Mumbai She's your guiding star, She shines the light on you, She makes you who you are…

As the title for this week’s blontry implies, a trip to Mumbai was the big news this week. We are delayed, in part, because we didn’t get home until fairly late Sunday evening and neither of us were interested in staying up longer to write. We have had a guest staying with us while she sorts out a visa issue so we didn’t get it done Monday either. Truth is, given how late it is, we probably won’t finish tonight either. In fact there is a better than fair chance that this week’s blog is going to do a Vulcan mind meld (shout out to Mr. Spock) or at least a Vulcan blog meld and have one blontry to cover two weeks.

Anyhoo. I had to be in Mumbai on business, so I asked Rae to go with me. It seemed like the perfect time: the weather is still pretty good and our Indian parent company has a guest house so for the cost of a plane ticket and what we’d spend while there our costs are covered. Rae was still somewhat hesitant I think she was afraid she would end up spending the whole time in the room while I worked. I convinced her I would only be a couple of hours (ended up being only five hours so, yeah, for me that was pretty close) so she agreed to come. Yay!

By the time we got into Mumbai, got settled in the guest house and took a taxi downtown, it was almost dusk. About all the time we had was to see the Gateway of India and the outside of the Taj Hotel. (This is the hotel where the Pakistani terrorists held and killed 164 hostages back in 2008.) Oh yeah, and say no to about a thousand people who wanted to take our pictures, for a fee, or sell us some fabulous souvenir. As usual, we didn’t say no to the people who just wanted a picture with us; still trying to understand that, it’s just weird.  The weather was perfect and despite the hawkers we had a very pleasant evening. 

Later we were joined by a couple of others from the campus and we all went to one of the beaches. Yes, by now it was completely dark. There were a few lights strung along the section of beach where we were. Which was nice because it allowed you to better see the trash strewn everywhere and avoid stepping in the worst of it.  The dark did not deter the hawkers who were drawn to Rae’s blonde hair like moths to a flame. At least the most persistent had a sense of humor. We didn’t buy anything from her but at least there was some entertainment value in the interaction.  [Rae here, adding a comment.  The lady who kept wanting me to buy some stamps for applying mehndi to my hands told me she was giving me a good deal at 450 rupees.  She kept talking to Parul, the woman from the campus who was with us.  Turns out she kept telling Parul to go away because Parul told her she should only charge me 20 rupees.  She didn’t want me to know the fair market price.  I thought to myself that I might offer her 100 rupees and feel that was a pretty good deal.  I didn’t know about their conversation until after we left, without any stamps.]    

The other outcome of the evening was making connection with a guide for Saturday afternoon. We had planned to just get a car and driver so getting a guide for not much more seemed like a good deal. So after my meetings, Rae and I took off to see the sites of Mumbai. In the rain. Actually the rain was a blessing and a curse. It was nice because it kept down the crowds. The downside is that our pictures are not great. Our guide took us to and explained about Gandhi’s residence, a Jain temple, the “hanging gardens” that don’t hang, the place where Parsi cast their dead, Victoria Station, the world’s largest laundry, and a fishing village. Whew. It makes me tired just writing the list! The 411 for each follows.

Gandhi’s house: Gandhi is, of course, the iconic figure of modern India. He was one of the two or three central figures in India’s independence and clearly the best known outside of India. In the process of birthing a nation, he moved and lived all over India.   It’s a little like the places on the east coast of the United States that advertise, “George Washington slept here.” Well there aren’t that many of them; I exaggerate to make the point. Anyway, a friend of Gandhi’s gave him this house to use whenever he was in Mumbai. They have now turned it into a library and museum. Floor after floor there were pictures of Gandhi; letters he has written or received (including in the same frame a letter to President Roosevelt and one to Hitler he wrote trying to prevent World War II); paintings; and sculptures of him. One room showed his living and working condition: a mat on the floor and a few belongings. I don’t know if that is really how he lived when he was in the house but it certainly fits the image that has been crafted of him.

Jain Temple: The Jain Temple was quite interesting. Jainism is a very old Indian religion. It is similar, in some respects, to Hinduism, but not really an offshoot. It’s more likely, at least as I understand it, that they might have shared a common origin lost in prehistory. The tenants of Jainism in day to day life focus on nonviolence and a pure form of veganism wherein even potatoes, carrots, etc. that grow below ground are not eaten.

Hanging Gardens: While it’s called the hanging gardens, that is a misnomer. There is nothing hanging about them. On the top of Malabar Hill, which overlooks south Mumbai, there was a natural cistern that was enlarged, fortified, and made into the primary water supply for the area. This cistern is fed by natural springs, augmented by a pipeline that brings water in. This cistern has been used for years but as noted, has been expanded and reinforced but it was always an open tank. This hasn’t particularly been a problem but the tank is right next to where the Parsi cast their dead (see more about at that below) and there began to be concerns about contamination. So after they did what, I assume, will be the last expansion of the cistern, they covered it with a concrete slab. They have now created a beautiful walking garden on top of the slab. There are tiers from the main garden area that lead to a great view of south Mumbai.

