Greetings of the Day!!

Whenever I received an email from Savita (the travel agent in Pune, India who arranged our  two-week itinerary in Mumbai and Rajasthan), it always began thus: "Dear Mam, Greetings of the Day!!" At least two exclamation points, sometimes three. I began to look for something from her every day because, in a way, this salutation summed up the overwhelming warm, friendly welcome we received everywhere we went.  It's as if she was saying "come on in and welcome to my world". We did not hesitate to embrace the sentiment!

Our primary reason for being there was to visit the filming of a script Matthew wrote some ten years ago with his Bollywood colleague, Vishal Bhardwaj. After a few, typical movie ups-and-downs, delays and cancellations, production of "Rangoon" was finally underway. The story, set in WWII, follows a troop of performers who go to the north-eastern border of India and Burma to entertain the troops. A love triangle develops between the leading performer, a stunt queen named Julia (played by Kangana Ranaut), an impresario Rusi (Saif Ali Khan), who is producing the show, and a handsome Indian soldier, Nawab (Shahid Kapoor), who has aligned himself with the Indian National Army and is working with the Japanese Army to oust the British from India. All three lead actors are big stars in the world of Bollywood movies.

Shooting was taking place (at night!) at the Film City complex near the Sanjay Ghandi National Park in Mumbai. Here you'll find recording studios, sets, gardens, lakes and extensive grounds. Many Bollywood films take advantage of its proximity to downtown Mumbai. Vishal and his crew built an entire army encampment, sleeping huts, dining halls, radio transmitters, trucks and tanks, watch towers, and a fancy stage, on which the performers were getting ready for their next act.

Here, Julia in red velvet and tall boots, is engaged in a stunt queen demonstration of her sword prowess, which turns into a serious sword fight with Rusi, who has learned of her relationship with Nawab. Playback tango music highlighted the drama!

Director Vishal watches closely to be sure he has what he needs.

Off camera, Kangana joined us for the usual snapshot!

 With filming taking place at night, we had each day free to find our way around Mumbai. What a place! Less of a tourist spot, than a bustling city of commerce, cars, crowds, colors and, above all, contrasts.

Coming in to land at Mumbai, you fly over one of the biggest of the city's slums, immortalized in Katherine Boo's mesmerizing book,  "Behind the Beautiful Forevers." A sobering sight.

Driving through the clogged city streets, you have plenty of time to compare and contrast the cramped, overflowing housing of some buildings...

...with the 27-storey private house of the richest man in India, Mukesh Ambani, replete with three helipads, six floors of parking and a series of floating gardens!

Modern hi-rise condominium buildings tower over rickety shacks, pushed right up against the roadway.

It's a lot to absorb, and you could mull over these two contrasting worlds, except that there is so much else to look at as you navigate your way through endless, non-stop traffic -- cars, scooters, tuk-tuks (auto rickshaws), vans, trucks, all of them continuously honking and blaring their horns as they weave from lane to lane. An amazing cacophony! There probably are "rules of the road", but to us outsiders it seemed like one big free-for-all played out at super high decibel range. Amazingly, in spite of several near misses, we never saw even one fender bender, let alone a real accident!

Heading down to South Mumbai one afternoon, Matthew wanted to show me the Crawford Market that he had visited during a previous visit.

Here, under blue canopies, dozens of stalls offered a grand array of fresh fruits and vegetables.

Other stalls featured dried goods and candies. My British eye was pleased to see some Heinz Baked Beans and even a tin of Milo!

Over on one side, a bird market was full of parakeets, all crowded together, chirping away...

...mixed in with cute white bunnies...

...even a cage of white mice -- not sure if they were being offered as pets, or as lunch snacks for some larger predator!

The bustling street outside the Crawford Market
reminded me of our Sentier district here in Paris -- handcarts trundling bales of fabrics, textile shops on all sides.

That turned out to be just the prelude, though, to the famous Fabric Market, a warren of alleyways and stalls, with every imaginable fabric available, from crisp white cottons...

...to glorious sari silks with elaborate borders and sparkling threads...

...bright, bright colors, some already made up into striking kurtas. The salesmen were ready for customers!

This sweet group of three Muslim women in their black hajibs, lingering over another selection of kurtas, leads you to imagine that under those black outer robes there is probably a riot of color! A comforting thought.

Heading down toward the lower part of South Mumbai, your jaw positively gapes as you pass the Victoria Terminus, one of the biggest railway stations in the world. Its new official name is now Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus, but most people still call it "VT". Built in the mid-19th century, the carved Gothic structure looks more like a cathedral than a train station. There are statues, gargoyles and much stone ornamentation. Asia's first train left from here for nearby Thane in April 1853. Today, more than three million passengers pass through every day, filling a thousand trains!

