First Class to Mumbai

Our flight leaves at 7:30 am, which means we have to be to the airport and checked in by 6:30. To give ourselves room for error and the chaotic Indian streets, we have to leave by 5 am. We get back to our room after dinner around 11:00 pm. I’m nervous that if I fall asleep I will not wake up by 4, so I spend the night tossing and turning, watching the bright little clock on my phone. I must fall asleep at some point, though, because I have a vivid and dark dream. But I’m awake again by 2 am, and finally admit defeat and just lay in bed, eyes open, thinking about the trip thus far.

Four am comes early, and we stumble out of bed and pack hurriedly. We meet our taxi outside at 5 am in the pink and purple Jaipuri morning. We check into the airport and wait for our plane to arrive. It lands early and they begin calling all passengers to immediately come to the boarding area. So we rush through the gates just to find that we still have to wait until the regular boarding time anyway.

When we are seated on the plane, we discover that they have double-booked our seats. An Indian couple paces frantically back and forth as we all show the cabin crew our boarding passes. Cindy loses hers momentarily, but quickly finds it tucked under her leg. Cindy and I are then taken to the front of the plane, where we are informed we have been transferred to first class! They apologize, but we kindly tell them it’s quite alright. I’ve never flown first class, so I’m incredibly excited! There are eight seats total on this plane’s first class cabin. They are HUGE. I have enough space to stretch my body out completely straight if I want. Or, I can curl up and fold easily into the pillowy chair. The trays fold out of the seat side, as you’re not even close enough to the chair in front of you to have a tray on the back of its seat.

We are immediately greeted with fresh mango juice. Then, they take our breakfast order. Cindy and I both get the “veg” sandwich, which consists of a Mumbai-style corn curry between two slices of bread, with a red curry sauce.  And off we go.

As we land two hours later in Mumbai, the staff passes out scratch-off cards to win items from the airport’s luxury store. Lo-and-behold I win any item of my choice! After we’re off the plane I pick out a shimmer golden jewelry set, complete with necklace, earrings, and a bangle. What a trip! (Later, we find out that you basically always win on the scratch-off, but hey—it was super cool!)

So, Mumbai. There are tall palm trees lining the wide, paved streets. The buildings are tall—like, New York City tall. Elegant, glassy, blue and white. Situated underneath them are well-organized slums and squatter settlements, covered in blue tarps. To either side, the sea lines our way. We drive about an hour and half to Colaba—the southern area of Mumbai, near Mumbai’s India Gate and the ferries to Elephanta Island.

All of the hotels we had looked at were outrageously expensive. We finally settled on one near the beach front, just about half a mile away from India Gate. It’s still expensive, but not several-hundred-dollars-per-night expensive. It’s a sleek Western-style hotel. The lobby is nice, with shining hardwood floors and burgundy couches. All of the staff wears well-pressed gray and burgundy suits. Otherwise, our room is pretty simple. It has two small beds, white walls, and a teeny-tiny poorly lit green bathroom (it is worth noting, though, that the Western-style shower has ridiculously hot water). We also have wi-fi, which is a plus. Anyway, we settle in to the hotel and look up Elephanta Caves.

The Elephanta Caves are a World Heritage Site situated on Elephanta Island.  The caves are hand-carved out of solid rock, with the prominent feature being the enormous Sadhashiva statue---a three-headed Shiva where he is depicted as destroyer, creator, and preserver of the universe. The caves were carved between 450 and 750 ad. Our research indicated that the caves were closed on Monday, but no one can quite tell us for sure.

It is Sunday, and we decide not to risk it. So as soon as we settle into our hotel we walk down the beach to the towering India Gate. It is about 1:00 pm at this point, and the streets are PACKED. It’s like a carnival—people are even walking around selling cotton candy. Hundreds of families sit on the street and in the courtyard of India Gate sharing picnics, getting photos taken, and purchasing the tons of sweets and toys passing by. It’s nearly impossible to get through the crowd. Somehow we make it, though. We begin to wonder how to buy a ticket to the ferry to Elephanta Island, but as soon as we walk into India Gate a man walks up to us with tickets  in his hand, and surprisingly they are the correct price! We take the tickets and hurry to the ferry dock. People are crowded together, jumping down onto ferries as they breeze by dock. We pause to look at each other--this will definitely be an adventure.

We squeeze through the hot, sweaty, colorful crowd and make our way onto a boat. We have to jump across a three-foot gap and down about two feet to land on the boat. But we make it—the boat staff must be very experienced at getting the throbbing crowd safely and efficiently onto the ferry.

After the boat is packed to its absolute carrying capacity, we head out. It is an hour and half ride across the Arabian Sea to Elephanta Island. Cindy and I have secured seats on a ledge in the middle of the boat, and we lean against each other, dozing off and starting awake as the boat jumps along the waves.

At first glance, the Arabian Sea is a murky sister to the Atlantic Ocean. However, as we have time to actually look at the water, we realize it is a beautiful shimmering amber color. The crests of the waves break a solid white. The rough surface gleams gold under the sun as we pass through it.

By the time we arrive at Elephanta Island, we are burning hot and sweaty. We down our two “mineral” waters (the Indian code for bottled water), and head onto the dock. The crowd is pushing around us, but most of them stop to wait on the train that makes the trek half-way up and down the mountain to the caves. We rush forth and break in front of the crowd. Next is the long hike upward, through a narrow pathway of shops and higher and higher stairs.

Luckily, the shop owners do not harass the tourists as much. If you ignore their first attempt at a sale, they generally retreat to their shaded seats. So onward we go, sweating and huffing but making timely progress up the endless mountain. We stop a couple of times to drink even more water (at this point we’ve downed about two gallons or so of water), but finally we break through to the top of the mountain.

