I arrived in India on December 26, after buying a flight on Kiwi.com that transferred me through Dubai. As far as I checked, only they offered this connection, because it was not formally a connection, but two separate and distinct flights. I had to go through Dubai’s passport control. But this was fairly easy, and the 3.5 hour layover proved to be plenty of time to get through immigration and change terminals. Still, if the airport had been busier, perhaps the process would not have been quite so relaxed.
Entering Mumbai was also easy to negotiate. G had given me precise instructions on reaching his friend’s apartment and a black-and-yellow taxi (the cheapest kind – avoid the expensive alternatives) took me there, over the new Sea Link route (for which you must pay the toll). The apartment is in one of the old houses on a side street not far from the Taj Mahal hotel and the Regal Cinema. It is high-ceilinged and graced by old-style or antique furniture – it’s been a while since I have slept in a semi poster bed.
Walking around the next day, it took me a couple of hours to get used again to the comparative squalor of Indian city streets. But I quickly got over that, so that it seems normal again.
My flights required me to travel light this time. Kiwi said that I was formally limited to one 5 kg bag, though I had realized that was probably not true. Spicejet’s limit for cabin luggage is 7 kg, and I made sure to stay within that. Actually it was borderline, but I placed some of the heavier items in my travel vest, which wasn’t weighed, and they also did not weigh the laptop bag. So my backpack registered as 5 kg and the man said “perfect”. However, due to the need to travel light, I left my camera at home and will rely upon my cellphone. Still, looking at my travel vest, the Indian airport immigration officer asked if I was a photographer. They are so so afraid of journalists in this country. I laughed at his suggestion that this was a photographer’s vest and said I was actually here for meditation. If he had pressed, I could have pointed out that I wasn’t even carrying a camera.
I have been walking around the area of the old Fort district, after reading a couple of books I found in my room on walking tours of Bombay’s historical area. Basically, there are many old buildings, most in a sad state of disrepair. But still a lot of history. I was particularly fascinated by St. Thomas Cathedral, with its many markers and plaques concerning British colonial officers cut down by attacks, overexposure to the sun, and probably disease, though the latter isn’t mentioned so often. One of the plaques even commemorates a member of the Scott expedition to Antarctica.
