Ben followed some skateboarders on Instagram called @_sk8city_, who were Mumbai. He messaged them before we even came to India asking if they wanted to hang out and skate if we came down and they said yes! He messaged them before we left Jaipur saying that we would be down there that evening (which we weren’t...)– so now we needed to find Wi-Fi to message them that our train was longer than expected, but that we’re here now. But because it was 6:30 AM, there wasn’t really anybody awake walking on the street to ask where to go
Wandering out the alleys, not sure what to do
House
Carrying a bag of ?
Guy who tried talking to us for a few minutes, in Hindi
This guy didn't know where we could get Wi-Fi, but asked for a picture with us. We agreed only if he'd follow us and post it on Instagram, hahahaha
Someone balancing a basket on their head– wow
We've experienced the same problem with Wi-Fi as we always have in public places down here: it’s free if you have a phone number and can send a confirmation code to your phone. We asked a bunch of people walking past if they knew where we could get Wi-Fi and/or if we can use their hotspot. People either couldn’t understand us, ignored us, didn't know where to go, or had no hotspot. Ben said that he would ride down the street to see what he could find restaurant/Wi-Fi to use. He was gone for 20 minutes or so; I just sat by the bags and smiled at people walking past. When he returned, he said he found a McDonald’s that should have Wi-Fi– and if I didn’t, it would be better than hanging out on the street. We took a tuk-tuk there and and employee helped us connect to the Wi-Fi with their phone number. While Ben messaged the Sk8 City crew, I ordered us some food. We got some Belgian waffles and an orange Fanta. The waffles were very average, and the Fanta tasted as great as ever! Cows are considered sacred in the Hindu religion because they help the agriculture grow, they provide milk, and are gentle creatures. They are considered caretakers for the society and should be respected. Although it is legal to buy, sell, and consume beef, cow slaughter is illegal. It is not a very big problem down there though because most people do not eat beef for religious reasons.
McDonald's menu in Mumbai
The Wi-Fi worked for 15 minutes or so, then stopped. Luckily, Ben got instructions on how to get to the area we were going to meet them: take a tuk-tuk to the train station, purchase tickets to Bhayandar East for Rs.5 ($0.08!), then walk or tuk-tuk to Jesal Park. The train was very crowded: it literally looked like those videos/pictures you see online of people packed into (and partially outside) of trains. As soon as the train rolled up, nobody waited for people to get out before they got in, everyone was just pushing to get in/out– it was a mad house hahahaha. It was about a 30 minute train ride and then an 8 minute walk to Jesal Park.
Train tickets
When we got there, we just sat down next to the building they told us to go to. It was pretty hot, so I sat in the shade while Ben kind of skated around. A couple of kids who seemed our age came up to us and asked us why we were just sitting there. We told him that we were waiting for friends and they asked again, “okay, but why are you sitting on the ground?” We were kind of confused but told them again that we were waiting for friends so we were just sitting there. They told us that the ground is dirty and to follow them into a shop. They offered us chai and said we could take our bags off, they would be safe. We told them we were waiting for the Sk8 City crew and asked if they had a Wi-Fi hotspot we could connect with to message them while we were waiting. They connected us and said that they knew them, hahaha They said we could leave our bags at the shop and they would show us around while we waited. They took us to Vasai Creek: the water was really brown (like, chocolate milk brown). We asked if they go swimming in it and they laughed and said no. There was a boy washing his clothes in the river though, so we watched him for a few minutes. 3 members of the Sk8 City crew rolled up to where we were chilling by the river and we all introduced ourselves: Rahul Jha, Raul Pillai, and Gaurav (?).
Indian friend and Ben walking to the 'shore'
Washing clothes in the river
River
Building
2 kids, chillin'
They all asked for a picture
They pushed this kid out and said, "no picture for him! He is naughty boy! Naughty!" I felt bad, told them bullying isn't cool, and said I'd take a picture of just him
I saw him trying to take a picture 'with' me, out of the corner of my eye. I just turned and smiled
We got our things from the first shop and they brought us to their friend's tattoo shop: Rudra Tattoo & Piercing. They asked us if we were hungry and we said that we were, so the kids we originally were with were given money and went to get us food, while Ben and the Sk8 City crew went out to skate. This just left me to hang out at the tattoo shop. I talked with the owner, Ravi Shette and his friend, for a bit. Ravi thought I was such a cool guy, he even asked for pictures with me! I kind of like people taking pictures with me: I'm like a celebrity or something. I told Ravi that he looked kind of like this singer called The Weeknd. His friend and him laughed and I added,“No it’s a good thing! Lots of girls in America think he is very handsome” to which they laughed even more. He told me to look up a picture of him on his computer. He said thank you, and agreed that he was a handsome guy.
