City of Singing Horns

One thing I already love about Mumbai is the car horns. They are a cacophony or a chorus, depending on how you feel about it. I love the feeling of sitting in the back of this tiny low-ceilinged cab, swerving madly and honking wildly while everyone else around us does the same. It feels just like the first scene in The Darjeeling Limited with Bill Murray cramped in a speeding, honking taxi.

The way they drive here is stunning, too. I thought New York and Boston were bad, but they are nothing. I have never in my life been so close to another car, let alone still moving while a hair's breadth apart. Plus pedestrians are crossing in all directions, the car swipes the edges of their clothing as it races by, and the look completely unperturbed. Hats off to their nerves of steel.

The city is not nearly as crowded as I imagined. I haven't been out much yet, but I expected choking throngs everywhere. I'm sure I'll find that at the railway station, if I have the cojones to try the train.