Gym's Ramblings: Slumdog Cowboys

Mumbai, India is a huge city. It is also a mass of humanity that defies description. But as in Cochin, it was cleaner than I thought it would be and the people were all very accommodating to us. We arrived before dawn, so we woke to a view of a vast harbor filled with boats of every description, including several ships of the Indian Navy, which were berthed right next to us. There were also a number of other cruise-ships, freighters, tugboats and smaller craft of every imaginable type. We had to breakfast early so we could complete a face-to-face meeting with the Indian authorities and then make our tour disembarkation time, which was scheduled for 8:30. It was therefore unfortunately a little like getting ready for work yesterday morning.

India has been the only country where it was necessary to meet with in-country officials, passports and visas in-hand, before leaving the ship. This undoubtedly was in some measure due to the tragic terrorist attacks of 2008. The process of obtaining visas before we left Calgary was the first clue about how different things were going to be and then we got here and had to have face-to-face meetings twice, once in Cochin and once in Mumbai. For those of you that have been on cruises you know how unusual this is because normally you surrender your passport to the cruise ship at the start of the cruise and do not see it again until the end. We also observed that security on the docks has been the tightest so far in India with heavily armed guards at all the gates. But now that we are out of India I look back and I appreciate that the Indian Government was trying to minimize the threat of future terrorist attacks and I appreciate their efforts, which helped to protect us as well.

We started our tour with a swing through the historic heart of old Mumbai where almost every building had some connection to the British colonial period. We passed the Royal Bombay Yacht Club, Prince of Wales Museum, The National Mint and a portion of the campus of Mumbai University. We then reached the square, which contains the Gateway to India, an arch not unlike the Arc de Triomphe. The Gateway to India is situated in front of the Taj Mahal Hotel. The 107-year old, grand Taj Hotel was the center of most of the violence during the terrorist attacks, which took place just over two years ago. I remember the news coverage of the event, which included video shot from where I stood with my lovely wife waiting to board a boat for Elephanta Island.

The highlight of the tour that we signed up for in Mumbai was visit to the caves on Elephanta Island. I must tell you though that the boat ride sucked! Although the boats had a very quaint appearance as they were all brightly hand-painted in all the colors of the rainbow and bobbing around the wharf in front of the Gateway to India, they may have actually been older than the monument itself. They were very slow and not really handled in very sound and safe manner. It took us an hour to sail the 3 or 4 miles to the island and that gave us enough time to notice that there were no lifejackets on these rickety motorized rafts. We did however eventually make a successful landing at our destination.

The caves themselves are spectacular. They were constructed between 500 and 800 AD and are quite fascinating in the way they were chiseled out of solid basalt rock. The main room of the cave we toured consists of a series of panels depicting scenes from Hindu religious folklore. These panels surround a Hindu Temple and a central panel depicting the triad of Vishnu, Brahma and Shiva. The caves were constructed so that none of the panels would be obliterated by natural light at any point during the day but also so there would be ample light to see all the detail of each panel throughout the day. It is amazing to think that those ancient architects and engineers did it all without modern machinery. It is also amazing to reflect on the fact that we made it back to the Gateway to India in those boats.

We are currently sailing about 160 nautical miles out of Mumbai harbor traveling westward in the Arabian Sea headed for the Persian Gulf. Our next stop will be Muscat. The ship is doing about 18 knots, in a five-foot swell but the Linda is out on the balcony quietly reading her book like seasoned sailorman. We have about 260 nautical miles to go before we raise the coast of Oman.