Zac and Ravi
Zac and Ravi
Zac and Ravi (again)
Rudra Tattoo & Piercing card
Then Ravi says to me, "Jack, I appreciate you and Benny coming to my tattoo shop. Please let me give you two complementary tattoos!" I laughed and politely declined saying that I didn’t need one. But he insisted because I was his guest and I am from America. I told him I didn’t know what to get and he told me to take my time thinking about it and to look on the computer for ideas! I got on the computer and looked up “handpoked tattoo ideas”, because I knew this would be relatively small tattoo ideas. I came across a little bird design (they later called it a sparrow) and told him that’s the one. He questioned it, “are you sure? You don’t want a skull or something?” I laughed and said that's what I wanted. As Ben and the Sk8 City crew came back, so did our food came back: 2 idlis (soft rice cake– we weren’t big fans of them. Kind of tasted like a soggy/'wet' pancake...?) and a masala dosa (pretty much just like crêpe, but not sweet. Filled with potatoes, peppers, and spices. I really liked it). I told Ben that Ravi wants to give us complementary tattoos because we’re his guests from America! Ben immediately knew what he wanted: Scooby Doo skateboarding. As Ben searched a good picture of Scooby skating, the tattoo artist (Ravi's friend) prepared for my tattoo.
Idlis and Masala Dosa
Not that I didn’t trust him before, but I appreciated seeing him wear proper gloves, disinfecting my leg correctly, and using a sterilized needle! I told him that I wanted it on my right knee, so that I could hide it if I needed to... I sat down in the chair, rolled my pant leg up, he shaved and sanitized the area, and applied the stencil. The feeling wasn’t exactly how I expected it to be. The needle is moving up and down 120 times per second– which is exactly what it felt like? I usually have a high pain tolerance so it didn’t “hurt” but I definitely could feel that a needle was going into my skin. I kind of nervously laughed a couple of times but didn’t jerk away or anything. It’s a pretty small bird, so it only took about 20 minutes to do.
Ravi told us we could use his computer to look up music that we liked– so we listened to some Fleetwood Mac, King Krule, and Mac DeMarco. Next up was my friend Benny! Ravi prepped him the same way I was and they were off! He got his higher up, on his inner-ish left thigh. This area is more sensitive than a knee, so Ben didn’t have as great of a time as I did hahaha– and his was bigger, so took about an hour. We took more photos (lol), thanked our artists for the complementary tattoos and food, and set off to find a hotel.
By now, it was just Ben, Gaurav, Rahul, and I. Everywhere we go, everybody stares at us. It doesn’t really bother us but we asked our friends why people do. They said it’s because this area of Mumbai isn’t a very touristy area, so a lot of people here haven’t really seen white people before. I asked them if they had ever seen white people before, and Rahul (18 years old) said that he had not and that we were the first. Gaurav (21 years old) had once or twice, but that was in New Delhi. This totally blew our minds! We found a hotel that was Rs.600 ($9.25)/night. It was pretty lousy: there was no A/C, no Wi-Fi, and cold water (yes, we can live without those things but it’s inconvenient). Flipped through the channels and stopped on 21 Jump Street. Not only was there language barrier between us and the boys, there was also a comedy barrier? There were parts in the movie that Ben and I’d laugh at, but the boys wouldn’t even crack a smile. Eventually we told them we wanted to unpack and shower, but we should meet up later and skate. They agreed and left.
Building
From the roof of the hotel
Some of Mumbai
Horizontal view of a building from our hotel
Vertical view of a building from our hotel
Tuk-tuks, motorcycles, buses, people, etc.
Mumbai
Buildings
Rooftops
They were returned for Ben and left to skate, but I stayed back and fell asleep.
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