All Roads Lead to Mumbai

view of the Taj Mahal Hotel and India Gate from the harbour

After another 12 hour overnight bus trip in the pimpest bus to this point brought us to Bombay, or as it's now called, Mumbai.  We reached our hotel at around 5 am after a short cab ride and the first thing we did was run towards the shower.  After spending 5 long days in the shit hole we mentioned in our Aurangabad post it sure felt great to take a long warm shower in a clean bathroom.  We chose to stay in Colaba which is known as the tourist hot spot in Mumbai.  This is where you can find all of the fanciest hotels including the famous Taj Mahal Hotel, as well as budget accommodation (or as budget as Mumbai will allow), shops, restaurants and the India gate (a monument sitting on the shores of the Arabian Sea).

view from Flora Fountain roundabout

When we finally emerged from our hotel some 7 or 8 hours later the first thing we noticed was how clean and majestic this part of the city looked with the beautiful facades lining the Colaba Causeway.  The streets are wide and clean (as clean as can be in India) and are filled with merchants on both sides selling anything from figs, knock-off watches to pashminas and dildos (we kid you not).  We spent that first day enjoying the sights and sounds of this city and we have to say that it was love at first sight.  This was a bit of a shock as everyone we talked to (except Elise) had warned us that Mumbai was polluted and hectic and how it was the worst place in all of India and there was no way that they would spend more time there then necessary to get in and on to their next destination.  Because of all these warnings we had planned to spend no more than 2 days in the city but after that first afternoon strolling around we ended up staying 5 full days and if it hadn’t been for the expiring visa and crazy hotel prices we would have stayed longer.

Fashion Street

While in Mumbai we experienced the best that the city has to offer (Colaba and the Fort area) and the worst (slums on top of sewer pipes with men, women and children relieving themselves in plain view).  We were extras in a Bollywood film for a day (“Jezz” or “Speed” in English), we ended up taking the local train in rush hour to Santa Cruz (another area of the city), we walked the length of the infamous Fashion Street (the best place in Mumbai to get great knock-offs of everything as well as most of the merchandise that "falls" off the back of a truck) and we ended up catching our first Indian movie in Hindi (Tees Maar Khan).  We will warn you right now that this will indeed be a long post as this city really left a big impression on us.  Rather than talk about the sights of the city we will concentrate more on our experiences and the things we found interesting.  If you want to know what to do and where to go just Google it or buy one of many travel books available on India.  Also you can look at our pictures in the link below that will show you the sights and give you a good idea of what the city is like.  

Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus, formerly Victoria Terminus

They say that New York is a city that never sleeps and if that is the case then Mumbai is the city that has eternal insomnia.  Compared to the rest of India the city seems like a foreign country.  It is the center of the Hindi film industry (Bollywood), finance and the industrial hub of everything from textiles to media.  It is also the home of the richest people in India and you have to look no further than the 27 story "house" being built in Colaba to get an idea of the kind of money we are talking about.  It also has Asia’s lagers slums and powerful underworld dons (make sure you read Shantaram) all played out against a stately Victorian townscape.  The city has the first organized traffic light system that we have seen in India thus far and way less spitting and public urination.  Furthermore we didn’t see a single cow and for a city this large (mostly populated in India) the people are really friendly and speak impressive English.

view from 1st class of train towards 2nd class in the back

We have to tell you about our commuter local train experience.  Well, not so much about the whole experience back from Santa Cruz (we had to drop off a busted Canon camera at their repair center) as it was pretty uneventful and regular with the exception that local trains have no doors and men cram around them regardless of how empty the car is.  It has to do with our approach to the last stop on the line, Churchgate station.  So, the train car was half empty most of the time with men and women coming on and off as they would in any part of the world.  As we approached Churchgate station (which is where the tracks end) we got up and made our way to the door.  There were a few people already standing at the door but as we neared the station, strangely, they went to sit down.  As the train pulled into the station moving at about 20km/hr men with pure panic and bewilderment in their eyes started popping into the cart with reckless abandonment.  They slammed into the poles and the door frame bouncing off like balls in a pin ball machine and pounced onto one of the hundred empty seats.  All we could do was glue ourselves to the walls of the car and watch with fear and confusion.  We were thinking that there was either a fire in the middle of the station or a bomb threat and these men were running for their lives.  To clarify, picture a crammed truck with cattle whose doors have just flung open and all the cattle are simultaneously rushing out into the fenced enclosure, bouncing off the sides and into the holding area.  This is close to what was happening on this train ride.  After 30 seconds of this the train came to a complete stop.  We waited a few more seconds to ensure that everything was OK outside, then stepped off onto a deserted platform.  We looked back into the car and saw the men wheezing from their mad run and we couldn’t help but burst into full out laughter.  This laughter continued all the way home and to this day we can’t help but laugh at the expression on those men’s faces and the determination and panic with which they entered the car.  A true classic Mumbai moment.   We later discovered that the train usually stops at Churchgate for only a minute before heading back in the other direction thereby not giving the people enough time to get on before its departure.

