Descending Into Chaos

Mumbai is crazy.  Getting off the plane, the air was muggy with the scent of urine.  The airport is surrounded by shantytowns and relentless, unforgiving poverty.  Traffic is chaotic.  Over long stretches, there are no marked lanes and so cars and trucks and mopeds weave in and out of one another as they dare in Tetris-like formations.  The fact that we only had one collision during our taxi ride from the airport to our hotel was a great accomplishment.  As we crossed over a particularly busy and major intersection, it dawned on us that there also are no traffic lights.  Each vehicle crosses the oncoming traffic in an "every driver for himself" game of chicken.  Charlie then astutely observed, "I guess anarchy does work.  It is just a lot less efficient."  The buildings, though they have the skeleton of magnificent colonial architecture, are crumbling before our eyes and look as though they have not been cleaned or maintained since the Brits left.  We wandered today to a local market and our senses were pummeled with the smells of rotting flesh and excrement.  We do not know how the life expectancy of people living in Mumbai can be more than about one week due to the lack of general hygiene.  In case you cannot tell, we don't like Mumbai very much and are running away as quickly as possible, which isn't easy.  The trains are fully booked a week in advance.