A somber moment

the taj hotel
one of the terrorists, not your average terrorist. Even scarier to think they are normal guys.
the taj on fire, not the modern extension to the side of the taj, that too has terrorists running all over it.
escaping the tak
Well, as you all know by now, Bombay is under attack for the last 36 hours! More than 20 (around 27) terrorists have attacked very important sites all over Bombay. The Taj Mahal Hotel (the most important hotel in India and 5star), The Trident Hotel (another 5 star hotel), a hospital and a house which is inhabited by indian jews/israeli ex-pats and Vicotria Station, the busiest station in Inida, if not the world.

It's now calculated that at least 125 people have been killed, with 300 people injured. Compare that to the Omagh Bomb, Not belittling it at all,  but the scale of the devastation here is just mad. In contrast to the omagh blast, there is no big ruined building, only burnt out windows frames and taxis where grenades have exploded. Which makes it hard to 'see' the attack. The shocking truth only can be registered when you see the bodies of people shot. 

It's seems to be quitening down now, though there is still some terrorists around. I'm fine, we are living quite far out of town, though we still have stayed indoors these last few days. Today, though we are going out to get some stuff for out trip to North India! Going up to Allahabad for a friend's wedding, the attacks have dampened the mood but we're still going. Just like the rest of the city. It's amazing, yesterday, shops were still open and cars were still on the road. Even Victoria Terminus, which saw two gunmen run around inside shooting widly at people was open the next day. Nothing stops this city. The day after the Bombay train blasts in 2006 the trains were running. Giles, Gayle's dad, was trying to head off to work yesterday, though stopped him. 

The fighting is all happening in town, I'm a bit of a distance away, and we are going further out of town to do some shopping. All in all it's pretty safe, we have to be wary of cops as they will all be on edge today.

Gonna sign off now. 

Peace to you all

Call me on 00919930553422 if you just want to say hey and see how I'm doing. If you're on meteor, meteor doesn't have the connection for india. Sorry.

Paul

Video of Bombay!!!

This is all through Pics

Starred Photos

Just follow the link and you can see them.

Getting a job in Bombay...

Well, interesting news I have for you all! I am starting work with a conservation architect next week! Mad, no? Her name is Kirtida Unwala and she owns a company called K N Arcon Pvt. ltd.(http://knarcon.com/profile1.html ) She's done work all over the city and is based in the city centre.  Above is Afghan church (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afghan_Church), one of her projects in restoration. It's a 19th C church built in commemoration of soldiers who died in the first afghan war. Anyway Kirti's not offering me much, and she works all the way in town, but she is doing almost exactly what I'd like to get into. So besides a bit more discussion on pay she seems pretty keen on employing me. Not exactly sure what I'll be doing, probably a lot of paperwork with sporadic visits to sites, we shall see. an if this goes well.... well you never know maybe I'll be here for a little longer than 6months!

view from train

In other news I have become a true Bombayite! Went to meet Kirti on my own in town, as Gayle had work, and ended up taking the train back home. The taxi there cost me 120rupees, the train cost me 7ruppees. No typo that's how much it cost. And my train ride was longer as I went to Gayle's offices in Santacruz which is further out than her home. madness. Now 7 is cheap but this must be balanced with how crazy the trains are. I was on off-peak time and it was full. I fear what it's going to be like at rush-hour which is when I'll have to take it if I get the job! 

view from the train at station 

Besides all this news all is well in my world, would love to hear from anyone who emails me with news! See you all soon

Paul

Monday, the start of another week! Didn't get to celebrate Halloween this year. It's not that popular in India ('slightly' overshadowed by the giant festival that is Diwali). Not even a whisper of a mention anywhere. It's strange but I was wondering, is it religious festival? It's not even a festival. It's just a day when it's socially acceptable to wear wierd dresses and threaten people for sweets. Anyway, with guys like above, who needs halloween!

So got my computer back from repairs, it seems in perfect order. The Motherboard was replaced and it cost me 3,500rupees, quite expensive but now my computer is back and working. Plus the guy is the computer service guy for Gayle's company and he's now on a contract to maintin my comp. Sweet.

So lesson in India #3 (i think)        - In India they use a very interesting system to count lots of money, the lakh and the crore. The lakh is 100,000 ruppees - that's 1500 euro. Basically the lakh is our 'grand'. But then we have the crore, a crore is a 100 lakhs i.e. 159,000euro. A lot of money. If you earn in crores you are wealthy. The word is used in the Indian title of the popular Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? game show, Kaun Banega Crorepati - literally "Who will be a ten-millionaire?".  And for you who India is a poor country, the price of a flat in Bombay city centre would set you back around 15(average) crore -  2,393,859 euros. For a flat. Also interesting is that they use lakh and crore in normal counting terms. We say millions of people were there, they say crores of people were there (and in India a crore of people is not that difficult to find!)

Bellow is the Queen's Necklace - the most exclusive road on Bombay. It's a 20 minute drive away from Gayle's house

Bye for now.

Will blog later.