24th February: Last day in India

We spent the morning packing (and deciding what we could send back to Europe, hurrah) then met up for lunch with my parents, who had arrived back exhausted from a couple of days racing headlong around Maharashtra.  After lunch we made our way up to Victoria Terminus to show my mother the UNESCO World Heritage building where her grandfather and mother had lived, a decent perk for being Chief Superintendent for the region.

The main entrance to the Victoria Terminus (or CST, as it is now called)

We managed to talk our way past the guard at the gate and into the palatial edifice, now used for the Central Railway's offices.  Some low-level guy spotted us and tried to throw us out, but thankfully we managed to find someone more senior who was sufficiently interested in our story to ask one of his assistants to show us around.  He also contacted the person in charge of records to see if he could dig up some more information on my great-grandfather.  Unsurprisingly he was unable to produce anything on the spot, but he did give my mother the contact details for the Indian national archive, which would be most likely to have some information.

Through the front door(s)

Staircase up from the entrance hall

The dome over the staircase

Peaceful, sunlight corridor

View from the balcony

We returned to the hotel to finish packing and to make some progress on the blog, then headed over to my parents' hotel, overlooking the Arabian Sea, for a delicious last meal in India. We were in bed early, but not nearly early enough for the appalling hour showing on my alarm clock.

View from the 14th floor balcony (through the netting)

23rd February: Elephanta Island

After another less than impressive breakfast at the hotel, we tried to find a taxi to take us to the departure point for the ferry to Elephanta Island. A couple of drivers, seemingly rather bemused, told John it was not possible to drive us to the island. The third person we tried did understand us, and we headed south to the Gateway to India.  This imposing archway was completed in 1924, and the last British troops to leave India marched beneath it in 1948.

Gateway to India

We bought our ticket and headed over to the Gateway to find our transport. The boat was already pretty full so we decided to go up on the top deck, for which we had to pay an extra 10 rupees. It was definitely worth it as we had a great view and could enjoy the gentle breeze.

Once on the island, after a journey of around an hour, we were quite surprised to see that they had a little tourist train to cover the first 500 metres or so leading from the jetty to the island. Then there were another few hundred metres to reach the bottom of the stairway of 120 stone steps, which marked the beginning of the interesting part. Porters were offering to carry tourists up on a palanquin; it was rather tempting, but we decided to climb under our own power. Stalls were lined up on both sides of the stairway, and a plastic cover offered much-needed shade. Climbing those stairs under the blazing sunshine would have been almost unbearable; even in the shade it was close to 30 degrees celsius.

Gateway to India and the Taj Palace Hotel

Little train, apparently full

Stalls lining the way, one of which had an ambiguous sign offering an "Indian Burgur"

The name "Elephanta" was given to the caves by the Portuguese in the 16th century when they found a huge stone elephant on the island. The same Portuguese damaged some of the sculptures by firing inside the caves to test the echo. Nevertheless, most of the statues are still relatively well-preserved. The exact date of the sculpted caves has not been determined, but they are thought to have been carved between the 5th and 8th centuries AD.

The main caves are dedicated to Shiva, who is represented in all of the sculptures and also as a lingam in the middle of the caves. Apart from the representation of Shiva killing a demon (Andhakasura Vadh) and thus depicted in its scariest aspect, most of the sculptures show a very relaxed Shiva.  The finest sculpture is the Mahesh Murti, a three-faced image of Shiva.  The central face (Tatpursha) is calm and seems to be meditating (his eyes are closed), the left face represents the destructive aspect of Shiva (Aghora), while the right face represents Shiva's female aspect (Vamdeo).

Entering the caves

Ardhanarishwar - Shiva (half male, half female)

Natraj Shiva, the King of Dancers

Shiva Shrine, with the lingam at its heart

Terrific aspect of Shiva killing Demon Andhaka

John in front of Mahesh Murti (the "Great Lord") 

Flipping through the guidebook

We caught the boat back towards the Gateway to India, around an hour's journey away, then walked to the main streets of Colaba in search of a restaurant. We fancied some continental food and were not disappointed by what we were served in Basilico, an Italian restaurant. On the way, we walked by Hotel Prossers, which I seemed to recall is where we stayed when I first came to Mumbai 8 years ago. It really looked like the hotel we stayed in for one or two nights, and the name sounded familiar (not the finest in Mumbai).

