Day 1 in Bombay

My Dad's friend picked us up at the train station and we went to his house to rest for a few hours. Around 11a, we went shopping on the streets near his house. He lives in a fairly ritzy part of Bombay, so the shops there were worthwhile. After lunch at home, we set off for what outsiders call downtown Bombay (i.e. the original, central part of town). Bombay is a large, crowded city of ~18 million people, which according to our travel guide is 3x the population density of NYC! All of that amounts to a lot of vehicles on the road, and it took about 2 hours from where we were staying to get to central Bombay.

We got to see the Gateway of India, the Taj Mahal Hotel, Nariman Point, the banking district (did not see the Wachovia office), etc. We even took a horse carriage ride, which was fun and embarrassing at the same time (because people definitely stare at you!). We enjoyed happy hour at a bar, and then headed back through town to see it at night. It again took 2 hours to get back.

M said he felt like a tourist for the first time in India as there were other white people in Bombay. I don't see what's wrong with that, considering even I'm seen as a tourist here. He also noticed the one thing that everyone new to Bombay notices, which is that from many different points in the city, you can take a picture that captures all the class levels that exist in India. The shantytowns are visibly right alongside the oceanview flats and bungalows that sell for millions of dollars. We also keep getting harassed by beggars, who take a particular interest in him. It annoys me that they touch us to get our attention, but then it's easy to remember that if that's the only complaint I have in the day, my life is vastly better than theirs.

I read an interesting quote today. The BBC Bureau Chief in India was asked how he coped with the poverty in India. His answer was something to the effect of, he doesn't have to cope with it, they do. That can be viewed as flippant, and yet also very enlightening. We simply see the poverty and ignore it; those people have to live it. It's too vast an issue for any 1 person to make a difference. Thankfully, there are various people and agencies doing their parts to make dents in it in different ways.

We ended the evening at a nice restaurant, with lots of spicy, tasty food. It finally feels like we're on vacation as we've been able to enjoy this cosmopolitan city today.