Mumbai

We're in Mumbai, formerly Bombay. It seems we saved the biggest and best for last.

The city is absolutely huge. More than 19 million people in the metropolitan area, but the waterfront goes for more than 20 km, some 12 miles. From a boat in the harbor the first morning, the city seemed to start in the north and disappear all the way in the south, skyscrapers the whole way, by far the longest waterfront I've ever seen.

On the way into the city we passed the "most expensive house in the world," a $2 billion (yep) effort being built by the CEO of Reliance Industries. 6 residence floors for his family, more for the guests, theater, offices, health clubs, entertainment, and much more. It's been under construction for two years, probably two more years to go. (For final architect's drawings and model photos, check here:

http://www.forbes.com/2008/04/30/home-india-billion-forbeslife-cx_mw_0430realestate.html)

We went to the caves on Elephanta Island, containing Hindu sculptures carved out of a solid rock mountain more than 1,000 years ago. At least 5 meters high and 30 meters into the mountain,
they carved around sections to leave natural pillars standing to help hold the ceiling up. Most of the paintings have long faded away, and the carvings were used by Muslim invaders for target practice, but many figures remain in each carving, and the guide walked us through the complex stories of the gods and their followers in each one. It was more than 90 degrees, we climbed a small mountain, and had two hour-long boat rides. After lunch in a great downtown tourist restaurant (Fran and I each ordered beef, the first we've seen in more than 5 weeks), we were ready to collapse.

The next morning we headed into the Dharavi slum, already described below, in another post. A truly powerful experience. The guide was from an organization called Reality Cares, which works to provide education for kids in the slums. Indeed, as we entered from the highway, many kids from outside were heading into the slum, along with us, to go to school. It surely seems like a worthwhile initiative.



On Sunday we took a city tour. The Taj Hotel is being rebuilt after the horrendous terror attack almost exactly a year ago, and is still the special place in town for important functions.  In fact, the PepsiCo board is meeting there while we're in town.




The hotel stands next to India Gateway, which is analogous to our Statue of Liberty. We went to the High Court, universities, and local government buildings, and visited the Jain Temple.

We visited Mahatma Gandhi's house and saw where he lived and worked. Remarkably simple, including the single room where he ate, slept, worked, and received visitors. It also includes the spinning wheel on which he made his own clothes. The library, which still holds 5,000 volumes, is still used for prayer meetings every week.



The local laundry was an amazing experience, more than 700 stalls where people were washing clothes. Bicycles arrive with peoples' laundry from all over the city (cleaning a shirt costs 60 cents), uniforms from hospitals, hotels, and other places lined roofs, and workers in shifts man the stalls 24 hours a day. (There are also many other similar washing locations around the city.)

We also visited Victoria Station, the country's largest train station, with more than 1.5 million passengers each day. The terrorists came here, also, and we stood in the waiting room where they started shooting. It's always jammed, and it would have been impossible not to do tremendous damage.






In the city streets we passed a Hindu festival in the streets, a common occurrence in a country with so many festivals! In the evening we went to a local dance theater.






Monday was set aside for shopping! Fran had been scouting handicrafts the entire trip, and studying stores around Mumbai, and she already knew many markets and handicraft stores she wanted to visit. By the end of the day she was a tired and very happy camper.

Tuesday we ventured through security at the back of the hotel and walked the beach. At low tide it's more than 50 meters wide, and it goes for miles. We relaxed in the lounge and worked on the blog before finally heading for the airport for a night flight to Tokyo.

Wednesday morning we'll cross the International Date Line, leaving Tokyo at 11:00 a.m. and arriving in Washington at 9:40 the same morning!

India is a huge, complex, and overwhelming country. We're now somewhat used to the population density in Asia, and the education level and work ethic here are similar to other Asian countries. The British influence remains, and most of the people already speak English. Indeed, with 22 national languages, many with few or no common origins, English sometimes seems like the internal bridge between India's peoples.

The people are delightful. We've never encountered a service ethic like India's, anywhere else in the world. It seemed to be everybody's mission to serve us, with a smile, in any way possible, at every possible moment. We have been treated like royalty.

We are extremely grateful to the guides who showed us their country and its history, and to the drivers who took us everywhere and took such good care of us the entire trip. Pictured here are two of our favorites: Arjun (driver) and Manik (tour guide), both of whom showed us Mumbai.

It's been a fabulous trip. We've seen more of the country than many local people we met, and we appreciate the history and culture in the East, across the North, and in the South. We are very fortunate to have seen everything they showed us.

India has a tremendous future. As the education level rises across all its people, and its middle class grows by hundreds of millions, India will become an intellectual and economic power that will rival anything else in the world. We've been very privileged to meet its people, see its history, and understand the environment that will make it all possible.