Clearly we are not going to have enough time here. But we are covering a lot of ground! Air quality on Monday is listed as "unhealthy," an improvement from "dangerous" over the weekend. Who knew? I felt it as grit in my eyes and was grateful for eye drops. Frankly, the heat and humidity have been harder for me, which is no surprise to members of my family.
On Sunday we started our Mumbai time with a walk across the street to see The Gateway to India, a beautiful arch on the harbor's edge built for visiting British royalty in about 1911. The big open square next to it was filled with people, many families enjoying a day out. Sellers of huge balloons and postcard portfolios seemed to be doing a brisk business, as were the "have your photo taken" guys. We had to go through gender-separated security lines, which seemed to be not much more than counting heads. After about 15 minutes we headed back to our bus on the side of the hotel for an informative overview/bus tour of central Mumbai, a city which comprises eight islands linked now through landfill and bridges. Marine Drive is a sweeping arc of high-rise condos along the Arabian Sea coast, a high rent neighborhood that has been eclipsed by Malabar Hill for priciest housing. We saw the old Victorian era architecture of the train station, university and high court (with bamboo awnings here and there) as well as the largest collection of Art Deco buildings in the world, now in poor repair but providing rent-controlled housing along the harbor. On the water side of Marine drive a wide promenade seems popular with families. Chowpathy Beach at one end is used only for religious festivals, not swimming. A large cricket field near the center of town was filled with games all day long and into the night with the aid of stadium lighting. They take their cricket very seriously here, no matter the heat. Readers of Indian literature would have recognized many place names.
Visits on Sunday included a house loaned to Gandhi for over 20 years, which has now been given to a foundation that keeps it open as a place to hold his library and study his history. The displays are mostly photos of him with other famous people. There is a diorama of his life and accomplishments that any aficionado of dollhouses and tiny towns would love. My favorite scene from that depicted the bonfire of foreign made textiles. But the building/mission is significantly under resourced, which is too bad given all that he did from Mumbai.
After a lunch of Indian-style wraps, we headed to the huge Prince of Wales Museum (which now has another name that no one uses). The museum sits in elaborate and beautifully landscaped gardens edged by tall palm trees. It was built as a museum and immediately used as a military hospital before actually opening as a museum a dozen years later. The eclectic collection includes Indian and European art, a fabulous section on archeology, miniature paintings from the Mughal period, and various artefacts, such as highly carved wooden or ivory writing desks. I noticed a museum shop near the entrance and asked the guide if we would have time to explore there. The answer was that the store was not in the plan but we agreed to meet near the front gate if anyone wanted to explore it, which is exactly what we did as soon as we realized we'd need a whole day to appreciate this museum. Although the shop smelled of moth balls it was air-conditioned, which kept me there until the high-pitched urgent traditional music drove me back into the heat to wait at the gate for the group.
We finished the day with a horse and lighted carriage ride to a special welcome dinner at The Khybur Restaurant. Only in Bollywood would the carriages look like moving carnival rides! Outside the restaurant we had an extensive conversation with a paan seller who explained his craft and offered us seemingly endless smells of his various ingredients. Just around the corner was a sugar cane press staffed by three men--2 of them using very sharp, large knives to strip the cane and the third one to press it for its juice and make an obviously popular drink.
The menu for dinner looked like three courses and we expected to choose from each group. But no, we were to get a sample (and in some cases much more) of everything on the list, perhaps 20 items. I adopted the Chinese Banquet Survival Strategy, which says you taste but do not eat everything put before you. Even so, I went home feeling like I "ate the whole thing." One of the best items was a favorite of mine, palak paneer or spinach with cubes of fresh cheese and a unique blend of spices. But there were also delicious bites of buttery chicken and lamb in a variety of ways as well as dishes full of chick peas and lentils, followed by cubes of kulfi (Indian ice cream) and warm gulab juman, which is small balls of a cake-like substance soaked in simple syrup. The kulfi was effective at countering the rest but the gulab juman was too sweet for me.
We had been told we were going to walk back to the hotel after dinner, and some of us were looking forward to that, but the bus was waiting for us when we left the restaurant. We all felt as if we had had a big first day. Little did we know what was coming.
