Dear friends,

Time really flies. I feel like we just arrived in Mumbai the other day, but in fact one year has already passed since then.

And what a year! It has definitely been one of the most exciting, intensive and unforgettable time in our life.

Looking back, we realise how much this experience in India has changed us; our way of thinking, our approach to simple things, our perspective on our daily “problems” back in Switzerland…Definitely, it has be a rich experience, with some lows but many highs:

FIRST, WE WERE JUST ENTHUSIASTIC TO BE HERE…

• We could just reconnect with the ambiance from our previous holidays in Rajhastan
  Being back in India was just great. We could find again this magic atmosphere we experienced in Rajhastan. So many colours, so many exotic scents, an everlasting brouhaha of claxons or salesmen shouting, and so many people just everywhere at any time. It was just like jumping into a children picture book and open wide our eyes to be overwhelmed by such a different culture.
• Every day brought new adventures and discoveries
  Everything in Mumbai was to be discovered. We spend hours and hours walking through Hindi, Muslim or Parsi areas, bargaining with more or less success in the noisy vegetables, clothes or antiques markets, visiting Victorian monuments, chaotic train stations, the boring but quiet zoo and the Elephanta island nearby. Every time we thought “now we have seen it”, we just came across a new place, a new local restaurant or another Bollywhood cinema.
• We were keen to be rapidly assimilated
  We profoundly desired to be assimilated and at any price not to be considered tourists any more. We tried to eat only with our right hand “dahl and naan” (yellow lenses with flat bread), drink “chai”, a sweet milk tea instead of black tea, shake our head in that funny way that looks like saying no but still means yes. We travelled by bus, rickshaw and suburban trains. When people asked for our names, we proudly answered and returned the question in Hindi “mera nam Jerome hun. Apka nam kya hain?” just to see their face lighten up when they realised that we spoke their language (unfortunately, the bluff usually did not last long as this is more or less the only sentence we know J).

THEN, WE REALISED THAT INDIA ALSO HAS MANY DRAWBACKS

• We had to learn to cope with the immense poverty
  Mumbai, probably more than many places in India, suffers from an immense poverty. Even in the best areas, parents with their 2-3 months old babies sleep on the pavement in front of magnificent houses. Beautiful street children break your heart when they come and beg for one rupee at each major road crossing. Due to the immense oversupply, labour costs just nothing. Everywhere you meet people performing low (zero) value adding jobs, e.g. a man pushing the buttons in the elevator of a three floors house, a watchman guarding during 2 months a defect ATM machine, “security guys” at the highway toll stations taking money from the drivers, handing it over to the cashier and handing the change back. Although all these small jobs seem useless they just help millions of people to survive.
• We had to get used that you just don’t get the same workers quality
  We rapidly realised the importance of a sound and free education system like in Switzerland. School here is too expensive for many families resulting in a considerable amount of people unable to write or even speak English. The concept of apprenticeship for hand-workers like plumbers, electrician, mechanics, carpenters does not exist (at least not in such a systematic approach), which just transforms any small repair to a quest for the holy grail if you want it to be properly done…
• We started missing good wine, cheese and juicy beef meat
  Although we love Indian food, we started missing a fine drop of wine, with some good cheese plate or just Barilla pasta. Fortunately, we had regularly visitors from abroad who supplied us with the required ingredients to our greatest delight. Never have we enjoyed so much a simple plate of spaghetti, with fresh Parmesan and a glass of Italian red wine…

BUT FINALLY, WE ADJUSTED AND STARTED LOVING THIS COUNTRY, JUST AS IT IS

• The open and franc smile of Indian children just let you forget anything
  With time however we learned to adjust to our new environment. We revised some of our expectations, being aware of and accepting India’s drawbacks (Switzerland is not perfect neither). From then onwards, India just becomes a wonderful place again. Even if stuck in a traffic jam, there is so much to see around you. Street children simply return your look with a beautiful and genuine smile, workers stop working to have a short chat with you. Even if the city is so big, you never feel lost in an anonymous place. It is just fantastic!
• We enjoy spending time with our friends
  Indians are very spontaneous. Nothing is never planned much ahead, very unlike our Swiss habits where a two months notice is required to have dinner with friends on a Saturday evening. Here, it regularly happens that the phone rings late in the evening and some friends invite you for a beer or a movie. You just stop stressing and enjoy hanging around with them and let the time pass.
• We now spend hours walking around, impregnating ourselves as much as possible of India
  Every now and then, we just go out and walk through the city. Just to be there, to feel Mumbai vibrating, to load our memories with plenty of impressions and anecdotes. We just love to sit on a bench and watch life around us like hypnotised by a colourful fire at night, to let India come over us, absorb us. (See some pictures here)
  It just cannot be described with simple words: you have to see it, to smell it, to hear it…to feel it.

Now time has come to leave all this behind us. But all these impressions will still keep an immense place in our mind and in our heart. We came to India as “ambassadors” from Zurich. We will definitely leave this country as convinced ambassadors of India anywhere on the planet.

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Last updated: 12/14/2003 4:26 PM More about Mumbai Back home