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Published: July 19th 2008
Those of you that know me will know that procrastination is my biggest vice and now with 10 days into our journey though India I feel I finally have to start putting this trip into words before it is forgotten. Im currenly sitting in an Internet cafe in Jodhpur ,or the 'Blue City', in the state of Rajastan, taking a nice air-conditioned rest from the exhausting heat whilst watching the wheeling and dealing of the the busy market place outside. It's been a long day as we arrived into the city at 5.30 am and we leave again tonight at 11 pm. But more about that later.
To say that our trip has been a whirlwind would be a true understatement. India, for the first-timer is a sensory overload, a concoction of new sights,smells,and sounds. Everywhere you look there is a photo opportunity; be in the chaotic traffic of Mumbai or the graceful lumbering of an elephant down a street in Udaipur. Everywhere you go there is colour, be it in the vibrant dress of the women or the colourful characters we have met along our travels. It is every photographer's dream. If I wanted I could possibly take a
photo every 3 seconds. To describe it in words is like taking a thesaurus and pulling out as many opposing adjectives as one possibly can. Ten days in I still find myself pinching myself to make sure I'm not dreaming as I walk through the bustling streets or though the palace of a royal maharaja.
We began our journey on July 8th. I arrived in Mumbai, from Dubai at 9 pm and the boys (Colm, Seamus and Richard) followed from London 12 hours later. My favourite part of a new trip is the journey from the airport, taking in the sights, sounds and smells of a new destination. Whilst disappointed that it was dark when I landed, I was still treated to a barrage of sights and smells as we battled our way through the Mumbai traffic to the Churchgate area of the city. The sound of the city is the first thing that hits you. Everywhere, taxis honk their horns, sometimes warning, sometimes saluting, sometimes for the sheer sake of it. Its a habit that has lead to a severe noise pollution problem; some local taxi drivers have even taken to making pledges to stop honking when it
The McKees hit Bollywood
Mammy should be so proudis unnecessary. The second thing that hits you is the poverty of the city. Although dark whilst driving through the city I still could get a sense of the amount of people that are squeezing into small tracts of land. The road from the area passes some of the major slum areas and it was very evident that many people were going about normal daily routine on the side of the street. It is said that Mumbai is almost bursting at the seams and from what I have seen it is indeed a true statement. Rooms upon rooms, houses upon houses, people upon people. A simple walk down a street can be an obstacle course through traffic, daily commuters and street vendors. A lot of travellers that pass through Mumbai advice you to get out of there as soon as possible, to get away from the dirt,the squalor, the noise and the people; however, given that it was the lads first time away in such a country we decided to take the first few days at a slower pace than others in order to acclimatise to the heat, the food and the culture. Overall in the 5 days that we
spent there, we were pleasantly surprised.
Our first day was spent catching up on much needed sleep and getting used to the surroundings. We took a stroll down Marine Drive towards the Chowpatty Beach area and chilled for a while. Chowpatty Beach is a local beach where a lot of people come to hang out during the day or after work. You dont even have to read LP or the Rough Guide,however, to know not to go swimming here! It was nice however to sit out, take in views of the city, watch the local women cook corn on the cob and watch the local kids play cricket. Later on in the week Richard and Seamus both amused and educated locals on the beach with a quick puck around until the local police put a dampener on things and moved them onwards.
Our next morning armoured with umbrellas and raincoats we made our way away from the noise of the city,setting sail from the famous Gateway of India towards Elephant Island. The gateway is the 'Arc de Triumph' of Bombay situated on the Mumbai waterfront. Built by the British it was orignially intended to be the first thing
people saw when arriving , but now is famous as the last place where the British Troops marched out of upon India's gain of Independence. Indian monsoon rain soon set in and glad that we hadnt paid the extra 5 rupees for a rooftop seat we made the short trip to Elephant Island. Clad against the rain we visited the caves which are a remarkable place of human creativity. Unfortunately much of the carvings are damaged due to the Portugese using them as target practise while they occupied the island. We got our first history lesson on Hindu religion and the lads also set about learning the art of haggling. Colm also discovered that monkeys don't really like him and he learned to keep well away. Homeward bound was a bit of a hairy journey as we battled against the rain and the wind. After an hour and a half (double the first trip) we eventually made it back to back to dry land, our only complaint being our wet trousers. Spare a thought however, for the few that couldnt stomach the rough waves and the poor girl who was knocked out when her seat overturned after one powerful wave.
