Again, it's the people who are fascinating, with families and couples who are entirely comfortable sitting on the streets. One thing I am finding is that people are generally more than happy to have their photos taken, if you ask nicely. Indeed, some specifically ask to have their photos taken if they see that you are doing so with others. Fortunately, this allows you to get closer and get better photos as a result. That said, I can't yet bring myself to take close up photos of the poorest members of the community as it feels too much of an intrusion. Whilst I sincerely hope that I never get to accept the way that these people live and stop finding it shocking, I hope that at some point I manage to get the courage to ask and get some proper portraits of the street people.
About 3:30 I took the taxi to Andheri (Ziima said it was about an hour). It is, in fact, somewhat less than that, if the taxi driver knows where he is going (as proved by the taxi driver on the way back), but most taxi drivers only know their local area. Also, whilst many people here do speak English, taxi drivers really don't. Nor do they read English, which made the fact that I had the adddress written down less useful than it might have been. Several times we stopped and asked for directions, a process which appears to be iterative - take thee directions which will probably get you a bit closer and then ask again. It felt like we were spiralling in on the location.
One other thing about taxi trips to the North - drivers seem to be very keen to take you as far as Bandraa and then unload you on a rickshaw driver. I only managed to understand that after a few discussions that were probably equally frustrating for both the driver and myself, and we ended up with him taking me the whole way himself. Or at least to the road that I waas meant to be on, and then dumping me and charging a fair chunk (for Mumbai - 500 rupees after looking puppy dog and giving the impression that he needed extra to cover the trip back again).
Eventually I managed to meet up with Ziima (how did we manage before mobile phones?), about a half hour late. She took me up to the flat, which had a huge number of possible outfits, from formal to casual (including a bridal style outfit which is gorgeous). The terrace is in fact on the roof of the building that she lives in - run down (obviously) but a good number of possibilities for shooting.
She suggested that we start at the hotel on Sunday, doing the more formal stuff, and then going back to the terrace for the more casual stuff. She also said that it would be better to have a make up artist for the formal stuff at least, and that she had prepared one for 2-3,000 rupees for the day. That's not a hideous price all in all (about £40), and if I'm getting a full day's shoot with Ziima for 6,000 rupees rather than the half day I had been expecting then that's still very good value.
Ziima then took me to get a taxi back to the hotel, rejecting the first as he wanted a fixed price rather than on the meter. The second agreed to the meter and got me home in about 45 minutes, charging 250 rupees (which I upped to 300 - £4).
In the evening I went out for a meal at one of the small restaurants near the hotel. The local coffee shop was showing the India - South Africa match, and there was quite a crowd outside watching through the window.
I decided to pretty much repeat my walk from earlier in the day to get pictures of it under artificial light (photos here). Again, this was fun and people were always happy to talk. One gentleman owned a grain shop (we'll call it - lock up may be more appropriate) and was happy to talk about the fact that he had 21 different types of rice and supplied the hotel.
By 9pm thing were beginning to quieten down on the street and I walked back to the hotel. I was attracted by the noise of fireworks nearby and went to investigate. It turned out that there was a wedding celebration going on. Obviously, in India this is done by setting off fireworks in the middle of a road, whilst cars, trucks and buses go past. How else would you do it?
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