We don't have much experience with large cities but I suppose this is what people mean when they talk about Los Angeles. The city just seems to go out of focus after a certain distance.
This is a photo of the SeaLink bridge with the city behind. Perhaps someone or some think thinks that Mumbai is too overpowering if seen in a single glance so the smog only lets you see little bits at a time. The airport was closed late yesterday afternoon because of the smog. This makes me think about how we organize ourselves the day we leave India. We leave late on the 27th from Mumbai but now I wonder if we should come here a day early and not try to fly in late on the afternoon of the 27th.
Traffic:
Mumbai has a small taxi-tricycle called a moto-rickshaw. There are so many of these they seem to outnumber people and Mumbai has a lot of people.
A consequence of the moot-rickshaw is that street traffic is a lot like foot traffic on the commons. Intersections are not organized things. Just enter and push your way through. It reminds me of what you might see if you chopped the top off an ant hill and just looked at what appears to be pandemonium but in reality is rather organized, just not to my understanding.
People also take part in this pandemonium.
You are just as likely to see pedestrians in the middle of busy traffic as you are vehicles.
Finally, Mumbai has its own take on what we call road rage. Bigger, slower vehicles all have painted on the back of the vehicle the words “Horn OK Please”. Just a way of letting you know that if you are behind one of these and honk your horn with impatience they won't get upset. It is like having thousands of personal therapists all around you and worried about what getting upset will do to your blood pressure.
Notice the beautiful spiral ornamentation on this truck.
People:
Mumbai has all kinds of people from people like us eating lunch in the Sea Lounge at the Taj Hotel to
to some of the thinnest and most abject people in the world whose touch, when they are begging from you, is as light as a caressing breeze. It is overpowering.
Food:
We have eaten extremely well here. The breakfasts in our hotel are great. We had sambar with idle today. The yogurt was light and obviously made that day. The chutney was also home made. You see fresh curry leaves here in the food. At home we must always buy dried leaves.
Our lunch at the Taj was very good. “Bombay favourites”. I had the cold milk drink with ground up pistachio nuts. Names don't seem to stay with me. But the tastes are so nice and complementary compared to the Indian food we eat at home.
Last night we visited the home of Madhav, the brother of Pratima Oltikar. His family has a nice apartment in a rather rundown building. He is head of a committee that is pulling the old building down and putting up a new one for 75 families.
We met Pratima's parents. Her son, Rahul, looks so much like his grand father. Madhav lives with his parents, his wife and until recently his two sons (Sameer just got married and moved out) in a 2-bedroom apartment. His new apartment will have 3 bedrooms and you can tell he is looking forward to being able to have visitors stay in his home.
Sham Oltikar's brother, Ramesh, came to meet us in our hotel and rranged our taxi for us. We are very grateful. We had a nice chat and he reminds me so much of Sham.
Sites:
When Peter Jackson made those animated massive army scenes in The Lord of the Rings he could have been modeling the shear bulk of the throng on the humanity that moves through the crowded streets of Mumbai. We did not walk in these streets. Our taxi drove on elevated highways and we just had glimpses of the numbers below.
Our taxi tour took us to the Gateway of India
and the Taj. I had no idea, from all the tv footage we saw during the attacks, tht the Taj was on the malecon (seaside promenade). We passed the old train station and beautiful old buildings too numerous to remember.
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