Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai Download 720p

[Merilyn Mardis]

Iturned down summer internship of a lifetime in New York, followed by volunteering in Africa, only to replace them both with a sudden one-way flight to Mumbai, India. I ignored the cool prickle on my skin as I thought about a leap of faith having more magnetism at work than carefully implemented plans. Much like myself, my travel partner and second-year university friend, Duncan, walked out of once-in-a-lifetime corporate internship and was now occupied with an enigmatic Bollywood in-flight movie as London slowly disappeared into distant clotted clouds. Thoughts and possibilities stirred fast through my mind, unfamiliar and difficult to catch, like something unusual was about to happen.

As the night closed in, we landed in humid Mumbai. We picked up our bags and sat in the plastic chairs in the arrivals hall staring outside. Outside the arrivals, crowds of people were lining up and standing still, some pressing their faces tightly against the steamy glass doors. There had been a downpour of monsoon rain and the entry hall started to flood with brown water. When the water reached our knees, Duncan peeled himself off the plastic chair and picked up a mop and a bucket that was left by the concrete wall.

Surrounded by blackened clouds, we were driving on the unsealed road through humidity and smog. In the heart of monsoon season, there was no scenery of steep mountains shimmering in the distance, flat colorful fields with grains, or lush plantations. The rain started to pour down, and it was nothing like the London gentle pitter-patter we had left behind. The bursts of high-speed winds nudged me from the comfort of the backseat of a taxi to prove I was on a different continent.

Stepping into the vast marble Taj Mahal Hotel lobby with our backpacks on our shoulders, we considered our only option. A bulky rose pink velvety couch underneath a golden floor lamp looked inviting, and without saying a word, we sank into it. I looked over at the reception area and no one seemed to care that we were claiming the couch for the rest of the night.

As we walked outside in the morning, it felt like the same relentless crowd from the airport was waiting for us again. Women carrying small children, young boys and girls, and elderly men all tried to touch my mousy blonde hair, their voices relentless, whispering words into my ear. I was confused whether they were mocking or praising us, but whatever it was, it had a weighty, heartache-y meaning. They were taunting us with their very existence, basic discomforts of life we complained about vanishing into thin air.

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