Goodbye , Mumbai

When I decided that I would go to India a few months ago I had no expectations of the country. A few days ago when I left South Africa I hoped to miss my connecting flight to Mumbai from Nairobi. I only  realised when I got to india that I was scared of this new adventure. It feels like 2012 all over again when I left South Africa for East Africa for the first time.

ARRIVING IN MUMBAI
I has a very pleasant flight on Kenya Airways on Thursday. We arrived at around 17:00. Disembarkation was very chaotic. Everyone seemed to be in a hurry to get off the plane. Understandably so, we were about thirty minutes late. Most people probably had connecting flights etc. But it really was chaotic and I just sat on the until the dust settled.

I had a bit of trouble with border control. They wanted my yellow fever certificate and I didn't have it. This was very strange because I prepared a checklist a few days before departure and I don't remember anything about a yellow fever certificate requirement. I stood there while this guy made noise asking everyone. A few minutes later I was allowed in and yes, South Africans do not need yellow fever certificates for india. If you plan to come to india I would recommend that you carry it to make your life easier.

After all this drama I had to make a plan on how I was going to get to the hotel in the Colaba area from the airport. I was very tired since I left home 12 hours ago and I didn't sleep on the plane. The best thing to do was to get a cab to the hotel. I had read horror stories of cabbies taking longer routes to make extra cash so I opted for an uber car. It took forever to get to me and my phone was misbehaving but I finally got ahold of my driver and we headed off to Colaba.

DRIVING IN MUMBAI
I've been to Asia before and I know that traffic is terrible in most Asian cities. I was somewhat prepared for this. However, I wasn't so prepared for the 'chaos' on the roads. I say 'chaos' because it is working well for the locals. My driver drove like a maniac.  He changed lanes by just honking his horn. He drove in between lanes. He drove towards oncoming traffic. My poor heart!

I later learnt that this is how everyone drives in this city. I got tired of reacting  every time I heard someone hoot. It was just normal.

There's the local train to commute between the North and South of Mumbai and the metro for East and South. These are relatively inexpensive. There's also local cabs (black and yellow) that charge a flag fall of 21 Rupees (1 INR = ZAR 0.19). These are everywhere and are available any time. Locals also use the city's red busses to get around. I didn't take one but they are everywhere.

THE CITY
Once settled I knew that I had just about 30 hours to see Mumbai before heading out to Delhi. The city city takes a bit of getting used to but it's beautiful. I posted a few pictures of the city. For stories behind the pictures please see instagram.

I quite enjoyed the local street food and the bars. None of the bars that I went to played any music. I tend to connect better with other people if there's music involved.  It's a very nice way to break the ice. Like in South Africa, the locals quite like their street food and they lay 'tables' on top of their bonnets and  chat among themselves.

The city reminded me so much of Dar es Salaam. There were quite a number of similarities. From architecture to cuisine to the men with roving eyes. Understandably so, given the Indian and Hindi history of the city.

GHANDI
Mahatma Ghandi is well respected in India, at least from what I saw in Mumbai. His face is on all the notes.  There's various monuments erected in his honour. I've learnt a lot more about him and I expect to learn more about him. I will post something on Ghandi towards the end of the trip.

GOODBYE FOR GOOD?
I can't say whether Mumbai is my favourite Indian city yet. I guess I have to try the other ones first. I don't have a strong desire to return to Mumbai any time soon.
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Homosexuality is illegal in India. This follows a decision that was taken a coupleof years ago to decriminalise it. The decriminalisation was due to a loophole in the penal code. India has a very large community of Hijras, the third gender. Hijras receive great protection and recognition from the government and locals. Official government forms make provision for the third gender to be selected as a gender. Locals believe that Hijras have powers to bless or curse people and for that they are well - respected members of the community.