Magical Mumbai

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Suprabhat (Good Morning) from MUMBAI , INDIA

…Busy, bustling, bursting, and formerly Bombay, this unique city is now known again by its original name of Mumbai. After reading so much about this place, the face we experienced was pretty much as we expected. The reality of this country is true to it’s current promotional slogan….”Incredible India”…and that it is !

The night before we arrived, images and thoughts of India danced around in my head…..Old India with the Mughuls and Maharajahs, and magic carpets …rule throughout the Portuguese and British eras, the teachings of Mahatma Ghandi, stories of the untouchables, arranged marriages, the easing of the caste systems, India’s far-reaching spiritual influences , hundreds of languages and religious beliefs, and today the current upcoming economically strong India, the “Bollywood” industry and modern commercial India…..It is a country filled with incredible contrasts .

But trying to understand India as a tourist in 5 days, is of course impossible, which makes me want to return and truly experience a small part of its beauty and depth. My last visit 2 years ago to the city of Agra to see the Taj Mahal was just a small tease, and the last week spent in Mumbai, Mangalore, Goa and Cochin was yet another small glimpse of this vast place.

We will share our impressions with you, but the real sensibility of course comes with not only the sights, but with the sounds and the smells and the unique energy of the city, all senses which are not easily describable.

Mumbai originally consisted of seven islands, which are now joined together as a composite island metropolis 14 miles long by 3 miles wide. Into this narrow strip are squeezed the majority of Mumbai’s 14 million people, its major business and commercial establishments, its docks and warehouses, and much of its industry - including almost the whole of its major textile industry which alone employs some 50,000 workers.

Mumbai is a melting pot of all Indian creeds and cultures. The municipal government provides primary and secondary education in at least 10 languages, including English.

Some condensed info from guidebooks , in case you’re interested, (otherwise skip to next paragragh): In the 3rd century, BCE, the islands of Mumbai formed part of the Maurya Empire, ruled by the Buddist emperor Asoka. Later, the Hindu rulers of the Sihara Dynasty governed until the 1300’s . Then local Muslim nawabs took over, until the early 1500’s when it was handed over to Portugal in exchange for support against the Mughals.
In 1662, Charles II of England married Catherine of Braganza, a Portuguese princess, and as part of the dowry, the British crown received the islands of Mumbai. After India’s independence in 1947, Mumbai (then Bombay) became the capital of Bombay State.

The religions are as varied as the languages. The Portuguese and English brought Christianity. The Hindu population is largely Maharashtrian. There are fairly large numbers of Jains , Muslims, Buddists and Zoroastrians (Parsis).

Another ancient but miniscule minority Indian community, that of the Jews, is also based in Bombay. Seven synagogues in the city still serve their dwindling numbers. The house of Sassoon, Iraqi in origin, has left it’s mark through endowments for educational and charitable purposes. Mumbai still has a Sassoon Dock (now used by the fishing fleet) and the open-to-all Sassoon Library, which is near one of the remaining Sassoon synagogues.

Starting with our first day, we hired a guide to show us the highlights of India. After a brief rundown of the complicated cultures, caste system, religions, politics and economy we maneuvered the crowded streets to our first stop, the Ghandi House, now a museum, it was a major base for Ghandi’s 'Quit India' Independence Movement. Anything we ever wanted to learn about Ghandi and his life and teachings were exhibited in small interesting dioramas.

We then stopped at a unique area known as the Dhobi Ghat where vast lines held miles of washing. (see pictures).It was quite a sight to see hundreds of clotheslines holding thousands of freshly washed items. I wonder how it all gets back to the correct owners, but it somehow does, and on time.

Next we visited the beautiful Radha Gopinath Krishna Temple and quite by chance met a young man from Vancouver (of all places), studying to become a monk. He was delighted to tell us about the background, precepts and traditions of its practitioners.

We passed the Chowpatti area (beaches), where people gather for festivals or just to take the breezes in the evenings.

Another incredible “unique to India” experience is seeing the celebrated system of hot delivered lunches to the millions of office workers who prefer a home-cooked meal.” A remarkable process, this is a system made possible by the city-wide highly organized “dabba wallas” Here’s how it works: The lunch meal or “dabbas” (meaning “ever-hot lunch box “) is prepared in the home and then collected by these dhoti-clad, Ghandi-capped men from residences at 11:00am. Each box is identified as to ownership and locations (from and to) by markings decipherable by the dabba wallas alone, even the illiterate among them. These are assembled and sorted by destination and carried off by local train (their version of a subway, but above ground). At various stations appropriated batches of the designated dabbas are handed to other teams for delivery. In the afternoon, the process is reversed. Astounding !
We got to Churchgate rail station just in time to see some of this unbelievable process in action. Never saw anything like it. I wondered if office microwave ovens and prevalent fast food establishments in this huge city would ever take over this unique “hot lunch” system.

