September 19 - Mumbai, India

Well, Sadie is officially taller than Janet, Ron is sporting a goatee, Janet has resorted to cutting her own bangs and Anna is doing her math studies via addition and subtraction whilst shopping. We have finally met up with Judy which was amazing. Of course it was so great to see and hug her. For those of you who know Judy, you also know she would never arrive empty handed. Out of her bag came magazines, math books (groan), chocolate, twizzlers, gummy bears, HOME MADE chocolate chip cookies. It was a feeding frenzie! She also had letters and gifts from Sadie & Anna’s friends. They were in heaven, the personal contact from home made their day. We did not meet Judy until we hit Goa, so I will backtrack to our first impressions and visit to Mumbai.

Our flight to Mumbia was effortless except for the length of it. However, eventually we arrived in Mumbai at about 1:30am, local time. The city was so alive. We crammed into our cab and started our journey down to our hotel just outside of Colaba in the Marine Dr. district. Now, I had really tried to picture ahead of time what to expect in a large Indian city, as any logical person would try and do, a person who doesn’t want to be shocked. However, it is not until the sights, sounds, smells and feelings hit you in 3D , the picture really comes to life. And just like we had been told time and time again, India presents a myriad of contrasts; beautiful, ugly, dirty, clean, bright, cosmopolitan & traditional. It hasn’t stopped amazing me yet, in one glance I can see something so disgusting right beside one of the most beautiful sights I’ve ever seen. And the smells! There are bad smells of course but there are also amazing scents mingling in between. It feels like you can always smell something.

Our introduction to driving was hilarious. Weaving and honking our way through the city streets. Nobody even remotely stays within the lanes and nobody obeys any traffic signals. Driving is the most incredible system marrying aggression and submission, all without road rage. The horns are used relentlessly which can either drive you crazy or eventually melt into the background as a constant accompaniment to your day…and night. We took a moment to be thankful we were not driving ourselves, maps in had trying to find our way – street signs are random and often nonexistent.

Now this is Ron’s second trip to India, the first one being about 25 years ago. I will leave it to him to describe the feelings he has seeing it then and now. I do know that travelling with your family is very different from backpacking on your own. I’m sure there are benefits and compromises doing it either way. There must be some good entertainment value for him to see the three of us seeing it for the first time.

We only had a couple of days in Mumbai so we focused our experience on catching up with Ron’s friend Shamita (from Powerex) and Colaba, the downtown historical and tourist central area near our hotel.

Shamita lived in Vancouver for ten years and moved back to her home city, Mumbai, about 3 months ago. She kindly invited us out to her apartment she shares with her mom for lunch. There we were treated to a huge lunch of traditional Goan cuisine (her family is originally from Goa) and great conversation with her mom, cousin, cousin’s husband and Aunt. It was interesting talking to Shamita about moving back and looking for work. She has a couple of irons in the fire and is getting used to Mumbai again although she finds it has changed a great deal. Her cousin works in a call centre – one of the thousands we’ve all heard about and most likely spoken to while trying to get some technical support for our cell phone or whatever. She laughed while telling us about the people she speaks with over the phone when they find out she is in India. “You are where???” they ask. Followed by many questions similar to asking Canadians if they live in igloos.

Our second day we spent walking down through Colaba. Our stops included the Gateway to India, The Taj Mahal Hotel and Leopold’s. Of course getting there and getting back offered a glimpse into the street life in Mumbai. It is true, there are entire families living right there on the sidewalk. It was hard work not to feel incredibly sad as the people, especially children and elders, begged us for money. We caught a glimpse of the slum where they filmed Slumdog Millionaire (a film which inspires many conflicting opinions in India) and stepped carefully by women, men and many children catching their afternoon nap or night time sleep right there on the sidewalk. We tried to remember, however difficult it is for us to see, it is much more difficult to live it. That being said, I also saw many happy faces and laughing children – all in all I left feeling it’s ok to respectfully observe but as usual, dangerous to judge. Everything here is just so incredibly different from what we know in our every day in Canada.

The Taj Hotel and Leopold’s are two venues recently targeted in the terrorist attacks of November, 2008. We went inside the Taj to use the gorgeous marble bathroom and to check out the victims’ monument. Ok, we went in to see the monument and a pleasant up-tick was using the bathroom. Security around the hotel is unbelievable. Nobody steps near without direction and surveillance. Unauthorized taxis are not allowed to stop nearby and any cars that do drive into the entrance behind the fence are checked by at least 4 men, complete with rolling mirrors to check underneath the car. We went to Leopold’s for dinner. Perhaps it is a morbid sense of curiosity to be so close to two terrorist attack sites, I can’t really explain it. At Leopold’s there are still bullet holes in the mirrors and marks on the marble floor where there was grenade damage. Nine customers and two waiters lost their lives that day.

Other highlights included a carriage ride, getting my Burkenstock repaired on the street, fabulous Indian food at local restaurants, finding cheap books to buy, Gaylord’s Bakery, an ornate Hindu Temple end especially walking through the residence where Gandhi lived while in Mumbai. I think the girls are still sorting out how they feel about being here. There are great moments and terrible moments (the yuck factor) but all eye opening. I will say, I really liked Mumbai and can’t help but notice, I don’t think I was as “shocked” as I thought I would be. Perhaps all those mental gymnastics trying to prepare myself did some good after all. As usual when travelling, you leave a place feeling perhaps you didn’t have enough time to do it justice, but it was an amazing peek.