THE BIG BALLOON INDICATOR

An American friend working in India emailed me today to say that she'd noticed the Big Balloon Men of Bombay have returned. These are the guys you see in the streets of Colaba near the Gateway of India and the now-shuttered Taj, slapping their wares and shouting "Big balloon!" Under normal circumstances it is almost touchingly ludicrous except that after one minute you want to either run away or stay and help them figure out a better business plan than getting adult foreign tourists to buy giant balloons. Today it would be a welcome sight. Anyway, since I'm not there but home in New York, I thought I'd put up some more pictures. In case you missed it, read Suketu Mehta's solid op-ed in the New York Times about this resilient city.