Been Around the World, Back From Bombay...

I had to take this quote from Naaz, who was reading Shantaram.

She writes,

"On Page 2, as if he was reading my mind and putting in words what I was struggling to, Roberts describes the Bombay smell....

...it's the sweet, sweating smell of hope, which is the opposite of hate; and it's the sour, stifled smell of greed, which is the opposite of love. It's the smell of gods, demons, empires, and civilisations in resurrection and decay. It's the blue skin-smell of the sea, no matter where you are in the Island City, and the blood-metal smell of machines. It smells of the stir and sleep and waste of sixty million animals, more than half of them humans and rats. It smells of heartbreak, and the struggle to live, and of the crucial failures and loves that produce our courage. It smells of ten thousand restaurants, five thousand temples, shrines, churches, and mosques, and of a hundred bazaars devoted exclusively to perfumes, spices, incense and freshly cut flowers. Karla once called in the the worst good smell in the world, and she was right, of course..."

Thanks, Naaz!

There is no other smell like it in the world. After 6 years I was actually eager to smell it again. And, thanks to some dirty laundry sitting in my room, it is a smell that has taken over my apartment:) AHHH! After partying all night, and 20 hours of flight, I'm back from India! More importantly, I've recovered fully from any jetlag or "Bombay Belly";)!! Oh India. Where do I begin? I think Naaz's post is appropriate.