This weekend we raised a glass with Roopa in celebration of our first full week in India, noting that it feels at once like we just arrived--it’s all so new!—yet simultaneously that time is moving in slow motion, and it feels like we’ve been here far longer...ah, just another in the growing list of contradictions that seem to be India.  For every observation we land on that might provide some order to the chaos, its opposite appears, usually within the same block!  So, today we decided to focus on a few things that are beginning to feel a bit more familiar: 

Driving--we didn’t even flinch yesterday when Roopa’s driver, Francis, crossed the double centerline on a bridge. As he slid into the opposite lane, and oncoming cars slip-streamed around us, it was clear that this spontaneous redirection of traffic was a rational, albeit insane, response to gridlock—one that turned a four-lane highway--two north, two south--into more of a freeform, auto-fluid some north/some south,  plus-or-minus lane highway...and truth be told, sometimes 6-7 vehicles spanned the road, more if you count the weaving autorickshaws and motorcycles.  Francis is a combination of consummate calm, fearless and wily, which turns out to be a winning combination for driving in Bombay.  Yesterday he cut through a multi-story parking garage to avoid traffic build up.  He wiggled up crowded market roads, cleverly ending up just north of the Malaxhmi temple, which as we all know, grinds to a halt this time of year, and traffic is even worse since it all happens to coincide with the festival of Durga and Navarthi which are in full swing and may--or may not--have anything to do with one another...

Street life—buckled and cracked paths, raised sidewalks (likely to stay above the torrents during monsoon), and trash covered roads are shared by all.  The other day during the evening rush hour, our car came to a stop in the middle of an intersection, and to my immediate right, hung the tail end of an enormous black cow, his snout and long horns on the far end were pressing against the passenger’s window of an oncoming taxi; the cars were the only ones interested in moving.  Perhaps I wouldn’t have been surprised if we had been in a rural village, but we were in the center of one of the high rent districts of Bombay, a city of 23 million people…and apparently several cows.  When we asked if she were just wandering around being sacred, Francis said, “oh no, ma’am, he’s grazing.” And then we noticed that the road was lined with carts and stalls piled high with onions, tomatoes, parsley, other veggies and fruits—ah yes, why move?  

Housing--Between the more permanent stalls and tiny shops, we see a lot of raggedy blue tarps strung from high walls to the edge of the sidewalk; these define each family’s shelter.  Pants, shirts, and colorful sari fabrics are draped to dry over street railings, tree branches and any available surface.  Here and there, women squat, making dinner on small open fires or propane stoves. The men often pull a cot into the gutter between sidewalk and traffic to sleep in the open.  Children hawking video tapes, paper flutes of peanuts or just begging, wander between the moving cars, tapping on windows to get attention.  The other day, Paris Hilton handed a $100 bill out her car window to a begging mother, and a riot broke out.  

Education (pictures coming...)—we’re starting to make some sense of the differences between municipal schools, fee-paying schools, low-fee private schools, tutorials, international schools (and more), and this week we’ll start to visit several to get a better idea of what happens in the classrooms, although we’re not sure we’ll ever get straight the myriad national and state exams that seem to determine each student’s future…mostly because everything is an acronym.  The CBSE, of course, administers the AISSCE to everyone in 12 standard, but the ICESE administers their own 10 and 12standard set of tests. And this is not to be confused with the IGSCE, developed by Cambridge, which students take at the end of 10standard as well.  All of these determine whether a student proceeds to junior college (11^th & 12^th grade in US terms) where they’ll eventually take their A levels or the equivalent ICESE or CBSE for 12standard to get into university, unless of course they want to attend an elite engineering school for which they’ll need to take the JEE or the MBBS for medical school….and here we are making a pitch for the IB!   Whoodog!—and did we mention there’s a pay-per-view TV channel called Toppers which runs 45 minute test-prep classes all day and night for Physics, Math, Biology & Chemistry.  Last night we learned all about heterogeneous vs. homogeneous catalysts.