The Backstreets of Bombay - Diwali Walk

We joined up with several ASB teachers for a Saturday morning walk to a Diwali Market.   We certainly had an interesting train trip downtown. The train hardly stopped at all - we had to haul Lex and Sharon on as the train was pulling out of the station. We knew that trains always have women's compartments (usually the first 2 of the train) but then we discovered we'd jumped on a train that was a WOMEN'S ONLY train!  Lex got some funny looks so we all had to get off at the next station and tak

e the next train. That one was horribly crowded, the doors were all open and people were hanging out of them. No wonder that about 5,000 people a year die in Mumbai from train accidents (mostly falling off/out the open doorways and hitting their heads on the railway poles though I also noticed people walking along and crossing the tracks which certainly can't be safe). It was quite an adventure but I could be persuaded to try First Class next time we travel by train.

We started our walk in the Khotachiwadi area of Mumbai - an old Portuguese area built in the 19th century and now a heritage village.  The houses were very "European" and extremely colourful.

Look at the amazing colours in this small courtyard.

Crumbling, but colourful.

Outdoor staircases take you up into the houses (which strangely are called bungalows here - even though they have 2 floors).

This is a chawl - a type of building about 4 to 5 storeys high with about 10 to 20 tenements, referred to as kholis, which literally mean 'rooms' on each floor. 

Many chawls can be found in Mumbai. They were constructed in the early 1900s to house the people migrating to Mumbai to work in the booming cotton mills.

As we got near the temple we could see lots of religious items for sale.

Door hangings for Diwali - I bought one!

Incense anyone?

This was at the Jain temple. They are often elaborately carved out of marble.

The Panjrapole - an infirmary that looks after hundreds of cows and other stray animals like donkeys, hens, birds, dogs, goats, parrots and ducks. Set up by Parsi businessmen, the aim was to protect animals from a shoot-at-sight started by the British to control the nuisance of stray dogs and pigs on Bombay roads. Cows were later brought in to provide milk for the strays. Now about 1,000 litres of milk each day is sold to local residents.

Haji Ali's Dargah

This weekend Lex and I went to Haji Ali's Darga.  Actually I've been referring to it as a mosque every since I lived here, but I heard today that it isn't a mosque at all, instead it is a shrine.

This Indo-Islamic shrine was built in the 19th century and contains the tomb of the Muslim saint, Haji. Haji died while on a pilgrimage to Mecca and his casket washed up at this spot.

A dargah is actually a Sufi shrine built over the grave of a saint or dervish.  Dargah is a Persian word for portal, and some Sufi and other Muslims believe that dargahs are portals by which they can invoke the deceased saint's intercession and blessing

When the tide is high, the dargah seems to float like a mirage off the coast. When we were there it was low tide however.

To get to the mosque you have to walk along a causeway out into the Arabian Sea. It was very crowded. On the way back the sun was going down and the moon was coming up.  The skies are so orange here (I think it is all the pollution).

Pottering around Powai

This weekend we decided to go to another part of Mumbai - the northern suburb of Powai.  Built since the 1970s on the shores of Powai Lake, this is now an upmarket commercial and residential district and is home to the Indian Institute of Technology.  The place has a very European feel, with its neo-classical architectural style.  Several scenes in the movie Slumdog Millionaire were filmed here.

Lex and I walked for a while by the lake, then went to the shopping district where we were able to sit outside at a pavement cafe for a coffee.  After that I tried something completely new - a fish pedicure.  It was a very strange sensation - half ticklish and half like having pins-and-needles.  I'm up for trying out new things, but I would say this is definitely something I'd only want to do once!

The Ninth Night

I wanted to understand the story behind the worship of the goddess Durga, so this week I spent some time researching about the Navratri festival.  Durga, it seems, has many incarnations the story of why she is worshipped for 9 days is tied up with the story of the buffalo demon, Mahishasura.  

Mahishasura was a demon who terrorized the earth, but he couldn’t be killed by any of the gods because he had a protective spell on him that stopped any males from killing him.  The story goes that hundreds of years ago, there was a terrible battle between the gods and the demons.  The gods lost the battle and then went to the superior gods, Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva and told them about their defeat. These gods were furious, and in their anger, parts from all the gods came together and another life was created, all in one single female form.  The great goddess Durga was born, and she battled with Mahishasura and after 9 days of battle she was able to defeat him.

Navratri is divided into sets of three days, each section is devoted to one of the goddesses,
which symbolise an aspect of womanhood. On the first three days Kali is worshipped - she is the
goddess of honour, who destroys all impurities and sins. During the next three days Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth is honoured. It is believed that she blesses her devotees with luck and prosperity. On the fifth day, all books are gathered and a lamp is lit to call upon Saraswati, who is the goddess of knowledge and wisdom who is worshipped for the final three days.  On the eighth or the ninth day,
many people take part in a ‘yagna puja’, at their own home or attend the one at their local
temple.

