Busy days, late hours and horrid traffic left me and hubby
SS exhausted on the Friday evening. Thus came many pleasurable and contented
ways of spending our weekend. That of ‘relaxing at home’, ‘chilling out with a
dvd’ and getting chores done. Then a simple
campaign by a leading newspaper happened asking us to switch off our teevees for a
day. It sounds like a mighty marketing gimmick, but it honestly worked. We
decided to finally get out of our contented monotonous chilling at home and
explore what was closest to us – the city of Mumbai. What first came to our head was the symbol most popularly associated with Mumbai City - The Gateway of India and and decided to start with areas around it.
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| The Taj and the Gateway from the Sea |
It was walk down memory lane for me as I passed the
legendary Regal theatre and the Alibaba Restaurant that was adjacent to an
office where I once worked right after my engineering on the way to the Gateway.
It was wonderful to walk on Colaba Causeway and hear the vendors speak expertly
in English and French and still see them target only the white tourist population
and ignore the brown skinned locals! The
array of gaudy necklaces, trinkets, scarves, marble and wooden showpieces that
have not changed for a long time now continued to be there and continued to
fascinate me. Only most of them were pretty pricey targeting a dollar audience
dollars and not for local Indians!
The Taj Hotel
Right across the Gateway of India, The Taj has stood like a
shining beacon of lovely architecture in Mumbai city and a balm to eyes tired
of filth, peeling paint, slums and box like buildings with matchbox apartments.
From the Gateway it looked grand as always and a testimony to what Mumbai has
withstood, repaired though not healed. The luxury hotel has attracted
distinguished visitors in Mumbai and it was always a pleasure to enter its luxurious,
and rich interiors even if it was for just a cup of late night coffee or for a
conference in one of its grand ballrooms.
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| Wah Taj! |
The Gateway of India
Coming back to the Gateway of India, my earliest memories as
a kid were walking right under the Gateway and buying puzzles, tricks and such
paraphernalia from a thriving market of encroachments even back then. Now, amidst security concerns, there is a
large police barricade and siege with elaborate screening, constant security
vigil and a heightened awareness although it was fortunately pervaded by much
laughter and photographers asking couples to make various funny poses to hold
the Taj and the Gateway.
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| The Gateway of India |
The Gateway of India was built to commemorate the visit of
King George V and Queen Mary to Bombay back in 1911, a 100 years back from the
approaching March 11, 2011. The last of British troops to leave India also
passed through the Gateway in
1948. In earlier times, the Gateway was the first glimpse of Bombay that
visitors arriving by Bombay would get.
The architecture of the Gateway is Indo-Gothic representing the
cosmopolitan culture of the city of Mumbai even today.
Elephanta Caves and
the Ferry ride
Our next destination was the famous Elephanta caves, which
are on an island across Bombay, reachable by a ferry ride in the sea from the
Gateway. It is funny how most locals including us have never seen these caves
despite residing in Mumbai for so many years. It never helped that that those
who had visited only disparaged the place saying there were just a few broken
idols and little else to see. Well, but look at it this way, it really is fun
to be a tourist in your own city and see things from a new perspective,
understand history and see where the roots of your city indeed lie. The Gateway
is one part of understanding the city, the Taj another and the Elephanta caves
set in an era long bygone adding yet another dimension to this huge city.
Cruising in the Arabian Sea on an hour long ferry ride, fanned by a cool
zephyr, watching the Mumbai skyline recede and trying to make out major
landmarks in the city all added to our really touristy experience.
We reached the Elephanta Island by boat and clambered on a
toy train which really ran the distance of a 5 minute walk but was again, a
part of the experience! We then had piping hot tea from the ubiquitous tea
stalls and then proceeded to clamber the many steps up the hill that led to the
caves. As usual, the entrance all along the steps was lined by a huge market of
souvenirs that sold everything that can be found at any souvenir market in
India I suppose. We saw rows and rows of endless ‘handicrafts’ that we had
bought foolishly in Rajasthan at high prices
as something unique and refused to buy more ‘unique items’.
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| Toy Train to Elephanta Caves |
We finally reached the caves and found a guide (unauthorized
guy since there were no official guides!) to tell us the history of the place
instead of us looking blankly at the statues. We learned that the Elephanta Island as it was now known is
known originally and referred to by locals as the Gharapuri Island which means
literally island of caves. The island consists of Hindu and Buddhist caves with
the Hindu caves depicting tales from the life of Shiva.
The Portuguese called the island Elephanta on seeing its
huge gigantic statue of an Elephant at the entrance. The Statue is now placed
in the garden outside the Jijamata Udyan at Byculla in Mumbai. This cave was
renovated in the 1970s after years of neglect, and was designated a UNESCO
World Heritage Site in 1987 to preserve the artwork and is currently maintained
by the Archaeological Survey of India. If the Portuguese used the sculptures
for target practice blowing them up for most part, Indian ruffians scribbled
and carved their names and declared undying love to their beloveds and
desecrated the statues. ASI has done a good job however in cleaning up a
majority of these names, though on close scrutiny, one can still make out
English letters in the haze.
The guide told us several interesting stories about the
sculptures most of which could be confirmed by the guidebook or Wikipedia. The
ones I liked are Ravan lifting Shiva and Parvati on Mount Kailash, Wedding of
Shiva, Shiva slaying a demon named Andhaka, and the most famous one, the
Trimurti. The Trimurti is a 20 ft rock sculpture that depicts a three headed
Shiva manifesting creation, preservation and destruction and thus the three
important deities Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva respectively.
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| The Trimurti Idol |
It took us around 2 hours to go around the entire place,
take photos and listen to stories besides indulging in chai, and look at
knick-knacks in the souvenir market. The ferry service starts early in the
morning and continues till around 5:00 pm in the evening in winters. I suppose
this time gets extended in summers.
The ride back thrilled us again as sea gulls swept up and
down, and in circles with their cries over the lapping waters. We disembarked
at the Gateway and headed back into the chaos of the city. With a few hours
left to kill on that perfect weekend, we ate pav bhaji at one of the tiny
restaurants at Colaba Causeway, ate a really yummy looking pan and watched the
Bollywood movie ‘Agneepath’ at the historic Regal theater.
I would definitely recommend this trip to anyone who wants
to become a tourist at Mumbai. Go Out Mumbaikars and take that ferry ride!
