On the road from Mumbai to Pune (India)

Things I want to remember

• The wall of human faces waiting outside of the Mumbai airport, most with names on signs; endless faces waiting patiently.
• The black taxis simply everywhere in the city, with the meter outside of the car; the small 3-wheelers, painted in the same way as the cars, roaming and honking in the traffic.
• The drive out of the airport's parking, our car led with a millimetric precision between the other cars parked in the middle of the road.
• The constant honking, not aggressive like in Europe, but rather to say "I am here".
• The nice ladies at the hotel desk in Mumbai who, after finding that my driver dropped me at the wrong ITC hotel, called the other one and changed the booking so that I didn't need to drive further in the night and the rain.
• A traditionally clad man, all in white, with a turban, a beard and a dagger at his belt, walking between the cars jammed in Mumbai.
• The women in sari sitting "amazon-like" on the backseat of scooters.
• The people I photograph and who wave at me and smile.
• A farmer plowing his field under the rain, guiding his 2 cows pulling the plow.
• Monkeys on the highway, watching the cars.
• Donkeys and cows on the road, the many dogs roaming and playing together on the highway. The occasional dead dog on the road.
• The trucks, old, rusty, but decorated and painted with bright colors. The "please horn OK" hand painted in bright colours at the back.
• Dinner on the roof of the hotel in Pune, wind and rain, indian music playing, sound of the trains' horns in the background, sometimes so loud that all the chatter stops.
• Betelnut after the meal to freshen the mouth.
• Men in european costumes and women in saris going to attend a banquet. To write that they are beautiful is such a ridiculous understatement that I prefer not to try and describe them.
• The monsoon rain pouring.

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