Shadow Shot Sunday 2 - Wilted and Forlorn - August 30, 2015

I feel this way in the Mumbai heat!!

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Shadow Shot Sunday 2

Three Word Wednesday: Week 409 - A Blast! - January 7, 2015

About 3WW

Three Word Wednesday gives writers, poets and those who journal a mid-week jolt of creativity.Each week, three words are selected; you create something with the words. Then come back and post a link to your contribution.

The idea is to create an online writers' collective, where feedback is offered and received.All rights to the contributions rest with the author.  This is a place to stretch your muse, test your dreams.

This week's words:

Electric, adjective: Of, worked by, charged with, or producing electricity; (of a musical instrument) amplified through a loudspeaker; (of a color) brilliant and vivid; having or producing a sudden sense of thrilling excitement.

Passionate, adjective: Showing or caused by strong feelings or a strong belief; showing or caused by intense feelings of sexual love.

Savage, adjective: (Of an animal or force of nature) fierce, violent, and uncontrolled; cruel and vicious; aggressively hostile; (chiefly in historical or literary contexts) primitive; uncivilized; (of a place) wild-looking and inhospitable; uncultivated; (of something bad or negative) very great; severe; noun: A member of a people regarded as primitive and uncivilized; a brutal or vicious person; verb: (especially of a dog or wild animal) attack ferociously and maul. 

She clung desperately to him, tears coursing 

shamelessly down her cheeks, without abatement.  She

did not want to leave India for so many months.  Her

adopted country felt more like home now than the country

of her birth.  He held her close and shushed her as one

would a child, assuring her that, once she had visited 

family and friends, she could return early if that was her

wish.

As lightning flashed outside the terminal, the electric lights 

flickered and a voice announced, over the tinny loudspeaker,

in Hindu and English, that her flight would depart in thirty

minutes.

Because he was a government official, he was allowed to

accompany her as far as the waiting lounge.  Observers 

wondered about this couple, both very striking in their

looks, he, obviously Indian, she, holding a United States

passport, dressed in an elegant sari.  They were well past

middle age.

As flight boarding was called, he took her into his arms

and they said farewell with a passionate embrace.  They

were oblivious of the eyes upon them or the flurry of 

comments.  

She changed planes in Mumbai and began the long

journey to California.  It was going to be a tedious

trip, she thought, as she looked around the plane,

every single seat full.  She whispered a silent prayer as

she always did at the start of every flight.  It was then she

noticed the savage eyes of the man seated across the aisle

from her as he pulled wires attached to the vest under his

jacket.  

No survivors were found in the scattered bits of

wreckage and bomb fragments of Air International Flight 666.

I am participating in:

Three Word Wednesday: Week 409

Join in the fun!!!

The Ibis Mumbai Airport - Mumbai, India - November 27,2014

Ibis Mumbai Airport is termed a "budget" property.
I discovered it during my second stay in India during
my retirement years.  To be truthful, prior to that, 
during my nursing employment when I often traveled
with three or four of my esteemed forensic friends and
colleagues, we would never consider anything with
the term "budget" attached to it.  Our Royal Caribbean
friends on board the Monarch of the Seas gave us the
title of "Queens" and that name stuck.  We would 
usually pick a posh property, book a suite which we
could afford if we shared, and travel like queens.  

Well, reality hit when retirement came and I suddenly
had to live on a pension and social security.  As a 
traveler all my life, I would either have to make adjustments
or stop seeing the world.  I immediately downsized,
giving up the rented four bedroom house I had occupied
for over twenty years and got rid of most of my belongings. 
I put the things with which I couldn't part in a 10' by
20' storage unit and started coming to India.

Occasionally, I found I needed a hotel for the night in
Mumbai where hotel properties border on the expensive.
After a most horrific experience at one hotel, I decided I
needed to do some research.  After all, I had been an
outside sales travel agent for years, I was fairly proficient
with the computer, and I was a long term Trip Adviser
member.  I got to work and my research led me to the
Ibis Mumbai Airport.  Good, it was near the domestic
airport and I wanted a place that was in that locale for
my trips here and there about India.  Price-wise, it was 
perfect and I liked everything else I read.

The Ibis Mumbai Airport is located 2 minutes from the
domestic airport in Mumbai and 1 km from the international
airport.  It has 159 rooms, either consisting of one
double bed or two single beds, with an attached bathroom, 
WiFi, and an excellent restaurant, Spice It, that offers
individual dining selections as well as sumptiuous buffets.

