We've moved to Colaba!

Welcome to our new digs!  Our the top floor office apartment, just steps from the Taj and Gateway of India, is a change of scene to be sure--one that will spare us a 2+ hour daily commute from Bandra.  Traffic here is stunning;  it can easily take over an hour to move 5 km at rush hour, which seems to run steadily from about 8am-10pm  In any case, after a yummy morning coffee at Moshes directly downstairs, we spent part of the day wandering the neighborhood, checking out the Colaba Causeway and open air market.  The Causeway is a sidewalk lined with stalls and shops that sell all manner of trinket and treasure, from bangles and beads to sextants and shawls in "real, genuine, true, all pashmina."  I was tempted by an Angry Birds t-shirt, but anyone who shows real interest becomes entangled in long negotiations and intense bargaining, and I just didn't love the tee enough to go through that.

  For dinner, we popped around the corner to Bademiya's, an outdoor kebab stand like none other--really more of a mecca of meat in a city of veg retaurants.  The cooks take over a full block and line both sidewalks with plastic talbes and chairs. Crowds wait in the center of the road for a table to open, and drivers pull over, roll down their windows to order,  and await their mutton kebabs which they eat, sealed up in the AC of their cars.  At our table, we enjoyed the breeze off the Arabian sea, the cooler night air, and our first taste of butter chicken--delicious!

Divali begins Wednesday, and all the stores throughout Bombay have been ramping up for this Hindu--also national--holiday that honors Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth.  In addition to its being the festival of lights, Diwali is also a particularly auspicious day for purchasing.  Big ticket items are particularly popular gifts, and billboards all over town encourage those still on the fence to take the plunge with such winning campaign slogans as,  "Sweets make you fat! Buy Electronics!"  Fireworks, kites, and colored lanterns of all shapes and sizes are on sale everywhere.  In the market, stalls have sprung up that offer vibrant powders and small plastic stencils for families to create their rangolis on their living room floors or sidewalks outside their homes.  A rangoli is an elaborate design that welcomes Lakshmi and generally brings good luck.  Friends tell us that the stencils are for the graphically-challenged.