mumbai

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now in mumbai!

left pushkar on sunday at about 5:30pm, the train left from ajmer at 19:20 and arrived in mumbai at around 13:00 the next day.

it was the same arrangment as before, the three tier sleeper, but now we understod how it all worked, and were luckily sharing with a nice family. still not quite sure about the food arrangements though, as whenever we have been on a short-ish trip, in the daytime, you get offerred food all the time, but on the evening ones no food is on sale. the family had brought thier own food and when they saw us not eating became quite concerned. they plied us with fruits and sweets and snacks for a while, and then when the train pulled into the next station advised we hop off and get some food from a stall on the platform.

however, we were a bit dozy, and the train started to pull away before we had bought anything! do not be alarmed, trains in india pull into and away from the platform very slowly and gradually. unlike in the uk where you get a beep warning and the doors close, the warning in india that the train is about to move is that the train starts to move. anyway, the dad of the family ushered us back on the train and stayed behind, bought us some food (we he also insisted on paying for!) and then ran a bit to catch up with the train!

we slept quite well and in the morning there was food on the train, lovely mashed up veggie balls with bread rolls and chillis! delicious and only 10rupees (about 15p). and plentiful chai of course! very pleasant way to be woken up actually, with a stream of people calling "chai..."

when we arrived in mumbai we asked the family if they knew about onward trains, to the main backpacker area of coloba. they wouldn't leave us on our own till they had taken us to the booking office, made sure we got the correct ticket, and showed us the platform.

they were so lovely. sometimes things in india seem very complicated, but there is always someone willing to help. they spoke only a little bit of english but still did everything they could for us.

we had heard, and seen in lonely planet that mumbai is very expensive for accomodation, so we were really pleased when the second place we tried had a decent room for only 520 rupees. it's a bit odd. the walls don't actually reach the ceiling. i think it must've used to have been a dorm and they have made individual rooms with partition walling. so it's a bit noisy but it's only a few days.

within minutes literally of checking in, we were approached by the manager to see if we wanted to be extras in a bollywood filimg the next day! other travellers had told us it was very easy to get extras work but i couldn't beleive just how quick and easy! we were warned it would be a long day, but we would get free food and drink and 500 rupees each. so we said yes immediately.

so was it amazing and exciting, a great experience? for about five minutes it was. we were professionally made up and put into costumes. i was a given a dubious waitress outfit, which turned out to be completely pointless as all i had to do, along with the others, was sit an various tables, as the directors and dancers did re-take after re-take after re-take of 8 bars of a routine over and over again. it was very very boring and tedious.

the food was nice and we met some nice people but god it was sooo boring. we were picked up from the hotel at 8:00am and did not get back until well after 10pm.

the film is apparantly quite a big one. it's a bollywood remake of the film step mum. Karina Kapoor was there. she is not that attractive and a bit rubbish at dancing actually.

i am not entirely sure i will even watch it, as i am sure i cannot be seen in any of the shots and if i hear that tune again (a hindi version of some rock n roll track) i might go mad.

anyway, we met a couple of really nice people staying in the room next to us at the hostel, Rafa from spain, and Tom from Swindon, but who lives in spain, and speaks spanish. so now i feel really inadequate having conversations in english all the time! today we had a bit of a mooch around mumbai with them. mumbai is very western and cosmopolitan. lots of big office buildings, and also old european style museums etc. it has proper roads and pavements and hardly any cows. sometimes the traffic stops when there is a red light! it's quite clean. i have seen jimmy choo, louis vuitton, versace etc. there are loads of fancy hotels (we had a look inside the taj hotel - wikipedia it) and restaurants. we are trying to save money by only eating in cheap places that we can see only indians in! seems to be working, we have had lovely food for really good prices (a large veg thali for about one pound)

we also walked a bit on the beach, but it was so hot even the little bits of sand that got into my sandals burned my feet! and don't think of cooling off in the sea, it is allegedly quite toxic!

now, mum, i know i said i wasn't going to go into the slums but tomorrow we are planning on going to the slums. the thing is, it's not just cos of slumdog millionaire and all that, but 60% (over half) of mumbai's inhabitants live in slums, so it is a big part of what makes mumbai what it is. many people who live in the slums have jobs, go to school etc. many have a decent amount of money, but choose to live in the slums as it is where they were brought up. it have very low crime rates. we didn't want to do an actual organised tour, and didn't want to go on our own, so the hotel manager has arranged someone he knows personally to take us there, show us around, introduce us to people etc and generally look after us. me and monica are going with rafa and tom so it's not just girls either! we are going to dharavi, the "famous" one, i am really excited!

we are leaving mumbai at 06:55am on friday morning, after monica's friend arrives from spain to come with us to goa. not sure if i will have a chance to do another update from mumbai, but mum, i will text once i am out of the slums alive and well - okay???

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Comments

[Alistair]

I'll watch the film wink face
Having seen part on of your acting career (being the Venus de Milo at Sheffield Poly) I'm going for a unique collection and will try to watch the bollywood film. What was it called? I don't suppose you'll be in IMDB.com yet but one can hope. Glad you're still having fun. Alistair

[Vicky]

Hi Karen, Mumbai seems to be a lot different to when I was there! Designer shops?? When I arrived I couldn't see my hand in front of my face the pollution was so thick. But it was 20 years ago! I stayed in the Salvation Army hostel - it was all I could afford at the time. Great to hear you've been in a Bollywood Movie - you'll have to watch it when it comes out!. Don't forget to go to Cochin and Kerala - they were lovely places when I was there. Although they may not be now. You'll have to consult the bible ( told you you'll need it! ). Take Care, Vicky ( dead jealous Vicky )

[anonymous]

Oh wow you are a movie star! You are having such an exciting time - I am so jealous! Mind you, you deserve to have a great time and be a movie star!