… exotic and mystical Mumbai …

… for an overnight stay in this city of 25 million souls, 55% of whom live in the slums. We had a bad container port berth, delaying the immigration process for several hours, with everyone still on board until almost noon. We started at the Gateway to India, a large arch to welcome visitors to the city. Across the street is the fabled Taj Mahal Hotel. We were swarmed at the Gateway by young men wanting to take our photo and print it out on the spot – on battery operated printers they carried with them. We had to see it in action! Driving through Mumbai is a mix of new and old, rich and poor. Grand old British buildings shine, still a big part of Mumbai’s appeal.

 

     

We stopped for photos at the majestic Victoria Station, and saw one street corner with mounds of used textbooks, provided for poor students to use.

  

We got off the bus at the Churchill Train Station. Here we were lucky to see two dabba-wallas, the intrepid men who carry lunches from homes to offices for 200,000 people a day, returning with the empty tiffins, or lunch pails, each marked with an inscrutable code that ensures it’s delivered to the proper owner.

 

We boarded a local train (not rush hour!), riding it to the Mahalakshmi Station for a view of the Dhobi Ghat – the place where laundry has been done for a hundred+ years in Mumbai. Seeing clean laundry flapping on hundreds of twisted lines was an amazing experience.

 

 

 

Our tour ended with a visit to Gandhi’s Mumbai house, now a museum, home to a large set of dioramas chronicling Gandhi’s life. It was very touching to see first-hand his simple room.

   

It was a very good day!