Mumbai has to be the most expensive city in India. Carl and I could not find a reasonable hotel or hostel (for Indian standards). We arrived by train to Mumbai in the morning. We got a coffee at the train station and called around to some hotels. Talking on the phone in India is the worst; its always impossible to hear the person, and even if they can hear you it's a tradition to answer the phone and just yell hello back and forth 5 or 6 times before any real conversation starts. Also the language barrier is really highlighted over the phone. Luckily Carl is a great travel partner and usually (always) makes the phone calls and answers the phone (because I just hand the phone to him and look confused). We (cough...carl) called the YMCA and had a hilarious conversation when they told him a bed in a dorm room would cost 1500 rupees...That's 25$...for a room at The Y in India! Carl must have asked if the guy was serious and called him crazy 6 times.
We took a taxi to an area of Mumbai called Colaba and walked around to 5 or 6 hotels and guest house looking at rooms. They were all really scarwy, really dirty, no windows and really expensive. One hotel offered to let us stay in a office for 2,000 rupees ($33). It was ridiculous and really humid and hot. After walking up and down stairs looking at rooms, including one at the Salvation Army, for 2 hours we were sweaty and exhausted. We found an okay room with AC for 1,800 rupees ($30).
That night we went to see a movie. We saw Interstellar, which I would totally recommend.
The next day we were sort of at a loss for what to do. We were tried and it was really hot, so we definitely didn't want to go sightseeing. I love libraries and there was one close by so we packed up our coloring pens and electronics so we could spend the day drawing and blogging in AC.
On the way to the library an Irish man stopped me and asked if I wanted to be in a Indian soap opera. They were looking for women to be extras but Carl would be able to be an extra as well. It is a once in a life time opportunity to be in a Bollywood production (mostly because I will never do it again) so we had to say yes. We had no idea what the day would hold. Two Canadian girls were also dragged off the street to join us as extras. We were all put in a taxi and TWO AND A HALF hours later we arrived at the studio. It actually didn't feel like that long because we busy comparing and sharing travel stories from India.
We were led to a trailer surrounded by a mud puddle were we ate lunch.
We took a taxi to an area of Mumbai called Colaba and walked around to 5 or 6 hotels and guest house looking at rooms. They were all really scarwy, really dirty, no windows and really expensive. One hotel offered to let us stay in a office for 2,000 rupees ($33). It was ridiculous and really humid and hot. After walking up and down stairs looking at rooms, including one at the Salvation Army, for 2 hours we were sweaty and exhausted. We found an okay room with AC for 1,800 rupees ($30).
That night we went to see a movie. We saw Interstellar, which I would totally recommend.
The next day we were sort of at a loss for what to do. We were tried and it was really hot, so we definitely didn't want to go sightseeing. I love libraries and there was one close by so we packed up our coloring pens and electronics so we could spend the day drawing and blogging in AC.
On the way to the library an Irish man stopped me and asked if I wanted to be in a Indian soap opera. They were looking for women to be extras but Carl would be able to be an extra as well. It is a once in a life time opportunity to be in a Bollywood production (mostly because I will never do it again) so we had to say yes. We had no idea what the day would hold. Two Canadian girls were also dragged off the street to join us as extras. We were all put in a taxi and TWO AND A HALF hours later we arrived at the studio. It actually didn't feel like that long because we busy comparing and sharing travel stories from India.
We were led to a trailer surrounded by a mud puddle were we ate lunch.
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| The "foreign food" for the extras all had meat in it and we had to ask for vegetarian food |
We were told we would get hair, make-up and costumes. This was not the case. No hair, no makeup, no costumes till later in the day. It was just me and Carl in normal clothes walking back and forth.
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| The Canadian girls got costumes because they were wearing baggy pants |
Later me and the Canadian girls were given the most unfaltering nurses outfits in the world. Peach is not my color and I would argue anyones color. The shoes they gave me were wildly uncomfortable and then they made all the extras do 20 takes of the same scene where we walked back and forth. My feet were killing me, but on the up side the back of my head MIGHT be on Indian TV. By the time we finished all the backpackers that they pulled off the street were really over being extras. The driver took forever and the man paying us our whopping 500 rupees ($8) took even longer. On the drive back giant billboards with the star from the soap opera dotted the side of the road.
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| Just standing around |
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| This was my whole job; walking back and forth |
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| Everyone watching the scene we just filmed |
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| Hanging out in the trailer |
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| Blurry billboards of the show we were extras in |
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| Don't worry this pictures doesn't make any sense to me either... |
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