Here's my final post on India - a place not to miss seeing if you have the opportunity. As mentioned previously it was never on my wish list. I'm really glad now that I've been there and I would return.......but only if I had time to visit the Taj Mahal, one of the universally admired masterpieces of world heritage.
Amazing people around and about Mumbai..........
Paula and the peacock feather fan man.
Beautiful shawls, and ladies........................
I loved this mother and daughter smiling at us
from their bus.
Interesting and thought provoking............you can read more about Gandhi's life HERE.
Victoria Terminus - now renamed as Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaja Terminus - is the largest railway station in the east and handles thousands of passengers a day. A particularly British institution, it is built in Italian Gothic style with decorations of gargoyles, peacocks, snakes and rats!
If you've seen the amazing movie Slumdog Millionaire, you will know this station well as it played a major part in the film.
One of several station clocks - ornate ironwork decoration.
The gigantic timetable board dwarfing our friends Kim and Rob on the right.
Rice awaiting loading on to a train. If you find a quiet spot and you're going to use plastic chairs, make 'em pretty like these!
A heaving mass of people constantly moving
through the station, embarking and disembarking
the huge old trains, such as this 'Ladies Train'
which allows female
passengers safe transportation......
which allows female
passengers safe transportation......
The sadness of seeing people who looked helpless
and had made the station their home perhaps.....
......not much different from
what is seen in all large cities
across the globe.
Bob contemplating a rail trip across India perhaps. I assure you I will not even consider doing that!
Looking up - beautiful architecture of the train station - while beneath the rawness of life is visible and not always as lovely.
So we managed to see a lot of Mumbai, driving and walking for several hours. Our restaurant stop for lunch was enjoyable with excellent Indian food. Above, the popular three mile fashionable promenade built on reclaimed land - modern Mumbai in the background.
At 5:30PM we were back on board the Queen Elizabeth. She soon slipped her lines, setting a course due west to take us clear of shallow waters, then altering course to starboard and setting a north westerly course heading across the potentially dangerous (the piracy issue!) Arabian Sea for Dubai, UAE....a distance of 1147 nautical miles.
Come back next time and join Bob and I enjoying and showing our domestic side during two days at sea.
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This really is wonderful article ! I simply love’d it !
ReplyDeleteI hope you enjoy the rest of your adventure.
ReplyDeleteI have never wanted to travel to countries like that , guess a scardy cat sort of person, I am
I do enjoy reading about your adventure and will come back for more of this trip
Janice
I should have said also the colors are so beautiful, I love the womens' clothing because of the colors, also the buildings are beautiful
ReplyDeleteI just can't take a cruise
India - it's intertwined with our colonial history, as so many of the people that made Victoria home from the turn of the century into the 40's were retirees from the colonial army, or Old India Hands of some description. It's not on my 'must visit' list but I am, nevertheless, drawn to it....probably after reading one too many books set during the period of the Raj! Thank you for the wonderful glimpses of real life in these posts. You take wonderful, candid photos of people.
ReplyDeleteLoved reading all your posts concerning India. Such lovely photo's of the people, the colours of their clothing and everything that surrounds their every day life. The buildings are beautiful.
ReplyDeleteThe post on Cochin I had to go back and re-read, why, I watch "The Amazing Race" on TV and the teams where in Cochin, India.
Look forward to future posts.
Patricia
It's good that you actually had chance to look round Mumbai (Bombay sounds so much more romantic doesn't it?) and to see where Ghandi lived must have been interesting. The ceiling of the railway station is phenomenal - what a contrast to the scenes below.
ReplyDeleteGreat to see where Gandhi Lived. I studied him for my degree.
ReplyDeleteAnd the station photos are amazing. All life is there.
Sft x
Your pictures are remarkable, they capture not just the people and the colors but the crowds and movement. I feel as if I've been on my own whirlwind tour of Mumbai.
ReplyDeleteAnother source on Gandhi is a 1979 book by William L. Shirer, who wrote about the Indian independence movement in the 1930s. The title is "Gandhi: A Memoir." It's a small book, and quite accessible (no footnotes).
What truly amazing photos. They would be great in a picture book. Love the colours of India, there really is nothing like it anywhere else.
ReplyDeleteAmazing images, Mary. You are an awesome photographer. Thanks for sharing your trip through the lens of your camera. ~ Sarah
ReplyDelete