Sunday, October 17, 2010

Mumbai For A Minute

After leaving the tranquilness of McLeod Ganj, Brandon & I headed (via another night in Amritsar) to the north of southern India: Mumbai. Mumbai (whose pre-1996 name was Bombay) is a cosmopolitan peninsula located on the western shores of India. To me, Mumbai reflects a meeting of New York City, Los Angeles, and Rio...our first glimpses of palm trees line the streets of this fashion, economic, and Bollywood capital; also home to Asia's biggest train station ("Chhatrapati Shivaji" or Victoria Terminus) as well as one of the biggest slums (think Slumdog Millionaire). Oh yea, and did I mention millionaires? Apparently Mumbai is full of them (or "crorepaties" in Hindi). Seriously, we saw some of the most glamorous homes alongside designer fashion boutiques. But more up my alley: Mumbai also holds the title of home of the Independence movement, as then Bombay hosted the first Indian National Congress in 1885 and the Quit India campaign was launched there in 1942 by good ol' Mahatma Gandhi. (gotta love those community organizers!!)

With two-and-a-half days there...and so much to see...we really had to pack the days full. Here are just a few highlights of our time in my favorite bigger Indian city:
1) Mani Bhavan (Gandhi Museum): This museum was first on my "list of things to see" considering my love and appreciation for social change and social justice. The actual building used served as a home stay for Gandhi when he visited Bombay from 1917-1934. He even formulated his philosophy of "satyagraha" (nonviolent protest) and launched the 1932 Civil Disobedience campaign that led to the end of British rule of India. Visiting this place was very special to me...not only because of the community organizing course I took in grad school...but mainly because of my recent travel to and study of South Africa. Mandela and the anti-apartheid movement utilized much of Gandhi's community organizing philosophy and tactics. In fact, the Indian National Congress even had a large influence in South Africa's freedom movement as they worked alongside the African National Congress. Just really powerful for me to have the opportunity to stand on the same balcony that Gandhi stood as he addressed his fellow strugglers in the fight for social justice.
Also, we were in Mumbai during Gandhi's birthday (October 2nd), which is now celebrated as an official Indian holiday...similar to our MLK's birthday in the States). The whole experience just really brought a lot of recent reading (and study) full circle for me.
2) Parsi Tower: The next stop turned out to be just that...a stop. Apparently you're only allowed on the Parsi Tower if you're, well, Parsi. The Parsi are a diminishing community of descendants of Persian Zoroastrians who fled persecution by the Muslims in the 7th century and settled in Bombay. So the Zoroastrian religion hold earth, fire, and water very sacred...therefore they don't cremate or bury their dead. Instead they lay all of the corpses out in the tower...yea, pretty crazy right? It gets better...they do this so the dead bodies will be picked clean by vultures! Talk about the circle of life! Unfortunately, we didn't get to take a look...maybe it's better that way!
3) Inox theater for BOLLYWOOD: After our disappointment with the off-limits Parsi Tower, we headed to the nearest bakery for a cold coca-cola (although Pepsi products really flood the market here in India)...we randomly started talking to a business man on his coffee break about what to do/see in Mumbai. We could tell right away that he must be part of the Mumbai crorepatis, as he recommended some upscale, high-class, swanky restaurants, jazz bars, and night clubs. We did, however, take his suggestion of heading to the Inox theater ("The best theater...no one will bother you or try to take your bags", he assured us).
We made our way over to the Inox, which turned out to be in the first mall we've been to...complete with Dior and D&G alongside a self-proclaimed "Mega Food court" (we resisted all temptations to eat at the first Subway we've seen...when in India you gotta embrace the thalhi and dosa). After dinner we made it just in-time to grab some popcorn (about the quarter of the size of an American movie popcorn...and it was still plenty) and take our place in our pre-assigned seats.
Although the movie, the most recent Bollywood release "Anjaana Anjaani", was 97.75% in Hindi we got the gist of the story. Plus, it took place in the States: NYC, Vegas & San Fran!!! A little piece of home away from home...too bad all of the American characters had the worst accents and were definitely WAY less attractive than the Indian actors...oh well. We enjoyed it. And apparently so did the girl sitting next to me: she texted during the entire movie...
4) Hookah Bar: So I mentioned Mumbai is the cosmopolitan capital of India...obviously that means the teens and young adult children of wealthy Indian businessmen spend their nights smoking sheesha out of communal hookahs at swanky hookah bars. We joined in one the fun one night. After a long day of navigating our way through town, it didn't take much of the green apple sheesha and Kingfisher beer to make me ready for bed!
5) Gateway of India: The next day we made friends with an Australian and Italian duo and boarded a ferry for Elephant Island via the Gateway of India...which was built to commemorate the 1911 royal visit of King George V.
6) Elephanta Island: through the Mumbai Harbour, 9km northeast of the Gateway of India, we ferried to this island of rock-cut temples...and no, we didn't see any live (or statues of) elephants...just a bunch of monkeys manipulating their way through tourist's picnic-baskets (don't worry, I did NOT have a repeat of the baboon experience of South Africa) and the ever-so-common malnourished mangy dogs. But weaving our way through the labyrinth of cave-temples, we got to see some of India's most impressive temple carvings: the Shiva temple & the 6m tall statue of Sadhashiva (the three-faced Shiva)...we also took some funny shots with old British cannons. Elephant Island, like any legit Unesco World Heritage Site was well-equipped with Indian chochskies galore! I caved and bought a beautiful OM symbol painted on a golden leaf.
7) Taj Mahal Hotel: Not to stay, but for a beer of course...because pretty much that's all we could afford there! Cross another one off the "1,000 Places To See Before You Die" checklist. Most recently known due to the terrorist attacks in 2008 (now there are HUGE metal detectors and tons of guards at the entrance)...but this hotel is also famously known as India's best hotel. It was grand and elegant...and the lady who gave me hand towels didn't even ask me for 2 rupees!!! Another Kingfisher beer (and unlimited bar snacks for free!!! whoa...this was high-class service) was a pleasant way to watch the sunset over the Arabian Sea.
8) Chowpatty Beach: For dinner that night our foursome went local, to Chowpatty Beach, for an endless array of street food! We bravely tried the Mumbai "bhelpuri": crisp fried thin rounds of dough mixed with puffed rice, lentils, lemon juice, onions, herbs & chutney. Delicious!! And the closest thing I've had to a nacho in three weeks!
Chowpatty beach was DEFINITELY the place to be on a Saturday night...everyone was out & enjoying the weekend. Whole families spread their beach towels along the sand, young "love" couples (as opposed to the typical arranged marriages) strolled along the water hand-in-hand, teenaged boys proved their athletic skills with carnival-like games of "toss the ring on the bottle", while teenaged girls (sporting the skimpiest outfits--hey, this is India's fashion capital) enjoyed fresh cotton candy.
We even collected a posse of street children...Mumbai isn't home to only millionaires you know...who we befriended and bought some Indian-style snowcones for.

But with anything, we did run into some not-so-fun moments. Like when our cab driver tried to charge us 200 rupees for what should have been a 20 rupee ride...or when we walked through the most fowl, nauseating smelling street (think animal & human piss mixed with body oder topped off with fresh fish---UHHH gag me!!!)...and driving past whole communities of Mumbaians sleeping on the streets. Overall, I really enjoyed my time in Mumbai...we met some of the friendliest and most helpful locals, walked around EVERYWHERE, and saw some very cool sights. I think I'll be back in Mumbai in December to meet up with a friend from high school.

1 comment:

  1. Put anything in front of the phrase "___was a pleasant way to watch the sunset over the Arabian Sea," and have us all drooling!

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