Friday, March 20, 2015
Headlines for the Day: Do not travel to India during their summer
months and if you do, wear a face
mask! The weather is extremely oppressive
and HOT/HUMID. The temperature for the
day is 95 degrees F with smoke and no idea what the humidity might be.
So, Mumbai (also known as Bombay but
officially changed to Mumbai in 1997 by Parliament) is the capital city of the
Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the
most populous metropolitan area in India with 21 million, but how do they count
all the people??? Mumbai is the eighth
most populous city in the world. It is
also the wealthiest city in India.
Mumbai also has the distinction of
being day 55 of our World Cruise which marks the half way point - time is
really flying!
Our day in Mumbai began with a drive
thru the city viewing the Town Hall, Municipal Corporation building, the
Central Telegraph Office and the magnificent Gothic style Victoria Terminus,
one of the busiest railway stations in India.
Next we visited Crawford Market, the
wholesale produce bazaar, watching vendor's wheel and deal a variety of exotic
and domestic fruits, vegetables, birds and even rats!
On to the infamous Dhobi Ghat known
as the world's largest outdoor launderer.
Here washers or "dhobis" scrub the laundry for many of
Mumbai's businesses and citizens despite most having automatic washing
machines.
We then boarded a local train for a
ride to Churchgate Station, the terminus of Western Railways. Local trains are the lifelines of the city,
carrying as many as a million people to work each day.
Outside the train station, we watch
the "Dabbawalas", men who accurately deliver freshly cooked food in
lunch containers to thousands of people who reside in the suburbs of Mumbai, to
their workplaces in the city, including returning the empty containers to the
customers' residences. This task has
become a highly specialized industry that has been going on for over a century
now, and a fixture in the lives of Mumbai's people.
Our final visit of the day was to
the iconic yellow basalt arch, the Gateway of India, built to celebrate the
visit of King George V.
We were originally scheduled to
depart tomorrow at 4AM but for some reason, the port authorities gave the
Captain the choice of leaving at 11PM tonight or 9AM tomorrow. The Captain chose 11PM tonight.
Off to Mina Qaboos, the port for
Muscat, Oman, two sea days sail.
