The service at the Taj

as always, is impeccable (except when arresting us for using the pool).

        Dear Mr.Pos ,

         The Management & Staff of The Taj Mahal Palace & Tower Mumbai   join me in extending to you our warmest wishes on your Birthday.  May this coming year be filled with all finest things for you & many more years to come.         

         Warm Regards,

         Payel Bhattacharjee

         Guest Relations Executive

         The Taj Mahal Palace & Tower,

         Mumbai-400001

         Tel: +91-22-66653366

         Fax: +91-22-66650300

         E-mail: payel.bhattacharjee@tajhotels.com

         Website: www.tajhotels.com 

Mumbai terror attacks - I'm ok

I got into Delhi last night.

There are approximately 150 million Muslims in India, and relations between the 80% Hindu population have been strained ever since partition. Muslims, on the whole, are treated rather badly here, and there have been periodic bouts of sectarian violence and reprisals on both sides. It seems one of Mumbai's outbursts of religion-fuelled violence has happened again.

Several groups started shooting, taking hostages, and lobbing grenades around popular spots in Mumbai. The heritage wing of the Taj Mahal Hotel (Mumbai's premier hotel, and where I stayed for my birthday) is on fire, Cafe Leopold's (a popular institution taken over by tourists, and where Shantaram was written) was attacked, as was the Metro theatre - a beautiful 1940s art deco cinema, the central train station, hospitals, and various other locations. Terrorists in various places were asking for British and American citizens.

The Indian Mujahaddin has claimed responsibility, which means it may be a while before I venture into the old (and more interesting) Muslim section of Delhi.

Update:

Added to this post, Metro Cinema is near where Pheroze lives, and I'll have to check back on the friendly Colaba cop when I get back.

Update 2:

And I believe Chabad House was where I celebrated Passover with the dead Rabbi and his family, some Israeli tourists and some Indian Jews (who have been here a long, long time).

Update 3:

Picture link one and two

Update 4:

Two sides of the Taj debate: tails (how I felt the first time I visited the Taj) and heads (how I felt after staying there)

To tide you over...

Here's a post from a great column (?) that is well worth adding to your feed reader. Or checking regularly, Mum.

My friend Jon from Bombay saw the Ganesh Chaturthi and Janmashthmi festivals in Bombay. During Janmashthmi, he said the man who broke the pot was about 30 feet up, and hung on the rope for a while before dropping into the crowd and disappearing from sight.

Mumbai

Cleaning up all my India stuff, here's some stuff from waaaaay back in Mumbai.

From the Jogeshwari caves on the outskirts of the city, although the actual people living next to them were far more interesting.


Banganga, a 1,000 year old tank fed by a natural spring in the corner. It's right in the middle of ultra-modern and rich Malabar hill, and feels very ancient and strange. According to legend, Rama's brother Laxmi fired an arrow into the ground and water sprung out.

Here's the queue for the Siddhivanayak temple on the day you're meant to go there - I can't remember which it is now. Although some people walk from their homes barefoot to go there, it felt like more of a social outing, like church on sunday.

Mumbai is an exciting city and has a lot going on. It has some of the most expensive property in the world, and also has the largest slum in Asia. It's like New York and L.A. rolled into one - loud, brassy and exciting. It exerts a pull on the rest of the population, who flock to the city to follow the Indian dream, most of whom end up in the slums. Even the dogs in Mumbai are more wired than in the rest of the country. Like the rest of India, you get back what you put in. If you come looking to find a job, you'll find it. If you come looking to be disgusted at the poverty, you'll find that too. I came to be vaguely entertained, and that's exactly what I got.

Here's two Mumbai friends I randomly drove past in a taxi. In a city of 20 million people.

Say Goodbye to the Jhabvalas

...for now.

That's Hoshang on the right, Deenaz in the middle and Rayo on the left. He's going to America to study soon.

They were very nice to me while I was in Bombay and invited me up to dinner a lot and also to go swimming, dancing etc... I'll see them pretty soon though I hope. I think if Deenaz has her way Chessie and Julia could be very happy little girls (though not on elephants).

Also said goodbye to Auri and all the various friends I met in Mumbai :(

That was that, now Gujurat.

Someday, Bombay.

Well the monsoon has come to Mumbai and it's time to leave. I'm heading up to Gujurat for various reasons to be blogged about later, then on through Rajasthan (again) to Delhi. I'll be back, Mumbai, I'll be back...

Here are some last random pics of Bombay.

Awesome motorbike, well worth zooming in on.


Peter Pan and Wendy, as we call them, local ashram refugees from the rains.


