1/27/2026

Backpacker Cowies, Colaba, Mumbai

It’s been about a week that I’ve been in Mumbai. I’m not sure I’ve ever felt that a week as been so filling. The hostel I booked for my first two nights only checked in guests until 6pm, and I’d landed at 8. I scrambled and got a taxi to a different hostel, right next to the airport. When I arrived I was curtly told that they did not allow foreigners. The next hotel down the road told the same story, and I ended up getting a room at the fourth option. All the while I was exhausted and navigating some of the busiest, most chaotic, and frenetic streets I’ve ever been in. The pace set by this running start was what I’ve come to expect. 

I’m not sure if it’s just that my travel joints are a little creaky, and that it’s been about a year since I was in the Philippines and Indonesia, and almost two since my first trip to SEA, but this felt different. The pace and level of jockeying, of congestion, of confusing, heart-dropping, stomach-clenching, and electrifying danger is just something else. As I’ve gotten further into the week, this impression hasn’t changed. Just going for a five minute walk to get a bite of food demands some courage for me. There is no way to get around without dodging hurtling traffic, being marked as a potential scam victim, witnessing five heartbreaking things, getting a dozen of the warmest smiles out there. 

I completely understand the hustle and bustle here. The seeping guilt and crushing gratitude of privilege I feel in every moment I’m outside. I get it that myself and other westerners are potential income, and honestly it seems more than fair that people try to get my wallet open. Most of the time I don’t mind and try to give someone cash without the fancy footwork and guilting of whatever scheme they’re going for. Sometimes it’s a bashful ask, sometimes brazen. The something for nothing is a classic, where I’ll receive someone’s generosity as a gift and then turn around to an ask for repayment. In Europe it’s beaded bracelets, here it’s a flower from a holy man, a piece of information or guidance, and, once, an ear cleaning. Seriously. A guy grabbed my arm on the sidewalk, seeming concerned, and then proceeded to stick metal tools in my ears before I could understand what was happening. Lesson learned!!! I think he was planting fake earwax, no less. At more than one level, you have to respect it. 

There is a real culture of altruistic hospitality, of generosity and curiosity. And underneath that, there is sometimes a hustle, where tourists are a mark or a quick buck. It has been hurting me to have this caution or worry in the back of my mind, even if it’s there for a good reason. I think that It might be helpful to think of this as a normal exchange, almost pretending like I’m soliciting interactions and paying for them. Well, not the ear thing.

This trip has already been one of the ost intense growth experiences of my life. I struggle to understand most of what I see, either out of ignorance or pure overwhelm. Every day I have seen things that on some level register as so important, heavy, heartbreaking, inspiring, and unjust all at once that I don’t know what to do with the information, I just tuck it away someplace where it will probably float to the surface someday. As I think back, my mind swims with a handful of these images. 

Most of the things that I think will stick with me the most aren’t even the “sights”! And I’ve seen a lot. The Gateway to India Monument, Haji Ali, Shree Babulnath, Crawford Market, Taj Mahal Hotel, Sassoon Docks, Marine Drive, Leopold’s, Colaba Causeway, Flora Fountain,  Elephanta Island, East and West Bandra, the Hanging Gardens, Bharat Point (“the most final place in Mumbai”), a couple museums, and more. My favorite place I’ve seen is the Oval, a huge oblong park where people of all ages play cricket. I was sitting there yesterday, jotting in my notebook when a group of five kids invited me to play cricket with them. Luckily I’d researched the rules a couple days prior so I had a horribly rudimentary understanding of the game. I ended up playing for about an hour, batting and catching, making a single good play. 

Yesterday, the 26th was India’s Republic Day, last weekend was Lollapalooza India (headliners Tyler, The Creator and Linkin Park), with festivals celebrating Ganesh late last week. Plus it’s the start of wedding season! A guy I met named Kamlesh (super generously helpful, and also asked me for some money to fund some charity efforts of his and took me to a shop he knows to buy a Kurta and scarf, so a very confusing mix of seemingly selfless giving and getting my wallet open. Plus a really strange scripted-sounding video of a German guy testifying about his charity work) gave me some great tips about celebrating and etiquette. I also super overpaid for a very helpful service that seems like it should book all my trains for me. Overpaying for something that will save me a lot of stress? Don’t mind if I do!

I’ve been having to balance the intensity of just going for a small walk with a lot of time resting in the places I’ve been staying. That’s led to a simply staggering amount of time on my phone, between YouTube and Reddit and Netflix. That’s okay. And I’d like to get more into writing, spend more time typing. I’ve turned down my “say yes to everything” dial significantly, and already opted out of a few experiences that sounded like they could have been awesome, if a little sketchy, in favor of relaxing or chilling. I think that’s totally okay. Burning out here would be really sucky, and probably dangerous if I let my guard down. And anything I do do, is 100% more than I would have done spending this time at home. Hell, I feel like I’ve already had six weeks worth of learning, seeing, and growth in this week. Honestly, just getting behidn the wheel of a car here would be the scariest, most courageous thing I’ve ever done. 

They say India is not for beginners, and I feel like I’m just barely enough of a not-beginner to keep afloat here. Just barely. With my facilities so occupied by figuring out how to get around, eat safely, and stay oriented, I don’t have much mental end emotional bandwidth for deep, thoughtful reflection or much writing craft. I’m hoping that as I spend more time here, that bandwidth muscle will grow, but for now, I just hope that you as a reader will forgive the evidence of ignorance, fear, and prejudice that I’m sure lurk somewhere in these paragraphs, left subconsciously. 

I have a night train to Hampi tonight, in a class that a few Indians have warned me is less than ideal… Whelp! It’s not the lowest class, and it seems fine on YouTube… lolz! But I’m very excited to get to a place where the pace is a little slower, or at least with just a little less of, well, everything. 

As a guest and observer, I feel like I’ve gotten just enough data this past week to notice a few patterns. My favorite patterns, and I’ll end the post with this, are in faces. I don’t know if I’ve ever been to a place where it seems like everyone wears their personality on their face, expression aside. I’m not really sure what that means, or if I really think that whatever it does mean is true or not, but I like the way it sounds. Plus it makes me look more closely at people’s face, and appreciate the stories that people can tell with their faces. 

Facial expressions are interesting, too. Most people I encounter anywhere wear a stony, coarse, sometimes tired face as what seems like a default. When I make eye contact with someone on the street, which is anytime I want to because almost everyone I pass looks me up and down and then in the eyes, I’m sometimes halted by what seems like a scowl or a frigid stare. Sometimes I smile. And the vast majority of the time, I’m dazzled with a huge, ear to ear, eye-wrinkling smile right back. A good chunk of the time, I’m asked where I’m from, how long I’ve been in India, how I like Mumbai, and a few other questions, usually accompanied by a warm wish or welcome. This is one of the few things that I’ve seen or experienced that I actually, 100% know how to feel about. 

I’ve also been jotting down quick notes on my phone, as little memory banks for my day to day activities. Just a sentence or two, rough and dirty. I’ll probably post the entire thing at the end of my trip as a big list. Fun!