McDonald's delivery vehicle

To finish the post off we have to tell you about our Bollywood experience.  As mentioned above not only did we see a Bollywood movie but we were also paid extras in the upcoming Bollywood version of Speed with none other than Anil Kapoor.  For those of you that are not Indian he is best known as the host of the Millionaire show in the movie Slumdog Millionaire.  We got approached to be extras the day we arrived in Mumbai.  Seeing how we thought that we were going to be gone in a day or so we regretfully declined.  After our third day in the city and with a few more to go we decided to put aside one day and see what the whole Bollywood hoopla was all about.  We got picked up in front of a McDonald's in Colaba first thing in the morning and brought to Mehboob Productions in northern Mumbai.  We first went to ‘costume’ and make-up.  As they were filming an office scene that day we were given suits to wear.  M’s suit was about three inches too short and the tie was from the 1960’s.  His shoes were a size too small, his hair was slicked back and he volunteered to shave off his three month old beard to fit the role better.  Apparently all office workers in the UK wear way too much gel in their hair and are facial hair challenged.  S’s suit also had pant legs that were way too short (even  though they let the hems out for her) and her shoes had stubby heels that were falling apart.  When in Bollywood do as the Indians tell you :)  The movie we were told is an Indian remake of the Hollywood blockbuster Speed (starring Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock) with the exception that it takes place on a London train instead of an LA bus.  The director is a famous Indian director by the name of Priyadarshan (who is a really cool guy).  The main actor on  the shoot with us (no, it was not Anil) is also a famous actor who usually plays a father figure in a lot of the Bollywood blockbusters.  Sorry, we can’t remember his name.  The whole experience was amazing.  The cast and staff were great and very friendly.  The main actor (father figure) was hilarious and kept cracking jokes in between takes.  The female in the scene was obsessed with her hair, inserting her hair curlers and touching up her make-up between every take.  They fed us well with a fantastic buffet at lunch and had the chai flowing all day.  We were very lucky that out of the 19 extras they brought only a handful of us (go S&M!) got the chance to spent most of the day in and out of shots and always in the main room of the shoot.  When it was all said and done it was 6pm and the whole day had past, we collected our 500IRP each (around $12CND - cha ching!) and were dropped off at the same spot we were picked up earlier that day.  All in all a must do for any tourist that visits Mumbai.  

off to see Tees Maar Khan!!

Our second Bollywood encounter was at the movies.  We went to see the newest Bollywood blockbuster Tees Maar Khan in Hindi without subtitles.  We bought our tickets and the girl that sold them to us made sure we understood that this was a Hindi movie without subtitles.  I don’t think she believed that we understood her the first time as she repeated it two more times just to be sure.  With tickets in hand we entered what can only be described as a six star movie theatre.  We got our drinks, popcorn and samosa’s that came with the two tickets we purchased and were ushered to our assigned seats.  The seats were leather and reclined to about 45 degrees.  They were so big and there was so much leg room that it felt like being in a first class seat on a transatlantic flight.  The movie itself was great: funny and very well done and we will definitely try to get a copy with subtitles when we get back home.  So to all of our Indian brothers and sisters back home if you have a copy with subtitles please let us know.  The movie was about two and a half hours long with an intermission half way through during which the ushers came to take our orders and returned with our cappuccinos and water.  Like we said, six star service.  One interesting thing that we noticed even during the Jezz shoot was that 25% of the dialogue is in English.  Tees Maar Khan was no different.  We also had an Indian kid who moved to sit next to us to fill us in on the things we missed (it was his sixth time seeing the movie!!).  One thing to mention is that Indian actors are fully rounded as they act, dance and lip sing.  During this movie we also found the origin of the insanely popular Indian song at that time "Sheila Ki Jawani".  We must have heard this song a million times during our travels  from Varanasi to Goa.  This is another must when visiting India by the way.  You absolutely have to go see an Indian flick but try to see a later show as the earlier shows are pretty empty.  Since we were catching a train that same day we didn’t get the chance to see the singing and dancing that we heard the audience usually does in a full theater.  Ah well, there is always next time!

As we mentioned above and as you can probably tell by our descriptions we absolutely loved Mumbai for everything that it has to offer.  It is a great city with great people and fantastic food.

To see more of our Mumbai excursions click HERE (password: bollywood).

book vendor in the Fort area

seen around many government buildings - here they are guarding the High Court

In India boys will be boys while holding hands

across the road from the Victoria Terminus

Chowpatty seafront boardwalk

Chowpatty Beach - not meant for swimming!!