November 11, 2008 - Mumbai

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Mumbai
I am writing now on Wednesday morning November 12 on a flight from Mumbai to Bhuj. Yes we are on the move again, this time to a more tribal area to visit weaving villages. But more about this in tomorrow’s blog.

Before I begin telling about our day in Mumbai, I must acknowledge that I’ve recently learned that my brother-in-law, Jeff, has been diagnosed with prostate cancer. This is a big shock and I would like to send my thoughts and feelings of concern to Jeff during this difficult time. Fortunately, according to Scott who’s keeping things together back in NY, we have a dear friend who has recently gone through this terrible ordeal and he is giving Jeff helpful advice and recommendations. Jeff, I’m thinking of you and hope you return to your usual excellent health in short order.

Back to Mumbai for a moment. We had only one day in the city which we used to explore both traditional and contemporary Indian textiles. Fortunately all spots visited were within walking distance to our lovely hotel, the Taj Mahal Palace, which I would highly recommend to anyone planning a stay in Mumbai. Right around the corner was an interesting contemporary boutique called Bombay Electric Company. A short walk took us to an excellent collection of shops at a place called the “Courtyard”. Other recommended stops include the Indian Textile Company (in the Taj hotel), Ensemble, which had magnificent clothes (sarees, etc) for the chic modern Indian woman. In the course of our explorations we discovered that the display cases of magnificent jewels (diamonds, rubies and pebble sized emeralds) that we saw just about everywhere which we had assumed were paste, were actually REAL. And there was never any Harry Winston, Fort Knox security around them. Incredible.

In the later afternoon we got in a few taxis (quite an experience in Mumbai) to go farther afield. Taxis are all small, boxy black and orange tin cans that can barely hold three people on the backseat. They are all dented on the outside (a testament to Indian driving) and have wonderfully garish interiors. I decided to begin a photographic study of taxis in India. Some have crushed velvet ceilings; one even had a chandelier of sorts and another had a shrine on the dashboard with flashing red, yellow and blue Christmas lights on it. Driving in Mumbai involves lots of sudden u-turns, much horn honking and quite often no headlights. It makes for a hair-raising experience.

It was a very hot and muggy day so we returned exhausted to the hotel around 5 and had a drink by the pool. Cliff, Cathy, Ferris and I decided to take a walk along an area called “The Queen’s Necklace”, a very famous spot in Mumbai to see the lights of the city at night before going to dinner. We enjoyed seeing the locals sitting along the beach, jogging, and just enjoying the evening. We were also fascinated by the five or six story art-deco buildings that line the water which for the most part seem to be in terrible disrepair and streaked in black lines of grime and soot.

Our big “adventure” was attempting to take a taxi to the restaurant, but our poor driver who didn’t really understand where we wanted to go and didn’t speak any English took us on a rather long joyride around town until we were somehow able to tell him to take us back to our hotel so we could start all over again with a new driver. Our second attempt was much more successful. We had dinner at a wonderful seafood restaurant called TRISHNA (7 Rope Walk Lane, Kalaghoda, Fort – telephone 22703213). And one you’ve gotten your driver to understand where you want to do, this restaurant is actually not far from the Taj Hotel!
Then it was time to pack up our purchases and get ready for an early departure the next morning. We’re about to land in Bhuj so I’ll stop writing but will hopefully have my next installment soon.