Bollywood

Ok, so I arrived in Mumbai Tuesday afternoon. The flight was great. I slept the whole 8 or 9 hrs (which resulted in my ankles being ridiculously swollen from not moving). No hassles at the airport. Met Joshua from One! International to give him a suitcase of supplies for the school. Found my prepaid taxi (with Joshua's help) and headed to my hotel! Complete, full on craziness. There doesn't seem to be any real rules for driving here, except that you honk for everything! Honking seems to mean, I'm in front of you, I'm behind you, I'm beside you, I'm going to pass you, don't cross the road, hurry up and cross the road... and so on. We made it to the hotel with the cabi only hitting one bike (he was too slow walking in front of the cabi, and he was forewarned with a honk...).
Being seriously jetlagged (it's a 12.5hr time difference) I had a nap then headed out to find some dinner and walk around a bit. While on my walk I was pounced on by a Bollywood forgein extras recruitment dude. After alot of persuading (and he did help get a group of beggars away from me) and introducing me to a few other people who where going I decided, why not! Let's go Bollywood!
Yesterday morning we met ( a group of 20 of us) and were bused of to Bollywood headquarters. Filmistan Studios (yep, it's called Filmistan). After being dressed in cocktail gowns, we were sent to hair and makeup. Let's just say my hair has never seen so much hairspray (I've had to wash it 3 times) and backcombing resulting in not the best look ever. Then makeup which again was tons of bright blush and eyeshadow.
We then spent the rest of the day standing looking serious or happy. The acting was incredibly dramatic and bad. The whole thing is filmed with only 1 camera and many zoom ins for the "a bit more emotion" look! Finally we got to jump on the bus at 9pm for 1.5hr bus ride back to our hotels!
Today, no Bollywood. Just a bit of exploring and tomorrow I head to Kolkata!
xo