{"id":340,"date":"2013-12-31T09:46:27","date_gmt":"2013-12-31T14:46:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/svetanyc.com\/?p=340"},"modified":"2015-08-07T09:29:53","modified_gmt":"2015-08-07T13:29:53","slug":"mumbai-india-december-28-30","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/192.168.2.119:1984\/svetanyc\/2013\/12\/mumbai-india-december-28-30\/","title":{"rendered":"Mumbai, India. December 2013."},"content":{"rendered":"

December 28.<\/p>\n

Oh, Bombay<\/a>! Isn’t it the most populous, cosmopolitan, stylish, commercial, liberal, rich, Bollywoodish place in the whole of India? Take my word for that, it is. But also, it is home to infamous Mumbai mafia and the world largest slums (with 60% of Mumbai’s population living there).<\/p>\n

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Most Indians would still call Mumbai by its Portuguese name – Bombay, and there is an on-going debate regarding the original name of the city. Some say, that Mumbai is a derivative of two words “Mumba” (the name of local goddess Mumbadevi<\/a>) and “aai” (“mother” in Marathi), while Bombay is an anglicized version of Portuguese “Bom Bahia” – “beautiful beach”.<\/p>\n

Seven Islands compose the city and like most things in India, its history goes back far in time, precisely to 1498 when the islands were taken by Portuguese from Sultan of Gujarat. They built a settlement, churches and forts, however, without a clear idea of how to use the islands, they handed them over to England in 1661 as part of the dowry of Catherine de Braganza<\/a> when she married Charles II of England<\/a>. Apparently, the British king had no use of the islands either so, in 1668, he leased them to the East India Company<\/a> for \u00a310 a year. The Company built the ports and center of the city, as well as started a process of joining all the islands into one piece of land. The construction of the port attracted many industries and business communities to the city, thus laying ground to the diversity of the city and its commercial success.<\/p>\n

Dimitris and I arrived to Mumbai on time, took a taxi (Rs.500) from the airport and 45 mins later checked-in into a beautiful Taj Mahal Palace Hotel<\/a>. After 10 days of traveling and staying in different hotels, Taj Mahal Palace was all we wanted from Mumbai and more than we hoped to get from a hotel. It is a piece of art, monument of history and an extraordinary experience, all in one! Upon seeing our room in the Palace section of the hotel, Dimitris express his desire never leave the hotel for the entire stay in Mumbai. I, frankly, shared the same wish!<\/p>\n

This stunning hotel is a Mumbai’s landmark and perhaps, one of the most famous hotels in the World. It was built in 1903 by Parsi industrialist JN Tata<\/a>\u00a0(founder of Tata group<\/a>) supposedly after he was refused entry to one of the European hotels in the city on the account of being “native”. It is a beautiful building, designed in impossible blend of 8 different styles and equipped, since its beginning, with the latest technological inventions.<\/p>\n

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But of course, it is not the marble or design, the cotton count of the sheets or the bathroom toiletries that make this hotel great, it is the impeccable and attentive service, it is an “extra mile” everybody were willing to go in order for us to enjoy ourselves and of course, it is a “wow” effect we got from pretty much everything – beautiful tibetan mandalas in the room, access to an Oxford-like lounge with complementary drinks, restaurants and bars of the hotel and so on. I was so happy on insisting to stay at this particular hotel, and i hope Dimitris was happy too.<\/p>\n

After dropping off our luggage, we went for dinner to Zodiac Grill <\/a>– one of the best romantic restaurants we’ve ever been. We ordered non-vegetarian tasting menus for both and spent an evening, worshipped by attention of our two Goan servers, Anthony and Domnic. They were professional, well-mannered and delightfully pleasant. Our first evening in Mumbai gave a promising start and well-needed refuge!<\/p>\n

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December 29.
\nIn the morning, after having our morning coffee at the lounge, we came to the concierge desk to find out about things to do in Mumbai and Viren A. D’Sa, the Taj’s Experience Manager was an experience himself. He, perhaps, is one of the best people suitable for the hospitality business, I have ever met (but I guess it applies to everyone we met at the Taj). He was super knowledgable, entertaining and friendly. He wasn’t a concierge (and he seemed to be on the run when we approached the desk), nevertheless, he spent 15 minutes telling us where to go and what to see in details. We grabbed the map he handed to us and walked out eager to explore.<\/p>\n

Unlike Delhi, Mumbai has very few things to see. Indeed, Brits invested in building the city center, but after the Independence, Indian’s zeal to wipe away all traces of colonial rule was, unfortunately, not matched by the same enthusiasm to build a new city. Skyscrapers popped up in some parts of the city and old Victorian buildings were given names that a non-Hindi speaking person could never pronounce, but most of Colaba (southern Mumbai, where we stayed) represents a fair amount of Art-Deco buildings in a pretty good conditions.<\/p>\n

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\nIn general, we thought that Mumbai was by far the cleanest and most organized place we have so far visited in India, perhaps, it is partially due to a ban on tuk-tuks within 20 kms of city center. Our taxi driver told us that the reason for it was that “tuk-tuks don’t follow the traffic regulations and create chaos in the city”, as if somebody else did follow traffic regulations?!<\/p>\n

We walked down Merewether road, then turned right to Arthur Bunder and later to Colaba Causeway, a sort of a street shopping heaven for cheap shawls, bags, clothes and bijouterie. Then we proceeded north, passed a stunning Prince of Wales museum<\/a> building (Indian name – Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya) to a small art street where I bought a few decorative paintings drawn on tree-leaves.<\/p>\n

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\nWe walked by the Naval Dockyard<\/a> with a huge mural painted on its wall, towards the St. Thomas Cathedral<\/a>. Built in 1718, it is the oldest English building in Mumbai, done in Byzantine and colonial-era architecture with a lot of tomb stones lining up the inside walls.<\/p>\n

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After lunch at Tata’s Starbucks, we continued to University of Mumbai<\/a> and High Court<\/a>. Both buildings were closed for renovation or vacation, so we weren’t able to walk inside and admire their Gothic style.<\/p>\n

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Our goal was to check out Victoria Terminus Train Station<\/a> building (locally known as Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus), which indeed had the most extravagant Gothic architecture of all. As historian Christopher London put it “the Victoria Terminus is to the British Raj what the Taj Mahal is to the Mughal empire”. Designed by F. Stevens, it was completed in 1887 and today, it is Asia’s busiest train station and a World Heritage sight as well. True to its reputation, it was so overflown with people that it forced us to run away and look for a refuge at the Crawford Market.<\/p>\n

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As Viren told us, Crawford market<\/a> was a place where we could buy everything and he meant “e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g”, from fruits to postcards to souvenirs to puppies.<\/p>\n

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\nBecause it was Sunday, half of the market was closed so, while trying to get rid of an “I-am-a-security-and-you-can’t-walk-on-your-own-here annoying man, \u00a0we checked out a few cute pets and took a taxi (Rs.70) to Marine Drive<\/a> and Girgaum Chowpatty<\/a>, also known as Corniche and “the Queen’s Necklace” to enjoy warm (+30C) weather and a beautiful Arabian Sea sunset.<\/p>\n