Here we pay the entrance fee of 300 rupees each, and enter the caves. Let me begin by saying Sunday is not the day to visit sites in India. Most people are off for the day, so hundreds (thousands?) of families make their way to tourist centers, celebrating family picnics with endless photos. The Elephanta Caves are packed. However, we manage to make our way to the first cave—the most renowned—and are awed by the carvings facing us from out of the rock.

Of course, the most celebrated is the 10 or 12 foot tall Sadhashiva statue, carved in the center of the cave hall. However, all around this statute are statues of other gods and goddesses. Unfortunately, most are terribly worn by the climate and too many years of too many tourists. Teenagers pose atop carved shrines, holding the legs of statues, or even sitting on statues themselves. There are no safety barriers between the hordes of people and the timeless, ancient feats of work. However, what is left is still awe-inspiring and beautiful. We venture to the other caves and see hollowed out square rooms, smaller Shiva temples, and even a few large, worn Ganeshes. Monkeys roam freely, hissing at people as they pass by. A few tiny baby monkeys sit atop ledges and posts and snack on fallen food.

In all, there are five caves. Aside from the famous first cave, most of them are very small, with little rooms and few carvings.  However, the view of the Arabian Sea—towards Mumbai—is amazing. The golden ocean glitters around the distant haze of skyscrapers and temples. After about an hour, we make our way back down the mountain, once again passing through the stalls of vendors and the endless crowd of people. We catch a boat back to the mainland and doze off, our heads resting against the wooden beams of the ferry.  We wake up briefly as we sail through a fleet of the Indian navy. People run to the sides of the ferry to take pictures of the gigantic metallic orange naval boats. We doze back off.

After a little boat guffaw, we finally make it back to the mainland and dock. We have to crawl up and out of the boat this time, over another 3 foot gap. Once again, we make it, and scramble up the hill back to India Gate. The slowly setting sun is framed by the enormous arched structure. Throngs of people still fill the courtyard, and we navigate our way out like a maze. The police have barricaded most of the entryways, leaving only one small narrow opening for the endless people to come in and out of. It takes us several tries, but finally we figure out exactly how to get to this opening. We rush out with the oncoming crowd and make our way to the Mumbai street. Across from India Gate is a beautiful historical hotel known as the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel. It is both British and Gothic, and runs a full city block. It towers over the street, with its deep gray and red bricks. White, domed archways grace its roof, and hints of gold glitter around its windows and doors. We walk pass this, watching the sea to the other side, as small fishing boats make their way in for the night. We make it back to our hotel, and head to the restaurant bar, where we order wine and beer and share hummus and baba ganouj. The bar sits on the second floor of the hotel, near the poolside. Bright blue lights are strung up over us, reflecting the vibrant cerulean of the pool.

We are exhausted.  It has been an incredibly long day---beginning before 4 am. It is all we can do to keep our eyes open at our table. After eating, we head down for the night and crash into a deep sleep.

We sleep in the next day. This feels like our first actual night of rest since we’ve been in India. While we could go out and do a city tour or engage in more adventures, our bodies are simply not ready. Mumbai is huge---overwhelmingly huge. And while it is prettier and more organized than Delhi, it seems like a lot of work to venture out into its winding streets. Instead, we opt for shopping at the local bazaar behind our hotel. We spend the day meandering through stalls, chatting with vendors, and bargaining our way into some souvenirs. We stop for lunch at a place called Leopold’s Café, that has faded pictures of American actors and singers from the 1950s. The menus are stylistically tucked under the glass of the dining room tables, and the whole feel is that of a southern-style American diner. The food, of course, is a multi-national cuisine of Chinese, Indian, and Italian (as most restaurants are for some reason).

One interesting feature of this restaurant is that they serve a beer “tower” for a whopping 1500 rupees. However, we soon discover just what a beer tower is; a man across from us orders one, and is brought a four gallon dispenser of beer. Seriously. We took pictures, you’ll have to see later.

They also offer a buy-three-get-one-free feature for the regular cocktails. Cindy and I order fresh kiwi and watermelon margaritas. That’s the thing about India, by the way--all juice is made fresh in a juicer. So our drinks arrive with fresh, pulpy bright green and juice, combined with our delightful friend, Tequila.

We order a second round. This time the tequila is even stronger. To go with our drinks we also order spicy Chinese fried rice and French fries. Both are amazing, but the portion of rice is absolutely ridiculous. It could feed five or six people. We finish our drinks, eat, and chat for some time. We notice that it is getting cloudy and windy outside. We’d better hurry back to the hotel before the monsoon hits.

So we pay our check and dash out onto the windy street. We head for the beach---a way back we know for sure. The streets on the way there are beautiful. They are narrow and lined with flowering tropical trees. Houses and hotels, painted white, blue, pink, or gold, hide behind tall iron gates. Elegant Gothic style buildings dot the scenery. The clouds are getting lower, though, so we move on. We make it back to our hotel and after resting for some time, head up to the restaurant for another round of hummus and drinks.

Outside the sky is a deep blue-black. In the distance we hear a parade, complete with drums and horns. Lightning strikes overhead. We hear a deep grumble as the sky slides open. Rain briefly pours out onto the patio—barely missing our heads. The storm is beautiful. The purple and white flashes of lightning brighten the cloudy Mumbai sky---briefly outlining the myriad of tall buildings lining the sea. The warm wind blows over us as we eat and drink. After a while, we head back to our room to prepare for our departure tomorrow. Our flight for Goa leaves at noon, and we’ll be heading out at 8 am.

 Until then,

Namaste!