India: DAY TWO! PART2

After returning from the Hotel I decided to do what many of the locals do on a semi clear Mumbai evening. So I grabbed my Camera bag and headed down to catch the sunset on the Arabian Sea. As I walked passed the bamboo supported shacks tattered with laundry and the local pissing hole, I began to get that out of place feeling again. But after a few deep breaths of the urine, excrement, and sea water mixture I decided to truck on. Down by the water I could see people sitting on the rocks in pairs and small groups. As I got closer to them I decide to sit down and sort of blend in before I took my camera out and started snapping away. That was my way of trying to be respectful I guess. I picked out the perfect boulder on the mound facing the city and sat down for a bit to observe my surroundings. It was calm down on the rocks and seemed much different than in the city, like most waterfronts do, even though the city is not at all far from this one. For me it became the type of place you would want to go to for a nice outdoor nap, but I just wasn't that comfortable yet. As I watched, more and more people began to arrive for the sunset viewing. You must know that personal space is not respected in India which is the cause for some discomfort for us westerners. At one point a group of three boys sat down next to me as close we would in a movie theatre. They sat with me for at least twenty minutes and did not speak the entire time. It was odd to me that young boys here behave like men, and just wish to relax and watch the sun go down after a hard day of work. Once they left I hopped up from my rock and made my way through the jagged terrain to go and snap some photos of the shoreline.

On my way down an Indian boy named Khan, about 15 yrs. old approached me and said "Hello, my name is Khan. What is your name." Then he and his 3 friends had a laugh at my expense as I responded with my own name and introduction. The reason they laughed is because "My name is Khan" is a very famous Indian movie that has just recently been released here. The star of the film is Sharuk Khan, who is like the Brad Pit of India but with the power and money of Oprah Winfrey. So when "Khan" played his little joke on the foreigner, I too had a laugh. Little did the boys know that I am here to be the stunt double for that very same actor in his new blockbuster film.

As I thought of how funny the coincidence was I kept taking photos of the land, the sea, and occasionally the people. As I made my way back up the rocks to the hotel my new friend Khan approached me with his friend Tazim and asked me to snap a photo of them. I placed them along the shore so that I could see Mumbai behind them and took a photo of the two. After I showed them the photo they asked me to go back with them to take more of their group of friends but I wasn't fully sure that they were trustworthy yet. How could I be? After all I didn't even know his real name...