Mumbai - no road rage here

It is said that beauty lies within the eye of the beholder. Some years ago we went to New York City. We found a huge city with many wonders - but we could find little beauty there. Yesterday we were in Mumbai - and we found none there either. Perhaps we occasionally glimpsed some out of the corners of our eyes - but it was overwhelmed by the surrounding ugliness.
Mumbai is a place that lays claim to some amazing statistics. 18 million people - with 6 million living on the streets. The largest number of (US dollar) millionaires in any one city in the world - living alongside abject poverty. The world's most ancient religious practices actively and openly practiced alongside 21st Century Business and Industry. We found the city to be overwhelming - so it is extremely difficult to describe our thoughts about it. Probably the most amazing thing about Mumbai is simply it's existence - the fact that it does exist, continues to exist and does not implode in an orgy of violence and crime. How this comes about is anybody's guess - and I am certain that it would not/could not happen anywhere else in the World. As a non-religious western Atheist, I am certain that it is because of the religious heritage and practices of the people there. How else could a single family of 5, erect a 17 storey residence (with parking for 130 cars)alongside people sleeping on the streets - and get away with it ? No road rage either - despite driving conditions which verge on being comical (mayhem) . We Westerners do have much to learn from this place - patience being top on the list of lessons.
We took a morning shore tour. I am very happy that we did, as at 9AM when we departed the Dockyard, our tour guide told us (as we first encountered the noise, the traffic, the people, the chaos) that it was very early in the day, nothing was yet open, nobody had yet arrived at work and so it was still very QUIET!!!! We laughed - but by 1PM, we understood what she had been saying to us as the city finally got up to a full head of steam. There is a magnificence underlying modern day Mumbai. The British Raj is still very much in evidence everywhere - most of it unfortunately decaying but much of it in wonderful condition and possibly more magnificent than that now found in London itself. Nowhere in London can a railway station be found to rival Mumbai's Victoria station - nor can the park setting of the Prince of Wales Museum be challenged. 30 years ago, I spent a couple of nights in New Delhi and a day tour down to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. I have remembered that experience and talked about it ever since and wanted a wider longer visit - and my
fascination with India is not diminished. However, I don't think I would want to return to Mumbai itself. But my thoughts regarding this are consistent with the experience we have had visiting the major Asian cities on this cruise. They are all in their own way overwhelming. We prefer smaller quieter - but the bigger cities still have to be seen to understand the countries. We have now left Asia - and starting a 5 day voyage to the Middle East and the Mediterranean. This will be a new experience for us and we are looking forward to it. Time to relax for a while.

You can view a Youtube video about our visit to Mumbai here