Mumbai, more fun than Bollywood 10/2023 (Stop 7)

2-3 October 2023 Mumbai So, on this trip, I first flew to Malé in The Maldives, from Kuala Lumpur on 13 September 2023, then onward to Sri Lanka, on the 18th of September, and now commencing this extravaganza trip in India. I flew into Mumbai from Colombo on the 2nd of October 2023. I checked into the Mumbai guesthouse at 4 a.m. after the original much earlier flight was canceled. India was never meant to be easy.

After a late wake up the following morning, I headed straight to the nearest tourist site, Juhu Beach. Today was a public holiday celebrating Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday. The beach was filled with people. As the tide went out, it lay bare the bed, allowing the people more space to escape the choking traffic. The sky was overcast and the water equally grey. But the people were noisy and their spirit festive. This was a long beach. I walked for kilometers and eventually gave up.

On the beach was a food court. People stood by the benches to satisfy their cravings. There were no four-legged tables to help hold up the food. They do not have space for tables, why, even most of the vehicles on the road only had 3 wheels. This did not hold them back from spicing up their food.

The most thrilling Mumbai experience was the traffic. I was here more than 20 years ago. If anything, it seemed to have gotten worse. Just imagine constipation.

The next day I took the train to go south of the city, to visit some popular tourist sites. Getting there was not for the faint-hearted. I jumped onto the train as it was gaining speed, trying to catch it at the very last minute. I landed heroically in the coach but hit my shoulder against the handrails. No one should try this, but I want to know how it feels to live like an Indian.

Eventually, I arrived to see The Gateway of India, The Taj Hotel, The Town Hall, the old judicial building, and some other old colonial buildings. They were magnificent, though to find them looking so English in India seems a bit out of character.

One of Mumbai oldest landmarks, Western Railway Heritage Building

I waited until past 8 pm to ride the train home, thinking that would be well past peak hours. Getting off the train was easy peasy. But getting down the train is quite another matter. As I was getting ready to alight, before the train had even come to a complete halt, I was almost swept back into the train by a wall of boarding passengers swarming into the coach. I had to desperately yank myself and my backpack from those charging bodies. But I was told the good people of Mumbai do it every day going to work and trying to get home. I have also read about people being trampled or crushed to death in crowded spaces. I don’t mean to be a hero, but I couldn’t help it!

Mumbai was intense. It was crowded. The traffic was paralyzing, I wondered when it would come to a complete standstill. The smell of spices and incense was everywhere, adding fragrance to the polluted air. The honking is incessant, I wonder if it served any useful purpose. Rubbish was everywhere and people just walked around it. They seem resigned to their fate. I was once told by an Indian, philosophically, to die poor, but die free.

Mumbai is exciting. But you must have the stomach for it, like me.

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