Mistress Mavish

Taxis in Mumbai are small cars from the 50’s.
They are Indian-made versions of the Italian 1953 Fiat 1100


Progress is coming only slowly to this country where cars are used over 55 years old as nowadays taxis.

To visit the most beautiful person of today, the team had to go by such an old fashioned taxi.
A ride of over 1 hour costing 250 Rupees. (5 Euros / 7.70 USD)
With the taxi windows closed because of “Holi”.
The chance that some Hindus would throw the brightly coloured but aggressive and poisonous powder into the car was too high.
And indeed, plenty of young people were in the streets.
Looking wild from their eyes and covered in red and yellow and orange colours.
These Mumbai taxis have no air-conditioning hence inside it became like a sauna.
But better this than showered by water and powder.

In the morning team member Karine had been making a walk in the neighbourhood of the Hare Krishna temple and had been the target of a colour powder attack.
We could see how this powder had penetrated her smooth skin and could not be washed off.
Nasty stuff.
Better to keep the taxi windows closed and suffer of heat inside but remain clean and healthy.

The person to visit was a stunning Mumbai beauty of 21 years old that had been discovered at an extraordinary wedding party in a fancy hotel.
Mahvish Usman Lakdawala turned out to live in the Muslim part of town where “Holi” was not celebrated.
A safe area for foreigners and a most fascinating neighbourhood.
Of course the usual detoriated and broken houses, streets and sewage systems.
But so colourful and exotic.

In a broken down apartment building Mahvish was living with her mother and brother and his wife and child.
The brother greeting the photographer with a warm handshake and ignoring the two female team members, as a good Muslim should.
Remarkable to find a lady who looked like a beauty princess at a luxurious wedding party in a run down area and flat.

The whole afternoon was spent with Mahvish and what an afternoon that was.
She is an extremely strong woman.
To put it mildly.
Others would claim she is the worst bitch of Bombay.
Excessively authoritave and dominant punishing every wrong move or word with a tyrannical flow of devastating critical words.
Very amusing as the team were only passers by.
But Mahvish’ boyfriend might have another story to tell.
Although she loves him, she doesn’t find him very attractive.
But her most serious complain about her boyfriend is that he is not making enough money to make him the candidate to marry.
The guy works his ass off to keep her but it is never enough in her opinion.
She wants a nice house near the beach with cleaning ladies and that is an expensive proposition in Mumbai.



The interview went very well with Mahvish and she said this as an explanation for being the most beautiful in the world:

“I am not responsible for my beauty.
It was given to me by God.
The one who created the world: Allah”

Now only ladies of extreme beauty and allure will say that they are not responsible for being beautiful.
Presenting it as rather a coincidence and even a light burden, shows the readiness to parade on the Boulevard of Monte Carlo as the wife of a millionaire.
But Mavish might be buried too deep already in her Muslim context to ever live this dream.





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