And speaking of lunch, we had ours at the beautiful Taj Hotel. Hard to believe that this iconic hotel was attacked by terrorists only last year. It has been completely restored as though nothing had happened. When I asked if there was a memorial in the hotel for those who perished in that horrid attack, I was told that originally there was, but they felt it brought “bad karma”, so it was removed. No comment.

After a sumptuous meal, (yes, I actually ate in India) we viewed the “Gateway to India” on the waterfront across from the Hotel. Built as a triumphal arch to commemorate the visit of King George V and Queen Mary in 1911, ironically, it was through this arch that the last of the British troops left India by the sea.

We then went to the teeming central train station, Victoria Terminus, before going to see the “Keneseth Eliyahoo” Synagogue, built in 1884 by David Sassoon.
A charming Sephardic jewel of an orthodox shule, and still in use, even though there are less than 20 members now. There was a plaque here dedicated to the young Chabbad rabbi and his wife murdered in Mumbai by terrorists recently…. some sobering reality here.

Our last stop of the day was to the Jain Temple, and according to our guide, its members are generally part of a very wealthy business oriented community.
We were fortunate to tour the entire building and meet some of the worshippers there.

We passed the Hutama Chowk (Flora Fountain) in the Fort area, the famous Crawford Market, the School of Art (where Rudyard Kipling’s father taught), the imposing St. Thomas Cathedral, and the University Hall & Ephinstone College, with its famous “Rajabi” Clock Tower.

We also passed an unusual building known as the Parsis’ (aka Zoroastrians) “Tower of Silence” on Malabar Hill. This tower is an isolated facility for the disposal of the dead by exposure to the elements and vultures (dokhura). Eventually, he bones are dropped to the bottom of the tower. Burial and cremation are ruled out for Zoroastrians, since they hold both fire and earth sacred.

The next day our tour took us to the island of Gharapuri also known as Elephanta, site of a magnificent series of rock-cut cave temples with large sculptured interiors. These were excavated in the 7th and 8th centuries. The centerpiece of this U.N.E.S.C.O. site is a massive 18 ft high three-headed Shiva, representing his manifestations as Creator, Preserver and Destroyer. Quite magnificent, it is carved right into the basalt (lava) rock cave. I can certainly appreciate the work involved in these incredible sculptures. There are many rock caves on other Indian islands, which, I have read, are quite incredible. The largest, Ellora which was scooped out of the rocks 10 centuries ago has 34 rock-cut temples representing the Buddhist, Jain and Hindu Brahmanic faiths. The term “cave temple” cannot convey the magnitude of these achievements, which could be compared to carving a whole cathedral out of solid rock, interior and exterior. Since Ellora was not near any of our ports of call, I have yet another reason to wish to return to this incredible India.

But ……..before I digressed…., back to the Elephanta experience and its name for one more moment. The Portuguese soldiers who used the statues for target practice (which unfortunately destroyed some of the interiors), named the island “Elephanta” after a massive elephant sculpture which once stood in one of the temple’s courtyards. This sculpture now stands in the garden of the Mumbai city zoo.

And speaking of (zoos, that is), there were dozens of wild Rhesus monkeys, lots of goats wandering everywhere, ornery oxen and many hawkers selling wares at the Elephanta site. Through all this, we navigated our way as we climbed the 200 steps up to the temple cave site.
All in all, quite a fascinating experience and a most unique day.

Also wanted to tell you that we arrived and left the island via a one-hour ferryboat ride. I was lucky to learn a lot about the meditative side of India from our very 'spiritual' guide, who had once taught yoga, and was very generous with her information during the sail to the island and back.

There are 3 more attached pages of pictures (click on to " extra Photos"at the end of the pictures ) which describe the feel of Mumbai better than text, so scroll through if you like.
Our next stops will be Goa and Mangalore and then---- onto Cochin, a city I’m really looking forward to experiencing.

Namaste for now
xoxo
Harvey and Lindsay

I know it's been ages since our last blog, which is due to a combination of circumstances, number one being the difficulty and time required to upload info on this incredibly slow system. In addition, we're busy from morning till night and having way too much fun....However, eventually we will post all of our adventures.
For now, know we are thinking of you and miss you...Happy Hannukah. Stay well. We look forward to speaking with you after our return on Dec 28th!
Lots of love and hugs
xxoo

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