Upright (Barely) in Mumbai

I am annoyed. I was so looking forward to being in Mumbai and then I arrived in a feverish mess, sleeping away my first day. 

The next day I willed myself better. That got me as far as the Gateway to India, a grabby hands trip through the Taj hotel shops and a taxi tour of Mumbai. Then it was an outrageously expensive lunch I couldn’t really eat, more hotel downtime and a wander through the Colaba night market. 

I did see some of the things I had wanted to see on the car tour - the Dhobi Ghats laundry, Marine Drive, Chowpatty Beach, the gold and silver Jain temple, a glimpse of the Parsi Towers of Silence, the Hanging Gardens, Gandhi Museum, the amazing Indo-Saracenic style railway station. Actually, so much of the architecture of old Mumbai just knocks my non-existent socks off. I was kinda hoping to swing by Mehboob Studios and Shah Rukh Khan’s house to see if he’s about but it wasn’t in the cards. 

Cards! We finally found some postcards! They really don’t exist much anymore, which makes me sad. They are so fun to send and receive. 

We were booked through a charity to do a tour of the slums but there was no way I could commit to a taxi ride, a 45 minute local train ride and then a 2 hour walk in the sun, plus the return trip. I’m still wobbly in the legs for all that. I’m really disappointed and I appreciate that K has been a great sport with my various weird infirmaries.  

Imagine that, I’m finally starting to listen to my body’s needs. Last year I would have gone regardless even if I had to crawl through the slums. 

After much much more rest, I did manage to go back downtown. I poked my nose in an air con art gallery and chatted with the artists, knocked over my soup served in a tippy water glass and learned about curry cleaning wet wipes. We wandered into some cool shops and briefly contemplated throwing out everything we currently own to buy their very charming aspirational goods. Do I need darling hand painted martini glasses? Why, yes, for all the ritzy martini parties I routinely throw. And the matching juice glasses, even though I don’t drink juice. 

We resisted and ended our outing on a rooftop overlooking the bay and watching the eagle next door watching us. I missed out on some things, but I really enjoyed the things I got to do.