Mumbai (formally called Bombay), Maharashtra, India.
April 2, 2024
Our excursion this morning is called the Highlights of Mumbai. It is the first “small group” excursion we have gone on. Regent has two class of excursions; 1. Regular 2. Small Group. A small group is less than 16 people. We’ll see how this goes. Supposedly it is an “enhanced” experience.
The first thing we notice is that there are probably four or five buses with the same excursion name. Yes, our bus is smaller, it only holds maybe twenty or twenty-five. We also only have about twenty people. Yes, more than sixteen.
The gentlemen leading the tour is difficult to understand. He loves to repeat things, four or five times like we didn’t get it the first time. Gateway of India, an archway built in the 16th-century Gujarat style with four turrets and intricate latticework carved into the yellow basalt stone. It is considered Mumbai’s principal landmark.
Now the funny part. It is built on 2 December 1911, or was it? It was completed in 1920, ok, I’ll buy that one. It was built to commemorate the arrival of George V, Emperor of India and Mary of Teck, Empress consort, in India at Apollo Bunder, Mumbai (Bombay) on 2 December 1911, ok they did arrive on that date. It was the first visit of a British monarch to India, again a verifiable historical fact. However, what George & Mary got to see was see a cardboard model of the monument, as construction did not begin until 1915.
So although Wikipedia says it was built on 2 December 1911, it wasn’t. A cardboard model may have been built or completed on that date, but the actually construction on what we see today didn’t even begin until 1915. Look at all the things you are learning.
We did quite a bit of sightseeing by motor coach. The British designed Bombay High Court, Price of Wales Museum, The Victoria Station (Renamed in 2017 to Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, is a historic railway station and a UNESCO World Heritage Site), several art deco buildings, a hotel which is a historical landmark which has been allowed to decay into a dilapidated state, and lots of people and cars dancing on the roadway trying to get from one place to another.
The hotel was interesting because of the modern facts that went with it. The Indian Government, at some point, decided to freeze rents. This occurred with the Rent Control Act of 1948 and other state rent control acts to protect the interest of the tenants so that it is not possible for the landlords to exploit the tenants. Unfortunately, they didn’t include any requirement that the landlord keep the property up. Many places fell into disrepair because the landlords couldn’t possibly keep them up with fifty-, sixty- or seventy-year-old rents. The hotel fell into a dilapidated state and was condemned. However, because of its age it was an historical landmark and couldn’t be torn down. After another decade of sitting idle the landlord found a company to take the hotel over an renovate it. And in another decade, it will probably be one of the finest hotels in Mumbai.
We drove around a little more and stopped to visit the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. Yes, the guys at the airport with the flowers. This is their headquarters. Although, to be honest they don’t pass out flowers any more. The temple is a four acre site. It has the main temple for worship, a restaurant, guest house, school, bakery and several other buildings. It is clear this is a young persons movement by the vast number of young people here. Didn’t see any old apparent members of the temple. The do quite a bit of charity work around the city. It truly seemed quite “normal”. A total difference from the Hare Krishna followers of the 1960’s.
The next stop was at Dhobi Ghat, the famed outdoor laundry where thousands of pieces of clothing are hand-washed and ironed each day. Basically, a slum where the people living there are given a pittance to wash the laundry of the hotels, businesses and individuals every day. Preaching just isn’t our thing, but this is clearly economic slavery. Yes, it is amazing that they can wash that many piece each day and not lose what goes where. We can’t wash one load without losing something. They need a good union organizer.
Speaking of organizers, our next stop what at the Mahatma Gandhi memorial. The memorial is located at Mani Bhavan, a modest two-storied building on the Laburnum Road in the comparatively quiet locality called Gamdevi, which served, for about seventeen eventful years (1917-1934), as the nerve centre in Bombay for Gandhiji’s activities. It belonged to Shri Revashankar Jagjeevan Jhaveri who was an ardent devotee of Gandhiji and his affectionate host during that period.
Mumbai played a very prominent part in India’s struggle for freedom. Gandhiji was rightly proud of the patriotic and cosmopolitan citizens of Bombay (Mumbai). Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru observed: “Mani Bhavan in Bombay will ever remain a precious memory to all those who visited it on many occasions when Gandhiji used to stay there. I am glad therefore, that this house is being converted into a Gandhi Memorial”.
