Maidans and more

After a good sleep in and a breakfast of tea and toast with vegemite, we were treated to a phone call from Mum and Dad, which made our day. After speaking to them, we were excited to get out and explore Bombay. Believe it or not, Bombay is actually an island, connected to the mainland by several bridges, and is flanked by the Arabian Sea to the west and the Mumbai Harbour to the east. We headed straight to the harbour side, a short walk from out hotel, and wandered along the docks to the Gateway of India. Yet another Arc de Triomphe type structure, it still 'celebrates' the arrival of the British to India. I guess it remains up as a reminder of India's past. We had every intention of catching a ferry to Elephanta Island, 9km northeast of the city inside Mumbai Harbour, but since it was Sunday and there were hoardes of people around, we decided to give it a miss until a weekday. Instead, we explored the main areas of the city on foot.

We passed the Navy dockyards as we entered the Fort area and headed to Horniman Circle (of course we call it Horny Man Circle). It's a nice little garden area set up in a round about, and is surrounded by the beautiful buildings of the Town Hall, State Library and St. Thomas's Cathedral. The Victorian style buildings of Bombay show much more evidence of the British and Portugese past than anywhere else we've been in India. Just outside the circle, a street was roped off and a film was being made. We stood and watched for a bit, and Nigel had hopes of being recruited as an extra in the cafe scene being shot. Bollywood at its finest.

We walked along the tree-lined streets to Flora Fountain, wandered through Sunday market stalls set up on the street and then walked south to Bombay University. The buildings are gorgous, old Victorian style, with a huge clock tower that used to play 'God Save the Queen.' The grounds are surrounded by the Oval Maidans, open grassed areas used as parks or parade grounds. Being Sunday, the parklands were filled with cricket matches in full swing. There were one or two official looking games, uniforms and all, but the rest of them appeared to be just groups of guys (and kids) out to have fun. The players all blended together into other games, so it was hard to tell the different matches apart. Of all the people in that huge area (about the size of 4 full soccer fields), I was the only woman, spectators included. Interesting. Nigel's quick reflexes saved me from being injured by a stray ball unseen to me, headed right for my temple but stopped by his elbow.

Back in Colaba, we decided to see a movie for a change. There are 2 or 3 cinemas around that show English films, and we opted for the best of the worst, XXX 2. Before the show started, we all had to stand while India's national anthem was played, images of the flag waving in the wind projected on the screen. A crap movie, but still nice to be in an air-conditioned cinema, eating popcorn and feeling like non-travellers. Of course I spent the first 30 minutes wondering when Vin Diesel would show up. About halfway through the movie, the film stopped and was followed by a slide indicating that this was the intermission. We had a good giggle over that one. Later, we were standing outside McDonald's having an ice cream when we were approaced by a woman recruiting extras for a movie shoot the next day. Apparently the Bollywood movies love to have westerners in the background. She asked if we'd do a film tomorrow, set in an air-conditioned pub, and we'd get 500 rupees each. Hell yeah, we'd do it! The details sorted out, we spent the rest of the afternoon trying to find a beer. Sadly, Sunday is dry day (you know, Sundays being extremely significant in a Hindu country)and, despite our Herculean effort, there would be no liquid amber for us.