A Local Transport Tour in Mumbai


Advertisement
India's flag
Asia » India » Maharashtra » Mumbai
December 25th 2019
Published: December 26th 2019
Edit Blog Post

This morning we have a Local Transport Tour with Reality Tours and Travel, meeting point was outside Regal Cinema at 8.30am. I knew the cinema was within walking distance from our hotel and I made a point of looking for it yesterday afternoon on our way to the Gateway of India. So we walked there this morning without any problems, arriving with ten minutes to spare.

Another couple were coming on this tour with us, a lovely Malay couple who lived in Berlin. We enjoyed their company for a few hours and the company of our 18 year old guide. He was very knowledgeable about his city and was able to answer any questions we asked.

First stop was reached via public bus. Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, also known by its former name Victoria Terminus, after the then reigning Empress of India, Queen Victoria, is a historic railway station and UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The station took ten years to build, and was completed in 1888, the longest for any building of that era in Bombay. This famous Gothic Revival style landmark was built as the headquarters of the Great Indian Peninsular Railway. There are 18 platforms here, serving both suburban and long distance trains.

During its construction, a marble statue of Queen Victoria was installed in the main facade of the building, in a canopy under the clock. In the 1950s, authorities begun to remove statues of British figures from government buildings and public spaces, based on a directive from the Government of India. Most of the statues, including that of Queen Victoria, were sent to Victoria Gardens (later renamed Rani Baug) where they were left lying, forgotten for decades. Thirty years later, in the 80’s it was discovered the statue had disappeared and historians believe it was either smuggled out of India, sold by politicians, or destroyed.

We left here via train, alighting at Parel Station, the closest to the Dadar Flower Markets. This market was undercover with narrow aisles between the rows of vendors. The scent of flowers was much stronger here than at the Hyderabad market we visited and it seemed to be much busier too even though we visited later in the morning.

Vendors start arriving before dawn with truck loads of fresh flowers - roses, lotus, gerberas, crimsons, lilies, marigolds, chrysanthemums, tulips, orchids, an endlessly beautiful array of colour and scent. Some bunches are wrapped in cellophone, some rolled in paper bundles and others kept in open boxes to be sold by weight at wholesale prices. Many of the flowers, such as marigolds, are sold as heads only, as they are turned into garlands and threaded onto string for temple offerings.

From here we went via train again to Mahalaxmi Station to visit Dhobi Ghat, the largest unmechanised laundry facility and washerman colony in the world.

Situated in South Mumbai under the Mahalaxmi Station Flyover the site is a working urban slum that services people and businesses across the city. Founded in 1890, more than 730 dhobis (washermen) and their families live and work in the laundry colony, washing an average of one million articles of clothing per day. The area extends across several city blocks and comprises an interlocking series of winding alleys, workrooms and semi-covered subsections of aluminium siding.

The Mumbai Municipal Corporation officially owns the land and charges for rent and maintenance and they also retain the right to evict locals, with very little notice, who are late with their payments. Residents would also be the victims of corrupt collection officers demanding bribes and additional taxes from the workers, who live in fear of being ejected from homes and work stations their families have frequented for decades.

Residents of the Dhobi Ghat live amongst the constantly flowing collection of soiled clothing shipped from most of Mumbai’s major hotels and hospitals. The laundry workers reside in adjacent shanty shacks amidst the ever-present aroma of harsh chemicals and moist air that emanate from the nearby stone wash basins. Drying garments hang from clotheslines strewn across every possible inch of space, blocking out the sun entirely in some areas.

Although there are some machines on site to ease the workload, most of the washing is done by hand in 731 concrete wash basins, each with its own flogging stone. The clothes are soaked in sudsy water, then thrashed repeatedly on the stone before being boiled in starch and hung out to dry. Some workers spend most of their day knee-deep in scummy water.

From here we hailed taxis and visited Chor Bazaar, which literally means ‘thieves market’, which has a fascinating history spanning more than 150 years. It was originally called Shor Bazaar, meaning ‘noisy market’, but ‘shor’ became ‘chor’ because of how the British mispronounced the word. Eventually, stolen goods started finding their way into the market, so it was living up to its new name. These days it's famous for antique and vintage items and is the largest flea market in India.

Legend says that if you lose anything in the city, you can buy it back at Chor Bazaar. The sellers mostly deal in 2nd hand goods, but there’s bound to be some items here that have been stolen. It is a bustling marketplace with shops and narrow kiosks installed very close to one another in narrow lanes.

Our final destination before lunch this morning was outside Churchgate Station where we saw the dabbawalla in action.

Dabbawalla is a lunchbox delivery and return system that delivers hot lunches from homes and restaurants to workers in Mumbai. The lunchboxes are picked up in the late morning, delivered by trains and then by wooden cart or bicycles, and returned empty in the afternoon.

A code system identifies the destination and recipient. The dabbawala then take them to a sorting station, where he and other collecting dabbawalas sort the lunch boxes into groups. The grouped boxes are put in the designated coaches of trains, with markings to identify the destination of the box. These markings include the railway station to unload the boxes and the destination building delivery address.

At each station, boxes are handed over to a local dabbawala, who delivers them. The empty boxes are collected after lunch or the next day and sent back to the respective homes.

Between 175,000 and 200,000 lunch boxes are moved each day by 4,500 to 5,000 dabbawalas. It is frequently claimed that they make less than one mistake in every eight million deliveries, an absolutely incredible feat considering many of the carriers are of limited literacy. Each dabbawala is self employed and required to contribute a minimum capital in the form of two bicycles and a wooden crate for the tiffins. Tiffins are round, metal, multi tiered lunch boxes, secured with pull down clamps on either side. The cost of having your lunch delivered from home each day is less than R20, or 50 cents.

From here we taxied to a small eatery in Nariman Point, where we enjoyed a typical Indian lunch together before everyone went their own way. We taxied back to Regal Theatre and from there walked down Colaba Causeway, browsing in the markets stands and making a few small purchases. Eventually we tired of the requests to buy and the pestering from beggers so taxied back to the hotel for a break.

Later we found ourselves back at Effingut bar looking for dinner and a couple of drinks. We browsed in some very upmarket shops first, the products on sale were just beautiful. Lots of top quality antique and new decorator pieces, their prices reflecting the work that has gone into their creation. The women’s clothing shops which sell saris and the kurta tops and pants, with their gorgeous fabrics and embellished finishes have us itching to buy, and we probably will sooner or later. A lovely way to pass a few hours.


Additional photos below
Photos: 28, Displayed: 27


Advertisement

Flowers in her Hair - Dadar Flower MarketsFlowers in her Hair - Dadar Flower Markets
Flowers in her Hair - Dadar Flower Markets

Ginny had an audience when she bought a band of flowers for her hair. The vendor is tying them on. Lovely fresh flowers, strung together on the spot - cost R10 or twenty cents.


Tot: 0.201s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 15; qc: 72; dbt: 0.0917s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.3mb