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Deep In the Heart of Mumbai
Rhonda Erwin is facing her biggest challenge relocating her family from Texas to Mumbai for her husband's job. Initially concerned by a cacophony of crowds, caste system, and a culture vastly different from her own, will Rhonda ever learn to love India?
453 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 19, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
September 5, 2018
In many ways, this is the perfect travel book…reading it one feels each nuance, thrill and disappointment, every nook and cranny of India, but you didn’t have to go there. Which is a shame, because it’s a magical, hopeful country, despite its very evident class system and subsequent have’s and have-not’s on full display 24/7 in Technicolor. Rhonda shares her conquest of a, sometimes, hostile environment in a riotous, tender way. But this is not just a summer read, or a travel companion, it seeks to educate and inform us about moving to the second most populated country in the world. Her personal struggles with the language, the culture, and, yes, the traffic are detailed in the most charming of ways, using humor and cunning to diffuse more than one sticky situation. And she did it wearing chic saris, whilst raising two young boys and with a husband, while president of her fan club, couldn’t help much with what was needed day to day to make their “marble palace” thrive. Rhonda has the joie de vivre and love of travel we could all use more of in this world where borders seem to be closing in on us. The relationships she made in India (and world-wide) seem to have endured and I for one think she should be named ambassador of international goodwill for the world at large.
Rhonda triumphs with her first novel about India, I sure hope as much as she’s traveled, there are more stories to come!
Rhonda triumphs with her first novel about India, I sure hope as much as she’s traveled, there are more stories to come!
September 13, 2018
After reading only the preface and first chapter, I laughed loudly and shed actual tears. Not exaggerating. This book is funny, honest, detailed, and informative. I appreciated how much care was put into using correct spelling and explaining the culture in India. I learned so much.
As someone who has also lived abroad in a developing country, I appreciate the major adjustment... deep struggles and exhilarating adventures... coming into your own.
I’m someone who believes deeply in balance... equal and opposite forces. Many people find that succeeding while in their comfort zone brings enough happiness to them, but even a small triumph when you’re a fish out of water can be life changing. The farther the pendulum swings due to challenges, the farther it will swing back when you emerge from the other side.
I deeply identified with Rhonda’s struggles and joys while living abroad. I’ve been to India (actually stayed at that Radisson by the Delhi airport!) and this book made me reconsider my quick judgment. I felt so much of the author’s personality, and I appreciate the detailed notes she must have taken to make a book, with this depth, happen!
As someone who has also lived abroad in a developing country, I appreciate the major adjustment... deep struggles and exhilarating adventures... coming into your own.
I’m someone who believes deeply in balance... equal and opposite forces. Many people find that succeeding while in their comfort zone brings enough happiness to them, but even a small triumph when you’re a fish out of water can be life changing. The farther the pendulum swings due to challenges, the farther it will swing back when you emerge from the other side.
I deeply identified with Rhonda’s struggles and joys while living abroad. I’ve been to India (actually stayed at that Radisson by the Delhi airport!) and this book made me reconsider my quick judgment. I felt so much of the author’s personality, and I appreciate the detailed notes she must have taken to make a book, with this depth, happen!
March 14, 2019
Heart is a charming and heart-felt story about uprooting a comfortable existence and moving halfway around the world (with two small children) to one of the most populated countries in the world. To foreign everything: food, language, traffic, religion, way of being and did I mention traffic! Erwin clearly took incredible notes during her time in Mumbai, and her journalistic background pays off for the reader. I loved all the detail and felt I was really right there in the heart of it all, the heat and humidity, the color, the sounds and smells, the very living of it all. If you are thinking of becoming an ex-patriate, by choice or not, read Heart and get ready for a life changing experience!! When I closed the book, I thought, "Boy, I would love to travel with Rhonda Erwin!"
August 23, 2018
A fun and engaging book about living life as an expat in India. Rhonda paints vivid images of her experiences while she shows you the reality of her day to day life. Be ready to laugh out loud while gaining a deep understanding of how impactful this experience was on her life.
October 18, 2018
Rhonda Erwin's book, Deep in the Heart of Mumbai, took me right back to my year spent in India. I wasn't in Mumbai, however, I could relate to just about everything she went through.
Erwin moved there with her children and husband. While her husband was busy learning his new job, she had to find household help, a school for her son, an apartment, furniture, etc. She did have a driver who she got to know well and counted on to help her get around the city. He also taught her about the Hindi culture, customs, and ways of life in India.
Erwin and her husband experienced a great deal while in Mumbai and she writes about it all with honesty, emotion and humor. Her book will give you a good taste of the reality of living as a new expat in a country that is crowded, noisy, polluted, and, at times, absolutely amazing.
Erwin moved there with her children and husband. While her husband was busy learning his new job, she had to find household help, a school for her son, an apartment, furniture, etc. She did have a driver who she got to know well and counted on to help her get around the city. He also taught her about the Hindi culture, customs, and ways of life in India.
Erwin and her husband experienced a great deal while in Mumbai and she writes about it all with honesty, emotion and humor. Her book will give you a good taste of the reality of living as a new expat in a country that is crowded, noisy, polluted, and, at times, absolutely amazing.
July 16, 2019
Such a good read! The author is hilarious.i loved how she presented India. I felt like I was there with her. I loved all the "characters"! I felt like I knew them. I loved this fun book!!!
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews