Mumbai: February 2015

Hello Mumbai

We finally made it to India! This country had been at the top of my “wanted” list for years and I was finally here! 

When we arrived at the airport in Mumbai, we had to go through an ebola screening, which was new for us. We took an air-conditioned cab to our hotel about 45 minutes away, and realized that we did not yet need the air-conditioning in India. 🙂 We passed many squatter tents along the way, and some very poor areas, it was such a contrast coming from Dubai. 

Making a list of our favorite dishes.

We settled into our hotel and walked down the street to eat dinner. I planned to eat my way through India, and see the sights along the way. Our first meal did not disappoint. Javier and I typically order the same thing when we eat Indian food, mainly because we don’t know what else to order. We had to start venturing out of our palate comfort zone since one of our go-tos involves chicken, and there was no meat at this place, or many of the other restaurants we sampled. I decided to start a list. I wrote down everything we tried and had a legend that distinguished what we liked, really liked, and didn’t like. This way, we were able to try something new for every meal. I was really happy that Javier was feeling as adventurous as I was. 

Find Javier

A little background on Javier and Indian food. To say it’s not his favorite would be a huge understatement. He will eat it, but only when I request it, which isn’t that often. My Javier is a meat eater. The more beef, the better. He is one of those people who believes that a meal is not a real meal unless there is some sort of meat product involved. Well, let’s just say he WAS all of those things. After almost a month in India, no beef, and with the exception of maybe one chicken’s life, he was veg…and he LOVED IT! Indian is now one of his favorite foods…his words, not mine. 

Mumbai

On our first full day, we walked…and walked…and walked some more. We passed by a local restaurant. We almost didn’t stop because we were concerned about the cleanliness of the place, but I really wanted to go, so we gave it a try. It was good. We went back. When we walked in, they sat us at a specific table, when I looked around, everyone else looked local- good sign. I noticed that we had a fan directly in our faces, which helped with the heat. The other tables did not have fans. They sat us at the one table with a fan that they must save for the wayward tourists who stumble into their place. Needless to say, the food was amazing and we wrote down all of our new dishes.

The Gateway of India entrance

We walked through street markets and an outdoor art exhibit before making our way to the Gate of India. The men and women had to go through separate metal detectors to enter the area. The men to women ratio in India is so skewed it’s ridiculous. So, 9 times out of 10, the women’s line, with purses and all, are so much faster, that I made it through security first and had to wait for Javier. Once inside, we walked and took pictures. We noticed people all around that offer to take pictures of you in front of the gate. We politely refused several of them, and that was that, until…this woman approached us and asked if she could take a picture of us…for free. We were immediately put on alert. We knew that Caucasian people are often treated like celebrities in these parts, with the local people asking to take pictures with them. But…we are not Caucasian. So, why do they want a picture of us? Each of these photographers have a book that shows other tourists, just like you, who opted for this photo shoot! The woman was with a man, possibly her husband, and he was the one with the camera. What we gathered was they wanted a picture of us for their book, but that’s not all. She held her baby out for me to hold in the picture! Whaaaat?? Now I’m thinking she’s going to give me this baby, who was less than a year old, and run away, or rob me while I hold him, or who knows what? I wouldn’t hold her baby. She kept holding him out to me insisting that it was just for the picture and there was no funny business. He just hung there in the air staring at me and drooling. He was quite well-behaved actually. Well, the whole thing was funny business to me. I looked to Javier for guidance, and he just shrugged. In all truth, the baby looked like he could have been ours. So, I guess they were working the tourist family angle? I don’t know. I took her baby, we smiled for the camera, gave him back, they thanked us, and we walked away. I still have no idea if that was about something more than just the photo, but somewhere out there, there’s a picture of me and Javier holding a cute little Indian baby in front of the Gate of India. 

The Gateway of India

On our way back to the hotel, we stopped by Starbucks to use their wifi. I only mention this because we had to walk through metal detectors to enter Starbucks. There are metal detectors everywhere in India, but like Starbucks, most are there as props. The detector is constantly going off with every person who walks through, but no one is stopped. I have no idea what they are there for.