The Ibis Mumbai Airport is a member of the Accor Hotels
group.

Weekdays, it seems filled with business travelers, while
weekends, usually at a lower rate, attract families.

I have found hotel staff to be friendly and helpful and the 
rooms are spotlessly clean.  The beds, with incredible 
mattresses, are some of the most comfortable I have
experienced.  The rooms and baths are not very large but,
as this is a budget property, mainly used by business 
travelers, I did not expect a suite!  They are quite adequate
for my purposes.

For much more extensive information about the property,
refer to the Ibis Mumbai Airport website at:
http://www.ibis.com/gb/hotel-6367-ibis-mumbai-airport/index.shtml

Two of the wonderful Ibis Spice It staff.  24-hour room 

service is available from the restaurant and buffets are 

offered at breakfast and dinner.  The special Thursday night

buffets, which feature various regions of India, are not to be

missed.

There are always multiple veg and non veg choices at every

meal and, of course, one can always order off the menu.  If

I look at the buffet, though, I can never resist it.

The Kerala evening buffet was especially wonderful.  I wish

I could remember the names of everything I ate because many of the selections I had never tried before.

I usually indulge in a vodka martini but there are assorted other cocktails ( nice cosmopolitan ), alcoholic, beverages, beer, wine and mocktails as well.  Of course, water, soft drinks, coffee and chai are always available.

The main problem I have is that my eyes are bigger than my stomach.  I've learned to take tiny tastes, planning to go back for more later.  Trouble is, once I've finished all the "tastes," 

I am too full even for dessert.

I am also including a few other pictures from the Ibis Mumbai 

Airport.

The wonderful bed!

Desk work area in room

The lobby bar area

The wonderful front desk staff

Community lobby computer station

I have stayed at four other properties in the domestic airport

area.  I can recommend Ibis Mumbai Airport if you are in the

market for a reasonably priced budget hotel, with an excellent restaurant, and don't require luxury accommodations at a luxury price.

CONTACT

PLOT NO F 77 VILE PARLE EAST
JUNCTION OF NEHRU ROAD
WESTERN EXPRESS HIGHWAY400099 - MUMBAIINDIA

• TEL :
  (+91)22/67087777
• FAX :
  (+91)22/67087778

GENERAL INFORMATIONS:

H6367-RE@ACCOR.COM

HOW TO REACH THE HOTEL

GPS: N 19° 5' 47.51'' E 72° 51' 11.9

Cats on Tuesday - Indifferent Tom - October 28, 2014

I lived nearly a year, at two different times, with my
wonderful friends, Rosy and Norman Toscano, in
Bandra West, an upscale suburb of Mumbai, India.
The house was shared with three cats who gave me
multiple photographic opportunities.  None of the 
three ever paid a bit of attention to me!

Here's Tom, clearly wishing I would take myself and
my camera off, anywhere!

I am participating in 

Cats on Tuesday

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and join in the fun!

Wi-Fi Woes - October 6, 2014

A few days ago, I moved to my friend's home in Sahar Village, across from Mumbai's

international airport.  I'm ensconced in the new upstairs room, with private bath, they built,

surrounded by coconut palms and I even have air conditioning.  What I don't have is Wi-Fi.  Theirs is not strong enough to reach through these thick walls to my computer - though someone else nearby certainly has a strong signal. I wish I knew who  & I might negotiate use of it for a fee.  If the steps to my lofty retreat weren't quite so steep, I would just lug my computer up and down when I want Wi-Fi but, now that I am 70, and not grace

personified, I think it's not a wise idea.  I will just head to Vodafone this week & invest in a "dongle" though uploading pictures is not so great.  Bear with me, my blog followers!

Navratri Number Three For Me - September 25, 2014 -

This is my third Navratri in India and, each year, I learn
something new about this nine day Hindu festival, honoring the Mother Goddess, Durga.  Today, I read that, for each of the nine days, the Goddess is draped in a different colored sari and her devotees wear specific colors.  

Last year, I wrote, at length, about Navratri, on my blog.  I don't think I could improve on that so I am giving you the link, in case you didn't read it or would like to read it again.

http://rnsane.blogspot.in/2013/10/navratri-nine-day-hindu-celebration.html#links

I still have not made it to Gujarat for Navratri, a goal I set for myself two years ago.  If I get back to India next year, as soon as I arrive, I am going to make reservations to spend, at least, two days of the weekendof Navratri in Boroda so I can see the garba and dandia dances, with the men and women in their beautiful costumes.  I have yet to visit Ahmedabad and it is only an hour's flight from Mumbai where I usually stay.

