Seven Days in Fifteen Minutes.

Long week. Long days at work. Long weekends. A lot to say and only fifteen minutes to say it before I have to meet friends for dinner.

So in a nutshell, we dealt with angry guards, worked a lot, and went to Mumbai this weekend. I’m sure I’m forgetting something.

What is now two weekends ago, Jan and I were giving Kara and Amanda a ride home from our apartment sometime around nine. I was let in fine. Jan, on the other hand, got stopped by the guard at the gate. When I came back to see what was going on, the guard wouldn’t stop yelling in Marathi. Despite clearly recognizing that none of us spoke the language, this didn’t stop him from being pissed and loud. I realized what was happening. He was doing the “they don’t understand, so I’ll just talk louder until they get it” approach of translating. Turns out, this doesn’t work. Jan and I figured the guy just wanted us out of there. We hop on our bikes, go around the corner, wait a few minutes, and then give Amanda and Kara a call. They were being locked out of their apartment.

From what I believe, the guard didn’t like the idea of guys showing up with the two Canadians, and giving them a ride home. Why the guard decided to lock the two Canadians out of their apartment, I have no idea. Eventually the landlord and a neighbor were able to set things right, and let the Canadians back in.

I don’t think this will be much of a problem anymore, as this last weekend, we had our farewell party with the Canadians, who are now traveling up around northern India on some kind of amazing adventure before their classes start again in the spring. Yeah, they have a month and a half off from class. What the hell, right? I can’t really complain, I only have two weeks of work left.

We ended up going to Hotel Vulga, god knows why, much like last time we went to Mumbai over night. Much like last time, there was again issues getting rooms for everyone. Even though they were willing to take my learners permit for ID since I forgot my passport, they were giving Utkarsh crap about not having ID on him, despite actually being an Indian citizen. Not having to bring a passport with me whenever I go out of town will be fantastic when I get home.

After we got enough rooms for everyone, we met up with a couple more people from Pune (making about a dozen people total) for dinner at Leopold’s café. I always have the grand idea that Leopold’s, one of the classic foreigner eateries in Mumbai, would be like it was supposed to be in the 80’s, a drug fueled seedy dive where anything might happen. Now it’s just an over priced restaurant next to the Vulga hotel. Lame, but super convenient.

We were still trying to come up with plans for the evening as we finished dinner. First thing first, we decided drinking at the hotel was a great way to start the evening. We just needed to find some beer. After asking a guy on the street for some directions, I found myself walking down a dark, abandoned alley behind some restaurants, smelling of piss and shit. When I reached the end of it, I made a left. Down this second alley was a hole cut in a wall with some guys crowded around it, reeking of alcohol. I buy a couple beers and get back to the hotel in desperate need of a drink.

Amanda, Kara, Udeitha, and I went to the ATM to grab some money. Some guy on the street stops Kara.

“Apparently I work for a club, and I can get you in for free,” he says with a nervous grin.

“What does it mean to apparently work for a club?” Amanda asks.

“I’m gunna be honest with you, we’ve got like, eight more dudes waiting for us, think you can get us all in?” I ask with a grin.

He laughs a confused and disappointed laugh. He tells us that he’ll see what he can do.

The name of the club is Club Redlight, unofficially known as the hardest god damn club to find after having a couple drinks. After a half hour walk back and forth, we find a stairway, a line, and a red light, and figure we must have found the place.

The night went well, and I’ll leave many things unsaid, but I did get to see my first drunk Indian brawl. That was cool.

The next morning, Udeitha and I left early to catch a bus back to Pune. I had to meet my friend Amy who was visiting Sunday from Kerala, where she had been working for two months. Unfortunately, she came during the days of some of the worst weather we’ve had in weeks.

We had fun, and I taught her to ride a scooter without getting arrested by any kind of military or police officer, which was a great success.

Today at lunch the café we ate at gave me two free veg puffs. Great success. And tomorrow is yet another Indian metal concert, and this weekend we go to the beach. Looks like yet another busy week for me.