Two posts in one day - how lucky are all you readers out there? (all 3 of you - hi G&G!)
Today I went to a neighborhood of Mumbai called Bandra - it's a small, upscale neighborhood where a lot of the nice shopping, bars, restaurants, etc. are located. It's also known for housing many of the elite Bollywood actors and actresses. Side note - apparently here in India everyone knows where the celebrities live - their houses are practically landmarks.
I headed out first to a Booth event at a restaurant called the Salt Water Cafe. It's "women's week" at Booth, so the school is hosting women's-only events in cities around the world this week. I rocked up a little late (whoops), but was able to spend about an hour meeting these women and (hopefully) making some new friends! Most of the attendees were prospective students - only one other was a fellow admit to this year's incoming class. She and I exchanged numbers, so I hope that we will hang out some more while I'm in Mumbai. She also told me about an India-specific Facebook group created for the Class of 2015, so I can get connected with the other fellow admits while I'm here as well. I inadvertantly turned out to be the center of attention at the event - mostly because I've already been admitted, work in consulting (and many of the attendees were interested in moving into consulting), and already know a lot about the city of Chicago. I exchanged numbers with some of the girls and hope that it will turn into some friendships. There were probably about 20 people there - not a big event but also not small.
After this brunch, I headed out on my own to explore Bandra. My colleague Isha lives in Bandra, and I had made sure to get recommendations from her on things to do and places to go. Her advice turned out to be very helpful. First I went to a store called Cottons, which sells traditional Indian women's clothing. I bought 3 different tunics that I can wear to work! They're long and meant to be worn with tights. After that I went to a restaurant Isha had recommended called Suzette's - it's a French restaurant that specializes in crepes. I have come to realize that I can't eat curries every day or else I will get very sick of them very quickly, so I'm trying to vary my diet by incorporating some western food here and there. I had a great vegetarian crepe - and had some fun people watching at this place as well. There were some American students sitting next to me, bragging about all of the travel they've done and how interesting their lives are. They very well may be interesting people, but I had to snicker to myself a little bit at how pompous they sounded. After lunch, I went to a street that Isha recommended to me as having lots of small market-style stalls with clothes and shoes. I had some fun haggling and buying scarves for my sisters (shhh don't tell them).
All this while, I've been traveling around Bandra by auto-rickshaws (also called tuk-tuks). They're a lot of fun - basically like riding around on a lawn mower. Traffic is crazy as always.
Finally, I went to a beautiful hotel called the Taj Lands End, which is a local landmark for being one of the nicest hotels in town.
It is right on the ocean with scenic views, luxury retail shops, and a beautifully appointed lobby. I stopped in (again, at Isha's recommendation) to have a cup of tea in their lounge area. It really was beautiful, and it felt like a bit of an oasis away from the dirt and noise of Mumbai.
After enjoying my tea, I walked along the shoreline for a bit before hailing a cab back home. The shoreline was bustling with people - everyone wants to enjoy the ocean breeze with the hot and muggy weather that we're dealing with.
Some people are clearly there just to sit in the sun and enjoy the day, while others are there for more practical reasons - like washing their clothes.
Some little children were pointing at me and laughing, and I couldn't for the life of me figure out why. I'm guessing it's because I'm white because as far as I can tell I didn't have any food on my face or toilet paper attached to my shoe, which are the things that I would expect to cause this reaction. There were street vendors everywhere - one in particular that I thought was fun was a shaved ice stand where a guy uses a hand motor crank to crush the ice.
On a side note, Bandra and Worli (where I live) are connected by this beautiful bridge called the Sealink. It's Mumbai's answer to the Golden Gate bridge and is quite impressive in real life.
I'm not going out tonight - I have an early morning tomorrow to go meet up with Ami and a guy that we work with - Kaushal - to some touristy stuff. Stay tuned for more exciting stories...
Today I went to a neighborhood of Mumbai called Bandra - it's a small, upscale neighborhood where a lot of the nice shopping, bars, restaurants, etc. are located. It's also known for housing many of the elite Bollywood actors and actresses. Side note - apparently here in India everyone knows where the celebrities live - their houses are practically landmarks.
I headed out first to a Booth event at a restaurant called the Salt Water Cafe. It's "women's week" at Booth, so the school is hosting women's-only events in cities around the world this week. I rocked up a little late (whoops), but was able to spend about an hour meeting these women and (hopefully) making some new friends! Most of the attendees were prospective students - only one other was a fellow admit to this year's incoming class. She and I exchanged numbers, so I hope that we will hang out some more while I'm in Mumbai. She also told me about an India-specific Facebook group created for the Class of 2015, so I can get connected with the other fellow admits while I'm here as well. I inadvertantly turned out to be the center of attention at the event - mostly because I've already been admitted, work in consulting (and many of the attendees were interested in moving into consulting), and already know a lot about the city of Chicago. I exchanged numbers with some of the girls and hope that it will turn into some friendships. There were probably about 20 people there - not a big event but also not small.
After this brunch, I headed out on my own to explore Bandra. My colleague Isha lives in Bandra, and I had made sure to get recommendations from her on things to do and places to go. Her advice turned out to be very helpful. First I went to a store called Cottons, which sells traditional Indian women's clothing. I bought 3 different tunics that I can wear to work! They're long and meant to be worn with tights. After that I went to a restaurant Isha had recommended called Suzette's - it's a French restaurant that specializes in crepes. I have come to realize that I can't eat curries every day or else I will get very sick of them very quickly, so I'm trying to vary my diet by incorporating some western food here and there. I had a great vegetarian crepe - and had some fun people watching at this place as well. There were some American students sitting next to me, bragging about all of the travel they've done and how interesting their lives are. They very well may be interesting people, but I had to snicker to myself a little bit at how pompous they sounded. After lunch, I went to a street that Isha recommended to me as having lots of small market-style stalls with clothes and shoes. I had some fun haggling and buying scarves for my sisters (shhh don't tell them).
All this while, I've been traveling around Bandra by auto-rickshaws (also called tuk-tuks). They're a lot of fun - basically like riding around on a lawn mower. Traffic is crazy as always.
Finally, I went to a beautiful hotel called the Taj Lands End, which is a local landmark for being one of the nicest hotels in town.
It is right on the ocean with scenic views, luxury retail shops, and a beautifully appointed lobby. I stopped in (again, at Isha's recommendation) to have a cup of tea in their lounge area. It really was beautiful, and it felt like a bit of an oasis away from the dirt and noise of Mumbai.
After enjoying my tea, I walked along the shoreline for a bit before hailing a cab back home. The shoreline was bustling with people - everyone wants to enjoy the ocean breeze with the hot and muggy weather that we're dealing with.
Some people are clearly there just to sit in the sun and enjoy the day, while others are there for more practical reasons - like washing their clothes.
Some little children were pointing at me and laughing, and I couldn't for the life of me figure out why. I'm guessing it's because I'm white because as far as I can tell I didn't have any food on my face or toilet paper attached to my shoe, which are the things that I would expect to cause this reaction. There were street vendors everywhere - one in particular that I thought was fun was a shaved ice stand where a guy uses a hand motor crank to crush the ice.
On a side note, Bandra and Worli (where I live) are connected by this beautiful bridge called the Sealink. It's Mumbai's answer to the Golden Gate bridge and is quite impressive in real life.
I'm not going out tonight - I have an early morning tomorrow to go meet up with Ami and a guy that we work with - Kaushal - to some touristy stuff. Stay tuned for more exciting stories...
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