Bombay Sapphire
I forgot to mention something that happened to me in Jaipur. We were eating at a restaurant where there was some traditional Rajasthani dancing going on. There were two guys on the drums, or tablas, and two women doing the dancing. They were whirling like dervishes. Towards the end of the performance they did a dance where they had balanced pots of burning fuel on their heads and their dance involved keeping their backs straight. During this the younger of the two women was making eyes at me! I got very embarrassed and clumsy although I liked the attention. She wasn't bad looking either. Matt will back up this story, fantastic as it seems.
Indian trains do not look like much when you see them. They have no creature comforts. A few facts: every day the network carries about 2 million passengers across the country on the world's most extensive network of track. They are the world's largest employer, with over 1 million staff on its books. So Matt and I went to the booking office in Jaipur to get our train tickets and got them without a problem. The tickets are computer printed from the country's reservation system. When our train pulled in we could go to the carriage and the list of reserved passengers was taped onto the outside; and there we were! We got on board and settled down in the sweltering heat. Given the size and the chaos it is impressive that our seats we reserved and ready to go.
Hurtling through Rajasthan on the train was like going through desert. The land was mainly dry and dusty (I'm getting used to this dustiness now) with tough knot grass, camels, and cultivated areas already ploughed ready for the monsoon. I was able to sit in the open doorway of our carriage at around sunset and it was very beautiful to see. Later on in the evening a young lad came over from his family's seats and asked to speak to me so I spoke to him for a bit. He was 11 and learning English and he was pretty good so we spoke about England and India and cricket, which I successfully managed to bluff my way through. Other than that the journey was pleasantly uneventful and swift, arriving only 2 hours behind schedule. I have to confess the diazapam that the chemist in Jaipur sold me helped me get a good night's sleep as I have lost my earplugs.
Coming as far south as we have we were expecting the humidity, though the heat and humidity together can be overpowering sometimes. Fortunately Mumbai is quite affluent in parts and the availability of air conditioned places to stay is high.
Mumbai is one of the nicest cities that I have come to on my travels so far. It is a strange place on the surface of it. Many of the buildings here were built by the Brits when we ran it and as such there are many public edifices that resemble St. Pancras station or the Natural History Museum in London. The terminus of the Western Railway is here and the Victoria Terminus building looks rather like St. Pancras done up like the Taj Mahal; it even has palm trees out the front, such is the climate here. Another odd thing is that no Indians call it Mumbai; they still call it Bombay. Apparently this was an official change of name that most people ignored. So whilst on maps and internationally it is known as Mumbai, in India it's just called Bombay. Suits me as Bombay is a little easier to say.
Mumbai is a very affluent city, with a lot of foreign business done here as well as the country's movie industry and import/export business being big too. As a result there are many expensive places to stay and eat. The land prices here in Mumbai are in excess of those in Manhattan Island in NY, which gives some idea of the level of the economic boom here. Matt and I decided that seeing as we were here for a few days, I am meeting my father here as he has come over on business, we would spend a little more and stay in a nice hotel (no cockroaches or ants!!) and eat well. We're still within our budgets really though this is the first time that we have maxed them out. Last night we both went for a drink at the city's most expensive hotel, the Taj Mahal Hotel. This is a swanky 5-star joint and Matt and I wore our best smart-casual and even bothered to wash before going. I had a couple of gin and tonics as I thought it would be in keeping with the faux-imperial air of the surroundings. It was very nice and it made a real change to live the "high-life" for a couple of hours.
Another reason I like Mumbai is that there are no touts or aggressive salesmen around. I can walk from place to place on intact pavements and not get static from passers-by asking to "chat" of someone trying to sell me something. I guess I just like it because it reminds me of a western cities, so I'm enjoying it while I'm here.
However, there is a darker side to the city, as you'd expect. There are around 1.5 million people living in the city and the suburbs in extreme poverty. You can see the shanty towns as you come in by train. After Mohammed's advice in Jaipur I made a few donations through the hotel and restaurants, partly to ease my middle-class guilt and partly to actually help. I always believe though that unless I am directly involved with the action then I am never sure if my donations or gestures amount to anything. With poverty on this scale they don't need rupees from the well to do, they need a welfare state. Hopefully my donations will go somewhere good.
