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Published: October 11th 2009
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Gateway of India
The Gateway of India was designed by the British and is most famously know as the place of their ultimate exit from the country. Hi Everyone!
Can you believe that at this moment I am in India? I have to admit to being a bit apprehensive about traveling here. I think I had this image of myself as being mobbed everyday that I stepped on to the street by beggars and touts. Mumbai particularly is famous for its slums and rampant poverty. And I find that homelessness is very pervasive and apparent there, even in the tourist part of town were my hotel was. People are just sleeping in the middle of the sidewalk, and there is garbage everywhere. I read that 40 percent of Mumbai’s police force lives in slums. It is pretty sad that housing cost so much that a public servant cannot afford to live in the city they are supposed to protect. I am reporting with mixed feelings that no one seemed to care enough to solicit money from me. At least in Mumbai I managed to keep a low profile. I did notice that women seem perfectly content here to walk around on their own. They wear jeans and short sleeve shirts and whatever they want. I do love the Indian sari. They are all so pretty with bright colors.
Since I have left Mumbai I have come to appreciate how clean and cosmopolitan it really is compared to other places in India. Driving through the country side is particularly depressing and I can see why people have emigrated there from the country despite its reputation.
While I was in Mumbai I visited Elephanta Island an island in the harbour about an hour boat ride from the Gateway of India. The island is known for its three headed Shiva sculpture in its caves, but I was particularly interested in the wild monkeys that roam around. It was not to be my only encounter with wild monkeys that week.
I left Mumbai after 4 days on the 6am train to Aurangabad. The train ride cost 2USD and lasted 7 hours. The seating was interesting as they crammed three adults onto benches the size of school bus seats. For 7 hours. And I absolutely refuse to even go near the toilets, just the smell was too much. I should have realized then that not much in India can be considered comfortable by western standards.
Aurangabad was appallingly dirty. The traffic here is complete anarchy. Where there are traffic lights they are pretty
Vegetarian McDonald's
I am particularly fond of the Chicken Maharaja Mac for the equivalent of 2 dollars for a meal. much ignored. Bicycles, cars, pedestrians, oxen, goats and garbage all compete for space on the streets. On the postitve side you can walk pretty much where ever you want, on the negative side you are likely to be run over no matter where you are. Actually it typifies what I expected India to be like until I got to Mumbai and thought, “Oh this isn’t so bad.” It can get pretty bad. I saw the Ellora and Ajanta caves, both of which were beautiful, and I left Aurangabad as soon as I could.
Jalagon, whose main attraction is that it is a stop on most north-south and east-west train lines, was nicer although still very crowded.
Visiting the Ellora and Ajanta caves was an exercise in tout dodging. I think that as a foreign female traveling solo I am a triple target. I think I said ‘no thank you’ about 6 thousand times, and when I was waiting for the bus a guy came up to me selling this ugly necklace that I said I didn’t like and I guess he thought I was bargaining with him because he bargained himself down from 300 to 50 rupees and all I
did was tell him I didn’t want it no matter what it cost. This kind of persistence is very annoying. It almost makes you want to give them money just to make them go away, but I supposed that is what they want. Ironically I would have liked to shop for souvenirs but since I couldn't do it in peace I didn't do it at all.
I now have a much better appreciation for how easy it is travel in Europe.
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Tom
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Genesh
The man with the head of an elephant is Genesh, the elephant-headed son of Shiva. The story goes something like this: Shiva's wife, Parvati, tells Genesh to guard their house. Then Shiva comes home, but Genesh won't let him in, so Shiva cuts off his head. This makes Parvati sad. Shiva promises to restore Genesh's head, and goes out to find one. The first thing Shiva comes across is an elephant so he cuts off its head and attaches it to Genesh... The End.