The museum allows you to see more personal things about Gandhiji than reading a book might. The story of the Satyagraha was particularly interesting. Satyagraha against the Rowlatt Act was launched from Mani Bhavan in March, 1919. With a view to defy the Indian Press Act, it was also from here that Gandhiji commenced his weekly bulletin “Satyagrahi” on April 7, 1919.
The Rowlatt Act allowed the British Government in India to arrest anyone at any time without any reason. The British were trying to suppress the raising nationalism in India. Much like they treated the American Colonies, the British were treating India. “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” Usually attributed to Albert Einstein. The funny thing is they got the same result. The British lost another colony.
Again we raise around a bit, ending up at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, or Prince of Wales Museum of Western India. The museum which proposes to document the history of India from prehistoric to modern times.
It was founded during British rule of India in the early years of the 20th century by prominent citizens of the city then called Bombay, with the help of the government, to commemorate the visit of the Prince of Wales (later George V, king of the United Kingdom and emperor of India). The museum was renamed in 1998 after Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, the founder of the Maratha Empire.
The building is built in the Indo-Saracenic style of architecture, incorporating elements of other styles of architecture like the Mughal, Maratha and Jain. The museum building is surrounded by a garden of palm trees and formal flower beds.
The museum houses approximately 50,000 exhibits of ancient Indian history as well as objects from foreign lands, categorized primarily into three sections: Art, Archaeology and Natural History. The museum also is home to many artifacts, and other relics from ancient India from the time of the Guptas, Mauryas, Chalukyas and Rashtrakuta.
A minimum of a day with a good guide one-on-one with you, and you might get a minor sense of the history of India. It would probably take a week, again with a good guide and a one-on-one experience, before you really began to understand. Some of this has to do with European unfamiliarly with the language and geographical layout of India. So a lot of basic education would be required. Going to need to return to explore this more.
After the museum it was time to return to the ship. Tired, hot and sweaty. It was an excellent day, except being exposed to the economic slavery of the laundry. Tomorrow is another day.
April 03, 2024
Today’s excursion is called Old Mumbai. We start out retracing much of yesterday’s route. This is a different. Guide and much easier to understand. The firsts top is at the gateway. Ugh. We ask if it is ok for us to go and visit the The Taj Mahal Place hotel, which is next to the gateway. Yes, that is acceptable, but be back in a half hour.
The Taj Mahal Palace is a heritage, five-star, luxury hotel situated next to the Gateway of India. Built in the Indo-Saracenic style, it opened in 1903 as the Taj Mahal Hotel and has historically often been known simply as "The Taj". The hotel is named after the Taj Mahal, obviously, but that Taj Mahal is located in the city of Agra approximately 650 mi away from this one. It has been considered one of the finest hotels in the East since the time of the British Raj.
It is part of the Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces chain. The hotel is huge with 560 rooms and 44 suites. The hotel is made up of two different structures: the Taj Mahal Palace (1903) and the Tower (1972). The older building is a delight to look at from the outside, and truly exceptional on the inside. Need to stay here. The tower is modern.
We moved on to visit Babulnath. A temple dedicated to the god Shiva. Babulnath Mandir (minder is what the Hindi call a place to go to worship. is an ancient Shiva mandir, and one of the oldest in the city. It is situated on a small hillock near Girgaum Chowpatty. It says a small hillock in the description, but the climb up the hill is “bad enough” that they have gold carts for those who can’t make it. There is, thankfully, an elevator to the temple near the top. You can choose to climb the steps near the top, if you want. The faithful climb up to the mandir and obtain Darshan of the shivling and obtain blessings of the Lord. Darshana is described as an "auspicious sight" of a holy person, which bestows merit (blessing) on the viewer (visitor). The temples is visited by lakhs (remember this?) of devotees on annual Mahashivratri festival.
On the path up to the temple you can feed the sacred cows, Buy flowers and gifts for Shiva, or stop and pray to any one of the small shrines on the way up. It is quite an enlightening experience. I took the elevator down and Maria walked downtown he stair so she could stop and the way and get her blessing. There was no lightening, so it must work.