One chap befriended us when we were at one of the city's landmarks, The Gateway To India, and followed us around for the rest of the day. He seemed a very nice chap though come the evening time when he invited us to sit by the sea front with him he sprung the story of how he was made redundant and that all his documents proving his qualifications and experience were being held as security by his old landlord. He owed this landlord about 1600 rupee in back rent and until this was paid his documents would remain unavailable. I was a little sceptical to say the least but Matt and I offered to get on a train with him, pay his fare, travel to the landlord, and pay some money to get these documents back. He went all evasive after this. I almost lost my temper with him though reminded him of the million or so starving people in the outskirts of this city and that they would not hesitate to accept such an offer. We parted company and he said that we should give to "them" instead of him. Damn-bloody-right.
Mumbai is perhaps the best place in India to come to see what the young Indians now aspire to. Unlike in China, all this new wealth has not created monstrous malls or badly dressed people. Everything looks like it has been wealthy for a long time. I must admit, some of the young Indian ladies are stunningly good looking. I've never had it so good. If you go into one of the city's Mc. Donald's restaurants you will see many of the young set there enjoying the Maharaja Mac (Indian Big Mac with chicken instead of beef, for obvious reasons) or speaking to each other animatedly over a drink. Even the service in the Mc. Donald's restaurants here is excellent, with the staff always genuinely happy and even having a laugh behind the counter. I guess that's because as far as a job goes Mc. Donald's pays more than a taxi driver would earn in a week. Strange how prestige differs from country to country. Mc. Donald's here even deliver! Now that's not something I thought I'd see.
I don't think that I am experiencing the "real" India here. Mumbai is unique in the level of money it has going through it. The reason traders elsewhere might seem aggressive is because they are scratching a living out of practically nothing and so a walking dollar sign like white men like me naturally attracts a certain desperate attempt at a sale. I do not begrudge them that. The new middle class in India are on the increase so the money here is as "real" an India as any other state or province, it's just different. It's certainly a country of contrasts and I am looking forward to seeing more of it.
Indian trains do not look like much when you see them. They have no creature comforts. A few facts: every day the network carries about 2 million passengers across the country on the world's most extensive network of track. They are the world's largest employer, with over 1 million staff on its books. So Matt and I went to the booking office in Jaipur to get our train tickets and got them without a problem. The tickets are computer printed from the country's reservation system. When our train pulled in we could go to the carriage and the list of reserved passengers was taped onto the outside; and there we were! We got on board and settled down in the sweltering heat. Given the size and the chaos it is impressive that our seats we reserved and ready to go.
Hurtling through Rajasthan on the train was like going through desert. The land was mainly dry and dusty (I'm getting used to this dustiness now) with tough knot grass, camels, and cultivated areas already ploughed ready for the monsoon. I was able to sit in the open doorway of our carriage at around sunset and it was very beautiful to see. Later on in the evening a young lad came over from his family's seats and asked to speak to me so I spoke to him for a bit. He was 11 and learning English and he was pretty good so we spoke about England and India and cricket, which I successfully managed to bluff my way through. Other than that the journey was pleasantly uneventful and swift, arriving only 2 hours behind schedule. I have to confess the diazapam that the chemist in Jaipur sold me helped me get a good night's sleep as I have lost my earplugs.
Coming as far south as we have we were expecting the humidity, though the heat and humidity together can be overpowering sometimes. Fortunately Mumbai is quite affluent in parts and the availability of air conditioned places to stay is high.
