I’ve come to Bombay with my wife for her work. Fantastic to be in India again. In the past I spent a lot of time travelling here. I have been to Mumbai (Bombay) for both travel and work but can’t remember. Dharamsala would have been an interesting place to visit, a place that I can kind of remember. Shaking the stump of a leper because he had no hand. Watching the Dalai Lama drive past in a Mercedes when he lived there in exile.
I always thought India was an important country, so many people live here, more than 1.3 billion. Just so happy to be in India and resuming life like before, travelling. Some more memories have just come back. Once I traveled along the mother Ganga. Calling it mother Ganga I’m even speaking colloquially, the Ganges river. I stopped at villages by the river. ‘a shanty town’ Just the tip of the ice berg I hope.
That’s fantastic, you both look great, nice to see a photo of you guys! What a life hey!
So far, so good. What’s striking and startling is the sharp contrast between the Mumbai airport and the rest of the city. The former is air-conditioned, modern and spanking new and the latter, I do not have words to describe. Mathew was being tongue in cheek when he asked our driver to the hotel if he preferred the old name, Bombay, over Mumbai. I certainly do, they even named an alcoholic beverage after Bombay (Sapphire). To survive Bombay, alcohol is almost mandatory, as is sunblock and a nice hat.
How kind of you, Martin :-)) We’re good, flew Singapore Airlines, can’t complain, and we’re well and truly in Mumbai amidst Congress Party protests against Modi’s first year in office and Gujarati lockdown and blockade of railway lines leading to Mumbai. Life is more interesting when you taste risk on your tongue…we literally did with two drops of polio vaccine under our tongue before flying in, coupled with four vaccination shots each, two on either arm! I will try and see the beauty of this ramshackle landscape…as Mathew did and does 🙂
must have been a very exciting and enjoyable journey for you both, sending you both regards,
Love, Gertrud and Heinz… .
It’s a great country dad but we’re staying at a very western hotel, not really my memory of India