We spent the last 7 days of our trip in Mumbai. That meant all last minute shopping for clothes, food, books, videos, you name it.. and the usual evening outings to show the kids some outdoor fun.
The only thing about showing outdoor Mumbai fun to kids in August is you never know when it will rain. When it rains it almost always pours!
Here is a sample of the monsoon. We did not have any umbrellas on day 1 because we were still getting used to the concept. This video was taken outside Basu tailor.
Just as we were about to get our hands on this “butta” it started drizzling. We made a mad dash to our parked car and by the time we got to our car, everyone was thoroughly drenched!
A couple of shots taken from the moving horse cart..
We also did the usual trips to Mahalakshmi temple (and ate those delicious pakoras after visiting the temple) and Siddhi Vinayak and drove through the Marine drive area a few times.
Mumbai has an ever changing skyline, a constant reduction in available open spaces, and screams “development” from every street corner.
The Taj hotel was ready to be reopened and that was heart warming..
At the end of the trip I told FIL that either Mumbai is going to be a shining example to the world or go into military rule pretty soon! Had good reasons to make that statement because there are big big holes in law enforcement and the society is truly pocketed and segregated.
It is true that when you go to SFO you see Chinatown, Little Japan, Little Saigon etc. etc. and there is a desi pocket. But there are no issues between these pockets or within the pockets (or they do not come out in the news!). Mumbai is different. It is like a reaction waiting to happen. You sense it in the air.. from small things like the Butta vendor requesting we delete his photograph because “things are very difficult for them in the Gateway area” where “them” implied “muslims” to the auto rickshaw drivers choosing select routes to be on the safe side.
This is tricky business for a city that is “going viral” like a hit youtube video!
Now we get to look forward to our next India trip….
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