Mumbai is one of the nicest cities that I have come to on my travels so far. It is a strange place on the surface of it. Many of the buildings here were built by the Brits when we ran it and as such there are many public edifices that resemble St. Pancras station or the Natural History Museum in London. The terminus of the Western Railway is here and the Victoria Terminus building looks rather like St. Pancras done up like the Taj Mahal; it even has palm trees out the front, such is the climate here. Another odd thing is that no Indians call it Mumbai; they still call it Bombay. Apparently this was an official change of name that most people ignored. So whilst on maps and internationally it is known as Mumbai, in India it's just called Bombay. Suits me as Bombay is a little easier to say.
Mumbai is a very affluent city, with a lot of foreign business done here as well as the country's movie industry and import/export business being big too. As a result there are many expensive places to stay and eat. The land prices here in Mumbai are in excess of those in Manhattan Island in NY, which gives some idea of the level of the economic boom here. Matt and I decided that seeing as we were here for a few days, I am meeting my father here as he has come over on business, we would spend a little more and stay in a nice hotel (no cockroaches or ants!!) and eat well. We're still within our budgets really though this is the first time that we have maxed them out. Last night we both went for a drink at the city's most expensive hotel, the Taj Mahal Hotel. This is a swanky 5-star joint and Matt and I wore our best smart-casual and even bothered to wash before going. I had a couple of gin and tonics as I thought it would be in keeping with the faux-imperial air of the surroundings. It was very nice and it made a real change to live the "high-life" for a couple of hours.
Another reason I like Mumbai is that there are no touts or aggressive salesmen around. I can walk from place to place on intact pavements and not get static from passers-by asking to "chat" of someone trying to sell me something. I guess I just like it because it reminds me of a western cities, so I'm enjoying it while I'm here.
However, there is a darker side to the city, as you'd expect. There are around 1.5 million people living in the city and the suburbs in extreme poverty. You can see the shanty towns as you come in by train. After Mohammed's advice in Jaipur I made a few donations through the hotel and restaurants, partly to ease my middle-class guilt and partly to actually help. I always believe though that unless I am directly involved with the action then I am never sure if my donations or gestures amount to anything. With poverty on this scale they don't need rupees from the well to do, they need a welfare state. Hopefully my donations will go somewhere good.
One chap befriended us when we were at one of the city's landmarks, The Gateway To India, and followed us around for the rest of the day. He seemed a very nice chap though come the evening time when he invited us to sit by the sea front with him he sprung the story of how he was made redundant and that all his documents proving his qualifications and experience were being held as security by his old landlord. He owed this landlord about 1600 rupee in back rent and until this was paid his documents would remain unavailable. I was a little sceptical to say the least but Matt and I offered to get on a train with him, pay his fare, travel to the landlord, and pay some money to get these documents back. He went all evasive after this. I almost lost my temper with him though reminded him of the million or so starving people in the outskirts of this city and that they would not hesitate to accept such an offer. We parted company and he said that we should give to "them" instead of him. Damn-bloody-right.
Mumbai is perhaps the best place in India to come to see what the young Indians now aspire to. Unlike in China, all this new wealth has not created monstrous malls or badly dressed people. Everything looks like it has been wealthy for a long time. I must admit, some of the young Indian ladies are stunningly good looking. I've never had it so good. If you go into one of the city's Mc. Donald's restaurants you will see many of the young set there enjoying the Maharaja Mac (Indian Big Mac with chicken instead of beef, for obvious reasons) or speaking to each other animatedly over a drink. Even the service in the Mc. Donald's restaurants here is excellent, with the staff always genuinely happy and even having a laugh behind the counter. I guess that's because as far as a job goes Mc. Donald's pays more than a taxi driver would earn in a week. Strange how prestige differs from country to country. Mc. Donald's here even deliver! Now that's not something I thought I'd see.
I don't think that I am experiencing the "real" India here. Mumbai is unique in the level of money it has going through it. The reason traders elsewhere might seem aggressive is because they are scratching a living out of practically nothing and so a walking dollar sign like white men like me naturally attracts a certain desperate attempt at a sale. I do not begrudge them that. The new middle class in India are on the increase so the money here is as "real" an India as any other state or province, it's just different. It's certainly a country of contrasts and I am looking forward to seeing more of it.