The rest of the day was spent meandering Mumbai (still called
Bombay), a fascinating city with slums on the one side and designer
stores across the road. To me, India was a country of contrasts,
nothing more evident than in Mumbai. Mumbai is home to one of the
largest slum areas in the world and one of the most expensive homes
in the country. Being India’s largest city, with a population of 18.4
million from all walks of life, Mumbai isn’t just modern and the
financial and commercial hub of India, but it is also home to a
collection of magnificent colonial buildings (a sentiment I find hard to
express due to my dislike of the colonial era). It was also great to be
near the ocean, which I last saw in Turkey.
Mumbai
A short amble brought me to the waterfront and India’s iconic
Gateway of India monument, where people milled around, catching
ferries to various islands and other parts of the city. Seagulls
swooped low, hoping for morsels thrown their way.
A pleasant saunter led me around the Oval with its art deco buildings
and cricket-playing men. I strolled the broad streets, past the Victoria
Terminus building, the Prince of Wales Museum and the famous Taj
Mahal Hotel, and I felt transported to another era. I watched tiffin-
wallahs deliver lunches to office workers picked up from homes or
restaurants and delivered by bicycle. The tiffins were colour-coded as
many tiffin-wallahs were of limited literacy, and the colours indicated
destination and recipient. However, I understood that 200,000
lunches are delivered daily with a 99% accuracy rate, which is
remarkable.