Where did you go?

When I pulled into the entrance to my building on Sunday night, I was greeted by the building’s security guard,a smooth skinned boy of only 15 or 16. He blandly opened the gate, and then peered in the car, and as he did his expression changed to exuberance and he gave me an flapping, energetic wave. I have been away for five weeks in the US. This was a much better welcome than I would receive a few minutes later from Uma (my dog), who peed upon my arrival.

Yesterday morning, as I walked past the oldies doing laughter yoga in a park across from my house, my neighbor, an old retiree with explosive Albert Einstein hair and a warm face looked over the fence and yelled, “Where did you go?” I waved back.

This morning, as I took Uma for her walk, I saw some of my other buddies. First, there was the chap who always hits on me—no shame at 6:30 in the morning, this guy. He must be about 60, with pockmarked skin and bright, dancing eyes. He generally sits with 4-5 other men his age stretching and kvetching on the waterfront. “You like Indian dogs?” he asked me once. Yes, I nodded. “So,” he said with a sparkle in his eye, “you like Indian men, too?” This morning, on the “boardwalk” I heard a hearty “Hello again!” and looked up to see him walking to meet up with his padres.

Later, when I went to my neighborhood coconut stand, the young proprietor, who lives in the slum near my house, a man with whom I have never exchanged a word except to order a coconut, gave me a shy, look of remembrance and welcoming. Meanwhile, the fresh juice woman, another person I’ve never actually spoken to, who sits next to the coconut seller, got out of her chair and came up to me and said, “You’re back! You were gone a long time. I thought you were sick. Bad health?”

Then there was the kid who biked past Uma and me as we walked back to the house. “John!” he yelled. “Hello, John!” This guy and his friends call my dog John—a story for another time—and there he was, noticing that “John” and I are back on the streets of Bandra.

I never realized that I was part of these people’s worlds—I only thought they were in mine. Their noticing, the simple acknowledgment of my absence, has made it kind of nice to be back.

The Weather

One day I will care about the weather. I will watch the radar like I’m command central and tell you when the rain will come. I will know when the trees need water. When the hay is ready for cutting. When the horses should be let out to run. I will know how many days of record highs we’ve had, and that this is the worst it’s ever been since 1925.

One day, after it rains, I will check my rain gauge and I will compare how much I have here and how little you have there, and I will speak with certainty about the ground drying out. I will admire your horse and you will praise my new mower. I will revel in watching the mercury fall. And, I will sit in the den of my log cabin as the light streams in, writing of my life before, when there were no seasons.

(Inspired by a recent trip home to Texas)

At the Kala Ghoda Cafe

Eating cheddar and pesto sandwich at a cafe in old Bombay.
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Gray Day in Bombay

Malabar Hills on a gray Sunday morning, taken from the window of a black and yellow cab.
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Touring Mumbai on Two Wheels

The Asiatic Society is housed at Town Hall, one of the sites on Mumbai's City Tour.

MUMBAI | Cosmopolitan hubs around the world have added bicycle tours to their roster of ways to experience culture and architecture. Touring cities like Barcelona, Paris and Amsterdam on a bike offers a romantic way to wend through a city’s history. In Mumbai, though, biking can be a bit more complicated.

Bike lanes are an anomaly here. Traffic does not follow rational rules. There are few bike stands. No maps in the land of landmarks. Definitely no right of way. In Mumbai, you ride a bike out of necessity, not leisure. But one company offers the opportunity to see the south side of the city by bike: Odati Adventures (17/8, Manish Nagar, 4 Bungalows, J.P. Road; 91-22-2287-1715; www.odati.com), which organizes all kinds of tours, including ones on two wheels. Read more at The New York Times...

Etienne Mbappe on Stage

At Blue Frog...Afro jazz...from Cameroon via France. Fantastic.
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After Decriminalization, A Gay Pride March in Mumbai

Image: A sign painting workshop, in preparation for Mumbai's Queer Azaadi March, today.

While much of the world celebrated Gay Pride in June, Mumbai waited. The Queer Azaadi March (”azaadi” means freedom), in fact, is this Sunday, a day after the 62nd anniversary of India’s independence. The implicit association: the freedom of sexual orientation and the country’s freedom from the clutch of colonialism.

Nearly 2,000 lesbian, gay, bi- and transsexual citizens and human rights advocates are expected to gather on the August Kranti Maidan in South Mumbai. There is much to celebrate: last month the New Delhi High Court repealed Section 377 of India’s penal code, which criminalized homosexuality. However, the decision is currently being challenged, which makes the March even more important to the LGBT community.

Only the second “pride” march in Mumbai, the act of being “out” is still a statement here...

Read the rest of the post on the New York Times blog, Globespotters.