shooting in bombay

since that day i last wrote (which already seems like ages ago), i've
had a complete 180! i LOVE INDIA. hahaha. i laugh at myself.
i've been working really hard on the film and am physically and
mentally exhausted, but also feeling quite energized by all that is
around me.
i can't write for too long because like i said, i'm POOPED. we've been
shooting for 2 days now in sweltering heat and i haven't properly
slept yet, so just a quick little bit.

we shot the first day in colaba (which is a neighborhood in mumbai).
it's quite a touristy area but also feels very "real"... in the sense
that there are tons of your every day working man/woman. i don't know
how to explain... brain is not functioning very well. anyway, we set
up our shoot and had TONS of interested and curious people surrounding
us. once i started talking to the people, i just felt totally at ease
and loved hearing them and what they had to say. especially
politically. so so fascinating. anyway, we had a couple men that
wanted to help out and they were just the sweetest, funniest most
sincere people you could ever meet. LOVELY.

then we did a set-up in front of the big gateway of india (big tourist
attraction... lots of indians). we were all dressed up in these
ridiculous pink suits, had video camera and these big banners and it
seemed like all of india wanted to know what we were up to. i swear,
in about 5 minutes there were over 200 people surrounding us to see
what we were doing. i felt like a true celebrity, pictures being
snapped, people talking about it. it was just an invigorating and
magical experience. we were all very high from that.

today we shot on a college campus which also went very well but didn't
quite have the magic. the people were more educated on the politics
but they were all quite shy. and the day was very long and hot. the
shoot has been great but i'm really tired and ready to get my travels
on.

i'm still not certain where i will end up next but i'm not nervous any
more. i've made friends with a couple of canadian women that leba
recruited for the shoot who have been travelling for 4 months or so
and have been a wealth of information. i'm actually staying with them
tonight and they gave me my first lesson in how to eat indian food
properly (yes, i've been here for 3 days and hadn't even had indian
food yet!). so needless to say, i'm anxious for what's next. i will
probably be in bombay for 2 to 3 more days and then it's either to goa
or kerala (heard about a wonderful ayervedic place that i might go to
do my relaxation before heading north but nothing set in stone just
yet). we have one more day of shooting and then i want a couple more
days to do some more bombay stuff which i haven't had a chance to get
to yet.

bla bla bla.
the real adventure hasn't even begun and i have SO many more days. WOOHOO!!!