The next call on our walking tour was a visit to what is commonly regarded as a masterpiece of Mumbai architecture – the Gothic-style Victoria Terminus, now known as the Shivaji Maharaj Terminus. The first photo is taken from across the Street showing the main entrance and the second is to one side showing the impressive carved Lion and gates of the VIP entrance!
The Terminus It was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2004 and boasts carvings of peacocks, gargoyles, monkeys, lions and elephants all mixed in with flying buttresses, domes, spires and stained glass windows. On top of the central tower is a 4 metre high sculpture of “Progress’. One tourist brochure that I read rather unkindly, in my opinion, describes the rest of the building as a “celebration of Pandemonium”, well if it doesn’t earn that epithet outside it certainly did inside!!
Next it was down into the warren of underpasses packed with commuters coming away from the station and the inevitable stalls selling everything you can imagine including electric fly swots which made a sinister ‘zizz’ as they were bounced against Christmas tinsel to demonstrate their power. It was a peculiarly irritating and penetrating sound.
We forced our way against the human tide pouring down the steps and into the station proper with its equally ornate neo-gothic style interior and a view on to the teeming platform concourse. Trains were pulling in every few seconds and so many people were there that the camera wouldn’t focus so the photo is the best I could do but it certainly shows the frenetic energy of the Mumbai rush hour and this was at 10.00am!
Our final appointment was with a cup of coffee some excellent chicken sandwiches and spicy plum cake, not unlike our traditional Christmas cake but with a delicious addition of Indian spices in the Café at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel where I had eaten last year and stayed a night at the end of my Taj Mahal – proper – overland tour last year.
There are just not enough words to describe the chaos and yet vibrancy of this cosmopolitan city. In amongst all this chaos are street children – big eyed and filthy – dragged along by their Mothers begging but don’t me fooled, whilst there is poverty in Mumba many of these street beggars make a very comfortable living and much prefer this life to employment. In amongst this chaos it is perfectly safe to wander providing of course you take the usual simple precautions. Perhaps the last photo above of the street porter captures the essence of Mumbai?
So after an exhilarating Morning it was back to the ship for an early departure at 2.00pm, which as you already know was delayed until 6.00pm. As I finish this posting it’s 5.30pm on Tuesday 4th February and we are en route and on time to dock at the southern port of Cochin at 8.30am tomorrow morning.
No comments:
Post a Comment