Mumbai

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So far, as I have travelled in India, I have noted the evoution of the tuk tuks or auto rickshaws which seem to bevome more evolved the further south you go. But in Mumbai they seem to have died out. I have seen no auto rickshaws here, nor even a cycle rickshaw. Instead they have taxis that use meters and what appears to be an efficient bus service and rail service.

In fact, I have now discovered that rickshaws are banned in South Mumbai but are allowed in the north of the city. There is also (after Udaipur) a strange absence of livestock on the streets. I've only see two cows on the streets here so far and both were being led along the road with a halter. I saw one goat when I wandered over to Back Bay to see the Koli fishing folk (said to be Bombay's original inhabitants) and that's about it. Maybe all the cows and goats are in north Mumbai too. Though I did see a bullock cart carrying a load on MG (Mahatma Gandhi) Street today.

I wouldn't like to have to commute here. My book says "At peak hour, trains meant for 1,700 passengers routinely carry 4,700 people with 17 bodies crammed into a single square metre of space. Every day, eight people die while commuting." That sounds even worse than the London tube.

I had some nice measl in Leopolds cafe, the cafe featured in Shantaram and which was bombed by Muslim extremists last year (I'm staying at the Taj Mahal, another of their targets).

The Taj Mahal is a lovely hotel, more useful if less beautiful than its Agra namesake, but they charge a fortune to use the internet. In fact they charge a fortune for anything. At lunch today the manageress brought me over an icecream (mango flavour) when I had finished lunch, "so it would end on a sweet note", but the bill included the ice cream. I didn't mind, I'd enjoyed it. I thnk I'll have a dip in the pool here tomorrow and maybe go to the spa or gym. Or look at the view from the rooftop restaurant.

The hotel is very close to one of Mumbai's landmark sights, the Gateway of India. This is a sort of slightly Indianised Marble Arch. Like Marble Arch it seems rather lost in its location, though at least it doesn't have lots of traffic swirling around it. It was erected just twenty years or so before India was given independence and the last British soldiers embarked from India by this route.

I walked around Colaba quite a bit and visited what used to be the Prince of Wales Museum. It now has a name in an Indian language, presumably either Marathi or Hindi, which I can't remember, but which features Shivaji the great maharajah who founded Marathi aggression. His equestrian statue is near the Gateway of India . Many of the streets here have pavements! There are hardly any cows in the streets! It almost seems like England. In fact much of the architecture is reminiscent of that in parts of London, especially St Pancras station or the museums but there is usually an Indian twist to it.

The P of W museum is very interesting with many statues of gods and goddesses and ancient artwork.

I also visited the Knesset Eliyahu synagogue. There was nothing remarkable about this except that it was painted blue and was in Mumbai.

I walked along Colaba Causeway and went into a Parsee (Zoroastrian) area where there was a Fire Temple. I got to see the outside which was flanked by Babylonian lions.

Parsees seem to be very private people. I went up the Malabar Hill and saw one of the Towers of Silence from a distance. These are where the Parsees leave thier dead bodies, the idea being that vultures will pick the bones dry. Unfortunately it seems that the vultures of Bombay are dying out at a rate in excess even of the Parsees' own decline and they now use solar panels to encourage faster decomposition.

These Towers are said to be the reason for Bombay's famous Hanging Gardens, also on Malabar Hill. They are called the "Hanging Gardens" not because they are the site for executions (three terrorists were sentenced to hang today for the Gateway of India bombings), nor becasue they are modelled on the renowned terraced garden said to have been erected in Babylonia to appease a homesick queen but because the garden was erected over a pool of water. It was a pleasant enough place by all accounts but its proximity to the Towers of Silence caused problems. The water was used for bathing or drinking and fok were upset when they found the odd finger or thumb there, dropped by clumsy vultures. So they built the gardens and the vultures are dying out and soon there will be no parsees in India. But below the well-maintained gardens there are still reservoir tanks suppying Mumbai with water.

I walked up from the hotel along Marine Drive. This is a lovely long (about three kilometres) road that leads from Churchgate (near the hotel) to the foot of Malabar Hill. It was a very pleasant walk. The pavement (yes, there was one!) is well maintained and you can walk briskly wiothout fear of tripping. There is a lovely view of the bay on the left side, with skyscraping hotels and offices along each arm. It seemed familar to me from so many Bollywood movies. The road is good too and cars were doing more than 30mph along it, an impossibilty anywhere else I have seen in Mumbai.

Just before Malabar Hill I took a slight detour and found a small street with the English sounding name of Laburnum Road. The house where Gandhi used to live when he visited Bombay was here and is now a museum dedicated to him. It wasn't his house in the sense that he owned it, of course. Gandhi had few possessions, so he used those of his friends.