Just sweeping in the rain... what a wonderful feeling... If you had 4 months of torrential rain you wouldn't care if you got wet either.

When the rain comes down...

It just started raining in Mumbai. Pics to come.


"Someday a real rain will come and wash all this scum off the streets." - Travis Bickle

Incidentally, Leigh and I once caught a taxi in Sydney and the guy said pretty much the same thing.

People Carrying Things On Their Heads, ep. 1

As promised.

Having just seen the final in a seedy, raucus pub, I can only say...

Yeahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!

(F yeah for non family members).

We never would have lost the Ashes if Warnie was captain.

Added: This pub (Gokuls):

Someone kept doing the Aussie Aussie Aussie chant but didn't know exactly how it went, so it would go:

Aussie Aussie Aussie! Oi Oi Oi

Aussie Aussie Aussie! Oi Oi Oi

Aussie Aussie Aussie! Oi Oi Oi

Aussie Aussie Aussie! Oi Oi Oi

Aussie Aussie Aussie! Oi Oi Oi

Small General Update

No, not a little Army man called Update.

Nice photo of a guy selling roasted nuts etc... a pretty common snack sight in Mumbai. They have a little bowl full of embers that they place on top of the nuts to slowly roast them.

Sign in my hotel. Good advice, that.

P.E.R. update: The current rate for Rupees to Aussie Dollars is 4:1, as in, for a $10 item in Australia you should pay 40 rupees in India. However, for any item that is intrinsically foreign or not common-place (such as toilet paper, beer, dvd's) the rate goes up to 10:1.

I Fought the Law, and the Law Won.

The other day some friends and I decided to go swimming in the Taj (blogged about here and here) pool. I had it on good advice that it was easy-ish to do - my Mum had told me that she used to dress up as a guest and go do it, and one of the people I went with had done it a few times before. Anyway, on the way out we got asked for our room number... ruh roh.

Here's what we ended up with:

That's a thousand rupees each (only $25 au, but enough to eat for a week cheaply). Hmpph, never going back there again.

The policeman (yes policeman) who came took a liking to me though, he gave me his number in case I ever get into any trouble. Who says every cloud doesn't have a silver lining, every rose doesn't have it's thorn etc...

Indian Idol, final episode

Due to popular demand, this will be the last episode of Indian Idol. Don't forget to vote.

Contestant One, another tree shrine:

Contestant Two, an entry in the sub-category "idol's with people looking at them strangely"

Contestant Three, a nice Sai Baba shrine that glows lovely-ly in the dark.

Next week, "People Carrying Things on Their Heads".

Meet Auri...

She's an old friend I made on a message board I used to post on when I was around 17. Bet none of you guys knew that, right?

Anyway, she's from Bombay, but studies in Canada and recently came back for a holiday. She took me to an awesome restaurant and bar the other night. It's nice having people on the 'inside'.

She likes the Beatles, cricketers, good food, books and music. Pretty cool.

The picture is totally stolen from Facebook.

And no my little cousins, I'm not marrying her.

So, what's Alex been up to?

Well, various things. Time for a photo-dump and an update.

Sitting in an internet cafe I met an Australian named Bruce (easy to remember).


He's doing an oral history research project in Mumbai. Cause I'm starting to get a sense of things, I asked if it was about the Parsis. Bingo. Well, actually the Irani's, who came more recently from started up cafes, bars etc with a little help from the Parsis.

Bruce met a lovely guy named Pheroze who runs a bar, who offered him his spare apartment while he was staying. Since he was leaving the next day, he invited me around for a drink with Pheroze and his bawa-ji friend, Dara. Sure enough, I'm offered the apartment for as long as I want. And Dara knows Hoshan and his wife.

Dara:


A seedy looking Pheroze in an amazingly empty, modern and clean tunnel complex near his apartment:


Secret Parsi ritual taking place in the temple next door. Shhh, you're not allowed in!


Unfortunately, after a few days the building manager complained and I had to skip the place to let things cool down. Oh well, a few days rent free courtesy of the kindness of strangers.

Hmm what else? Today I went to an audition for a daily tv show here, all about the independence movement circa 1942. I was to play the Lieutenant General's son, ie: evil Britisher. The pay would've be great even by Australian standards. Anyway, I got to the moment before the audition before I remembered that I CAN'T ACT AND IN FACT ACTING TERRIFIES ME. I bombed badly and left in disgrace. Production company, if you're reading this, I'm sorry (and female producer, give me a call).

Depending on a few factors, I could possibly get a follow-up story in the Mumbai Mirror, this time written by myself and for actual money!

