India Episode 6: Maharashtra

From the symbol of Modern India in Mumbai to the heart of Ancient India at Ellora...

...our visit to Maharashtra was marked by contrast - obscene wealth and abject poverty, aging colonialism and fierce nationalism, rampant commercialism and serene spirtuality. All in all, a place that was very, very, Indian!

Following a reasonable sleeper bus ride from Goa (sweet sweet sleeping pills) we were deposited in an unknown location in Mumbai. After finding our bearings and booking some trains at the Chetrapati Shivaji Terminus - the erstwhile (Indians always use that word) Victoria Terminus, we upset the taxi touts by spurning their invitations and catching a public bus to Colaba (Amy had to run and jump and just made it on) to the tourist centre of Colaba in South Mumbai.

All guide books say to ignore people who tell you that your hotel is "burned-down", "closed", or "under renovation". However, for the second time in India, we found that they were telling the truth! So after settling into a rather scummy Salvation Army hostel (christians in uniform as Simon calls them) which nonetheless had a view of the Taj Mahal hotel from our toilet, we set off to explore our surroundings.

With the Mumbai gunmen attacks taking place 6 months ago to the day, there was still plenty of evidence of the assault on the Taj Mahal hotel and also bullet holes (Simon is sure, but Amy is skeptical) in the wall of Leopold's cafe.

There was an obvious security presence as well, with armed gunmen stationed behind sandbags outside the High Court - where the trial of the only surviving gunman was going on. Despite this, Mumbai had a great vibe with Mumbaikers seemingly unaffected by all the drama and carrying on with business as usual.

The distinctive mix of colonial and art deco architecture was a defining feature of Mumbai for us - we couldn't get over the number of beautiful old buildings within this cosmopolitan city. Although we did note ironically that our favourite buildings in India are ones built by the Brits...

Seeing as we were in Bollywood and being the beautiful people that we are, we were approached several times by film scouts to appear as extras. Unfortunately for them, they couldn't afford to pay us our hourly rate.

After deciding that we should see a Bollywood movie and visiting one of the many Mumbai cinemas, we came to the conclusion that 2 hours of Hindi would be incredibly boring (not to mention the quality of the acting) and opted for the Indian premiere of Angels and Demons instead!

Travelling by train in India is always an experience, with every trip eventful and entertaining. Being poor backpackers and generally riding in the non air-con carriages with the masses you can always expect the unexpected.

Whether it is blind beggars or decrepit old women walking up and down the aisles handing out leaflets, small children singing for money or dressed as clowns doing rolie polies there is always some thing to watch.

As for the continual selling of 'chai chai chai', 'samosa samosa', or 'chips chips', plus the always open windows and spinning fans throughout the entire ride, sure does make for a noisy experience. I suspect our ears won't stop ringing until after we get to England away from the continual noise of India.

Another train ride, talking book, and musical later (go the ipod), we arrived in Aurangabad on the Deccan Plateau of central India, where we based ourselves to explore the freaken ancient Ellora Caves (about our 8th world heritage listed site since being in India).

A series of Buddhist, Hindu, and Jain cave temples dating from around 600-1000AD, we were wowed at the shear size and detail of the structures and decorative carvings and sculptures - ain't no construction machinery back then!

Despite being a little "templed out" after seeing dozens of temples throughout southern India, the fact that these were hewn directly from solid rock made them a spetacular place to visit - certainly the king of the caves.

Highlights were a Buddhist temple whose interior resembled the vaulted roof of a gothic cathedral, the truly massive Hindu Kailasa Temple carved from one piece of rock, and the incredibly detailed carving of the Jain caves. However, we think we've seen enough Shiva carvings to last a life time!

On our return to Aurangabad in a share jeep - the driver defied the laws of physics and manged to squeeze in 18 people including himself! Should have taken the bus...

Our side trip to Ellora complete, we returned to Mumbai and our connecting train (complete with late arrival into wrong station and high stress running with packs on...) to Ahmedabad and then on to Udaipur and Rajasthan about 26 hours later. Just your average travel day...

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Part of trip: The Asian Adventure

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