we landed on thursday and by sunday night after the zoom awards, all i could think about was my bed and sleeping in.  after the zoom party, tasha, me, ash and the lahore fellow with the family caught an elevator to head to our rooms.  ash and the lahore fellow went one direction.  tasha and i went another.  i was riding high and didn’t feel like making any more small talk with new bombay friends, so i told tash that i was going to crash and not join the after after party.  she was riding high and wanted to enjoy the rush, so she changed quickly and headed back out into the mumbai night.

alone in the hotel room, i turned on some music and just danced around a bit.  and then i headed to my laptop to skype samata.  she was furniture shopping with her folks for her new condo.  i called with a big smile on my face.  "it went fantastic."  she was thrilled to hear it went so well and was happy to hear from me.  it was a damn shame that she wasn’t able to join us on the trip.  last minute scheduling and logistic issues.  the first and last time she won’t be with us for the fun. 

i think i made a few more calls and texted a few more people back home before i headed to the shower to peel off the layers of makeup on my face.  it took two days before all of the makeup would wash away.  i’m sure there was a cement compound in the mix!  relaxed after the hot shower and ready for bed, i climbed in for a dreamy night of sleep.  it was about 2:30am.  i managed to sleep in til about 9am.  monday was officially our day off - national maharashtra day.  room service and checking email soon followed my rising.

i hardly did a thing on monday.  moved from bed, to desk, to couch.  we had made plans to meet up with some of our friends at a local golf course club house called the willingdon sports club.  here’s an interesting relic in indian history.  there are a handful of these clubs scattered all through the country.  they are former british country clubs during their occupation of india.  no indians were allowed membership and the only indians allowed to enter were the ones who worked there to serve and clean.  after the independence movement, the upper crust of indian society decided to turn them into their social safe havens.  when you walk into these clubs, you can feel the former british influence.  the decor and architecture is distinctly british.  the manner of operation also british formal.  no doubt, the club is a beautiful oasis in the middle of a bustling metropolis, but the socio-political implications always stay with me.  food for a new song…

after chai and chaat, we headed back to the hilton towers.  exhaustion set in.  tasha collapsed on the bed and we tried to watch jerry macguire on cable, but no luck.  both of fell fast asleep.  we knew the next few days would be up and running types of days once again.  i could not believe i would be leaving on thursday.  the trip was fast coming to a close.

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