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India. Cricket.

We walked by a huge park where hundreds of people were playing cricket. There were teams, tournaments, and kids playing. We walked through and watched for a bit, and as we exited, we saw a team taking pictures with their trophy. We congratulated them, and a couple of them obliged us and took a picture with Javier holding their trophy. We passed by another park, where we heard a band playing. We decided to check it out and on the way in, there was a hand-powered ferris-wheel parked in the street, like a car. There are about four seats and a man uses his body weight to turn the wheel. Inside, the military band was taking a break, so we found some seats and waited for them to start again. We stayed for a bit to enjoy the music. As we started to walk home, we heard a different kind of music.

Music. weekend at the park.

Another useless metal detector later, we were inside the park looking at a large stage where a visiting orchestra was playing. They were very good. We sat on the ground with the local people and listened to the music. 

Mumbai is one of those places where it feels like there is too much to see and not much at the same time. We decided to visit Shree Siddhivinayak, a temple dedicated to Ganesh. This was our first Hindu temple, so we weren’t sure what we were supposed to do. We followed the others, left our shoes at one of the many shoe counters, and walked into the temple. It was chaotic inside. People either bring or buy flowers, food, or idols, to be blessed by Ganesh, and then taken home. There are temple workers who are constantly taking items from people, touching them to Ganesh and giving them back to their owners. Back and fourth. They do this all day long. There were some people off to the side praying and there was another little shrine off to the side that people walk around while praying. I think I was expecting something more serene and subdued, but this almost looked like a bustling market with the food, yelling, and children running around.

religious details.

We couldn’t take pictures, so we maneuvered ourselves so we could at least get a glimpse of Ganesh through the throngs of people, and made our way out. With all the temples we visited in India, our biggest concern was that our shoes would grow legs while we were inside and there would be nothing we could do about it. Thankfully, our shoes were guarded by a little man in a booth who decided to return them to us, and we were on our merry little way. 

We decided to check out Ghandi’s house on the way back.

Ghandi

We found a taxi, and negotiated a price, but he didn’t know exactly where he was going. He started asking the guys on the street. Next thing we know, there was a group of about 5 men all consulting each other and their phones to get us to the right place. No one really knew exactly where, but they knew it was close to a school. The taxi driver decided to drive to the school and go from there. When we were about to leave, one of the local guys sticks his head through the window and tells the guy to turn on his meter. At least, that’s what I gathered with the gestures and pointing that was going on. Since we had already negotiated a price, we told the local guy it was okay, we already had an agreement. He just shrugged and told us, you should use the meter. We thanked him and we were off. While we didn’t pay much for the ride, we probably would have paid less for the meter. When we arrived to the school, our driver pulled over to the side of the road and started talking to the local people. They knew exactly where Ghandi’s house was and gave our driver directions. We were quite pleased at the kindness of the people. 

Death

For some reason, we didn’t have high expectations of Ghandi’s house. We didn’t know what to expect, and the reviews online were just okay. I have to say, we both really enjoyed the trip. They give the history of Ghandi’s rise to fame. They even have letters that Ghandi wrote to influential people of the time, including President Roosevelt and even Hitler, both of whom he greeted as friend. I was enlightened in reading about Ghandi. I had no idea the extent of his influence, or how truly intellectual, knowledgeable, and mostly, understanding and caring he was. I knew he peaceably fought for India, but he was truly a remarkable humanitarian who cared for all people of all races, as much as his own. 

Mumbai sunset

We decided to walk home. We took the beach route and sat on a wall while the sun went down. It was supposed to be beautiful and relaxing, but finding a spot on the wall that didn’t stink from all of the garbage below, and enjoying the sunset as it disappeared in the pollution wasn’t exactly either of those things. The sun literally disappeared into the smog. We couldn’t even see the horizon. Yikes! 

Hopefully the beaches of Goa will have what we’re looking for!

To see more pictures of Mumbai, click HERE.