Day 111: Mumbai, India

Thursday, 27 April 2017
Overnight @ BPX, Passenger Terminal, Mumbai Port, Indira Dock

Stats @ Ship’s Time 8:00p (IST) … UTC 3:30p (27 April)
Temp: 84.2F (29C)
Position: 18.55.98N / 72.50.61E

The first condition of understanding a foreign country is to smell it.
~ Rudyard Kipling~

When friends heard we would be spending time in India, we heard many good things, but we were also regaled with many-a horror story — a number of them about Mumbai.  I was told it would be crowded, dirty, polluted, smelly, chaotic, smoggy, noisy … with the beeping horns of nearly 40,000 taxis adding to the cacophony.  And … well, think of any negative adjective and it was used.  I was told there would be dogs laying around everywhere and that cows would have the right of way.  I was told that I would either love India or hate it.  So, quite frankly, I had been dreading our five days in this country.

Well, the first three days in India turned out to be just fine — even with what to us seemed like an incredible amount of red tape.  Now it was time to tackle Mumbai.  And you know what?  It turned out just fine, too … we were very pleasantly surprised by this melting pot of cultures … especially by how green the city is.  As our guide later said, the trees are the lungs of Mumbai and essential for survival in this city of 22 million.

So, with that introduction, let me get on with the day’s story.

Insignia arrived in port and tied up around 7:30a despite our schedule saying we would do so at 9:00a.  Hey, no quibbles from us.  The early arrival actually made sense since the notice we received in our room about another face-to-face with the Indian authorities — yes, red tape at work — had the meetings starting before 8:00a.  Independents like us were scheduled for 8:50a.  We had a 10:00a pick up for our tour, so we had no concerns.  In actuality, the process went much more smoothly than expected, requiring Ray to make announcements to call tour groups to the Insignia Lounge earlier than scheduled.  We tagged along behind the last tour group and were done with our face-to-face before 9:00a.

Our tour today was a private one that we joined when our original plans fell through.  Described as the “Mumbai Must-Sees and Bazaars” (3,750 INR/person or ~ USD $58/person), it was organized through Mumbai Magic by either Michael or Sonia — each saying the other was the leader ;-)  Our group of eight consisted of like-minded people, with lots of hilarity adding to our enjoyment of the tour.

We headed off the ship shortly after 9:30a, hoping our guide would be waiting for us in the terminal as promised.  She was there.  After introducing herself, Husaina bundled us into the port shuttle for the short ride to the port gate.  Good thing it was a very short drive — there was no legroom to speak of on the van!  No worries, though.  The minibus that was to be our transport for the day was waiting for us just outside the port — and it not only had plenty of legroom, but it was spacious and allowed us to spread out a bit.  And it had A/C that worked!  The latter was a godsend on a day that saw the temperature rising to 91F (33C), with 80% humidity.  Could have been worse since just two weeks before the temps were over 104F (40C) on several days in a row.

Husaina helped to make our day what it was — a very pleasant first introduction to Mumbai.  Widowed when she was 39, she has a degree in Indian Philosophy.  She used to teach, but stopped being a teacher after she married and had kids because she didn’t want an 8-5 job.  Instead, she became a freelance tour guide.  Not only was she very knowledgeable about all aspects of Indian culture, but her sense of humor fit right in with the group … there was a lot of laughter in our minibus throughout the day.  Here are some samples of the tidbits she shared with us — in no specific order:

• Gandhi began his “Quit India” movement against the British here in 1942.
• The city’s name was changed from Bombay to Mumbai in 1996.  This was the original Marathi name, which was derived from the goddess Mumba, who was worshipped by the Koli, fisherfolk who inhabited the seven islands of the city as far back as the 2nd century BC.
• Rush hour is 24-7; there is no such thing as downtime in this city of 22 million people.
• Mumbai is the richest and the most expensive city in India.
• Everything works in Mumbai, but slowly.  Because the Hindu believe in reincarnation, people are not in a hurry to do things.  If it doesn’t happen today, it will happen tomorrow.  If it doesn’t happen in this lifetime, it will happen in the next one.
• India has a population of 1.2 billion; and 95% literacy.
• November-March is probably the best time to visit.  It’s still hot, but humidity is lower.

