Home sweet home

We have a home. At long last! Part of me still can't believe I now call Mumbai home. How the hell did that happen? Well in any case, it feels damn gooood...Over 350 metres squared of marble floored living and a huge balcony complete with the teensiest little private garden for our furry friends Boris and Sammy. The little garden has a few palms, various other plants and even grass! Yes that's right grass. Our main balcony is at least 12 metres in length and has a gorgeous feature wall with a running waterfall at one end...(imperative for drowning out the traffic I hear!) Four bedrooms, 5 bathrooms, seperate kitchen and dining areas and a gorgeous all important air conditioned dressing room (for stressful wardrobe decision making!!) I definetly feel very blessed right now. There's a fab private gym/sauna downstairs and even a games room with a pool table for the guys. I feel very lucky. Considering how many people share one bed in India. I appreciate the apartment I am lucky enough to call home.

Our building secretary who lives above- is so sweet and invited us over for lunch on sunday. We ended up watching a movie in his cinema room after chowing down another huge banquet. We all had a good laugh at the latest episode of "India's got talent" and ended up staying till early evening! His wife is taking me out to show me a few local places to buy household appliances etc today. I'm once again blown away by the generosity and welcoming nature of everyone in Mumbai. Another day -another invitation for a meal at someone's place...I love this culture. Honestly. I feel so safe and at home already. Everyone wants to help out or show you around or invite you over for dinner and drinks. It's pretty phenomenal.
And here's another thing. Service...it's just out of control. EVERYTHING is delivered or deliverable. Yesterday I went and did some groceries and as I walked into the store the man behind the counter said "Good morning my name is Deepak". I introduced myself saying I had just moved to Bandra and could he possibly deliver to....he stopped me short and said "yes I know where you live" and then told me my apartment number. He said he delivers to everyone in my building and saw that I was the newest face in town so I must have been the new apartment owners. I was gob smacked. How observant. And of course it was delivered to my home an hour later. My fruit and vegetables were delivered. I stopped at the hardware store to buy some brooms, mops and buckets etc. All delivered. Last night back at the apartmnt I realised I had forgotten cheese, cherry tomatoes and "HRH" fancied some mango ice cream for dessert. I rang my little grocer store and I kid you not- within 5 minutes from hanging up the phone there was a call from the lobby to ask if the delivery man could come up. Five minutes I tell you! Absolutely incredible...no driving off to the corner store to discover that it shut at 8pm- in Mumbai. Everything is open till 10pm. Every day of the week.
Everyone in Bandra and Pali Hill knows each other and who you are. Someone is always so and so's cousin, aunt or doctor here! No wonder the crime levels are so low and you feel so safe. Every morning- everyone asks how we are settling in. When you go to the pharmacy they ask how your sore throat was from your visit 2 days earlier. As you walk in to buy your groceries you hear "Good morning Queenie how are things? How are the children?" For a city of over 25 million people how come I feel like I live in a small country village where everybody knows my name? How come I don't feel lost or alone like you can in other huge mega cities around the world? Because this place has a REAL sense of community. Community...wow I'm beginning to like that word.
Another pleasant discovery is that there's no need to carry cash around all the time - you can always just pay another time. And if you mention needing to pop in again to repay what you owe the shopkeppers just wave you off and smile. Huh? People trust each other here? I'm just not used to it as an unknown new comer. Sad to say. I mean sure once you've lived somewhere for years and have a relationship with retailers of course I would expect such trust. But right from the get go? It's very inclusive. So- if you ask me whether I am adjusting and feeling at home here In Mumbai... I spose I will say: "Abso-fricken-lutely my friends." You can't begin to imagine how so.
Now I'm off for a morning walk with "HRH" and then for eggs benedict at our local cafe for breakfast. Hope you all have a good one. A big warm welcome to you all from Mexico (how are the taco's?) From Fiji (Bula my friends), Denmark and Switzerland.

Queenie the queen of the suburbs coming to you live from Bandra Mumbai. Woohoo!!!