I got some 'visiting cards' as they're called here printed up cheaply, took the pic in Goa:


TV news is eplilepsy-inducing, any actual footage competes with at least three news-bars:


I had my first real India train experience - I was kind of dissapointed at not being crushed at first, but sure enough, being on this train meant I overshot my destination by three stations, it was just impossible to get out.


For contrast:


I hurt my foot playing cricket, here's a pic of me in my hotel room in one of those shirts my mum wanted me to get, plus a boomerang necklace (to remind me to go home), and a stick. It's as touristy as I get.


How did I hurt my foot? By making the mistake of mentioning I was Australian in the street. Instant cricket game, good spirited but everyone wanting to get me out. The log we were using as the stumps fell on my toe. Everyone plays or is obsessed with cricket here, here are some street kids playing with a shuttlecock. Normal begging was suspended while I joined in, as soon as the game was over it resumed.


It took me a minute to work out what was going on here. That bike wasn't going anywhere!


Pretty flower.


I chased down a group called the Siddis, Africans who have been in west India for ages and still have similar drumming rituals. Either everyday is party day for the Siddis, or I got there for some festival. One of about 20 drumming troupes that came by the mosque:


Crazy African/Indian drums:


Mmm festival food:


That's it for now, tomorrow an old friend arrives to show me round.

The next episode of Indian Idol will be the last, cancelled due to lack of interest. It will be replaced by a series I call "people carrying things on their heads".

I'm getting callous...

Bombay Bingo

Shoe Cleaning	Massage	Bed Bugs	Tripping Tourist
What’s your name, what country?	First customer of the day	Postcards	Bird Poop
Taxi?	Want to be in Bollywood?	Person missing limb asks for money/food	Drums
Smoke? Coffeeshop? Grass?	Carpets? Shawls? Pashmina?	Something in your ear	Hello? Hello? Kids ask for food/water

Rules:

Just walk around Colaba until you get a complete bingo (four

horizontal or vertical squares). For extra difficulty, a bingo

may not be complete without an offer to change money.

The winner must yell “Bombay Bingo!”

Remember, this game can only be played in Colaba. If you don’t

want these hassles, go out and see some of the rest of the city!

Alex

on the case.

Edit: This was a link to a news story that's been taken down, maybe one day I'll upload a PDF of it here.

Dhobi Ghat

Where all Mumbai's washing gets done. By hand.

For my birthday...

My mum kindly put me up in the Taj. It's the biggest hotel in..., well I blogged about it here so you can read the link.

The Salvation Army is right next door, the cheapest and the most expensive place to stay next to each other. You can look out from the broken windows in the shower in the Salvo's and see people moving in air conditioned luxury in the Taj.

Today*, I was one of them.

Of course, I couldn't celebrate alone, so I had some friends over.


Here's a before shot of the room.


I should have taken an after shot as it was a mess. It was truly a pleasure rolling around that bed, giving them all our fleas and bed bugs, before going down to wash our scabs and bites in their pool.


There was a pretty good view too.


Because it was my birthday, the hotel sent up a chocolate cake and a bunch of roses, how nice. It was a wierd experience sleeping and having to open the balcony door to let some heat in.

Unfortunately being May Day and also Maharashtra Day, the state was dry. No alcohol anywhere, even the guys selling drugs on the street looked offended when we asked. So, we ended up drinking in a bar at the Taj. Expensive, but nice. Could someone remind me to stock up if I'm here next year?

Of course we stripped the room bare, so now people from the Salvo's are swanning into the Taj in their fluffy white dressing gown and slippers, like a low-rent Hugh Hefner, trying to get free access to the pool.

The next day was a nice reality check though, the Salvo's is kind of like the Winter Palace in mood and theme. Here's what I woke up to:


Thanks for all the birthday wishes, it was a good one.



*Honesty note: 'Today' might not actually be 'today'.

Cat Post

Most people here would know I like cats. I'm not a dog person. Here's the first in a series of cat posts.

From the Jehangir Art Gallery:

From a nice leafy area in Colaba. Joanna, I think I found the tigers eyes burning bright!

Indian Idol, episode 2

Tonight we have four contestants, so lets get straight into them. First up, a random idol from I don't know where:


Pretty nice huh? Next, we have an extended shrine from the CST train station in down town Mumbai:


In the financial district, a nice little idol on a tree. Notice the guy noticing the idol for the first time. "Why would he take a photo of that?"


Last up, a nice little idol from next to a barbershop. Don't forget to vote for your favourite now!