Well..after 24 long hours of travel, we finally arrived in Mumbai at 6:30am with a smooth arrival through customs. We hopped in one of the many identical, tiny, black and yellow cabs and drove out through the main road, which was lined, if not overflowing, with shanties. The world seemed to be waking up as we zoomed past - everyone was lathering their bodies with soap and water and brushing their teeth oblivious to the traffic while others slept on their cots outside of their shanty homes. Privacy is clearly not a luxury for these people.
We made our way through the streets to Colaba, a more affluent neighborhood in Mumbai with a student feel to it. Once we found a hotel room, we went out and explored Colaba, the Fort area, the harborside and Mumbai University's wonderful campus, which is covered in cricket greens and exotic flowers. At the harbor, we saw the "Gate of India," a giant monument welcoming ships to the port. We were all approached (or more accurately, bombarded) by old holy men who shoved sweets in our hand, wrapped strings of dyed wool around our wrist and painted our foreheads with a mark while "blessing" us. Of course, they expected money for their services in return!! I was also flocked by a group of Indians who shoved their children in my face as if they wanted me to hold them! Some parents instructed them to shake my hand. I think they mistook me for a celebrity or had never seen a white person before!
All of the buildings here are beautiful with an Arabian look. Luscious green trees and bright flowers line the streets creating tunnels in some areas for cars to drive through. For a city in a developing country, it's surprisingly clean and people are rarely as pushy as they tend to be in other places. Everyone is so nice and genuinely helpful w/out alternative motives!! It's so refreshing!
Once the jetlag set in, we hailed another cab back to our hotel room. On the drive, our cab driver slammed into a motorbike in front of us and then turned around to assure us that he had "16 years of experience." Quite reassuring, I can tell you! This was also after he hit a person. Back in our room we fell asleep for 6 hours, as our body clocks were clearly totally off (and still are!). We woke up and dragged ourselves out on a tour of Mumbai's swanky and more down-to-earth bars and restaurants. We started at Koyla, a rooftop restaurant and hookah cafe with a gravel floor adorned with warm colored couches, pillows and lights and an expansive view of the harbor and city. After diving into some paneer tikka, spicy veggies, and naan, we made our way down to Busaba, an upscale bar with bright red walls and overpriced drinks. Finally we found ourselves more at home in a place called Cafe Mondegar, which was packed with Indian students downing beers. After a pitcher of Kingfisher, India's local beer, and confident that we would fall asleep again, we headed back to the room to gather energy for the next day.
The next day was "Holy Day," which we didn't quite understand until we emerged into the streets. We headed down to the markets in Colaba where vendors sold vegetables and other knick-knacks. The prominent vendors were selling neon-colored powders for holy day. Apparently, everyone buys them and throws them all over each other. Everywhere we went, people had purple, blue, red, and yellow faces with additional colors all over their hair and clothes. Emma and Bobby were attacked with some colors (pictures to come!), but I managed to escape for fear of staining my white shirt! All throughout the streets, everyone was covered in colors and engrossed in water fights while music blasted as people celebrated holy day by dancing around.
So far, we are loving India, but I think we were all quite surprised by the affluence in Mumbai!! Some of these places are comparable to those in NYC or LA and are too expensive for even poor travellers like us :) As much as we love the city, we can't wait to get to the beach in Goa tomorrow...more then!
-Dimity