We had a quick wander around the shops of the main street of Colaba, but the only shop worth mentioning is the small store with shelves bearing pretty glass bottles where we bought some perfume. We then walked west towards the Arabian Sea, past the Oval Maidan where a cricket game was being played.

Selecting a perfume

Oval Maidan, with the clocktower of Mumbai University in the distance
(John was very pleased with himself for catching the moment of the ball hitting the stumps)

We then walked up to and along Marine Drive and waited for sunset, sitting on the edge facing the Arabian Sea. As we were on the way back to the hotel, we went past a few nice shops. I managed to convince John to enter "for a few minutes". It must have been quite a popular address as there were many customers in the shop. They showed us beautiful silk saris, and I was finding it difficult to resist, but on second thoughts, I realised that I would probably not wear it often enough, and that it would end up gathering dust in my cupboard. Nevertheless, it was nice to have them show us the fine silk garments.

Walking along Marine Drive

Sunset on the Arabian Sea

Looking south along Marine Drive

John finally managed to get me away from the shops and we arrived back at the hotel late in the evening. We had planned to get some rest, work on the blog, and then go out to a restaurant and a bar nearby, but laziness took over and we ended up having dinner in the hotel and going to bed early. Tediously, the internet connection was not fast enough to allow us to make significant progress on the blog.

21st-22nd February: Arrival in Mumbai for the last leg of our Indian adventure

21st February

We woke up early for the drive to Ahmedabad airport, which took around three hours on a beautifully smooth dual carriageway. The airport was modern and clean, with a good restaurant serving tasty curries; in fact, it might have been the best meal I've ever had in an airport (that is a low bar, I concede).

The flight was short and smooth, and we landed to the sound of a saxophone version of Bryan Adams' (Everything I do) I do It For You. We bade farewell to my parents, who were heading off by themselves for a couple of days (trying to squeeze in as much as they possibly could while we relaxed a little in Mumbai), and took a prepaid taxi to our hotel. This turned out to be a tiny car, but we just about folded ourselves in for the hour-long journey south to the Grand Hotel.

We arrived at around 6pm at an attractive old stone building with a smart and clean interior. Our room was on the top floor with air con (a necessity in the heat of Mumbai) and a view of the sea (across the docks). The only downside was the wifi was extremely slow, even in the lobby, which set back our attempts to catch up on the blog.

The Grand Hotel

View of the docks (and the sea) from our room

We were exhausted, so we settled for dinner in the hotel restaurant (surprisingly good, actually) and then sat in our room working on the blog (or trying to) and watching Entrapment on TV.

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22nd February

We woke up late and trudged down to the ground floor of the hotel for breakfast, which was uninspired and uninspiring but did the job. We left the hotel and took a stroll around the Fort area (where the British fort used to stand before it was demolished to make space for the commercial centre).

First we stopped by the grand Central Post Office, a huge and imposing old building, where we deposited a few postcards. It was hot, seriously hot - about 35 degrees celsius in the sun - but thankfully there was at least a very gentle breeze. Still winter, apparently!

The very impressive Post Office

We then walked for a couple of minutes along the road to the Victoria Terminus (renamed Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus after Independence), a magnificent 19th century edifice housing Mumbai's principal train station. I was particularly interested because my great-grandfather used to live in the building as chief-superintendent for the region, and my (maternal) grandmother grew up there. Nice perk, having a World Heritage building as your home, but he probably needed earplugs to sleep. We planned to ask to have a look around when my parents arrived two days later.

Victoria Terminus

Detail of the jungle-themed facade

Inside Victoria Terminus, near the booking office

Another grand old building opposite Victoria Terminus

From Victoria Terminus we walked down a colonnaded road to Flora Fountain, past many more attractive 19th century buildings.

