1) Ignoring: this works pretty well but encourages people to keep asking you until you're out of earshot
2) Smiling and shaking my head: when I'm feeling friendly, I do this. Doesn't work so well.
3) Saying "NO.": this seems to be most effective, although you have to say it LOUDLY and repeat yourself several times.

After a long walk to Chowatty Beach last night, I was feeling completely exhausted. Sweat was dripping down my back into the top of my pants, my hair was frizzling out every which way, and blisters were beginning to form on the soles of my dirt-encrusted feet. Soon I found myself accompanying my "NO!" with a horizontal slashing motion through the air. That, I soon discovered, was the best response yet.

written by  travelcake on November 1, 2007 from Mumbai, India
from the travel blog: Studying Yoga at the source: India
tagged StreetVendors and Mumbai
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Once I decided to come to India, I started doing some research on the cultural climate to try and get a feel of what I was getting myself into. I knew of course that India as a whole is a typically more conservative than the U.S. The girls here have been told to cover their shoulders and not to wear low-cut shirts, and to travel always travel in groups preferably with at least one male. I sort of knew all this before, but what I didn't know, and am slowly discovering, is India's cultural attitude towards homosexuality.

In my research I found that there is a law in the Indian Penal Code called Section 377, which states that anyone who engages in "carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal, shall be punished with imprisonment for life, or with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexuality_in_india) This law was established during the British rule and basically makes homosexual acts illegal. Though this law is written on the books, homosexuality (of course) still exists in india, and in many major cities there is a vibrant gay nightlife.

About a week before I arrived in Delhi in July, the cities of Delhi, Bangalore, and Calcutta celebrated their first every gay pride celebration. The city of Mumbai, which is notoriously liberal and metropolitan, did not participate on that date, but held its pride celebration last weekend on Saturday, August 16th - they day after India's Independence day. This was done purposely to symbolize the fact that while 60 years ago India gained its independence from the British, the LGBT (lesbian gay bisexual and transgendered) community is still bound by section 377 of the British Penal Code.

So...of course I had to go.

My friend and I booked a ticket to Mumbai for the weekend, and I was actually able to get in touch with an international student from Bryant who offered to let us stay with her. It was definitely an adventure getting there, since I still don’t have a phone and everyone else’s got shut off because of Independence day (still not sure why). But we made it safely Friday morning to Mumbai, and took a cab to my friend’s place where we got a wonderfully warm Indian welcome.

Friday night we got to see the city a bit and meet a bunch of our host’s friends. Mumbai is a beautiful city, much more organized and clean-looking than Delhi. It’s sort of like the Manhattan of India since it’s so extravagant and it’s also surrounded by water just off the Southwest coast. There’s also a ton of money in Mumbai, and we were able to eat at some amazing high-class restaurants, bars, and lounges.

We went to bed so late Friday night that we slept-in til about 2pm Saturday, and although we got to Chowpatty (where the parade was supposed to be) we actually wound up missing the first half of the parade because they switched the time at the last minute. We were able to see the end of the parade, where everyone gathered at the beach holding signs, wearing rainbow hats and boas, and dancing on the sidewalk. It was a much smaller gathering than I’m used to seeing in places like Boston or Providence, where their pride celebrations are on such a larger scale, but for India – this was huge. Mumbai had its first official gay pride celebration (which I think might have even been more of a protest) in 2005, but everyone we talked to said that this was by far the most successful one. After the gathering, everyone piled into this little café across the street and got completely drunk and sang along to the Madonna tunes playing over the speakers inside.

It was a truly existential moment being there seeing and talking to all these people who were so excited to have a Pride of their very own. This was a gigantic step forward for India and for the LGBT community.

The next morning we took a taxi out sightseeing for a bit and made sure we got that day’s paper before we left to remember our visit. The flight home was delayed, so we got home much later than we expected, but the flight itself was quick so it wasn’t too draining. All in all it was a fantastic trip that I wouldn’t have missed for the world.

written by  Indiestani on August 20, 2008 from Mumbai, India
from the travel blog: Mumbai
tagged Mumbai and GayPride
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So Mumbai, Gateway to India - Kate and I arrived midday in Mumbai airport, roughly 33C and the merking/jokers started from the off..overcharged for the cab, the driver going off to 'wash his face' to encourage us to go and purchase a bottle of water from the shop we had pulled up at, this was before we had enter left the airport car park!!

