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Being Sunday, the city was quieter. As I left the port, a Bollywood film was being filmed at its gate. The pretty dancing girls in skimpy saris (however much a sari is skimpy) were on a break from the bizarre routine they were performing, along with Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse, and were currently busy chatting to the gate officials. Everyone else around took the opportunity of the custom officers' state of near-hypnosis to smuggle everything in and out of the port. We drove straight through, with no need to show any passes.
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The fort area was empty of traffic or activity. The streets, normally filled with the frenzy of India, had an eerie feeling as if all was abandoned. The only sign of life in those vast and ruined british buildings were the street kids playing cricket and adapting it to their own rules. I suspect that they are even more complicated than the originals.<br/><br/>

Mumbai, India, 01/10

Degrubenc
2005-12-09 16:04:26

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Being Sunday, the city was quieter. As I left the port, a Bollywood film was being filmed at its gate. The pretty dancing girls in skimpy saris (however much a sari is skimpy) were on a break from the bizarre routine they were performing, along with Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse, and were currently busy chatting to the gate officials. Everyone else around took the opportunity of the custom officers' state of near-hypnosis to smuggle everything in and out of the port. We drove straight through, with no need to show any passes.

The fort area was empty of traffic or activity. The streets, normally filled with the frenzy of India, had an eerie feeling as if all was abandoned. The only sign of life in those vast and ruined british buildings were the street kids playing cricket and adapting it to their own rules. I suspect that they are even more complicated than the originals.

There is no time to get bored in Mumbai, as Mr Hebbalkar keeps on educating me in the ways of the city. Our day’s visit took me to the a large mosque set on a small island off Mumbai. It is only accessible by foot at low tide. Many a tourist have been stuck on it for a good 6 hours, most probably an excellent opportunity to study the Coran, but Mr Hebbalkar has other plans for me and learning the Coran is not part of it.

He takes me to an extraordinary place. He describes it to me as the city’s washing machine. It is in fact a large and wide area filled with hundred of concrete tanks filled with water. Hundreds of people beat and wash the laundry given to them for a very small sum. Everyone comes here, even the big hotels have their sheets cleaned there.

After lunch in a delicious street restaurant, we are to go to the thiefs' market, also known as Chor Bazar. The approach to the market is much more lively than the fort area and turns out to be a long and arduous obstacle course we barely manage to overcome.
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