New Year in India

We arrive on schedule around 8 in the evening at Mumbay airport. As the guide book suggests we get a pre-paid taxi to the city. They are funny looking yellow and black ambassadors. Our driver doesn't know the place, but after a couple of stops and enquiries we find our booked hotel in a back alley. In the street the new years party is already starting up. Lots of young wealthy Indians are grouped around the ice-cream parlour. We crash on our beds for a quick pick-me-up sleep, but when the clock strikes twelve and the fire works crack up the night sky, we're still exhausted and overwhelmed by the chaotic crowds outside. The next morning we regret our laziness.
The first of January we do as the locals do and join the dressed up families strolling around the Gateway of India. We are as much a sight as the impressive arc. We keep walking past the gigantic Taj Mahal Palace hotel right into a colourful shanty town. Ashamed of the realisation that poverty can look so beautiful. All the extremes are here right next to each other and very confronting.
Halfway January the Harvest Festival is celebrated, a little bit New Year for Hindu's of Southern India. We don't get to see the pink coloured streets, but there are plenty of bright yellow cows with golden horns lingering in the streets. In front of the doors there are beautiful intricate chalk designs made as a sign of welcome.