Welcome to India

B"H Bombay, India. Chabad House, 3rd Floor, Room 32.

With the help of Hashem we arrived safely in India through the wonderful help of the national airline. It was a long haul of about 15 hours, direct from JFK to Bombay, arriving just before midnight on Thurs. The airport from the onset seems quite like any other airport in the world and they are trying as there is a lot of construction going on and in the city throughout. We proceeded smoothly through passport control, picked up a few things from Duty Free, collected our luggage, and said a hasty good bye to the other yidden on our flight as we would see them at Chabad on shabbos an went outside to find our ride.

We were picked up from the airport by three local gentleman, Priteesh, Deio and a driver and together they helped us with our 2 overweight suitcases and 3 boxes filled with provisions for the next 5 week. After a short 50 min. drive through the heart of Bombay we came to the chabad house. Now, unfortunately the poverty here is unreal. People sleep in the streets on any flat area they can find together with goats and chickens that roam the alleys. Thankfully the locals are of a very helpful and polite kind which makes life a little easier when you're in a 3rd world country. The view from our window in the chabad.

In the morning we awoke very early due to jetlag and began exploring our surroundings. The Chabad House is located on a side road (i'm not sure how to describe it. something like really narrow and pebbles) off of a main road in Colaba. The area surrounding it is a maze of little streets filled with people in small cars, mopeds and bicycles, rickshaws, housewives carrying baskets on their heads, children going to from school, and others just laying around in the heat.
One of the streets is an open fruit and vegetable market and little shops and kiosks selling food, drinks, jewellery, clothing and any other odd items that they may feel to be marketable, line the other streets.

After Shacharis and a continental breakfast we were so kindly given a quick 3 hour tour of the city by Deio, our friend from the office. (I'm sure the reader can easily google all of the following locations so if you really care to know about them please go ahead. unless there was something interesting will i mention it.) We went to the 'Gateway of India', then to Rhythm House, a "large" music store where Deios' father works, and then to a wine to buy some drinks for shabbos. Afterwards we paid a visit to the office where we met Umang and the other people who work there, and returned home.
We promptly fell asleep and only awoke minutes before the shabbat.

Bs"d thats all for now.