Ghat way to India
The charm, mystery and mayhem of India is beautifully showcased in the City of Dreams...
Just hours after landing in Mumbai I’m on a tour bus, raring to see the sights of India’s City of Dreams. The medieval cave temples, the colonial architecture, cosmopolitan Juhu beach and glitzy hangouts of Bollywood stars.
So when we stop at the side of a traffic-choked bypass to see locals doing their washing, I’m a bit miffed.
Until I set eyes on Dhobi Ghat, the world’s largest outdoor laundry, built in 1890, where 7,000 “dhobis” scrub half
a million items by hand each day. Gleaming white sheets from five-star hotels, Bollywood movie costumes and the designer jeans of wealthy Mumbaikars hang beside red hospital sheets, green doctors’ scrubs and everyday saris. It’s a 15-acre sprawl of frenetic activity and colour.
And, I soon realise, an ideal introduction to this vibrant city of contrasts. Known as Bombay until 1995, Mumbai is India’s largest city (actually a collection of seven islands) and, with a population of almost 10 million, among the most densely populated in the world.
It grew up in the 17th century around a fort built by the British to protect their trading interests.
But today it is the nation’s thriving industrial and economic capital. I left London on a wet and windy Monday morning and arrived refreshed nine hours later.
As soon as you step out of the airport Mumbai’s energy is palpable.
Actor Julian Sands once said: “The thing about Mumbai is you go five yards and all of human life is revealed. It’s an incredible cavalcade of life.”
Yet a decade after Slumdog Millionaire gave us a taste of Mumbai life, the gap between rich and poor is widening.
Billionaire tycoons are building taller skyscrapers alongside Asia’s biggest slum.
Like the grotesque, $2billion, 27-floor residence of India’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani – which we
passed, ironically, en route to Mahatma Gandhi’s modest gaff. Now a museum, Mani Bhavan was Gandhi’s home from 1917 to 1934 as he led the battle for self rule.
It’s packed with fascinating books and writings – including a letter Gandhi wrote to Hitler in 1939 begging him to avert a war that would “reduce humanity to the savage state”.
It was also touching to see the spinning wheel on which Gandhi made yarn for his iconic loincloth.
Echoes of Empire are everywhere in Mumbai, especially in the stunning colonial architecture. Like the old Victoria station, now Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, which throngs with 2.5 million commuters each day (Slumdog fans will recognise it from that famous dance scene).
The Opera House, Prince of Wales Museum and Mumbai University are also worth a visit, then stroll through the huge Oval Maidan Park and watch the locals playing cricket.
Take tea at the swanky Taj Palace Hotel while gazing at the Gateway of India beside the Arabian Sea. It was erected to commemorate the 1911 visit of King George V.
In 1947 British troops marched through its arches to waiting ships as the last regiment left newly independent India. The Gateway is a popular spot for locals to hang out – be prepared to be mobbed by friendly selfie-snappers.
Mumbaikars are selfieobsessed. There’s even an official Mumbai Selfie Spot listed on tourist maps now.
I spent an hour posing with locals as we headed by boat to the cave temples of Elephanta Island, a Unesco heritage site.
Carved between AD 450 and 750 and dedicated to the Hindu deity Shiva, their scale and beauty is gob-smacking.
Islanders act as guides, meeting incoming boats, but some are pushy so barter the price down. I was lucky to find Manoj Bhoir, knowledgeable and a top photographer.
And go early while it’s not too hot as there’s a sweaty 20minute climb up steps lined with souvenir stalls, pesky monkeys and meandering cows. One of the sacred beasts
pooed on my foot... a blessing, apparently. Back on the mainland I took a stroll along Marine Drive which is lined with lovely Art Deco buildings.
At night the crescent-shaped road twinkles with lights and is nicknamed the Queen’s Necklace. I stopped at Chowpatty Beach for a delicious plate of bhelpuri –puffed rice, vegetables and tamarind sauce.
Mumbai has cafés, bars and restaurants to suit every pocket. But you’ll need deep ones if you visit upmarket Juhu, the suburb that’s home to Bollywood A-listers. It’s so cool that Harry and Meghan’s fave club, Soho House, has just opened a branch there. Penny-wise tourists love Leopold Café – a traveller’s
rest since 1871 famed for its wobbly ceiling fans, bad service and incredible atmosphere.
It’s in the heart of Colaba Causeway market which sells handicrafts and tat. For classier gifts visit Contemporary Arts and Crafts in Fort.
There are some excellent organised tours available too, visiting fishing villages and food markets, Bollywood studios or Sanjay Gandhi national park. And tourists also flock to the vast Dharavi slum. It may seem a little exploitative but Reality Tours are excellent, ethical and give 80 per cent of profits to the community. (realitytours andtravel.com, from €8)
You should also catch the daily spectacle of the dabbawalas. Thousands of delivery men steam into the city on trains with home-cooked lunch balanced on their heads.
And somehow they all get to the designated family member in their office – with mix-ups fewer than four in a million. The
125-year-old co-operative works so efficiently that tycoon Richard Branson even spent a day learning its secrets.
Another fascinating example of tradition and technology rubbing along together.
Like it does at Mumbai’s beautiful laundrette, where they’ve been scrubbing clothes by hand since the days of the British Raj – but where some of the wealthier dhobis have now installed washing machines.
India’s City of Dreams will certainly set your head spinning – and leave colourful memories that never fade.