The flight from Delhi had landed on time in Mumbai and we had a one-and-a-half hour drive from the airport that is some through streets throbbing with life as ever. This part of the city was a long series of low two-storey ramshackle buildings all housing different trades or shops. I remember peeking into the upper story of one of these buildings and there window open in the stifling heat sat an Indian gentleman in his vest working a sewing machine.
As we moved further into the city I was struck by how the poorest of dwellings sit cheek by jowl with upmarket modern houses or flats. One thing is for sure every conceivable space is occupied by someone and everyone appears to have a way of making their daily crust. Fresh chicken, no problem, taken from the cage, slaughtered, gutted and ready to cook within minutes!!
As I will explain in a later posting Mumbai is situated on a cluster of islands in a huge bay connected by a new suspension bridge that we crossed, the lights of the so called ‘Queen’s Necklace’ glinting round the bay, and down to the our hotel for the night – the Taj Mahal Palace.
You will no doubt recognise from this photo that this is the hotel that was the centre of the terrorist attack back in 2010, now refurbished of course. I recall that a colleague at the company I worked for in London had been in the hotel after a tiger safari just a few days before the attack.
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