Visiting Bombay

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Our final stop in India is Mumbai, or as the British named it, Bombay. Our first excursion in this major city visits the night market at Pydhonie which is really the shops along the major shopping street. Our guide explains that the nice looking shops in buildings have the real brand name goods while the street vendors have the knockoffs. The prices tell the difference. Our drive to the Cinema Hall passes Victoria Terminus (the magnificent British built train station), the High Court and the Gateway of India. This latter Arc d’ Triumph like edifice on the waterfront’s Marine Drive was the location where Gandhi returned to India in 1915 and where the British left the country after granting them independence. We watch 20 minutes of a Bollywood movie which has everything – action, drama, love scenes – except a plot. Then it’s on to a “trendy bar” (which turns out to be a staid hotel bar with a loud DJ) and back to the ship. The next day we return to the city to visit some of the religious icons of the city including the Guruvayur and Ram Temples, the Swaminarayan Temple and the Bomanji Wadia Fire Temple. Also included is the Haji Ali Mosque and, after lunch, the Keneseth Eliyahoo Synagogue. Each of the temples is different in their approach to the worshipping of the gods but each uses flames and water to purify with an inner sanctum tended by a monk or team of monks. Many have porcelain idols and lots of silver and gold decoration. The Synagogue is painted a sky blue with historic objects on display.

Finally we again tour the city with this time the emphasis being on contemporary buildings and sites. We learn, while seeing Victoria Station up close, that local trains run every 2 minutes and stop for only 17 seconds. The slums (ala “Slum Dog Millionaire”) are of people moving to the city without being able to find housing and that the movie was shot on a set. Drivers of motorbikes are the only ones required to wear a helmet and not the two passengers on board. Driving in India appears to require guts, aggression, skill and luck with traffic lights as a guide.. There are22 official languages to conduct business, depending on the state you’re in with 1600 dialects. Hindi and English are the countrywide languages. The Hanging Gardens are actually a lovely park with well-maintained gardens over a reservoir. The Prince of Wales Museum contains artifacts he collected over a period of time and include Chinese porcelain jars, Gainsborough paintings, natural history stuffed animals and birds, early native cultural icons, ancient weapons with a marvelous collection of swords and daggers. One final visit to the arch and we return to our ship for departure that night. Interestingly, over 470 passengers arrived at the airport simultaneously and had to be processed before departure. Their bags had to be screened at the airport, transported to the port, loaded aboard and delivered to the rooms. Since this was an embarkation port, where some people are boarding for this leg of the trip and others are returning from a trip to the Taj Mahal in Delhi, the entire crew is involved in the process. Of course, those of us remaining on the ship wish to be fed and our rooms cleaned, so you can imagine the cooperation which must take place to take care of the 700 passengers. Then it’s off to the Straits of Hormuz and Dubai . The next morning we have our boat drill (normally held before leaving port) and a security drill as to what precautions we take if threatened by pirates. Both are handled professionally with the captain carefully explaining each step and what our responsibilities would be. At noon today a non US military helicopter flew close by and was shortly followed by a French jet aircraft flyover. At least the seas are calm and our cruise continues.

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