Probably the best known symbol of Mumbai, the imposing Gateway of India stands at the tip of Apollo Bunder, just opposite the much earlier Taj Mahal Hotel. Commemorating the visit in 1911 of the first British monarch to set foot on Indian soil -- George V, with Queen Mary -- the monument was not completed until 1924. Since that time, this archway has welcomed many British viceroys, governors and other top civil servants as they disembarked from their P&O Steamers.

Another day found us walking through one of Mumbai's most photographed landmarks, the Dhobi Ghat, the world's largest outdoor laundry, home to over 5000 dhobis, or washermen, who wash, dry, iron and deliver clothes for customers around the city.

We had planned to just walk through one or two alleys, but this eager fellow saw us coming and had other ideas! "Come, come!" he urged. So we fell in step with him as he led us all over the sprawling complex.

Ever the "game girl", I followed him up this rickety set of stairs to the next level, then up a wobbly ladder and onto the roof. Whew!

Once up there, I gingerly pushed my way through lines and lines of sheets drying in the hot sun, until we got to the edge of the roof.

From here, we looked down on the ghat, or tank, with its 760 washing stones, where, for 140 years, the dhobis have plied their trade. In every direction, clothes were drying on lines, or spread out on flat surfaces, and down below, in the centre, rows of concrete wash pens stretched out endlessly.

We were told that just like the "dabbawallas" or tiffin carriers, who deliver lunch from homes to the city's work force every day with maybe a half dozen going astray in a year, so the dhobis wash and deliver all these clothes without mixing up anyone's laundry!

Ever enterprising, a new cottage industry has sprung up at the Ghat whereby old or damaged saris are sorted, washed, repaired and sold to the very poor for pennies.

And it's not all "personal" laundry. Here, these men have washed and are checking brand new cotton shirts, that will be ironed and exported to clothing stores in Europe and the United States!

Maybe one day these blue jeans will show up at Macy's or the Gap, but it's doubtful buyers will ever know that for a few short hours they were washed, dried and ironed at Mumbai's Dhobi Ghat!

Mumbai is also well known for its delicious food! Street food is very popular. I wish I knew what these tasty offerings are called, but there was no shortage of customers!

In a little fast food cafe, we found these Dahl Batata Puri, an arrangement of tiny, crisp puris amidst a mélange of potatoes, ragda, and a topping of miscellaneous chutneys and beaten curds -- delicious!

At the Taj Mahal Hotel, samosas were the snack of choice...

...whilst another street merchant offered these lamb kebabs.

And on our last night at our hotel, the menu included Dal Baati Churma, getting our taste buds ready for our trip north!

Our last day in Mumbai we devoted to visiting temples, including this splendid Hindu shrine known as the Shree Siddhivanayak Ganapati Mandir, dedicated to Lord Shri Ganesh. Built in 1801, it is one of the richest temples in Mumbai. Every day, over 25,000 devotees flock to the temple to offer their prayers and seek the blessings of Lord Ganesh.

After buying a flower offering from this woman...

 ...we joined the line of people waiting to enter. We had to check our shoes and our camera at the door, then followed in the footsteps of the several thousand pilgrims as they made their way towards the temple.

Slowly, we walked through the courtyard and into the temple, holding onto each other so as not to get separated in the huge throng. Various groups were seated on the floor, chanting. Others prayed at small side "chapels". Faces were shining from the heat, but also filled with joy. The atmosphere was so moving, almost overwhelming. As we approached the altar, a young man next to us wanted to make sure we understood that "this is our God". We nodded and thanked him. For a brief few seconds it was our turn to present our offering to the Priest, who in turn, presented it to the Lord Ganesh before returning it to us. He smiled his thanks, looked into our eyes, and then daubed our foreheads with the distinctive yellow "dot". A truly singular experience.

It was hard to imagine anything topping that, and yet we found ourselves almost equally moved by this Muslim shrine, the Haji Ali Dargah. Constructed on an islet in 1431, it was built in memory of a wealthy Mumbai merchant, Sayyed Peer Haji Ali Shah Bukhari, who gave up all his worldly possessions before making a pilgrimage to Mecca. A narrow causeway of almost one kilometer gives access to the shrine only at low tide. The causeway is lined with people either asking for money or offering a service (like having you stand on a scale to find out how much you weigh!) for a few rupees.

Unlike the Hindu temple, stalls were set up along the causeway, with merchants offering all kinds of trinkets, scarves, fabrics.

You could get your name written on a grain of rice and made into a necklace by this very keen-eyed man.

Or buy your very own "henna" kit!

The exquisite Indo-Islamic architecture looked so beautiful in the late afternoon sun, a couple of palm trees framing the corners.

Groups of women sat on the stone wall, waiting to go in, or perhaps reflecting on their moment within the shrine. There were, of course, separate entrances for men and women.

On the men's side, pilgrims were both praying, and making offerings to Haji Ali.

 Outside, as a kind of coda to the entire afternoon, musicians raised their voices in praise of Haji Ali.

It was the perfect way to end our unforgettable week in Mumbai. 

Namaste!

Follow @JanetRobbins14