I never did get our driver’s name, but he did a great job of transferring us around from site to site.  He definitely knew how to get around in the chaos that is traffic in Mumbai.  As he maneuvered the minibus through the jumble of cars, busses, trucks, bikes, motorbikes, and auto rickshaws, and skirted the many vendors selling street food, Husaina distributed some information for us to read, and also gifts that turned out to be coasters featuring the artwork of school kids.

Our first stop was a visit to the cathedral.  But before we began our walk to get there, we had a lesson on the “holy cow.”  The lesson was precipitated by a cow that was quietly munching away at some grass, completely impervious to the people and traffic around it.  Husaina explained that Hindus revere and worship cows because they provide people with life sustaining milk.  The connection is that mother, whose status is raised to that of a goddess in Hinduism, is also a provider of nourishing milk.  I hope I didn’t mangle that explanation too much in my effort to keep it simple.

Husaina, who had mentioned earlier that Indian women are very entrepreneurial, used the cow to give us an example of this.  Here was a woman who had brought the cow to town — it might have been her cow, or she might have rented it from another woman.  Nearby she had a pile of grass.  People unable to visit a temple for their devotional would stop, buy some of the grass, and give it to the cow.  Thus the cow would be fed; the woman would make some money; and the person feeding the cow would have the satisfaction of having worshiped for the day.  Win-win all around.

After our lesson, Husaina led us to the St Thomas Cathedral, which was opened for services in 1718 as the first Anglican church in what was then Bombay, an island that came to the British as part of the dowry of the Portuguese princess who married Charles II of England in 1661.  The church is one of the oldest in India.  Inside there were memorials and tombstones dating back to the British Colonial times.  After being restored in 2004, the church was given a UNESCO Asia-Pacific heritage conservation award.

We wandered around the church for a bit before rejoining our driver for a short drive to see the University of Mumbai — one of the first state universities in India, and the oldest in Maharashtra, the state of which Mumbai is the capital.  With several campuses and nearly 550,000 enrolled students, it is one of the largest universities in the world.  The grounds and the colonial style buildings modeled after the University of London and others in England, were pristine.  We were unable to go inside, however — security dont’cha know.

Our next stop took us to the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus.  WOW!  What a grand place.  This is a historic railway station that was known as the Victoria Terminus before its name was changed in 1996 to honor the 17th century Maratha warrior king by the same name.  Construction of the Gothic revival style edifice started in 1878 and took 10 years to complete.  Of course, it was added onto over the years.  I could give you all kinds of statistics, but here are two that struck me — over 3 million commuters use the terminus daily; and during rush hour a train leaves the station every 40 seconds!!!  We didn’t go inside — no one wanted to tackle crossing the traffic.  Instead, we stood at a purpose-built platform in the middle of all that traffic and gazed at the building with our mouths agape.

From the train station, we drove to the central market.  Husaina said the market was being renovated, but we’d be able to visit the fruit and spice stalls.  It being mango season, the stalls were filled with luscious looking fruit.  We were tempted to buy some, but decided not to tempt the “GI Gods” … none of us needed to experience the “Mumbai Belly.”  What struck me here — other than all the colorful fruit displays — was that unlike the market in Goa where most of the vendors were women, the ones at this market were all men.  Another one of those differences between the states I suppose.

Our next stop was a cultural experience unique to Mumbai … a “lunch delivery” system that has been in existence for over 125 years … and one whose efficiency I am still in awe of even as I write this.  In fact, the efficiency of the system has been studied by the Harvard Business School and written up in media as being the envy of FedEx … google Dabbawalas and you’ll find a slew of articles.  In the meantime, let me describe what we saw.

Husaina prefaced this stop on the tour by saying that the tapestry of cultures in Mumbai means a wide variety of cuisine as well — and within those cuisines there are sub-cuisines if you will … vegetarians that eat dairy products, those that don’t, etc, etc.  Thus was born a system of food delivery that is only possible because of the men known as dabbawalas.

When we arrived, we saw a crowd of men on foot … or on bicycles … or pushing hand carts.  On the ground were lunch boxes of varying types with a jumble of numbers on them.  Some were two- to four-tiered tiffin boxes … others were insulated bags … while still others were simply wrapped in fabric or paper.  It seemed chaos to us, but there was a system.

