India – Incredible India! Or at least that’s what the tourist board like to tell us. There’s no disputing they’re correct but their adverts don’t show how incredible India is in negative ways along with positive ones. Yes, there are awe inspiring sites with tantalising sights, sounds, textures, smells and tastes; but, just around the corner those same 5 senses are assaulted. We’ve been coming to India for over a decade now but are beginning to find the disparity between the filthy rich and abject poor almost too much to bear. We find it utterly baffling that the newly rich India we here about so often seems like a figment of someone’s imagination when you’re actually in the country. If business articles are to be believed then India has the resources to realise this country’s incredible potential. Travel to & arrival in Mumbai - 11th & 12th Feb 2013 We awoke in Glossop to find a covering of snow on the ground but not enough to prevent us from getting to the airport. Following 3 weeks of catching up with family and friends in England it was high time to get travelling again. Not that we’d sat still in England and had kept the rail system in profit constantly moving between Manchester, Liverpool, The Wirral, London and Durham. Having secured visas for India at the absurd cost of 100 quid each it was time to put them to good use. Even though we had to book our flights last minute Emirates offered the best deal allowing us to fly into Mumbai and out of Kolkata in 3 months’ time. We actually landed in Mumbai ahead of schedule but any time advantages we should have gained were promptly wiped out at immigration. There were plenty of desks open but most of them were for Indian Nationals only. Obviously sitting idle whilst watching queues lengthen is part of these employees’ training course! However, by the time we got through our bags were a-waiting our collection but we had to queue up again to pop them all through a scanner. Welcome to India and its bureaucratic headaches! We’d booked a room in Anjali Inn near the airport and they said they would pick us up. We waited and waited but no one appeared so we hopped in an airport taxi. At Rs200 it was quite expensive but at least the prepaid system meant we didn’t get utterly ripped off. We would have reached the guesthouse in good time if we’d been allocated a driver that knew where he was going. It looked like it was going to be one of those niggling days. It turned out that we’d just missed our lift but the proprietor instantly said it was their fault for running late and they would refund the fare. Fair dos. Our en-suite room was small, basic and not particularly good value at over $30 a night. We knew that Mumbai was India’s most expensive city and an internet search of places in town hadn’t thrown up anything that looked better value. On hindsight we should have forked out for somewhere near the city’s sites and train station. This place is only really suitable if you just want the airport. However, our friendly, helpful host told us the best way to get into town. It costs about Rs50-60 in a tuc-tuc to Andheri station where we caught the slow train to Churchgate, the end of the line. With hitting a quiet time of the day and not having luggage with us the journey didn’t seem too tedious. It was only Rs20 return and not only does the Indian rail network have ladies only carriages but a ticket booth for the fairer sex too. So Steve mapped out a walking tour for us while I procured the tickets. Before taking in the sights we decided to have a bit more train station excitement and went to the reservation office over the road from Churchgate station. Even by Indian standards it took an inordinate length of time to reach the front of the queue. However, it was worth it as we secured tickets to Vadodara for the following day. As you know we’re not city people and even vibrant Indian cities are failing to appeal these days. That said we enjoyed our intense blast of India’s sights, colours, noise, smells and tastes but are looking forward to smaller towns and mountain villages. We headed towards the now infamous Taj Palace Hotel which has been brilliantly repaired; it truly is a magnificent building overlooking the harbour. The nearby gateway to India is also a spectacular structure and we feel it’s superior to the Delhi version. There are loads of intricate, impressive buildings and Mumbai must have been an imposing city in its hey-day. Indeed we past many a fine building en-route to the main train station, Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus. Architecturally this has to be the finest station in the world; with stone carved monkeys and a host of other creatures peering down daily on thousands of commuters. Unfortunately we’d timed the end of our tourist trail badly as we’d be returning to our guesthouse slap bang in the middle of rush hour. As excellent as India’s rail network is it still falls way short of providing an adequate service when it’s needed most. Having ladies only carriages may sound archaic but being draped in a sari isn’t conducive to jumping on and off a moving train. Neither should the young or elderly be expected to do so – in fact why should anyone have to? The trains barely pause in stations hence, the onslaught of bodies hurling themselves into moving carriages and the dangerous scrummage that ensues on every platform. We got into a normal carriage okay but it was so rammed by the time we reached our stop that we couldn’t squeeze our way through in time to get off. So we were forced to clatter along until the next stop where helpful fellow passengers ensure we got off this time. One lad even went so far as escorting us to the platform where a train would arrive to take us back to our intended destination. However, as soon as this pulled in that desperate, dangerous bid to board ensued again and there was no way I was going to join in. Instead we hopped into the ladies only carriage; why should I have to deal with a throng of men pushing and shoving just because I’m with Steve? Come to that why should he have to endure it too? Anyway the ladies didn’t seem to be upset and I can only assume that Steve being with me and a foreigner was acceptable. We eventually made it back to the guesthouse but it had been a torturously long afternoon for a couple of hours of sightseeing. Granted we were tired following the overnight flight but we’ll be endeavouring to avoid big cities from now on. Just remember - never travel in India during rush hour!