There is still so much I want to see and do in India but, as I celebrate my 70th birthday October 3rd, I wonder just how much time I have left to accomplish all that remains on my extensive bucket left.  If there is a "next life," I hope that list will accompany me!

If you all haven't heard it on the news, this amazing country just put a spacecraft in orbit around Mars for the unbelievable cost of $74 million dollars, about a tenth of what it cost the 
U. S. to accomplish the same thing.  Congratulations to all involved in the Indian space program.

Thanks to bing images, domain free, for the photos used
today.


http://www.india.com/top-n/navratri-special-9-colours-to-wear-on-each-day-of-the-festival-and-their-importance-154941/

The Saturday Photo Hunt - Gray - September 7, 2014

While it is already Sunday here in India, it still before midnight in San Francisco so
I will hurriedly add my "gray" post for this meme.  Mumbai rains certainly make for
gray skies which are so appropriate for this post.  Sometimes I can barely see out
my window across the Arabian Sea to the tall buildings on the other side!!!

I am participating in

The Saturday PhotoHunt

Add your "gray" picture to join the fun!

Our World Tuesday - Amber Textiles - Tuesday ( in India ), August 12, 2014

For the most part, I really love India.  You meet all kinds of wonderful people, in the
course of your comings and goings.  Take my outing in search of "house dresses"
with my Indian "sister".  I rent a room from Rosy and her husband, Norman, the 
parents of Edsel and Danny Toscano, former Royal Caribbean crew friends.  It
is really nice for me, in Mumbai, a city of over ten million, to be with people who
are like family.

So, off we go to her favorite spot at Elco Arcade Shopping Center to get "house 
dresses" for me, during a momentary lull in the monsoon rains.  Playing "dodge 
'em cars" in our rickshaw, we arrive, amazingly, safe and sound.  On the first floor,
we pass shop after shop of caftans, saris, kurtas, and all the assorted Indian
ladies clothing, all looking basically the same.  If I stop to admire, Rosy calls me
to keep going, "It's just ahead."  

"Just ahead" is a tiny little shop that can only accommodate a few shoppers, 
especially after I have entered.  It is chock full of brightly colored cotton prints of
every hue, short and long lengths, dazzling to me.  I explain to both the young 
man and the older man in attendance what I want to see ( "everything" ), probably
in an extra large.  

The young man, who, I later learn, is Hitesh Narsinghani, gains my undying affection
when he tells me, "No, you won't take an extra large, only a large."  I remember when,
in 1997, during my first India trip, being told, during a shopping expedition to 
Bandra, "sorry, madam, your dresses will be four hundred rupees because you
are a jumbo."  He tells me to try on one of the dresses over my clothes and, lo and
behold, he's right, a large fits.

I tell Hitesh and his uncle, I believe it was, that I want both long and short house

dresses and out they bring at least two dozen folded choices in assorted colors.

Hitesh takes the first, shakes it open and holds it up so I can see it full length.  I love 

it.  He then starts for the second one.  I tell him to stop, not to bother unfolding them 

all, I can tell what I like with them folded.  Oh, no, like a showman, he insists, saying 

I have to see them opened up and it is no bother to refold them.

I ended up buying three long dresses and three short ones and I told Hitesh I would

probably come back for a couple more before I head home in November.  One 

black floral one that I loved was out of stock but he is sure they will get another 

shipment from Jaipur.  I told him they all reminded me of muu muus.  He had no

idea what I meant but I can just see myself in Hawaii wearing these and, for $35,

I could never get six muu muus at Hilo Hatties.  

When I asked Rosy how she had settled on this one store out of all at the

shopping mall, she told me because of the quality of the dresses, the durability

of the cotton and the colors and the good stitching which was not consistent

everywhere.  Also, the price was excellent, even better than what you would get

in Jaipur where the dresses are made!

I'll enjoy wearing these, I'm sure, long after I stop coming to India.  After all, I will

celebrate my 70th birthday here in October and I wonder how long I can keep 

traveling.  Oh, well, as Scarlett said, "I'll think about that tomorrow" ... a lot of 

tomorrows in the future.

Amber Textiles is located at 15, Elco Arcade Shopping Centre, Hill Road, Bandra

West, Mumbai - 400 050, India, Phone: 2640 6303, 2642 2606.

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Our World Tuesday

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