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Published: October 16th 2006
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Hello peeps! I hope everyone is well wherever you may be...
Kal and I are now in Goa (South Coastal state)... We have been here now for 8 days, and it has been raining for the last 2 (a side effect of the Monsoons I'm afraid)... Anyway it gives me a great opportunity (if not a bit belated) to tell you about Mumbai...
The 2 sides to Mumbai (Bombay)
The first thing that strikes me about Mumbai, unfortunately, is the poverty. You cannot miss it.... the shanti "towns" located all over North Mumbai and in particular near the airport, a sea of blue from the sky due to the roofs being covered in blue tarpaulen sheets to protect them from the rain.... along with the significant number of stray dogs that wonder the northern suburbs...
However, despite this poverty, people seem forever smiling, carrying on their exceptionally long days at work trying to scrounge enough to feed them and their families..... and they
love their cricket! No matter where we wondered in Mumbai there is a makeshift cricket pitch with kids playing cricket!
People are really friendly here too.... they constantly ask me where I'm from and when I
repond "South Africa" (no abuse please guys) they ring off a list of famous SA cricketers with a smug look on their face. I wore my cricket top a few times and it was amazing how it drew so many excited looks...
Kal and I were looked after so well too.. thanks to a friend of my sister (Anu) and her husband (Frazer). They arranged for us to be picked up by a driver (Das) and we were put up in one of Frazer's work apartments. They also took us out on the first night and gave us lots of advice about traveling India and Mumbai... a big thank you to both of them... and Arvind, a fellow colleague of Frazer who told us where to go in Mumbai and organised our train tickets to our next destination.
Day 2 (Ganesh Chaturthi) Our second day in Mumbai happen to coincide with the festival of Ganesh Chaturthi. Ganesh is the the god of prosperity and peace, and the last day of the festival is celbrated by the Hindi people by transporting their effigies of Ganesh (a god with a human body and an Elephant head) along the streets
of Mumbai, culminating in the immersement of the effigies in the sea at Chowpatty beach. We were worned to stay away from the area due to the chaos on the roads and the masses of people lining the streets. However, intrigue got the better of Kal and I and we grabbed a taxi for a ride to the south of Mumbai. It wasn't long before we realised that we had made a "little" mistake. However, the taxi ride gave us the chance to view the endless procession of people covered in Pink dye following effigies of Ganesh singing and dancing along the way. We ended up at Chowpatty beach where we were swept along with the crowds towards the beach where the effigies were being submerged.
Day 3 (as a typical tourist) On our last day, Das drove us around southern Mumbai in the area called Calaba which is where we paid a very quick visit to the Taj Mahal hotel and the gateway to India monument as well as a brief visit to Elephanta island, a quiet and picturesque place, with monkeys scampering about. The island is a complex of Shiva temple caves
The Taj Mahal hotel
The hotel was built by an Indian when he got fed up that top hotels would not allow indians to stay in their rooms.. His hotel was the best in Mumbai for many years too.... with the main cave holding Shiva, the main Hindi God, in his three-headed aspect: as Creator, Protector and Destroyer. Unfortunately, Kal and I didn't manage to make it into the Cave as we had both got fed up with what felt like charges for foreigners for everything.... oh well..
We finished off the tourist route with a drive past the Haji Ali mosque, honoring the Muslim saint Haji Ali, the mosque was built in the middle of the sea with only a narrow path leading to it giving it an ethereal look. It can only be reached during low tide (as it was during the photo). During high tide, the connecting causeway is submerged in water giving the impression that the mosque and tomb are floating out at sea in splendid isolation. The best bit for me about the mosque was that it was a favourate location for Gregory Roberts whilst he lived in India. For those who don't know who he is, he wrote the book Shantaram about his escape from prison in Oz and his life in the mafia and slums of Mumbai... it really is a brilliant book!! and it was cool to sea one somewhere
The Gateway to India
A view of the famous Mumbai monument from the ferry to Elephanta Island where he writes alot about....
Although, there may have not been much to see in Mumbai, it certainly gave both of us a lasting fragrance of Mumbai and India....
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Killer
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Happy Birthday...
Happy Birthday old boy!!! Were you 30 this year??!!? x x