After the temple we learn about the dabbawallahs. A dabbawala is a worker who delivers hot lunches from homes (traditional) and restaurants (modern) to people at work in Mumbai. The dabbawalas constitute a lunchbox delivery and return system. Unlike Uber Eats, Etc. In America these guys pickup your lunch, early in the morning, from your spouse or perhaps grandmother at home. Then deliver your lunch to you prior to lunch time using bicycles and railway trains. Then return in the afternoon to collect your lunchbox/dishes and return them to your home. Sounds funny, however apparently the commute trains are so overpacked that there really isn’t room for your lunchbox, especially if everyone is carrying one. Highly efficient and subject to a Harvard Business School study into their practices.
It has its origins in the late 1800s, when an increasing number of migrants were moving to Bombay from different parts of the country, and fast food and canteens were not prevalent. All these people left early in the morning for offices, and often had to go hungry for lunch. They belonged to different communities, and therefore had different types of tastes, which could only be satisfied by their own home-cooked meals. So, in 1890, Mahadeo Havaji Bachche started a lunch delivery service in Bombay with about a hundred men. This proved to be successful, and the service grew from there. In 1930, he informally attempted to unionize the dabbawalas. Later, a charitable trust was registered in 1956 under the name of Nutan Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers Trust. The commercial arm of this trust was registered in 1968 as Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers Association. We had an opportunity to meet with them. Extremely interesting.
We then went to the Khyber Restaurant at 145 Mahatman Gandhi Road for lunch. We were warned by Francis that the night before they went to a restaurant for dinner and everyone gorged themselves on the appetizers before they found out the main course was coming. Khyber has what is described as a Northwest Frontier of India feel to it. It has low, beamed ceilings, which are intended to evoke a haveli, a mansion typical of that part of the country. The food was outstanding and full of flavor.
It started with the deliver of a condiment tray. Mint sauce, pickled red onions, and a spice mix of vegetables. This was followed by lamb and chicken kebabs. Then came samosas (sorry JK, very much like yours and really good, but we’ll still give you a win, but only if you come up with the spicy vegetable condiment). This was followed by Naan, two types of curry, potatoes cooked with a lot of spice, and rice with english peas and carrots.
They served limes, to cut the spice for those who needed it, really?. They also added some small green chili peppers in with the line for those of us who need a bit more. No one could believe I just ate the chilies. They were good! They then served what they called an Indian donut with Indian ice cream for dessert. What a meal! Thank you India!
After lunch it was a short ride to the Khotachi Wadi. Khotachiwadi is a heritage village in Girgaon district. The houses generally conform to the old-Portuguese style architecture. It was founded in the late 18th century by Khot, a Pathare prabhu, who sold plots of land to local East Indian families. There used to be 65 of these houses, now reduced to 28 as old buildings are being pulled down to make way for new skyscrapers. The houses are made of wood, with a large open front verandah, a back courtyard and an external staircase to access the top bedroom.
Here we stopped at the 47A Design Studio to learn how to wrap a sari. We arrived and were immediately offered tea and sweet treats. Not one of chose anything. We simply couldn’t. We the walked-up stairs to the design studio of James O. Ferreira, a fashion designer who actually lives in his ancestral home here. He has also been vocal in his fight to preserve the urban village, hopes that his studio 47-A might end up being a solution for Khotachiwadi too.
We looked though his collection. Meet with him and learned a bit about the neighborhood and his design philosophy. He had four young women there and the demonstrated how to dress in a sari. Apparently, there are a number of different methods, no single one is correct.
It is here I found an outfit I liked. Maria liked it was well. It was expensive, costing just over $260. It is worth it. I changed into it right then, it is completely comfortable and incredibly cool in the hot weather.
Enough on Mumbai. We returned to the ship and, as usual, passed out from the heat and humidity. It has been a wonderful visit and we are looking to come back. Hopefully for Vishal gets married we can come back and attend an Indian wedding. I’ll at least have an outfit, though I will probably need another one by then
The next two days are at sea. I am running behind because we are having too much fun. I will blame it on the lack of internet access. Which may actually partially be true. You will next hear about Oman.
Buonanotte e Ciao, Enrico e Maria
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