For me, India’s West Coast offers the perfect travelling experience as the big city of Mumbai contrasts to the relaxing vibes of Goa and the stunning scenery of Kerala.
Mumbai was the first time I remember breathing out in India. Don’t get me wrong, the city is the largest in India and so a far cry from serenity, but you can feel in the air it is a good place to be and sense instantly why it would be called the city of dreams. We arrived with apprehension as Mumbai is home to the largest slum in Asia, Dharavi though the image you conjure up is in stark contrast to reality. Dharavi is of course an area of supreme deprivation but it has its own economy exporting around $1 million of goods such as leather, textiles and pottery and with that, a great sense of community which really sets it a apart from the slums we had experienced in the northern cities of India.
This is reflected by the people you encounter in the city. Not once were we approached by con artists or beggers. None of the drivers tried to charge us unfairly and we were able to walk around without the stares and disapproving looks we had become accustomed to so far on our trip. The street kids came to say hello and practice their English with huge smiles and would leave again with neither party feeling guilty or embarrassed or any of the other feelings you get in the pit of your stomach when surrounded by third world poverty.
Completely different to Agra for example where a young girl sunk her nails into my thigh as I passed her in a tuk tuk without giving her any money. The driver told me to hit her and was shocked that I wouldn’t. All I could think was ‘why would I hit her?’ But then you realise that it’s almost as though people do not see each other as human in such circumstances so it would therefore be perfectly acceptable for me to strike a child as she was no longer seen as a child at all maybe to help soothe those weird stomach feelings I spoke of earlier?
Anyway despite the poverty in Mumbai, we did not see any of this. Not even any kiddies selling all the pens and colouring books and reading books that someone somewhere had donted to them. Everyone just appeared to be happy to be alive and happy for you to be happy too. Which made us happy!
Even after a bomb scare infront of our hotel, we were able to relax and take in Mumbai for the short time we were there. We took a rickshaw ride to the beach for ice cream and enjoyed an afternoon walk down Marine Drive taking in the wonderfully cooling sea breeze. It was the first time we had seen the beach and although it was only a small taster of what was to come as we headed further south, we loved it all the same.
We also visited the India Gateway and sat and watched the passing ships in the harbour behind as the sun went down before heading for food. Mumbai has many incredible restaurants, bars and hotels to sample. There was a real party vibe in the air as the sky became dark and the city lights began to really shine with music everywhere creating an electric atmosphere.
We only spent a couple of days in Mumbai as it isn’t really a sightseeing city. There are many tours of the slum you can take without the feeling that you are participating in poverty tourism as mentioned before it is rather another way to live life rather than one to take pity on. There are also many other city walking tours that show off some of Mumbai’s more hidden gems such as the largest outdoor laundrette. Looking back I wish we had have stayed a full weekend in Mumbai, caught a live Bollywood show or even crashed one of the many weddings parading through the streets!
But after our Himalayan expedition and tussling in north India we were more than ready to just beach out and do nothing at all so only had one place on our minds…Goa! We booked an 18hour sleeper bus to Calangute in North Goa which was a complete nightmare to find. It took several calls to the booking company, the bus driver, his friend and asking the taxi driver to also get in on the conversation with a hefty phone bill looming no doubt to find out that there are 2 large bars with the same name in within 3km of one another that the bus was due to collect us from. Anyway we eventually made it and we were soon on our way ☺️
Coming next: Part 2 of my India west coast blog, Goa
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