Near Flora Fountain was the High Court, dark and intimidating. Over the road were the beautiful grounds of Mumbai University, dominated by a magnificent tower. What was remarkable was how little hassle we received. No subtle photos of Clem, no aggressive touts, and only a couple of beggars. I'm sure there's plenty of chaos in Mumbai too, but we didn't see it there and then.

The Flora Fountain and the High Court

We headed back east towards Horniman Circle, an attractive park surrounded by yet more grand colonial buildings. On one side of the Circle was the old town hall, a rather incongruous Graeco-Roman blancmange.

Gardens of Horniman Circle

Buildings around Horniman Circle

We had a quick stop at Hermes, mostly to enjoy their air-con

Formerly the town hall,  now a library

Inside St Thomas' Church, near to the town hall

We then stopped off for a quick bite to eat at Ideal Corner, a small place serving Parsi food that varied by the day of the week. We ordered a dish that sounded tasty, but turned out to comprise brown rice and spicy dahl. Still, it was pretty good and kept us going. We then wandered back to the hotel for what was supposed to be a short stop but ended up being rather longer. We spent several hours trying to catch up with the blog, fighting against the hotel's useless wifi connection, and writing postcards.

At around 7 pm we finally braved the streets of Mumbai again, walking past the Post Office and Victoria Terminus again and up towards Metro Big, one of Mumbai's foremost cinemas. This 20-minute walk took us alongside a large park called Azad Maidan, and as we looked through the iron fence we could see slums inside. This made us slightly nervous in the dark, but there were plenty of people around so we felt relatively secure.

At the cinema we were told that there were no Bollywood films with English subtitles, so we were left with a choice between a Bollywood film in Hindi and a Hollywood film. We decided that it would be a shame not to go for Bollywood, and reasoned that we would probably be able to follow along.

The film was a romantic comedy (of course) called Ek Deewana Tha, about the love between a Hindu guy and his Christian neighbour in Mumbai. Every so often the characters would slip in an English phrase ("Hindi hindi hindi, you have to let me go, hindi hindi hindi") and we did manage to follow the story well enough to enjoy it (even if it was exceptionally silly). The song and dance routines were of course the highlight, though I suspect we didn't see the greatest that Bollywood had to offer.

The film lasted just over two hours (including a 15 minute interval for adverts) so it was past 10 by the time we left the cinema, deposited on a backstreet. We didn't manage to retrace our steps, and found ourselves wandering through a rather unsavoury area, which was somewhat disconcerting. Again, however, there were plenty of people around so we didn't feel unsafe and we eventually made it back to the hotel without alarm.

20th February: Visiting the palaces of Udaipur

A local guide hired by John's parents met us at the hotel in the morning and took us to Jagdish temple, built by Maharana Jagat Singh in the 17th century. The temple boasted great carvings on the outside, but the most interesting part was the celebration going on inside the temple. People were singing and dancing in front of Vishnu's statue, a very friendly and welcoming kind of worship.

Climbing the steps up to the temple

View of the Temple

Rajasthani women circumambulating the temple

A Sadhu seated beside the temple

We then headed to the City Palace a hundred metres or so down the road. It was our fourth palace in Rajasthan and the complex as a whole was not quite as impressive as the harmonious palaces in Jodhpur and Jaipur. Nevertheless, there were a few well-preserved rooms displaying fine work, such as miniature paintings, tiles, and mirrors. We also enjoyed the room dedicated to the battle of Haldigathi, during which Maharana Pratap Singh Mewar, a Hindu ruler. resisted the might of the Mughal army of Akbar (whom we met in Delhi, Agra, and Fatehpur Sikri). The room is dominated by a model of Chetak, Maharana Pratap's horse, who managed to carry his master to safety before succumbing to a fatal wound.  The best feature of the palace was its view over Lake Pichola and the Lake Palace.

