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Published: February 14th 2006
Package Guy
You can't get a box in the Post Office; you find the guy sitting on the street outside who boxes, sews and waxes shut the package; finalized by negotiating over a "fair" price for his labor.So we arrived at Mumbai early morning (January 26th) and jumped in a rickshaw to the train station we were to leave from to drop off our big bags. Then we spent a hour reading newspaper and drinking coffee followed by two hours at the post office which was half closed. It was Republic Day so the Sea Mail was closed but the Air Mail was open. We could only send our goods Air Mail and I still don't understand why they couldn't stamp it Sea Mail and be done with it. The whole thing took about two hours for us to send a package. Cost a little less than $100 to send goods worth just about the same. But, we were happy to unload some weight.
Once that was done, we proceeded to walk towards the Gate of India to do a Lonely Planet walking tour of the Colaba neighborhood. We made it to the gate of India and it was packed full of people (because of the holiday); anyway, it's shaped like the Arc de Triomph and is a tribute to the King and Queen of England for colonizing India. That was the start of the tour and
the end, as the tour (by Lonely Planet) was almost impossible to follow. We proceeded to the find the synagogue - my great grandmother lived and died in Bombay and I was attempting to find some information for my Uncle in Israel. So we found the synagogue (and only Jews are allowed inside) and the caretaker of the building, who was very friendly, gave us a listing of the Jewish cemetary which we perused to find my grandmoth. It was a written list (half Hebrew, half English) with not much order. But we did find some potential names and with the help of a little Indian boy, we jumped in a cab and headed for the cemetary.
It is located literally in the middle of the slums. The poor people who are not homeless live in shacks on the side of the road, only ground level rooms probably 10 x 10 (at the biggest) for large families - no running water so you see them brushing their teeth and bathing in the street right outside their homes, it's a pretty crazy sight. (And that book - A Fine Balance - is by Rohintin Mistry discusses this aspect of life,
amoung others, if you are interested; it a nice story and touches on the interesting facets of Indian life and tradition.) So there's a break in the housing and a gate which is the entrance to the cemetary. We found the stone and I'm reading the inscription but the security guard starts cleaning it with water and a brush which is making is worse because the dirt helps me read the engraving. Anyway, it might or might not be her but it was interesting to learn a little about that community.
We headed back to the Colaba district and walked around for some shopping (we didn't find anything). Our plan was to go for Chinese food but before we knew it, we were running out of time; the plan was to see Wedding Crashers at 8:00pm. We walked back up toward the train terminal (where the theater was) and stopped at McDonald's. It was packed and with the music blasting it was almost like a club. 10 minutes to eat a McFish and McChicken, which was delicious - first time we've had McDonald's in years (it's been almost 10 years for me). Got our seats for the movie (with
seat numbers) and enjoyed the movie; movie ended and we walked to the train station where our overnight to Goa left within half an hour. A couple of new experiences during the movie was rising for the India country song with the Indian flag waving before us on the screen before the movie and intermission. Intermission for a 1:40 movie is definitely not needed.
Overall, it was a fun day and, in retrospect, I think Mumbai deserved another day or two of sightseeing but you can get a decent feel for the city in one full day day.
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UM
non-member comment
What a long strange trip it's being!!!!
Jewish Bubbi's buried in Indian slums..catching a flick after a Big Mack?? What kind of mushrooms are in your omlettes? It all sounds too sureal but I guess you had to be there.. I am tired just reading this stuff..are you guys getting enough down time, or am I just showing my age? Family shindig at Jeff and Alex's this weekend to celebrate Dylan and David's birthdays..double D's so to speak!! You will be missed and spoken of..FYI David got into Rutgers last Saturday!!! New Brunswick here he comes... and not a minute to soon! Keep this stuff coming...it is stranger (and better) than fiction.. UM