Parsi “burial” grounds: I am not sure what to call this. “Burial” is not the right word as the Parsi do not bury their dead. Neither do they use cremation. Rather, they have a raised area where they leave the bodies of their dead to decompose and to be eaten by scavenger birds. Once there is nothing left but perfectly cleaned bones, the skeletons are thrown off the platform down into a gully. So you see why ossuary is also not the right word. You can also kinda see why people were a little squeamish about having this right next to their water supply.

You might be thinking, why don’t they just move the Parsi burial ground? Well first of all it is very old, (over 950 years). Second, being relatively respectful of different religions (at least officially) it is hard to take action against a religious site. Finally, it turns out that over a hundred years ago, the British signed a contract with the Parsi that made this area their dedicated burial area for the grand sum of 72 rupees a year. Anyhoo, this is not actually a tourist site and only Parsi can get into it. Our guide pointed out the grounds as we passed but there was not anything we could capture in a photo. 

From one tourist attraction you can’t enter to another tourist attraction you can’t enter. We next went to Victoria Station, the central train station in Mumbai. I said you can’t enter it, but that is only mostly true. Due to security concerns, you can’t go in unless you are a ticketed customer but there are offices, ticket counters etc. that are accessible. I believe this is one of the few UNESCO World Heritage Sites for which there is such limited access. Anyway here are some pictures from the outside and of the Mumbai Public Works building built at the same time and which is just across the road from the station.

Marine Drive: Yes, I know this wasn't on the list. So sue me. Or don't look at it. Or think of it as an unexpected bonus. South Mumbai is on a peninsula with the Arabian Sea on one side and a port on the other. Nearly the entire Arabian Sea side has a road (Marine Drive) with a walkway between the road and the sea. This is a picture from the retaining wall showing the vast length of huge steel bracing units (like giant jacks) that have been put in place to keep the boundary wall in place.

Laundry: The Dhobi Ghat district in south Mumbai has been officially recognized as the largest outdoor laundry in the world. It is really more than a laundry. As the word district implies it is actually a neighborhood of 30,000 some families all of whom live and make their living in a network of connected, independent but interdependent outdoor laundries. These family laundries have stations around Mumbai where people drop off their laundry. The laundry is gathered, shipped to this central laundry area, cleaned, and returned. There is rarely a lost or damaged item. They have their unique coding system wherein each garment is marked in such a way as to distinguish the family who is doing the laundry, the name of the person or company that sent the laundry, what the item is, and when it was dropped off. Drop off by a certain time, and it will be delivered back the next day.

Initially clothes are scrubbed, pounded, scrapped and otherwise naturally pre-treated in an area of concrete pits, tubs, and basins. The laundry is then transferred to huge washing machines, rinsed, spun, and dried all in machines primarily made by the people on site. All of the laundry is then hand ironed, folded and returned. This was an amazing site and we were there at the end of the day on a Saturday. I can only imagine what the place is like when it is really hopin’!

Fishing Village: Our final stop for the day was a fishing village. This small village is a self-contained little community. Of course supplies (other than fish) have to be brought in, so families have little need to leave. There are little shops for food and other necessities along with barber shops, and a temple to the primary god of the village. Men go out and fish all night; the women maintain their homes and run the little shops.

Sunday was our last day. After sleeping in a little, we got up, got ready, and went to the Mumbai Branch. Finding it was an adventure in and of itself. We had the address but still the driver had to do increasingly smaller concentric circles around the site until we finally found it. The Branch has more ex-pats than we do; more like some of the other Branches in Delhi. The Branch President is an ex-pat and in talking with his wife we uncovered a real life version of the story about the man who cried because he had no shoes until he found a man who had no feet. The Branch President works for a huge Indian conglomerate, Reliance. His employment contract is for TEN YEARS. That’s right; I didn’t stutter. Wow. Just. Wow.

After Church we didn’t really want to go back down to south Mumbai, an hour or more away. However, we couldn’t really find much to do in the area we were either. Finally we found out about the Mahakali Caves, which were only about five miles away. These caves date back to the first century BC or perhaps longer. The caves are carved out of a basalt hill. They were mostly little grottos in which the monks lived, however there were also larger areas for worship. This area is not really currently being maintained, and also was a bit of a challenge to find. The gates were broken up with a log laying across the entrance to keep vehicles out. Otherwise anyone and anything, that could find it, had free range. Given that, the lack of graffiti and other types of defacing was remarkable. There was one sign that provided some information but we found out more from the ever faithful google machine than we did on the site.

Rae here again. I’ll simply say that I’m certainly glad I made the trip and glad to have seen the sites that Phil has done such a good job describing.  It was interesting to me that one of the people that went with us clearly seemed to prefer Mumbai over Delhi while another one was the complete opposite.  I felt like Mumbai was cleaner than Delhi.  The air was certainly better. There were less dogs, cows, bikes, rickshaws, and other miscellaneous stuff traveling on the roads. The auto-rickshaws there all seemed to be newer and in much better condition than so many of the ones in Delhi that always look dirty, old and barely “hanging in there”. It was a good experience and one I’m happy I didn’t miss.

Well, we’ve have rambled on too long. We probably should have divided the sites between me and Rae but she’s added her thoughts and impressions of the week.

Namaste