Mumbai

Saturday, 18 March 2017

We’ve been to Mumbai many times, but our guide managed to show us a few new-to-us places.

Dhobi ghats -- a large outdoor laundry. This one was not the large one further north in Mumbai, but the second-largest laundry located near the southern end, and much easier to walk through. As it was late afternoon, most of the laundry has been washed and is hanging to dry.

We asked for a return visit to Mani Bhavan, the house where Gandhi stayed when he was in Mumbai, that is now a museum. We visited once before in January 2013. That seems a lifetime ago, and we thought we would now have a much better context for and understanding of the exhibits. The photo above shows Gandhi’s room as it was when he lived here.

Somehow in our times in Mumbai, we missed a visit to the Crawford Market. There’s not much you can’t get here. I would put it high on my must-see list.

Produce is arguably the main attraction at the market.

Buried amongst the watermelons and pineapples is a fountain designed by Rudyard Kipling’s father.

There’s an entire section of the market devoted to pets. Here parakeets and rabbits are for sale.

Puppies and kittens. The animal-lover in me found the conditions the animals (from birds to mammals) lived in to be disturbing. (But many humans in India aren’t much better off.)