A very Indian car accident

This week, Monday morning was a little more eventful than I had anticipated.  It was all going so well, we'd had a relaxing weekend and I'd enjoyed a successful run on the treadmill and was feeling ready for the working week ahead.

Unfortunately, we had a mishap whilst queuing at the traffic lights on my journey to the office.  Sagar and I were having a peaceful chat when there was a loud bang on the roof of the car.  Unaware of the cause, we then saw that the windscreen was covered in cracks (we were lucky it hadn't shattered) and were realised that we were the victim of a tearaway coconut!  Our suspicions were confirmed when the driver of the car behind us got out and nabbed the coconut.  We didn't even get to keep it for our trouble.

We completed the journey to work and Sagar took the car down to the local garage.  Another positive aspect of living in India is that a new windscreen and getting this fitted costs a grand total of £55, or less if your insurance covers it.  So it was a bit annoying, but could have been much worse.

Apparently, it's quite rare for coconuts to drop from trees onto things / people so we were unlucky in that respect, but also very fortunate that it hit the roof a few inches behind the windscreen rather than smashing through the windscreen itself.  We now have a shiny new windscreen and a dent in the roof which will stay there for a while.  Our car now blends in with the other dented cars in Mumbai at least. 

Sagar was keen to fix the dent through home-spun methods (trying to bash it out from the inside of the car...) but this doesn't seem to have worked so far.  We'll keep the dent for the moment as a reminder of our close call with a coconut.

Post-accident with dent and cracks.  The red cloth on the dashboard is Sagar's lucky Ganesh 

 Sagar on the case

Dent remaining after the new windscreen had been fitted.  The 46 is the number for Sagar's favourite motorbike driver - Valentino Rossi

Cracked windscreen 

Back to normal (almost)

It was Sagar's birthday this week too, although there was some confusion regarding the exact date (22nd or 24th), a very common problem in India as birth dates on official documents are often incorrect.  Sagar's driving licence says the 22nd, but he knew that he was born on a Friday, so by tracking back 22 years and consulting with his mother we worked out that he was born on the 24th after all.

We bought him a new shirt as a present which seemed to go down well as Sagar wore it for the day.

Modelling the new shirt - Sagar was happier with this than he looks!

Haleem

We are back in India!  My blogging hiatus is over as I returned to Mumbai from the UK last week and Phil arrived home at the weekend.  After a period of almost six weeks apart in different countries, it's excellent to be back at home and together again.

It's all change here though as Phil is no longer working in India and is currently adapting to his (very early) retirement.  Further, the monsoon is now in full flow which is atmospheric but extremely wet.  In only 24 hours this week, we had rainfall equal to 50% of the total rainfall in the UK last winter (a supposedly wet one).  This makes it a little harder to get around, but the drop in temperature to a bearable level relative to May more than makes up for it.

Last night, we had a mini culinary adventure at the Good Luck restaurant, a small Irani cafe featured in my treasured Savour Mumbai cookbook.  We are currently in Ramadan (a period in which Muslims fast during daylight) and wanted to find and try a dish called haleem; a thick, meaty stew made in this period.  Hyderabadi haleem is famous but we narrowly missed trying it last year by visiting Hyderabad shortly after Ramadan (called Ramzan here).  We were determined not to miss it again, so arrived at Good Luck at sunset to claim our table and place our order.

We supplemented the haleem with kheema beef (lightly spiced mince, meat source unknown though probably goat) and mopped it all up with sweet maska buns (soft white bread baked with mixed fruit peel). 

 Left to right; Haleem, maska buns and kheema

Haleem.  I'm not sure what the crunchy bits on top were but they tasted good and I'm not sick....yet

The meat was washed down with hot, sweet tea served in a good luck cup

 Enjoying my tea (despite the facial expression)

We usually eat vegetarian food in India but this meaty foray was a welcome and worthwhile exception.  Both the haleem and kheema was warming, yummy and perfect for a wet evening.

Now that we are back and settled in India for the foreseeable, further trips and holidays are firmly back on the agenda.