A taste of Mumbai

We took a cab ride around Mumbai and learned so much from our driver.  Our first stop was a Hindu temple.  Our driver dropped us off and told us to leave our shoes in the car because you can't wear shoes in the temple.  We were uncomfortable with walking a good distance to the temple without shoes on, so we decided to leave our shoes on until we were closer to the temple and figure it out when we arrived.  As we got closer, we noticed that many people try to make money off of watching your shoes while you are in the temple.  Everyone was staring at us to see what we were going to do with our shoes.  We felt and looked very lost.  We were skeptical about leaving our shoes so we asked security what to do.  They pointed us in a direction to a man outside of the temple with a bookcase of open shelves. He collects shoes and watches your shoes for free, but it's nice to tip him.  We were grateful when we left the temple that our shoes were still there as we heard that sometimes people steal shoes.  Inside of the temple, we were blessed, made a wish and received a bindi. It was packed with people.  Many people bring flowers to place at the altar, and there were many people selling the flowers outside.  We weren't sure why so many people were aggressively trying to sell us flowers as there was a language barrier until we got inside, and then felt badly that we didn't have gifts to place.  However, despite our lack of knowledge, we were still welcomed with open arms and received a bindi and a blessing.  It was one of the most spiritual experiences I've ever had!  I was moved.

After temple, we then enjoyed a tasty lunch which included naan, chicken curry and rice at Leopold's Cafe.  This spot is a famous restaurant from the book Shantaram and was a the site of a terrorist attack a few years ago.  They actually have 2 of the bullet holes from the attack framed inside of the restaurant.  Our driver was very knowledgeable and helpful with learning the do's and don'ts of India. It was 91 degrees today, but there was a nice breeze off of the water.  Our driver was shocked when we shared pictures of our snowstorms in Rochester, NY!  He couldn't even imagine living in weather like that.  During our tour we saw cows, goats and many stray dogs in the streets.