Masselli Family Travels: Sightseeing in Mumbai

With an agenda and timeline spelled out in Maggie's notebook, we set out to see some of the sights in Mumbai.

First we try to catch the "Great Tiffin Transfer" of Mumbai, which is an amazing lunch-delivery system: after someone heads off to work for the morning, someone at home makes their lunch and gives it to someone who delivers it to the nearest train station. With a few simple color markings, the lunch makes its way through the train system, till it reaches the train stop nearest the worker, where it is picked up by a sort of bicycle messenger who carries all the "tiffins" to various people throughout that district. How does the right lunch get to the right office and the right person without any name or address written on it? Mark really wanted to find out the answer to this question, but we were a few minutes too late to catch the tiffins in transit, so we'll never know . If you are curious, you might read this: Hot Lunch in Mumbai. Instead of tiffins, at the Churchgate Train Station, he got this photograph at a newstand.

Much of India is a kind of Nirvana for newpaper readers like Mark. He's had a blast comparing editorial styles throughout the country -- his favorite is The Hindu.

Then we head for Malabar Hill, the leafiest and most upscale neighborhood in downtown Mumbai. First we stop at a Jain Temple.

The Jains are a reformist sect of Hinduism that split many hundreds of years ago -- much like the division of Catholics and Protestants in the West. They are a small minority in India, but are generally an affluent and well-regarded religious group. One of the hallmarks of Jainism is their reverence for all animal life. In October, while in Delhi, we made a brief visit to the bird hospital that they run there, but the Delhi temple itself was closed for a mid-day rest. So we are happy to get to visit a functioning Jain Temple before we leave India!

Photos and video were allowed, as long as you follow the rule of not turning your back to any of the idols.

The Jain Temple is incredibly beautiful, with jewels inlaid in marble, as well as bright muraling and sculpture on the exterior. Inside, there are shrines to Jain saints, each carved in white marble. The person in this photo has their mouth covered with a white cloth, which the most devout Jains do to avoid accidentally killing any bugs by inhaling them.

There are priests singing (with electric keyboard) and chanting in the main chamber, and several women sitting and making small mandalas with rice as they listen to the prayers. People circle the temple, stopping to pray at the shrines of the saints which are placed in niches in the wall.

It's a little hard to tell, because the floor is tiled in the same shades of white, black and tan, but this larger design is made from different colored grains, and covers the center of the temple floor.

A word about the iconography here: the Jain Temple, and many Hindu temples, often have swastikas as a primary design -- it took us a while to accept that this image has nothing to do with Nazi Germany and is an ancient Indian symbol that Hitler mis-appropriated. Here in India, this symbol is a sign of good luck and well-being, and is found on everything from clothing, temple idols and driveway gates (to indicate the home of a pious Jain family). Even knowing this, it is unsettling to see it used everywhere.

The courtyard outside the temple acts as a sort of town square, where people sit on benches and chat, surrounded by the shoes of other worshippers. A little girl strikes up a friendship with Kobi.

Yanna is an exceptionally friendly 4-year old visiting the temple with her mother. She asks great questions of Kobi: What's your favorite toy? What's your favorite thing about me? Her favorite thing about Kobi is his hair. Kobi is smitten.

When we have to leave, Kobi asks "What color is your house?" and when she answers "Black and Brown", he says "Ok, now you told me and I can find your house and visit you and play with you again." When we're dragging him away, he calls back "What's your number?"

Then we drove on to the Hanging Gardens, so-named because they are built on a hill over-hanging the waterfront.

With a mix of manicured lawns and topiary peacocks, rhinos and lions, it's pretty clear that this park is a creation of the British Empire about 100 years ago.

Here's the view from the Hanging Gardens. This haze hangs over Mumbai until evening every day.

Next we head to the Haji Ali Mosque, which we've seen hovering offshore, and was built to honor a Muslim saint who drowned on this spot while trying to reach Mecca.

At low tide, worshippers can reach the Haji Ali mosque over a landbridge.

In one of our most difficult experiences in India, we walk the long path to the Mosque, which is lined with especially desperate beggars -- there is an overwhelming sense that no amount of help would make a difference. We grownups try to answer the kids questions as we pass groups of beggars with ampuations, skins diseases, blindness, and impoverished toddlers who follow us up the path.

We believe that instead of "giving alms", it is better to contribute to organizations that can provide real assistance, and we know that beggars in India are often part of an organized crime system which provides basic care in exchange for the day's earnings. Even our trip -- where we are spending money on food, lodging and so many things -- has helped people all across the country make a living. But, here in front of the Mosque, it is impossible to face such misery without responding in some way, so we give the kids some rupees -- Karma and Maggie look out at the mass and say, but which one should I give it to?

Inside the Mosque, we find the men and women filing in separate entrances to pray in the beautiful jeweled chamber. The courtyard is filled with familes and musicians, with the view of the water and the city skyline around us.

The courtyard of the Haji Ali Mosque.

After visiting the Mosque, we take some time to re-group and try to make sense of what we've seen. India is an amazing country with so many beautiful and culturally-rich resources -- but it is also In-Your-Face with it's willingness to leave so many people behind in the race to get ahead. And yet it is also the country where Mother Theresa continues to inspire people like Vidyaker in Chennai to serve people who are living in misery -- it makes your head spin to try to take it all in.

At the far opposite end of the spectrum, we take an evening drive down Marine Drive to see the wedding tents which have been constructed on a bit of open land to provide banquet space for the glut of mid-December marriages. Mark stops in at a few tents that are still in the set-up phase. Amid the exhuberant mood, the designs fall into two categories: Grand and Grander!