Mumbai, India

Sunday, March 20 – Mumbai, India!

Getting up at 6AM to have a face-to-passport inspection is not the ideal way to begin a visit to a new city but a necessary one when arriving in Mumbai. Our number was finally called at 7:45 AM and we had our five-second visit with Immigration for the precious stamp. Everything in India must be stamped, and stamped again and then re-examined to be sure the stamp is in the exact location where needed and then double-checked against the other document to be sure all names and spellings match exactly; bureaucracy at its best.

India is only about 1/3 the size of Europe but its more than one billion people represent fully 1/6 of the world’s population. More major religions are practiced on a larger scale in India than in any other nation. Hinduism is the main faith, but there are also Zoroastrians, Muslims, Jains, Buddhists, Sikhs, Jews and Christians.

It was a perfect day to be in Mumbai – breezy!!! --as it is always hot and humid. We left the ship and port area to negotiate a cab to the downtown location. Taxis were all around –air conditioned or non air conditioned. The further you walked down the row of cars, the lower the price. It would have taken about 30+ minutes by foot and would have been a very interesting walk but more tolerable to begin the day due to the heat and humidity by riding in a taxi. Went to the docks at Colaba, the Sassoon dock. Smelly, stinky, crowded, dead fish in the road and pathway, birds, fishermen working on their nets and only three women selling the fish – out on a long covered pier. So we were very late in our arrival from their early morning arrival to distribute the fish but it was interesting.

And as today was a festival day -- people were painted all different colors – from their hair to their clothing to the sidewalk. It was a “holi festival” and paint is typically thrown at you or sprayed on you. Not anywhere we wanted to be near….but people had purple and red and yellow faces and hair and shirts and pants.

We went to the posh Taj Mahal Hotel (built in 1903 and recently bombed in Nov 2008) and they now have armored cars at every corner of the hotel. Two security checks to pass through to enter the lobby (walk through the scanner, scan your item and a body search). Wonderful shops and a beautiful private pool are in the midst of utter chaos in the bustling city of Mumbai – only the walls of the hotel separate you. The Gateway of India is across the street, from where the ferries depart for Elephanta Island and its caves – we visited them two years ago. 45 minute ferry ride, 10 minute train ride and four men can carry you up the 135 steep steps to reach the caves, where you see the various Shivas and are surrounded by monkeys – an unique experience.

The Gateway is Mumbai’s signature landmark, an 85-foot stone archway hastily erected as a symbol of welcome to Queen Mary and King George V of England in 1911.

Sunday traffic was minimal and not at all the way I remembered from our last visit to Mumbai. We were zipping around all over the city after negotiating with our driver, Ali. Down Marine Drive (the curved waterfront boulevard with promenade) and past Chowpatty Beach we set off to the Jain Temple. In an upper class neighborhood of the city, the colors and intricate ceramic patterns on the exterior were just as ornate as the interior. After removing our shoes, we walked through the small two-story temple, surrounded by overpowering incense, and watched several young people pray at each of the small Buddhas in small shrines in several small rooms off to the sides of the courtyard. The Buddhas were made of a variety of materials -- dark material, light material and some were bathed in silverleaf.
It was fascinating; the Jains are strictly vegetarians; they arrive on foot, freshly bathed in swaths of unstitched off-white cloth to pay homage to the splendid idol of Adinath, an important Jain prophet. They show their respect by arriving clean and without shoes.
We continued on to the Kamala Nehru Park, where the children can play in the “Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe” structure. There is a large children’s playground with a nice view of the city and beach below. As it was Sunday, the park was filled with kids and families and vendors; great ice cream and cold drink break while enjoying the flower gardens and people. Several young girls asked to have their photos taken with us. Walked through the Hanging Gardens where there were several topiaries of elephants and oxen.

We drove past the Towers of Silence, where Mumbai’s Parsi-followers (of the Zoroastrian faith) dispose of their dead. Pallbearers carry the corpse to the top of one of the towering cylindrical bastions where it is left to be devoured by crows and vultures. None of this is visible to the family or onlookers.

On to Mani Bhavan – an old-fashioned 3-story Gujarati house in a quiet neighborhood which was the home of Mahatma Gandhi from 1917-1934. Very nice dioramas tell the story of his life and his fight for Indian independence; replicas of the letters he wrote to Hitler and Roosevelt to end the war are on display as well as photos of his time in the UK and South Africa and his travels around India.

The Dhobi Ghats are large outdoor washrooms were clothes are pounded clean in enormous open-air laundries. As it was a Sunday and a “holi festival” only the vendors were there to greet us but we looked down from the Mahalakshmi train station at the vast laundry below. We enjoyed seeing them in action last time and are constantly amazed at how they can keep track of whose laundry belongs to whom.

Night drive on Marine Drive and all the party-goers were out celebrating. We try to take advantage of every overnight port visit; the city looks, acts and smells so differently at night. We felt safe with our driver and were really glad for his calm driving in this middle of all the chaos. We were on the internet for an hour also.

Indian dance performance onboard the ship and they were fantastic! Young and enthusiastic, you could tell they really enjoyed sharing their culture with foreigners.

Tired and fell in to bed, not even able to feel my extremities…