The Taj Palace where we are staying and the Taj Tower
A Ganesh Statue pre-immersion
Street Docorations
Another Ganesh
Anti-Terrorist Sign
Tandoori Chicken, Pomfret, Gobi, Eggplant
Jeera Rice, Dal
Today was a typical monsoon day in Bombay. Rain, rain stops,
rain starts again, rain stops. It was very humid, when you were outside you
were either soaked from sweat or soaked from the rain. It made no difference.
Late in the day we came back to the Taj after a walk. We were soaked with
sweat. We were then going to meet Tom and some new people we met for drinks.
Then we would be going out for dinner. At home we would definitely had showered
and put on fresh clothes. Here we are staying at probably the best hotel in the
world, and we said “screw it, why bother?” Two minutes after we walked out of
the air-conditioning we would be soaked again either from sweat or from rain.
We started by walking to an antique store a few blocks from
the Taj. By the time we got there we were dripping wet (not from rain). The
store had great Indian artifacts. We spent a lot of time there. Just before we
left the monsoon struck. It was really raining hard. We grabbed a cab back to
the Taj, and traded our still dry shoes for the rubber boots that Kashmera had
insisted we bring with us. We then went out and hired a cab, to take us from
store to store. Between the cab and the rubber boots we remained dry (at least
from the rain).
After returning to the hotel and resting, we went out for
another walk. The rain had stopped. Today was a day when there would be no
immersions of Ganesh Idols. It is very regulated over the 10 day festival. Immersions occur only on odd numbered days. People have Ganesh idols in their
home which they will then take to the water. In addition, neighborhoods sponsor
Ganesh and structures that are built to house them. Everyone comes and looks and
prays at them. It is almost like a neighborhood contest to see who could make
the best idol. We viewed many of them on our walk.
We had briefly met two men who were staying on the same
floor as us at the Taj. We ran into them on the elevator and then
several other times. We invited them to join us for a drink at the Club Room. The
Taj has free cocktails in the club room every evening. It turned out one of
them had been to India 60 times. He is obsessed with India. Both are professors
of Law. One who is from Trinidad is an aficionado and critic of Bollywood
movies. He is originally from Trinidad and is quite amusing. The other from
England is a serious gardener. It made for an intriguing time, as Cathy
discussed Bollywood and Tom discussed flowers. The Trinidadian had just bought
and read a book about Cathy’s favorite Indian movie: Rang de Basanti. He
generously gave the book to Cathy. We exchanged numbers and will probably meet
again tomorrow for cocktails. We invited them to join us for dinner, but I
think they only drink!
We took a cab to a Punjabi restaurant that we had previously
been to: Shere-e-Punjabi. They have two identical restaurants on opposite side
of the street. One serves Alcohol the other doesn’t. Guess which one we went
to? It turns out they only had one half bottle of wine left to sell. So I
volunteered to drink an Indian Beer while Tom and Cathy shared the wine. We
returned back to the hotel, and I got a kick out of the driver. No one in
Mumbai stops for a red light. They just drive through them. I don’t understand
why there aren’t more accidents!
Late at night the Taj serves free Cognac and Chocolates.
Another trip to the club room was in order to top off the night.
We have stayed at the Taj Palace many times. We have stayed
at very good hotels elsewhere. No other hotel measures up to the level of
service at the Taj. It is the closest one can come to living like royalty. Everything
about staying at the Taj is special. The BBC is doing a four part series about the Taj Hotel called Hotel India. You can watch a trailer here.
No comments:
Post a Comment