16.03.26

Well, we are in Mumbai and what a contrast it is to Tamil Nadu.  Mumbai is the booming business centre of India, equipped with snazzy cafes, yuppies and high-rise office buildings.  Not to mention that it is the centre of the largest film-production in the world, Bollywood.  Of course there are still beggars, lepers and street children in Mumbai, but they hustle alongside men in briefcases eating pizza in posh restaurants.  Like it or not, Rod and I feel more comfortable here, although seeing the sites and meeting the people of Tamil Nadu was one of the most heart-warming, genuine experiences I’ve had while traveling.  In Mumbai, we have returned to the world of glitz and commerce.  But best of all about Mumbai, is that I was finally able to reach Nikita in Gujarat.  She’ll be taking the overnight train to Mumbai and meeting up with us sometime tomorrow!

This morning we ate breakfast at Leopold’s, a restaurant established in 1871 and seemingly frequented largely by the Western backpacker set.  After breakfast we ran errands such as checking email, changing money and dropping off laundry at the cleaner’s.  Following an afternoon nap, we took a metered taxi to Marina Drive and walked to Chowpatty Beach, making a stop at the yogic centre there.  We ate dinner at another culinary landmark, the Ideal Café, and topped it off with kulfi, a flavoured sweet ice confection on the beach.  On our way back to the hotel, we got the taxi to drop us at the 5-star architectural wonder, the Taj Mahal Hotel, very near to the Gateway of India, built by the British in 1911, and back through the market on Colaba Causeway.

The sense of spiritual awareness which I felt in Tamil Nadu has lifted in exact proportion to the number of objects I have wished to purchase at the market stands and the gloppy, heavy food I have consumed here.  Still, it feels good to be  in Mumbai.