Our last two days in India were spent in Mumbai. We arrived by an overnight train, and the trip took about 19 hours. So the fact that we liked Mumbai, or liked anything at all at that point, is significant. I (Gracyn) started to wonder if our entire experience in India would have been different, had we started out in this place. Is it really all that different, or have we adjusted during the last two weeks? Did we do the *wrong* things in, say, Delhi, and we are doing the *right* things in Mumbai?
Somewhere near this statue is where we risked street food again, ordering samosas for lunch from a stand near the University. They were spicy!
This is the St. Thomas Cathedral, which I found to be very moving. There were gravestones on the floors, on the walls, sometimes markers given by regiments to a soldier or from the East India Trading Co to an employee, or a husband to a wife. But I certainly felt myself to be in the company of Christians who had been a part of this church community.
Next we walked around the outside of the University of Mumbai. Its campus has been closed to non-students since the attacks of 2008. In the park next door, we observed a cricket game for a few minutes....and decided that it is as inscrutable as ever.
In the evening, we visited Victoria Gardens. This place must have seen better days. We thought there would be more garden but it seems like the space is shared with a zoo. And for someone who struggles with zoos that do provide arguably humane circumstances, this place was difficult to see. As a result, I mostly took photographs of the statues. Or topiary elephants.
All that pondering aside, the facts are these: sometimes people in Mumbai say hello to us simply to greet us. There are trees. There are potted plants on most balconies. There are parks. There are people playing cricket in those parks. We were able to walk around. (Usually a frightening, life-threatening experience.) The air quality here is actually decent. (I was just reading that, of the cities in the world with the worst air quality, 13 of the top 20 are Indian. We have been wearing breathing masks. Be thankful for your air quality, y'all.) All of these are nice things.
On the other hand, our Lonely Planet guide tells us that 60% of the people living in Mumbai abide in slums. What kind of unfortunate duality is that?
So, we had two days in Mumbai, March 2-3. Monday seems to be the day of the week that a lot of things are closed, so we opted for the architecturally-focused walking tour in our guide book. It was a very nice day to be outside. We started at the Gateway of India.
Somewhere near this statue is where we risked street food again, ordering samosas for lunch from a stand near the University. They were spicy!
This is the St. Thomas Cathedral, which I found to be very moving. There were gravestones on the floors, on the walls, sometimes markers given by regiments to a soldier or from the East India Trading Co to an employee, or a husband to a wife. But I certainly felt myself to be in the company of Christians who had been a part of this church community.
Next we walked around the outside of the University of Mumbai. Its campus has been closed to non-students since the attacks of 2008. In the park next door, we observed a cricket game for a few minutes....and decided that it is as inscrutable as ever.
In the evening, we visited Victoria Gardens. This place must have seen better days. We thought there would be more garden but it seems like the space is shared with a zoo. And for someone who struggles with zoos that do provide arguably humane circumstances, this place was difficult to see. As a result, I mostly took photographs of the statues. Or topiary elephants.
On our final day, we took an hour's ferry ride out to Elephanta Island, another UNESCO World Heritage Site. The island features caves with wonderful carvings of Hindu deities depicted in various scenes from the Hindu scriptures. Experiences like this make us both want to learn more about the ancient Hindu sacred stories.
After lunch, we visited a museum (formerly called the Prince of Wales Museum, built 1923) with exhibits on pottery, prints, miniature paintings, and natural history, among other things. The building itself was quite interesting.
Lastly, in the evening we rode a few trains to get out towards the Mumbai International Airport. Our flight to Istanbul left at 6:30 AM the next day.
After lunch, we visited a museum (formerly called the Prince of Wales Museum, built 1923) with exhibits on pottery, prints, miniature paintings, and natural history, among other things. The building itself was quite interesting.
Lastly, in the evening we rode a few trains to get out towards the Mumbai International Airport. Our flight to Istanbul left at 6:30 AM the next day.
I think this photo sums up the city of Mumbai for me. In a city where so many people are heart-breakingly poor and desolate, there is still a spirit of fun, of color, and even of kindness.
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