Spent the day in the city - a cloudy, muggy day. As soon as we emerged from the underground walkway onto the street, Will spotted three boys from the center he volunteers at. They were licking ice cream cones and generally hanging around. They were happy to see Will, so we all decided to walk together for awhile - us two with not much of a plan (except for my mission to a particular store to buy pants), and the three boys, quizzing us and stopping to munch on street food every few blocks.

After about an hour, the boys left to head back to their side of town for soccer tryouts, and we headed towards the coastline, browsing through all the glittering jewelry, sunglasses (of which Will purchased), and stopped for lunch at a new falafel chain restaurant. Mmmmmm.... falafel.

As we leaned against a concrete wall, looking out over the bay, a 'clunck' caught our attention to our left -- down in the water, a fresh plastic bag of garbage floated on the surface of the mucky water. A large, dark woman in an old but colorful sari turned around from the wall to go back to the curb where she sat selling something or other.

Well, that was that for the lovely bay scene, so we headed back to the main station, passing through markets and making a long stopover to pick up some cotton pants and shirts. Will had drank the ever-present sugarcane juice with the boys while I had been shopping, so he bought me a glass and we stood on the corner and shared it - what a delicious, delicious thing!

Sugar cane juice is made directly on the street all throughout Mumbai. At small wheeled stalls, men stand shoving full stalks of sugar cane into a machine which crushes and strips them, extracting the sweet juice in the process. The machine is either hand-cranked or... diesel-powered. I much prefer passing by the hand-cranked type. The diesel-powered ones are extremely loud, and often spew a nasty emission.

So, because we had ran into the boys from the slum community Will works with, I drank sugar cane juice and ate vada pav (deep-fried potato in a bun) from the street. And I didn't get sick! A new step into Indian society.

As the annual Ganesh Chaturthi festival commences, the streets here in Vashi are lined with colorful lights, and on every other corner stands an oversized, temporary shelter for the statues of Ganesh that will later be carried in processions to bodies of water throughout the city.

Last night I sat on our small porch looking out over the main square of our satellite city, and looked on as the first procession made its way down the street, carrying the idol of Ganesh, and beating away on rhythmic drums.