Mumbai

---

Mumbai surprised me in many ways. I really did not expect to like it at all, yet ended up really enjoying myself. The first thing that strikes you about Mumbai is the increase in the cost of living compared to the rest of India. We paid the equivalent of $50 AUD to stay in what can only be described as a white windowless box 2x2 meters squared. After 6 hours of sleep in there (if we actually slept thanks to the hotel staff playing music off their phones, talking or spitting) we would wake up gasping for air and the less said about the common bathroom the better.

Mumbai is an interesting mix of extreme wealth and extreme poverty. Whilst Chowpatty, Colaba, the Fort area and Churchgate all seem to have rather clean well kept streets littered with huge and very impressive Gothic buildings, as you walk east of CST (the railway station) the buildings get more dilapidated and the city’s extreme poverty (55% of the population live in slums) becomes more evident.

Our first day in Mumbai was spent walking around the Fort area close by our hotel. We managed to stumble up the Oval Maiden, a popular spot for cricket, especially, as we noted, on a Sunday afternoon. It was absolute havoc, there were people everywhere just playing cricket. They really are absolutely obsessed with it here. The High Court and Mumbai University form an imposing backdrop to the Oval Maiden, both of which are absolutely monstrous buildings. That evening we walked along Marina Drive to Chowpatty Beach to watch the sunset. Chowpatty Beach at sunset has a very carnival like atmosphere at sunset, with large groups of families, street food, rides and balloons. It was very interesting to observe how the wealthier Indians live.

The next morning began with us running out of our box room as early as possible and getting a Taxi to Colaba. Colaba is home to such sights as the Taj Mahal Palace, Gateway to India and much of the recent terrorist activity. The increase in security was very evident, such that we could not even get within 150 meters of the Taj Mahal Palace, and even then we had to go through security checks. As anyone who has even seen photos of the Taj Mahal Palace will know, it is a very,very impressive building and luckily it did not seem to be too damaged by the recent attacks. Directly across from the Taj Mahal Palace is the Gateway to India, which is at the moment completely covered in scaffolding and as a result, nothing to write home about.

In the evening we decided to catch the latest Bollywood blockbuster, Rab ne bana di Jodi. It was completely in Hindi with no subtitles but I was able to get the general storyline - man marries woman but she does not love him, woman enters dancing competition, man gets makeover and enters dancing competition as her partner to try and woo her (the makeover is a disguise and she doesn’t know it’s him), woman falls in love with man but is married so can’t do anything, woman cries a lot, the finale of the competition comes around and man reveals his disguise, they win completion and everyone is happy. All that interspersed with seemingly random singing and dancing. It was long (3 hours) but fun to do once anyway.
We are now in Varanasi, after getting a flight from Mumbai. The security in the airport was the tightest I have ever seen which can only be a good thing.

Hope you are all well and Happy New Year

Xox Kate

---

Comments

[James]

Brilliant!
Haha, your face in the photo of the box size room is one of pure anguish, K-Hate. The joys of budget travel! I also had the privilege of viewing many Bollywood blockbusters during my time spent living in Dubai. It seems the storylines have not changed a good ten years on. I'm sure you spent most of the feature in stitches. Send my heterosexual love to Mez and welcome to the '09. Much love, Waller