Mumbai, India

 We arrived this morning in Mumbai, formerly known as Bombay. The original name Bombay was derived from the Portuguese occupation when they called it "bom bain", meaning "good little bay or beach". The British accepted the description and called it Bombay. The British acquired Bombay in the 1600's as part of a dowry from king of Portugal when his daughter married into the British royal family.

The name Bombay stuck until 1995 when the regional political party Shiv Seva came to power and wanted to change the legacy of British colonialism. Locals of Maratha heritage had called the city Mumbai before from the goddess Mumbadevi, which means "mother" in Marathi, so this name was adopted.

Although we can see many skyscrapers on the city horizon, our tour took in mostly colonial buildings left from the British occupation. Our first visit was to the Gateway, an arch on the edge of the harbor, 85 feet high, that was built to commemorate the visit by King George V and Queen Mary in 1911

The Gateway

One of the main entrances to the Victoria Rail Station which is the central railway hub. It was built by the British Since COVID fewer people use the rail every day. It is now down to about 7 million users each day!

The streets are a hectic mix of cars, bicycles, hawkers in the middle of traffic,  and even the odd holy cow on the side of the road. It must still be good fortune to touch the cows, since people walk by and pat them as they pass. The rules of the road appears to be those who honk the loudest get the right of way!

This is such a good example of the cultural mix. An old lady in traditional dress tending the cow on the sidewalk while the young man going by pays no attention, and is completely engrossed in his cell phone!

Street kids hawking small items to passersby. Our kids have no idea how lucky they are!

This poor man with a huge load on his bicycle was trying to push it out of  the way of the tourist bus. The man in red is coming to help him.

We did see a few very interesting sights. One was the Dhabi Ghat, or outdoor laundry. Every day thousands of pieces of laundry are washed, dried and ironed by Mumbai's dobi wallahs, or laundry men and women. These laundries are located in many neighborhoods.

I'll never complain about my washing machine again!

We also visited the Mahatma Gandhi Museum. Gandhi used to stay in this house which was owned by a friend of his whenever he visited Bombay. After his death the house became a museum. His bedroom is displayed how he used it, with a mattress on the floor.

Gandhi's bedroom.

Our last stop was the Prince of Wales Museum, built in 1923 , also to commemorate King George V's visit. It now houses various forms of art, and sculpture.

Entrance to the museum.

We visited the temple for the "International Society for Krishna Consciousness" , or as we know it in the west, the Hare Krishna Temple.

Entrance to the temple with intricate carved stone decoration.

Main upstairs worship area.

A statue of Krishna and a monk in the background.

A worshipper in a quiet lower courtyard.