Navigating Diplomatic Waters

Made a day trip to Mumbai today … Destination: US Consulate.  Mission: Get visa pages added to my passport – out of the standard allotment of 20 I had only 4 remaining, and many countries will not even admit you if you have a such a small number.  Our considerate and efficient consulate added 48 pages while I waited, even sewing the new booklets securely into my passport.

But first I had to get there.  The monsoon is continuing uncommon long this year, at least in Maharashtra.  We encountered heavy rain on the highway part of the journey, but in the city had to slog through many places like the above, where water was at least 10” deep and not apparently going anywhere.  The door to door trip from Pune to Mumbai of about 150 kms took about 4 1/2 hr, some 45 mins more than it usually would – said time being spent slowly inching around these new lakes and keeping to the safe coastlines … because when a Mumbai road is involved, you never know what lurks beneath the surface.