remember those childhood family gatherings?

Work. Reflection session. Topic: Rediscovering Dharavi (asia's largest slum). Then we went off to Bandra West for dinner at Potpourri. I had a chicken sandwich. I was tad nervous to test my stomach with meat in India but I decided to go for it. The desserts at this place were amazing, we indulged in three completely different types of desserts - a brownie, an apple crumb tart, and carrot spice cake. yummy. Four of us piled into the back of an autorickshaw to go shopping at Linking Road. Normally they only let three people in an autorickshaw but for an extra 5 rupees the driver agreed to let all 4 of us ride together. Another memorable experience.

Do you remember when you were little and your parents decided that it was finally time to go home from that boring family gathering that you didnt want to go to in the first place? (but then after you got there you found some other children your age who were just as miserable being there as you were so ended up having a grand ole time together!) So finally comes the end of the night, or so you think, and your parents are yelling at you and screaming that its time to leave. You're thinking "Yeah ok, i'll just go in 30 minutes because we're going to stand at the door for an hour anyway." So you arrive at the door, get yelled at in front of everyone, put on your shoes and assume that you're heading out. You've already said bye at least ten times to the new friends that you've made. But wait, now its time to go back into the living room for some chai! Finally about 1-2 hours later, its really time to go home, this of course is only after thirty minutes of standing with the front door wide open. If this reminds you of your childhood then you'll feel perfectly at home when shopping at the markets in bombay. It's such a tease. You ask how much something costs. The price is ridiculously high, you counter with an offer thats just as ridiculous (on the other extreme). The shopkeeper lowers his price a little. You claim that you're leaving. You take a step out of the shop with your ears perked up for his call back. Another step. There it is. "Ok, ok, come back. I give you good price." You turn around. Now he's saying some other high price that you he knows you wont pay. Out you go. "WAIT." Back in. Back out. I'm leaving, I swear. But, wait, arent you going to call me back? Sometimes you get called back, sometimes you dont (thats rare and you know that you were bargaining with extremely unrealistic expectations). Welcome to haggling for everything that you buy on the streets in India.