Heritage Walks in Mumbai - Bandra

A Saturday with not much to do - so Lex and I decided to do one of the walks from the book Heritage Walks of Mumbai.  We decided we'd start with the Bandra walk as it was the closest to us and we'd see how easy it was to follow the book.  Bandra was originally a Portuguese settlement in the 1500s, was later taken over by the British East India Company and later became known as the "Queen of the Suburbs" and was the place where the rich of Mumbai owned a villa or beach house. The walk began at Bandra Railway Station which I thought had a very British feel to it.  If it wasn't for the tuk-tuk and the woman in a sari, this could have been a station somewhere in the UK.

From the station we walked by Bandra Masjid (mosque) and the surrounding market and then past Bandra Police Station into Hill Road - which the guide book told us was Bandra's first real fashion street with department stores, shopping centres and roadside vendors.  To be honest I didn't really find this area as much of a "fashion mecca" as described.  

Some way down Hill Road we took the diversion into Chapel Road, an old Christian enclave with many brightly coloured houses and old bungalows.  A lot of this area has really fallen into decay of late, but some of the bungalows are still worth looking at.  The style of the houses were modelled on a Portuguese layout with sloping roofs, external wooden staircases, verandahs and balconies.  Crosses are seen everywhere, at street corners and in front of the houses.

Back on the route again we walked up the hill to Mount Mary's Church - originally constructed by the Portuguese in 1640 and enlarged at the turn of the last century.  This area is full of people at the time of the Bandra Fair in September each year, but was fairly quiet when we walked up here yesterday.

After a quick stop at the church, we continued down the hill to Bandstand, a road that runs along the rocky coast.  This area got its name from the bands that played here for local residents - the bandstand is now derelict.  However there were many families and couples sitting by the shore or in the small parks along Bandstand.

We continued along Bandstand towards Land's End.  We walked past the Taj hotel and up to the 

Castella de Aguado (Bandra Fort). The fort dates back to the 1600s, though is now a ruin.  From Land's End and the fort, however, there are great views across to South Mumbai and the Sea Link.

Mumbai, as an island city, was once guarded by forts built by the Portuguese and British along the coast.  The guide book asked us to imagine what it was like for a Portuguese solder 400 years ago to be along in an alien, tropical land, trying to hang onto a patch of valuable property for his king and country.

We'd walked for a couple of hours by this point, and after walking back along Bandstand and taking some more photos we decided we jump in a tuk-tuk to Mocha Mojos and get a drink.  After that we walked to Suzettes for some delicious crepes.

Navratri - Nine Nights of the Goddess

October is the month of Navratri - the festival takes place over 9 nights and worships the different incarnations of the Goddess Shakti (Mother Goddess).

For the first three days the warrior goddess Durga, also known as Kali, is worshipped.  Durga is a spiritual force that destroys all our impurities.  For the second three days Lakshmi is worshipped.  Lakshmi is the bringer of spiritual wealth, as well as material wealth.  The final three days are spent worshipping the goddess of wisdom and knowledge, Saraswati.

Day 3 - Yellow

For Navratri there are also different colours for each day - women wear clothes in these colours and some women also fast or just eat vegetarian food.  The nine Navratri colors for 2012 are:

Day 1 - Pratipada - Red 

Day 2 - Dwitiya - Sky Blue 

Day 3 - Tritiya / Chaturthi -Yellow

Day 4 - Panchami - Green

Day 5 - Sashti - Grey 

Day 6 - Saptami  - Orange 

Day 7 - Ashtami - White

Day 8 - Navami - Pink

Day 9 - Vijayadasami - Blue

During the Navratri festivities Lex and I have been out to the local streets and joined in with the celebrations.  This has involved looking at the various shrines that have been set up and watching the dancing.  Last night we went to a neighbourhood where people were dancing with sticks.

Beach Life at Juhu and Bandra

This weekend I needed to take some landscape photographs for an online photography course that I am doing.  The options were forest, desert, mountain, prairie and seacoast.  Since none of the other options were available close to Mumbai, I opted for the seacoast one.

We took a tuktuk to the beach at Juhu and then started walking along it.  At Juhu it was quite sandy and there were even people who were swimming in the sea.

From the water's edge, this is the view looking back towards Juhu.  It's not a busy or touristy place at all.

After walking and taking photos at Juhu we took another tuktuk to Bandra.  Although it's just down the coast it's a very different landscape here.  More rocky.  However there seems to be some fishing going on and there were some colourful fishing boats pulled up on to the rocky shoreline.

One of the shots I had to do was of reflections in water.  This is the one I did at Bandra.

I also tried different modes on the camera such as the sunset mode and taking photos into water.  All in all I was fairly happy with these photos.