On Sunday we started our Mumbai time with a walk across the street to see The Gateway to India, a beautiful arch on the harbor's edge built for visiting British royalty in about 1911. The big open square next to it was filled with people, many families enjoying a day out. Sellers of huge balloons and postcard portfolios seemed to be doing a brisk business, as were the "have your photo taken" guys. We had to go through gender-separated security lines, which seemed to be not much more than counting heads. After about 15 minutes we headed back to our bus on the side of the hotel for an informative overview/bus tour of central Mumbai, a city which comprises eight islands linked now through landfill and bridges. Marine Drive is a sweeping arc of high-rise condos along the Arabian Sea coast, a high rent neighborhood that has been eclipsed by Malabar Hill for priciest housing. We saw the old Victorian era architecture of the train station, university and high court (with bamboo awnings here and there) as well as the largest collection of Art Deco buildings in the world, now in poor repair but providing rent-controlled housing along the harbor. On the water side of Marine drive a wide promenade seems popular with families. Chowpathy Beach at one end is used only for religious festivals, not swimming. A large cricket field near the center of town was filled with games all day long and into the night with the aid of stadium lighting. They take their cricket very seriously here, no matter the heat. Readers of Indian literature would have recognized many place names.
Visits on Sunday included a house loaned to Gandhi for over 20 years, which has now been given to a foundation that keeps it open as a place to hold his library and study his history. The displays are mostly photos of him with other famous people. There is a diorama of his life and accomplishments that any aficionado of dollhouses and tiny towns would love. My favorite scene from that depicted the bonfire of foreign made textiles. But the building/mission is significantly under resourced, which is too bad given all that he did from Mumbai.
After a lunch of Indian-style wraps, we headed to the huge Prince of Wales Museum (which now has another name that no one uses). The museum sits in elaborate and beautifully landscaped gardens edged by tall palm trees. It was built as a museum and immediately used as a military hospital before actually opening as a museum a dozen years later. The eclectic collection includes Indian and European art, a fabulous section on archeology, miniature paintings from the Mughal period, and various artefacts, such as highly carved wooden or ivory writing desks. I noticed a museum shop near the entrance and asked the guide if we would have time to explore there. The answer was that the store was not in the plan but we agreed to meet near the front gate if anyone wanted to explore it, which is exactly what we did as soon as we realized we'd need a whole day to appreciate this museum. Although the shop smelled of moth balls it was air-conditioned, which kept me there until the high-pitched urgent traditional music drove me back into the heat to wait at the gate for the group.
We finished the day with a horse and lighted carriage ride to a special welcome dinner at The Khybur Restaurant. Only in Bollywood would the carriages look like moving carnival rides! Outside the restaurant we had an extensive conversation with a paan seller who explained his craft and offered us seemingly endless smells of his various ingredients. Just around the corner was a sugar cane press staffed by three men--2 of them using very sharp, large knives to strip the cane and the third one to press it for its juice and make an obviously popular drink.
The menu for dinner looked like three courses and we expected to choose from each group. But no, we were to get a sample (and in some cases much more) of everything on the list, perhaps 20 items. I adopted the Chinese Banquet Survival Strategy, which says you taste but do not eat everything put before you. Even so, I went home feeling like I "ate the whole thing." One of the best items was a favorite of mine, palak paneer or spinach with cubes of fresh cheese and a unique blend of spices. But there were also delicious bites of buttery chicken and lamb in a variety of ways as well as dishes full of chick peas and lentils, followed by cubes of kulfi (Indian ice cream) and warm gulab juman, which is small balls of a cake-like substance soaked in simple syrup. The kulfi was effective at countering the rest but the gulab juman was too sweet for me.
We had been told we were going to walk back to the hotel after dinner, and some of us were looking forward to that, but the bus was waiting for us when we left the restaurant. We all felt as if we had had a big first day. Little did we know what was coming.
"Little did we know what was coming"?! Talk about a cliffhanger! Your itinerary recalls Thrity Umrigar (and so many others) for me. How fun to see the places in person that feature so prominently in your favorite books.
ReplyDelete