Friday, September 08, 2006
Survivor Mumbai.
I've been getting a lot of emails, from South Africa and elsewhere, asking:
How are you "managing", Lev? How do you "survive" a city like Mumbai?
Well, let's not presume too much. It's actually far easier than you might think. And who wants to "manage" anyway? I'd much rather live than "survive". And Mumbai is nothing if not Alive. (Note the capital-A.)
A bit of Lev-in-India trivia:
To the best of my knowledge, I haven't been bitten by a single mosquito. I've been approached by fewer beggars here than I typically would driving around posh Joburg. Public transport, though fairly hair-raising, is ultimately more efficient than it is in any South African city. Cheap, always available, gets you there. The quality of the creative in outdoor ads here is, in my not-so-humble-opinion, far higher than it is in South Africa. Funnier, smarter, better-looking. For an English-speaker, there's more to watch on satellite TV than there is in South Africa. There appear to be more high-fashion international brands available in Mumbai than in the typical South African city. The malls look bloody swish. (Although I only ever pass them; no matter the country, I'm not a fan of malls.)
Am I knocking South Africa? Nooooo. But I can allow neither myself, nor my countrymen, to look down our noses at this country the way the yanks and euros often look down their noses at our own country. Quite unnecessary. They're all insanely different places. But, in ways that are equally insane, we're all the same.