The displays were very iinformative (I had read his biography while I was at Udaipur) and I particulalry liked the reconstructions of pivotal events in his life (like being turned out of his railway carriage in South Africa).

I went on an excursuion to Elephanta Island which is about 9 miles offshore in the Mumbai harbour. The island is named after a colossal statue of an elephant which used to stand near the landing place and is famous for the man made caves that have been used as Buddhist, Hindu and Jain temples. I only had time to visit one cave, the one known as the main cave. My guide was a very knowledgable chap from East India, who looked Chinese but spoke perfect Hindi, English and Marathi. I had been reading in the Times of India about racism from some INdian people towards Indians from this area so it was interesting to meet him and he was able to tell me a lot about the caves.

The main cave is a Hindu cave dedicated to Lord Shiva. It is often said that Hinduism has a trinity of main gods - Brahma the creator, Vishnu the preserver and Shiva the destroyer. But the centrepiece of this cave is a triune statue of Shiva's head, showing him in all three capacities. The hindus who made this cave were evidently Shaivites, beleiving Shiva to be the most important god. There is a central shrine with a linga carved out of a stone darker than that used for the rest of the caves. The statues are carved amazingly well, all except the shivling have been monolithically carved out of the surrounding rock itself.

Most of the other carvings are of specific mytholgical events. One tells the story of how Brahma's first attempt to create living beings was unsuccesful. He could make them live but he coiuldn't manage to get them to reproduce themselves. So he asked Shiva for help (this is evidently a Shaivite myth). Shiva explained to him that he had to make male and female creatures, but Brahma still didn't get it. So Shiva made half of his body female, while the other half stayed male to show Brahma how it was to be done.

There is a statue of Shiva in this half male, half female aspect. As it only has one female breast people who didn't know this particular myth had thought it was supposed to be an Amazon!

Another panel shows the marriage of Shiva to his actual "other half" the goddess Parvati, daughter of Himalaya. Another shows the two of them gambling togehter and playing dice. Shiva always cheats. Parvati has turned her face away. But this is the way the universe is run, according to Shaivites, Shiva will always get his way.

Another interesting panel depicts the time that Ravan tried to lift up Shiva's holy mountain. YOu can see Ravan under the mountain and Parvati looking a bit scared but Shiva is unconcerned. According to the story he just pressed hi toe down a little and the mighty Ravan was trapped under the mountain until he pleaded for mercy, one thousand years later on.

The boat trip to the island took an hour and was quite bumpy with waves coming over the side of the boat and splashing the passengers. But the journey back was far worse. The pilot of the boat had to divert because the water was so turbulent (the monsoon season is always bad) and it took over one and a half hours. I was sea sick and completely soaked when we came ashore.

I have now visited the Mahalaxmi temple, dedicated to the goddess of wealth. This is one of Mumbai's most popular temples. Mumbai was originally seven discrete islands and the English joined them togehter with a causeway - Colaba Causeway with all its tourist shops and cafes is the southernmost bit of this. But they wer4e having great problems at one stage. The INdian engineer fell asleep and in his dreams Laxmi came to him and told him about three idols, of her and two other goddesses, that had been lost in the sea nearby. If these were fished out and honoured then the causeway would succeeed. And so it was and the three images were sitting happiuly side by side in the temple when I visited.

I also went to the Chor Bazaar but it is no longer the resort of thieves and fences as it is said to have been in times past. But it was interesting to browse in the shops there, along Mutton Road. In this part of the city I saw a bit more livestock along the streets. No sheep, though. I daresay they keep well clear of Mutton Road as long as they can.

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Photos

Impressive statue near the Garteway
Probably the genie of the lamp?

Durga defeating the buffalo demon
Aided by her lion

Victoria Carriage
For use of tourists

Knesset Elyahu Synagogue
It's painted blue. Inside it just looks like any shul anywhere

Brahma
Recognisable by his four heads (not forehead)

Ganesh
Eating sweets

Gateway of India
From Business Centre of my hotel

Fire Temple
Parsees only

Comments

[Jane]

My stay at Mumbai Serviced Apartments
Your photos were great. I also visited Mumbai but stayed at Seven Serviced Apartments centrally located at Worli, it was easier for me to travel at different places in Mumbai. Anyways Mumbai City was excellent and had lot of fun. Next time if you visit Mumbai I would recommend you Seven Serviced Apartment which is better than Mumbai hotels. If you need, I have its website address http://www.sevenservicedapartments.com