The lads (2 engineers and an artictect) made a quick survey of the construction and renovation work that was been done on the Gateway and concluded that Indians are far more laissez fare on the old health and safety issue, but the scaffolding look mighty solid even if it was made of rudimentary materials. That night we strolled down Kolaba Causeway (The Temple Bar of Dublin, Ko Sang Road of Bangkok etc etc) and made a pitstop at the famous Leopold's Cafe. Having read the novel Shantaram this was a must see, however, I was disappointed with the overall experience. For me it was more of an Americanised diner than the colourful centre of wheeling and dealing as depicted in the novel. The upstairs darkly-lit bar had more of the shady atmosphere I had imagined although it felt somewhat like a local bar at home with the Cranberries blaring out of the stereo whilst the Crazy Boys sipped on their cocktails.
Our third day in Mumbai saw our debut in the Bollywood film industry. Having been recruited the previous day in Kolaba, we set off on our early bus to stardom. After getting into our (dodgy) costumes and getting
our (dodgy) makeup done (Boys were pretty enough without makeup) ,we soon got stuck into the glamourous life of a Bollywood extra....waiting.... and waiting.... and waiting for the cameras to get rolling!! The harst reality of Bollywood experience had an upside as it brought together a great range of travellers and in the midst of the waiting we were able to get some good travelling advice and meet some interesting characters. Finally after the endless hours of rehersals we were sheparded in the 'London nightclub' set where we expertly jumped and screamed to the sound of 'star' Monty and his Ukranian scantily clad dancers. This in itself was fun for a while as the boys oogled the dancers and messed about with the camera men. The girls,however were disappointed with main star Hameesh who vainly spent take after take fixing and combing his straightened wig. Even his dancers were making fun of him for a finish. Hours of takes later we went on strike and finally received our fee. (A generous 600rupees) For those with time to spare in Mumbai it is definately worth the experience, however, if youre itinerary is not flexible enough to waste a day sitting about
I would give it a miss.
The following morning we took a cab to see the main sights taking in the main temples, the Dhobi ghats, the Gandhi museum and Bombay Park. Worth a mention is a retired gentleman by the name of Pratab, who has taken it upon himself to show tourists the park in which he walks twice daily. His hobby, as he he likes to call it, is talk to the tourists and show them the Mumbai he knows and loves. We then met his gentleman friends and sat and had a great chat with them all. This is one of the the many random meetings of interesting characters that I love about travelling.
That afternoon, Colm, Suzanne ( a fellow Bollywood co-star) and I decided to go on a tour of a slum. This actually sounds a lot more invasive than it actually was.Many would criticise for being unethical and explotative but having researched the company thoroughly I was satisified that the company (http://www.realitytoursandtravel.com/default.html) were doing all that they could to protect the privacy of those in the slum (cameras were strictly forbidden) and as much as possible to put back into the community
(they have set up a language centre in the area). The tour aims to shed light on the positive aspects of the slum and to highlight the work and industry that is carried out within the area. The area we visited is known as Dharavi which generates $665 million from small scale industries annually. We saw recycling centres,pot-makers,poppadum makers, and stitching shops, all provide employment for the many people who come to Mumbai seeking work. We also visited a NGO ran school which runs within the slum and the learning centre which the tour company have set up themselves. I cannot say that we didnt see the dirt and squalor and extreme poverty that these 1 million people have to live in but our eyes were opened to the determination of these people to get on with life and to make the best of what is there whether it is in the making of pots or the sorting of bottles for recycling. The people themselves welcomed us, joked with us and beckoned us to watch when we were too shy too. It never felt that we were not welcome.Obviously the aim of the programme is to give a positive light
to Dharavi and acknowledge there is a definately a much darker side there to what we did see but as the tourguide pointed out, something is better than nothing and to open at least 3 people's eyes to the positive is better than being completely ignorant of it altogether. What sprang to my mind is that you cannot judge a book by its cover and until you scratch the surface and get see past those startling images that you capture en route from the airport can you really understand what Mumbai is really about. I had heard from travellers prior to and since travelling to Mumbai talk about how much they hated it. Perhaps we were blinded by the fact it was our first pitstop and I understand how Mumbai can be very hard to take after travelling from the beautiful cities and landscapes of the North. But, for me personally, to truely know a place, and in particular a country you have to see the good, the bad and the ugly, and for me and I just happened to come across a bit of good within the ugly and overall I wouldn't berate Mumbai because of it.
Something
to think about "Humanity before Religion" Quote from tour guide when talking about how he felt his job was giving something to his community. Just something that has stuck with me for the last couple of days.
Having experienced the two very extremes of Mumbai between Bollywood and Dharavi, we moved on the next day, happy that we had given the city the extra time that we felt it deserved. Watch this space for onward travels...
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Catherine
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Great blog sinead! Keep it up...it gives me something to read at work :)