A group of dabbawalas are responsible for picking up lunch boxes from the homes of the recipients — take away home-cooked meal, if you will.  They sort them according to pick up and delivery locations.  Each lunch box is marked with an alpha numeric code that identifies this information.  Then onto the train the boxes go.  At their destination, they are picked up by local dabbawalas.  When the boxes are delivered to the central distribution point — like the one we visited — they are sorted according to the delivery codes and placed in a spot already marked with the same codes … so number 35 goes to spot 35; number 76 goes to spot 76, and so on.  Once the sorting is complete another set of dabbawalas — ones wearing white kurtas [a style of shirt], their heads covered with Indian hats — collect the boxes and set off to deliver them to the recipients who get to enjoy a home-cooked meal.  Once the food is eaten, the whole process is reversed and the lunch boxes are delivered back to where they came from … the cycle to be repeated the next day … rain or shine … or perhaps in India that should be monsoon or shine.

We were still chattering about the amazing lunch delivery system as we drove to our next stop — another amazing one — via Marine Drive.  This is a roughly 2-mile (3.6km) boulevard built on land reclaimed from the Arabian Sea.  Shaped like the letter “C”, it follows the natural bay, which is similarly shaped.  Alongside is a promenade that is referred to as the Queen’s Necklace because the twinkling lights at night resemble a string of pearls.  As we drove, we passed palm trees, art-deco buildings built by the wealthy, and Chowpatty Beach, a popular hang out famous for its local fast food.  Traffic was heavy, but it flowed and soon we were climbing up Malabar Hill — the most exclusive residential area in India … some of the newer condos go for prices ranging from USD $12,000 to USD $30,000 … per square meter!

It was on Malabar Hill that Husaina asked the driver to stop near a Dakhma.  What is that?  It’s a Tower of Silence.  Huh?  OK, so it is a circular structure built by Zoroastrians for excarnation — that is for dead bodies to be exposed to carrion birds.  We didn’t visit the tower as this is not allowed, but we listened to Husaina as she told us about them.

Zoroastrians believe that both earth and fire are sacred.  Thus they can neither bury nor cremate their dead since they believe the body is unclean.  So, they place their dead on these towers, to be exposed to the sun and to scavengers.  There are concentric circles on the roof of the towers.  Men are placed in the outer ring, women in the middle, and children in the innermost.  The bones left behind by scavengers are allowed to be bleached by the sun before they are collected in an ossuary pit in the center of the tower.  Here, with the addition of lime, they are allowed to disintegrate.  Eventually, after going through several filters, the ash is allowed to wash out to sea with rainwater run-off.  The problem the Zoroastrians are now facing with this method of disposing of their dead is that with the growth of the city and the continued construction of buildings, the number of scavenging birds have been greatly reduced.  They have, therefore, had to turn to solar panels to burn the bodies naturally.  An interesting life philosophy.

Another stop we made on Malabar Hill was for Husaina to point out Antilia.  What is that?  It’s a family home built by the richest man in India — a Mr Mukesh Ambani.  Resembling a jenga tower from which blocks have been removed, it has a very unique design that can survive an 8-Richter scale earthquake.  It was built at a cost of USD $1 billion … give or take a few million.  Of the 33 floors, 6 is for parking and the remaining 27 are for a family of five and 600 servants!!!  I can’t find the words to describe what I think of such lavishness!  I wonder what Mr Ambani’s father would think of it.  By all accounts he was quite a modest man who made his money by investing it in cotton, gold, and polyester.

Finally we reached our next destination — the Dhobi Ghat.  What’s that you say?  It’s the world’s biggest open air laundry.  It’s another cultural system — one that goes back to the British Colonial times in India.  It was built in 1890, at a time when the Brits had a need to have their clothes laundered.  So they developed this area where laundrymen not only work, but live as well.  And yes, the laundry is all done by men.  They wash, scrub, dye, and bleach clothes and linens — careful to keep the whites separate from the colors — in concrete wash pens.  The clothes are then dried on ropes, pressed, and delivered back to where they were picked up from.  Turn around time is about one week, and Husaina said that one could get about 100 pieces done for approximately USD $25.  Despite the advent of washers and dryers, the Dhobi Ghat is still very popular — as the amount of laundry drying under the sun today would attest.  This was another interesting cultural display.  I bet it would have been interesting to walk around the wash tubs and laundry drying on the lines. Maybe next time.

