grown out. How’s that for a close call?

Eric gave me a quick tour of the damage: bullet holes in the front window still unfixed, some of the stained glass windows in the upper portion of the wall boarded with newspaper from being shot out, bullet holes in the ceiling
and the register desk, and to top it off, a small crater about the size of half a small grapefruit under one of the tables where a grenade had gone off. That was great fun, as Eric lifted up the table skirt and pointed it out to the unsuspecting pair of young women sitting at the table, who were intrigued but undaunted smiles on their faces as they continued with their meals.


UPDATE: I originally came in to Leopold's on a Wednesday, and then went back to take the following pictures on a Friday night and found the place in absolute full swing, packed, maybe the busiest I'd ever seen it.

You can see from these pictures that there was absolutely no shortage of people having a good time in spite of the recent attacks, if anything, working hard to laugh especially hard in the terrorist's faces.

Take these guys for instance,


undaunted by the bullet hole behind them, they wanted me to take their picture as they engaged in their revelry.

For those who are interested, they may find it very interesting that the pictures of Meher Baba (spiritual master and Avatar of the Age of the 20th century), and Zoroaster (spiritual master and Avatar of the 7th century B.C.), as well as the picture of Meher Baba surrounded by his five "Perfect Masters" (Satgurus) of his time, (including Sai Baba of Shirdi) that hang above the register in the right corner of the restaurant did not sustain any damage, despite grenade shrapnel striking all around the photos. Look closely and you can see the small marks that are lighter than the rest of the wall, and form a sort of triangle about the portrait of Zoroaster (the man with the big beard).
Also of interest is the register itself. For a while now, there has been a small sticker with a picture of Meher Baba and his quote "Real Happiness Lies in Making Others Happy." taped right there at the front of the register so people could easily see it at the front of the store. Again, directly below a bullet has come close to Meher Baba, but his image has not sustained damage, even though directly next to his image, the entire mirror had been shot out (as you can see, the plywood is exposed).

Many people saw this particular picture on the left, that ran in The New York Times shortly after the attacks, but what no one could know, is that something similar happened twice inside the restaurant as well, that is, this aspect of bullet holes and shrapnel coming so close to Meher Baba's image.

It would seem to me, that Meher Baba was bringing the violence of the world close even to his own self, his very sanctum, bringing it here to India so near his home in Meherabad and Mumbai, a city where he had an ashram at one time, and a place only 250 kilometers away from Meherabad. Perhaps he wants us to see that even this madness is still his work, his way of making things darkest before dawn, and even it is part of his divine plan. . .

With all that being said, it’s been great being back in Mumbai actually. To be honest, I really wasn’t looking forward to coming back. I was dreading it. Being back in Meherabad, in my own house, never seemed so sweet as it did after returning from my last stint in Mumbai. But I’m happy to be back now. For one thing, the show we have going up at the gallery is amazing, crazy ambitious, and it’s been great fun today getting right back in the swing of things and helping put up all these amazing pieces. I still feel so lucky that I am able to work with such a wonderful gallery showing such renowned artists. The artist we are getting ready to show, Reena Kallat, does really amazing work. I encourage anyone in Mumbai on Thursday to come to the opening. Click here for details.

As of now I should get going. It’s 12:39am, and its been a long day of installing art and reconnecting with Mumbai. I’ve got a lot of things coming down the shoot for the blog, stay posted for a posting of my interview with Munchie Wadia, a film producer who was trapped in the Taj and narrowly escaped with his life on 26/11. I caught up with him in Meherabad a few days after the attacks. He was visiting because he had taken Baba's name during his escape and felt he should pay his respects. It's a very interesting interview. Coming Soon!

Before I go:

Just a couple parting quips: I just want to give a big shout out to my boy Muntadhar al-Zaidi, the brave soul who is now surely being tortured terribly as he sits in custody, for giving Bush a fraction of what he deserved. Check out the vid if you haven't yet of Bush narrowly avoiding al-Zaidi's shoes. I'll give Bush some credit, he showed some agility (and sorry Baba, for mentioning politics).

I also wanted to direct your attention to two other blogs by friends of mine that I find just so damn good lately, one by my long time brother-from-another-mother, and fellow world-traveller:

+Jonathan Ramsden, (yes, now a respectable medical professional, but still known by his close friends as Rik Turbo) - he's currently having a too damn good time from what I can tell. He's in Argentina, and making his way around the world, writing about it all as he goes. Check out his wonderful writings at his blog: worldsteppin.blogspot.com

. . . and a new friend who is a fellow Baba-lover and Mumbaiker, but who I haven't even met yet other than through facebook (but if you know Baba-lovers, you know we roll tight!), but look forward to meeting very soon:

+Akshay Mahajan, who is my opinion is one of the finest Indian photojournalists I've ever seen (Ok, I suppose I'm not familiar with very many, but still, just look at this guys stuff!). Prepare to be knocked-out by his work at trivialmatters.blogspot.com, or explore his beautiful flickr collection, which functions like a fantastic blog of pictures and words as well at: www.flickr.com/lecercle, and tells amazing stories of life in Mumbai. For anyone who has questioned coming to Mumbai since the attacks, these shots should whet your appetite. :)

Well, that's all for now, I hope to be updating again soon. Stay posted and Jai Baba!