MUMBAI/BOMBAY, INDIA 
On our way to the airport in Mumbai to fly to the Taj Mahal we drove through the absolutely worst slums I've ever seen! I couldn't ever imagine such squalor! It was very early morning, and we were traveling pretty fast in the bus so most of my pictures are blurred, but you can see the kind of hovel (if they were lucky enough to have one!) they live in ... just tar paper, tarps, rags, cardboard, whatever, and filth and garbage everywhere. We saw naked men and children trying to bathe from buckets of water, or puddles on the side of the street; people just urinating whenever they needed to go; bodies sleeping on concrete or asphalt, on piles of rubble, some might have had a blanket to lay on or cover up
with .... I can't describe the poverty! Women were walking towards a muddy creek carrying dirty plastic bottles and jugs to get water, probably for cooking. There were small open fires where they were tr
ying to cook something. Dogs, goats and cows roam freely in the streets, scavenging for food in the garbage everywhere. There doesn't seem to be a plan for housing or commercial areas, and there are entire blocks of these lean-to shelters next to shop buildings that were a little sturdier, but unpainted or stucco falling off, next to more modern office buildings. In general there doesn't seem to be any pride of ownership or money or desire for 
repairs.
The next day
we were driven through other parts of the city that looked a little better, but still with great contrasts in architecture and maintenance. There didn’t appear to be any neighborhoods with homes and gardens, just lots of apartment buildings in various stages of disrepair. Of course there are many interesting places, but almost everything we saw was just plain neglected. The only place that I could see that got any attention was the Taj Mahal. We drove by Chowpatty Beach on Marine Drive, stopped at Ghandi’s house, the Price of Wales Museum, drove past Victoria terminus, 
stopped briefly at the Dhobi Ghats the most incredible outdoor 
laundry where only men do the washing, beating the clothes on the concrete, then hanging them on lines where the whites sparkle in the sun! The women work below these cubicles doing the ironing using old fashioned irons heated on charcoal coals. The finished laundry is delivered by bicycle!
Traffic is unbelievable! Our tour guide said that their roads are very democratic in that they’re shared by animals, bicycles, horse driven carts, motorbikes, cars and buses. The divider is imaginary, and stoplights are for decoration only! It’s amazing that we lived through some of our drives!! We could reach out and touch drivers in the next car.
Security is especially visible since the attacks in Novemb
er last year. We walked past the Leopold Cafe (located on the street behind the hotel) where the terrorists had coffee just before they bombed the Taj Mahal Hotel. We had lunch at the Taj Mahal Hotel near the Gate of India, and it's been completely rebuilt and there's no trace of the wreckage ... But we had to go through 3 different security checks before we got into the lobby!
The whole city was hot, smelly, filthy, overcrowded, poor -- I don't think we'll ever come back.
TAJ MAHAL and AGRA
The Taj Mahal was breathtaking! It was completed in 1631 and it took 20,000 workers 22 years to build as a love memorial to the Empress of India by her husband after her death in giving bi
rth to their 14th child …. It is a ‘Dream in White Marble’ with millions of semiprecious stones inlaid into it in beautiful floral patterns. We kept pinching ourselves to confirm that we were really at this Wonder of the World! We also visited The Agra Fort, made of red sandstone, which Shah Jahan enlarged and updated while the Taj was being built, incorporating marble and inlays. He was later imprisoned here by his son, and watched the completion of the Taj Mahal from his bedroom window. What a tragic love story! Near the entry, monkeys are fed regularly by their keepe
rs, but roam freely in one area of the outer gardens of the Agra palace.
On our way to the airport in Mumbai to fly to the Taj Mahal we drove through the absolutely worst slums I've ever seen! I couldn't ever imagine such squalor! It was very early morning, and we were traveling pretty fast in the bus so most of my pictures are blurred, but you can see the kind of hovel (if they were lucky enough to have one!) they live in ... just tar paper, tarps, rags, cardboard, whatever, and filth and garbage everywhere. We saw naked men and children trying to bathe from buckets of water, or puddles on the side of the street; people just urinating whenever they needed to go; bodies sleeping on concrete or asphalt, on piles of rubble, some might have had a blanket to lay on or cover up
with .... I can't describe the poverty! Women were walking towards a muddy creek carrying dirty plastic bottles and jugs to get water, probably for cooking. There were small open fires where they were tr
ying to cook something. Dogs, goats and cows roam freely in the streets, scavenging for food in the garbage everywhere. There doesn't seem to be a plan for housing or commercial areas, and there are entire blocks of these lean-to shelters next to shop buildings that were a little sturdier, but unpainted or stucco falling off, next to more modern office buildings. In general there doesn't seem to be any pride of ownership or money or desire for 
repairs.The next day
we were driven through other parts of the city that looked a little better, but still with great contrasts in architecture and maintenance. There didn’t appear to be any neighborhoods with homes and gardens, just lots of apartment buildings in various stages of disrepair. Of course there are many interesting places, but almost everything we saw was just plain neglected. The only place that I could see that got any attention was the Taj Mahal. We drove by Chowpatty Beach on Marine Drive, stopped at Ghandi’s house, the Price of Wales Museum, drove past Victoria terminus, 
stopped briefly at the Dhobi Ghats the most incredible outdoor 
laundry where only men do the washing, beating the clothes on the concrete, then hanging them on lines where the whites sparkle in the sun! The women work below these cubicles doing the ironing using old fashioned irons heated on charcoal coals. The finished laundry is delivered by bicycle!Traffic is unbelievable! Our tour guide said that their roads are very democratic in that they’re shared by animals, bicycles, horse driven carts, motorbikes, cars and buses. The divider is imaginary, and stoplights are for decoration only! It’s amazing that we lived through some of our drives!! We could reach out and touch drivers in the next car.
Security is especially visible since the attacks in Novemb
er last year. We walked past the Leopold Cafe (located on the street behind the hotel) where the terrorists had coffee just before they bombed the Taj Mahal Hotel. We had lunch at the Taj Mahal Hotel near the Gate of India, and it's been completely rebuilt and there's no trace of the wreckage ... But we had to go through 3 different security checks before we got into the lobby!The whole city was hot, smelly, filthy, overcrowded, poor -- I don't think we'll ever come back.
TAJ MAHAL and AGRA
The Taj Mahal was breathtaking! It was completed in 1631 and it took 20,000 workers 22 years to build as a love memorial to the Empress of India by her husband after her death in giving bi
rth to their 14th child …. It is a ‘Dream in White Marble’ with millions of semiprecious stones inlaid into it in beautiful floral patterns. We kept pinching ourselves to confirm that we were really at this Wonder of the World! We also visited The Agra Fort, made of red sandstone, which Shah Jahan enlarged and updated while the Taj was being built, incorporating marble and inlays. He was later imprisoned here by his son, and watched the completion of the Taj Mahal from his bedroom window. What a tragic love story! Near the entry, monkeys are fed regularly by their keepe
rs, but roam freely in one area of the outer gardens of the Agra palace.
Before our visit to the Taj we were treated to a wonderful Indian buffe
t luncheon -- but unfortunately most of the delicious smelling dishes were too spicy for us to eat! However, we thoroughly enjoyed experiencing these wonderful examples of India’s history and culture.
No comments:
Post a Comment