Bombay Dreams

Mumbai hits you like a spade in the face! It's Indias most populous city and it feels every inch like it. But once we got to grips with the constant noise and pace of this town we fell completely in love with it. There is so much to do here and our time was so short - just 4 days before we have to leave for Kerala and in that time we had to see all the sights, meet up with our friends Manjari and Betty, and Pat had to fulfill his dream of blagging his way into a Bollywood movie.

We arrived late in the evening on our first day and checked into Bentley's Hotel in the downtown Colaba area. Day two we met up with Manjari Shah, our friend from Mumbai whom we had met back in Mongolia last May. Manjari is a life long Mumbai-ite(?) and knows the city really well. She had told us so much about her city when we met her in Mongolia, that we had to look her up and put her knowledge to the test. More importantly she had agreed to act as Pat's agent during his time in Mumbai and "make him a star" - isn't this what all high-flyin' agents tell gullible Irishmen?

Anyway, Manjari's hospitality was way beyond the call of duty as she spent her entire Gandhi Day (National Holiday on October 2nd to celebrate the great mans birthday) showing us around Mumbai and generally entertaining us. She showed us all around the Colaba and Fort areas, from the High Court where she works, down to the Oval Maidan. She even brought us to her office which is in a really cool central location and has one of the finest toilets in Mumbai - did anyone get a picture of that toilet? Damn what am I paying you monkeys for!!!!.

After that we headed out to the trendy Bandra area of town for some great vegetarian street food and some death defying auto-rickshaw rides. Here we sampled delicious Bhelpuris and other street foods that I can't remember the name of. She also got all the waiters in the cafe to stop at our table to explain what each dish was! The food was all superb. To round off a fantastic day, she brought to see a smash hit Hindi movie called "Dor". This was a real treat, as not only were we going to a real Mumbai movie house, but the movie actually turned out to be really good. We had a briefing of the plot beforehand from Manjari and she also whispered some plotline hints every now and again so we didn't get too lost.

Whilst Manjari had proved to be the consummate host, her skills as Pat's movie agent had fallen well short of the mark. It turned out she had failed to get us a break in the movies and so, after months of preparation and rigorous dance practising by Pat, he was gutted to realise that his dreams of becoming Ireland's first Bollywood star were unravelling fast. Not to worry though, as ever the luck of the Irish struck again and whilst crossing the road in Colaba we were plucked from obscurity to spend the day in Film City and become, well, EXTRAS!!! Yahoo!

Next day we hopped on the train from Churchgate and went to Film City. We were to be extras in a movie called Partner. This movie is a big comeback flick for Bollywood comedy legend Govinda and also stars Bollywood Badboy Salman Khan and the incredibly gorgeous Katrina Kaif. It's a romantic comedy and should be out in about three months time we were told. Keep your eyes peeled for its release! Our "roles" basically involved pretend drinking at a bar for the day in what was meant to be London and clapping in the background as the stars larked about. From what I could gather, all Western men are portrayed in Bollywood as hanging out drinking in bars and all our women dress like total harlets. While our virtuous Indian stars of course would never be caught doing anything like that. Although gyrating around in a micro sari is perfectly acceptable behaviour of course!

The day on the set was hilarious and we were treated really well. Unsurprisingly for India, the people were really good fun and hospitable and the free food was great. We got paid 500 rupees for the day but Catherine has only just recovered from wearing those heels I believe.

Next day in Mumbai we were extremely excited to meet up with Betty - Cat's big sister. She met up with us for two weeks to travel around Mumbai and the state of Kerala. We spent the day again visiting the sights such as the Gateway of India and watching the cricket at the Oval Maiden, eating amazing food and drinking litres of tea. Stay tuned for loads more from Betty's trip in Kerala as she is going to write the next blog!

So Mumbai has slipped into our top 3 cities we have visited so far. We can't finish this episode without saying a massive "Hi" to Jackson in Brighton who also hails from Mumbai. Big congratulations to you on the wedding Jacko. Your home town rocks!!!!

And thanks again to Manjari for showing us around and treating us to amazing all you can eat Thali!

Stay tuned for loads more from "Incredible India".... as the man says.

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