Facade of the City Palace

76th and current custodian of the House of Mewar

Entrance to the palace

Model of Chetak, the favourite horse of Pratap Singh Mewar

Courtyard inside the palace (Bari Mahal)

Manak (Ruby) Mahal

The Maharana and Rajputs playing polo

Room where the Maharana used to relax

Top of a courtyard

Feeling slightly outdone in the local dress

Elephant fight

An inviting swing inside the palace

Posing in the blue room

View from the City Palace across

Looking out the other way over the city

We then headed towards the jetty just outside of the palace to take a boat around the lake. This gave us the opportunity to see the shiny modern palace, the current residence of the Maharana, and the beautiful car parked outside.

From the jetty we took a boat on Lake Pichola, which is an artificial lake created in the 16th century to meet the city's drinking water and irrigation needs. The boat first took us along the ghats where women were washing their colourful clothes. We then passed the Jag Niwas or Lake Palace, which has been converted into a luxury hotel and unfortunately cannot be accessed unless you are either a resident or James Bond (this is where the movie Octopussy was filmed). We were allowed to visit the other island, where the Jag Mandir Palace stood. We had a quick walk around the main courtyard and the gardens, which gave us enough time to feel that this would also be a great place to stay.

Washing by the ghats

View of the Lake Palace

View of the City Palace

View from Jag Mandir

The boat ride was really smooth and it was great to feel the breeze softening the heat outside. It was then time for lunch and the guide told us that he knew a great place with a beautiful view over gardens. Given the beauty of the city we had quite high expectations and were very disappointed when we saw that the restaurant in question consisted of a few tables on a square lawn and a buffet under a tent, right by the road. I think that even if he had not promised us a restaurant within a beautiful garden we probably would not have stayed there. We politely declined his suggestion and asked him if he knew another place we could go that did have a nice view, if possible by the Fateh Sagar Lake, which we were supposed to visit next. His following option was much better, we were still close to a road but this time we had a view over the lake and there was no buffet.  

After lunch we visited the famous Saheliyon-ki-Bari (Courtyard of the Maidens). The gardens were built in the 18th century by Maharana Bhopal Singh near the Fateh Sagar Lake for a group of women who came with a princess to Udaipur as part of her dowry. There are several ornate water pools in the gardens. The first one as you enter has a kiosk in the middle and four smaller black marble kiosks on the four corners. The pink bougainville flowers add to the beauty of this pool.  Another water tank has a small decorated pillar in the middle and is filled with lotus flowers. Elephants in marble spray water from their trunks.

John slightly surprised when the fountain next to him started to spout water

After the gardens, we had a quick drive along Fateh Sagar Lake, which is popular with locals for a romantic stroll along the dam.  Back in the city, John and I went for a wander through the narrow streets and along the ghats by the side of the lake. The tranquility was disturbed, however, by loud music coming from the other side of the lake. We crossed the bridge and saw two huge loudspeakers in front of a temple and young kids putting a floating Shiva lingam into the water. Apparently the loud music, which was not particularly religious, accompanied the lingam into the water. When we came back from our stroll, the lingam was actually spraying water, which was a slightly disturbing sight given its signification.

Down by the ghats

View of the ghats in the late afternoon sun

We found that the other part of the city was also, if not more, touristy and the main street was full of shops. One of the hotels had a rooftop restaurant offering a great view over the city palace, so we sipped at a crisp Kingfisher beer while enjoying sunset on the other side of the lake. The light of the setting sun gave a beautiful golden colour to the city palace.

The City Palace in the last light of the falling sun

View of our hotel from across the lake

We joined John's parents for dinner in the restaurant of our hotel and enjoyed a very tasty dinner while admiring the view.  After dinner John's mother thought it would be a good idea to check the status of our flight to Mumbai the following morning.  She was right.  It turned out that many Kingfisher flights, including ours, had been cancelled because of their financial problems.  Thankfully there was a travel agent near the hotel who was able to reserve us tickets on a flight from Ahmedabad, around 3 hours drive away, and was also able to provide a car and driver.  This meant that the relaxed morning in Udaipur that we had planned was replaced by an early start and a long drive, but it could have been much worse.  We packed as quickly as we could so as to squeeze in as many hours of sleep as possible.