The journey from the airport to our hostel, the superbly named Hotel Volga II (surely the name of the hotel on the Starship Enterprise), was eventual to say the least... Indian drivers are best described as bad, no signaling and incessant honking. The journey also included slums on both sides of the street with adults/children squatting doing both sets of business on the side of the road.. add to this people sleeping on the side of the street and also on the central reservation. You can imagine the smell no doubt....

When we arrived at the hostel the cab driver tried to shoe us into another hostel, we casually strolled away from him and found our booked hostel, time for a nice relaxing nap we thought... the chap on the door apparently had no record of our booking and told us it was full up... then changed his mind and told us wait 30mins I will have a room. We were finally taken to the box (sorry room) and took whatever we were given really.

So Mumbai as a city, the Taj Mahal hotel is stunning, the Gateway to India lovely and the train station is a beautiful Victorian piece of architecture. Other than this Mumbai is rather charm less, I imagine Victorian London wouldn’t have been too dissimilar; hawkers and beggars and the personal hygiene of the cities inhabitants quite awful, spitting seems to be mandatory for both men and women in India!

Yesterday early morning we boarded the Konkan Railway to Goa and this was 12 hours of fun on an Indian sleeper train, it was pretty dirty but the views simply stunning.. I am currently in Arpora but looking to venture out to the old hippy beach in Northern Goa, Arambol.

I am having a slight technical hitch in uploading pics so I will try again in a couple of days.

All the Best, Get In! Game On!!

written by  Michael Russell on January 15, 2009 from Mumbai, India
from the travel blog: Escape from Blighty
tagged Mumbai
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We arrived in Mumbai on 7th Jan and spent the first three days there. Mumbai is so busy and a bit of a shock to the senses when you first arrive, but we settled in quite well. The taxi journey from the airport is the scariest experience I have had in my life, but after a while you get used to the traffic and the way of the roads and crossing them - basically a free for all. Everyone beeps their horns and the 3 lane road at the lights consists of 2 lorries, 5 motorbikes and 4 cars all squashed in.

Lots of people tryin to flog you rubbish constantly, but they're quite nice with it, not threatening at all. Imagine a street with 5000 of those Goranga guys selling tshirts with stuff like "Hari Potter" and reversible belts with Nike on one side and Polo sport on the other and you get an idea of what its like. There are so many people in Mumbai and there is poverty everywhere you look.

We stayed in Colaba in a place called Suba Palace which was a nice hotel near the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower hotel with great views over the city and really nice breakfast - curry, chicken and chips for breakfast. I stuck with the Masala Omlette most days. A bit expensive for our backpacker budget but well worth it.

The first night we treated ourselves to a really nice meal in a place called Indigo, Dan
had lobster bisque with crab tortellini, followed by tiger prawns with a water cress and cavier salad (I'm not joking). After dinner we sat in the bar and had a few G&Ts. Its been a difficult start but we're starting to aclimatise to the traveller's life.

We visited the Gateway of India on our way to Elephanta Island which is 1 hrs ferry ride and very peaceful after the chaos at the Gateway, although Dan tells me that he remembers it being much busier, for me it was busy enough. Elephanta Island has caves with Hindu carvings in the rocks, some of them are so huge, we got a veg Thali lunch here for 50 rupees (70p). There are loads of monkeys on the Island and they are so cheeky, we were walking past one of them and it tried to steal my water from my bag, but Dan ran at it and it backed off, when we walked past it on the way back it hid its head behind its girlfriend. At night we were so tired we fell asleep and woke up at 11pm - thinking there would be nopwhere to get food we headed out and Cafe Leopold was still open. They have an armed guard after the terror attack and you can still see the bullet holes in the glass - v.scary thought.

The following day we went to the aquarium, which was a bit dingy compared to what you would see in the UK, but was interesting and the entry so cheap, we walked along Marine Drive and Chowpatty beach on our way to the hanging gardens which was another bit of calm amongst the chaos. Directions in India are funny, everyone tells you straight ahead on the left only 10 minutes which really means an hour and you end up walking in circles.

Hope things are good at home and work and the weathers good HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

Next instalment is goa.....

I'll add some photos later - forgot the cable again. xx

written by  Clarabella and Daniel on January 7, 2009 from Mumbai, India
from the travel blog: Clarabella and Dan's Travel Blog
tagged Mumbai
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