A funny little aside about the Dhobi Ghat — or rather about a young laundryman.  Dressed in briefs only, he was separating dirty laundry when he noticed us taking photos.  He immediately dropped the clothes, climbed up to the top of a nearby ladder, and started posing, running his hands through his hair … all the while attempting to be quite nonchalant.  It was very sweet really, but I don’t think any of our photos will bring Bollywood calling at his door.

Dhobi Ghat and the “poseur laundryman” before he notices us.

Our stomachs were growling by the time we left the laundry.  Having asked us earlier if we wanted to have lunch, Husaina had made arrangements for us to dine at the racetrack!  Actually, at Gallops, a restaurant on the grounds of the Royal Western India Turf Club, which was founded in 1802 as the Bombay Turf Club.  The menu offered Indian specialties as well as continental fare — a good thing since Mui and I are not fans of Indian cuisine.  I also knew that no matter how mild I asked the dish to be prepared, it would still be too “hot” for my palate, so I ordered a mushroom risotto that was very well prepared and got a Kingfisher beer to wash it down.  Mui ordered the grilled Indian salmon — a pale-colored version of the salmon we’re used to getting in the US.  He said it was quite tasty.  He washed his food down with a pot of Indian Masala tea … made with milk and spices.  I didn’t care for the taste — the tea was too strong — but Mui said he liked it.

After lunch, we returned to the city to visit Mani Bhavan.  Once Gandhi's Mumbai headquarters, today it houses a museum dedicated to him.  It was from here that he initiated the various movements that brought him to prominence — such as Home Rule; Non-Cooperation; the salt Satyagraha … which Husaina described as India’s “Boston Tea Party;” and the Khadi … protesting the destruction of village industries, such as the weaving of domestic cloths in preference to the importation of foreign fabrics; and more.  It was on the terrace here that he was arrested in 1932.

The house was the home of a friend who hosted Gandhi between 1917 and 1934.  The first thing we noted in the entrance was a piece of rock in a glass display case on the wall.  The plaque described it as a the “Stone of Hope” from the Martin Luther King Jr Memorial in DC.  It was presented by President Obama when he and Michelle visited the museum in 2010 — the first high-profile international visitors to do so in about 50 years.  King’s statue at the memorial in DC is referred to as the “Stone of Hope.”  And King referred to the stone of hope in his “I Have a Dream Speech.”  King visited Mani Bhavan in the 1950s, so I expect the rock is a symbol of that connection … I have to do more research.

Going through a door on the ground floor, we found ourselves in the library.  Here we stood while Husaina spoke to us about the great man.  Then we were free to wander around on our own.  The first thing I did was to read some of the quotes hanging on the wall … this one was my favorite:

To call women the weaker sex is a libel; it is man’s injustice to woman…  If by strength is meant moral power, then woman is immeasurably man’s superior….  If non-violence is the law of our being, the future is with women.

Then we went up to the next floor where an exhibit of photographs, letters, posters, press clippings, and more documents Gandhi’s life from his childhood to his assassination.  The top floor has a series of miniature dioramas representing major milestones and movements Gandhi was involved in, as well as his assassination.  On this same floor, a room was glassed off.  Furnished very simply, this was where Gandhi stayed when he was in Mumbai.

When we left the museum, we drove to the Gateway of India, stopping at a couple of ATMs along the way so fellow tourgoers could pick up some Indian Rupees.  The stop at the Gateway today was just a photo op.  One needs to go through security to go into the square where the arch stands.  Since we will be doing that tomorrow morning anyway, Husaina suggested we just get our land-side photos from the perimeter today.  I’ll write more about the Gateway in the next post.

By the time we returned to the port, we were beat.  It was after 4:30p and we were all ready for some downtime … especially with the early wake up call tomorrow.

The day’s high: 91F (33C) … four degrees below what the Currents said it would be.  We are glad for small favors in the weather department.

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