India Travel

Clothes and textiles in Mumbai

Related Properties from Gurgaon

Calico Museum of Textiles in Ahmedabad

Nobody should leave Ahmedabad without visiting the Calico Museum of Textiles (daily except Wed 10.30-11.30am & 2.45-3.45pm; free), in the Sarabhai Foundation, in Shahibagh, 3km north of Delhi Gate (bus #101, #101/1 &r #103); it's simply the finest collection of textiles, clothes, furniture, temple artefacts and crafts in the country. It's best to arrive early so you can take your time; once inside, you'll be shown round by a guide. Colourful embroidered wall-hangings depicting Krishna legends hang from the second floor right down to ground level. Cloth decorated with tie-dye bandhani), glinting mirror-work, screen prints, block prints and intricate embroidery

Sanganer in Rajasthan

SANGANER, 16km south of Jaipur, is the busiest centre for handmade textiles in the region, and the best place to watch traditional block printers in action. There are a couple of large factories here, but most of the printing is done in family homes as a cottage industry. This is also a great place to shop for traditional textiles; prices are much lower than in Jaipur. Sanganeri craftsmen and women also decorate pottery in Rajasthan's distinctive style; graceful floral designs in white or deep sea-green are painted over a traditional inky-blue glaze. Within the town itself, there are ruined palaces and

Shopping in Mumbai

Mumbai is a great place to shop, whether for last-minute souvenirs, or essentials for the long journeys ahead. Locally produced textiles and export-surplus clothing are among the best buys, as are handicrafts from far-flung corners of the country. With the exception of the swish arcades in the five-star hotels, prices compare surprisingly well with other Indian cities. In the larger shops, rates are fixed and credit cards are often accepted; elsewhere, particularly dealing with street-vendors, it pays to haggle. Uptown, the central bazaars are better for spectating than serious shopping, although the antiques and Friday flea market in the Chor,

Moving on from Mumbai

Most visitors feel like getting out of Mumbai as soon as they can. Fortunately, Mumbai is equipped with "super-fast" services to arrange or confirm onward travel. All the major international and domestic airlines have offices in the city, the railway networks operate special tourist counters in the main reservation halls, and dozens of travel agents and road transport companies are eager to help you on your way by bus.

Arrival and information of Mumbai

Unless you arrive in Mumbai by train at Chatrapathi Shivaji Terminus (formerly Victoria Terminus), be prepared for a long slog into the centre. The international and domestic airports are north of the city, way off the map, and ninety minutes or more by road from the main hotel areas, while from Mumbai Central train or bus station, you face a laborious trip across town. Finding a place to stay can be even more of a hassle; phone around before you set off into the traffic.

Downtown Mumbai

Aldous Huxley famously described Mumbai as "one of the most appalling cities of either hemisphere", with its "lavatory bricks and Gothic spires". The critic Robert Byron, although a wholehearted fan of New Delhi, was equally unenthusiastic, feeling moved to refer to downtown Mumbai in 1931 as "that architectural Sodom", claiming that "the nineteenth century devised nothing lower than the municipal buildings of British India. Their ugliness is positive, daemonic." Today, however, the massive erections of Empire and Indian free enterprise appear not so much ugly, as intriguing.

Juhu Beach in Mumbai

With its palm trees, glamorous seaside apartment blocks and designer clothes stores, Juhu, 30km north of downtown, is Mumbai's answer to Sunset Boulevard. Unless you're staying in one of the many five-star hotels lining its five-kilometre strip of white sand, however, this affluent suburb holds little appeal. Sunbathing and swimming are out of the question, thanks to an oily slick of raw sewage that seeps into the Arabian Sea from the slum bastis surrounding Mahim Creek to the south. A more salubrious way to enjoy Juhu is to walk along the strand after office hours, when young families

Eating in Mumbai

In keeping with its cosmopolitan credentials, Mumbai (and Colaba above all) is crammed with interesting eating places, whether you fancy splashing out on a buffet lunch-with-a-view from a flashy five-star revolving restaurant, or simply tucking into piping-hot roti kebab by gaslight in the street.

Lonavala in Southern Maharashtra

Just thirty years ago, the town of LONAVALA, 100km southeast of Mumbai and 62km northwest of Pune, was a quiet retreat in the Sahyadri hills. Since then, the place has mushroomed to cope with hordes of holiday-makers and second-home owners from the state capital, and is now only of interest as a base for the magnificent Buddhist caves of Karle. Bhaja and Bedsa, some of which date from the Satavahana period (second century BC). Frequent buses arrive at Lonavala's central bus stand, just off the Mumbai-Pune Road (NH-4), but the tram is infinitely preferable. Lonavala is on the main railway

Leaving India in Mumbai

In spite of its prominence on trans-Asian flight routes, Mumbai is no longer the bargain basement for international air tickets it used to be. Discounted fares are very hard to come by — a legacy of Rajiv Gandhi's economic reforms of the 1980s. If you do need to book a ticket, stick to one of the tried and tested agents listed. All the major airlines operating out of Mumbai have offices downtown where you can buy scheduled tickets or confirm your flight; see p.781 for a list of addresses. The majority are grouped around Veer Nariman Road, opposite the Ambassador Hotel,

Shopping in Calcutta

Unlike Delhi, Calcutta is not geared towards tourism - a fact which is reflected, with one or two exceptions, by its shops. However, it does hold many characterful markets, including the wide-ranging New Market, and local institutions such as Gariahat in the south and Barabazaar to the north. Modern shopping complexes - good for bookshops, clothes, leather and jewellery - are cropping up all over the city; these include the Emami Shoppers City at Lord Sinha Road, the brand new Metro Shopping Centre at 1 Ho Chi Minh Sarani, good for clothes and leather goods, and the Shree Ram Arcade,

Handicrafts in Mumbai

Regionally produced handicrafts are marketed in assorted state-run emporia at the World Trade Centre, down on Cuffe Parade, and along Sir PM Road, Fort. The quality is consistently high - as are the prices, if you miss out on the periodic holiday discounts. The same goes for the Central Cottage Industries Emporium, 34 Shivaji Marg, near the Gateway of India in Colaba, whose size and central location make it the single best all-round place to hunt for souvenirs. Downstairs you'll find inlaid furniture, wood- and metal-work, miniature paintings and jewellery, while upstairs specializes in toys, clothing and textiles - Gujarati

Bars and cabarets in Mumbai

Mumbai has an unusually easy-going attitude to alcohol; popping into a bar for a beer is very much accepted (for men at least) even at lunchtime. Chowpatty Beach and Colaba Causeway, where you'll End Leopold's and the Cafe Mondegar, form the focus of the travellers1 social scene, but if you want to sample the pulse of the city's nightlife, venture up to Bandra and juhu. There is also a seamier side to the city's nightlife, concentrated around (illegal) late-night cabarets in the Grant Road area. In these dens of iniquity, women dance before men-only crowds in clothes that might in the

Flights to and from Andhra Pradesh

Hyderabad to: Ahmedabad (4 weekly: 1hr40min): Bangalore (2-3 daily; 1hr); Calcutta (1-2 daily; 2-3hr); Chennai (3-4 daily; 1hr-1hr 45min); Cochin (2 weekly; 2hr 40min); Delhi (3 daily; 2hr-2hr10min|; Mumbai (6-7 daily; 1 hr 15min-3hr); Tirupati (1-2 daily; 55min-1hr 20min); Vishakapatnam (2 daily; 1 hr-1 hr 30min). Puttaparthy to: Mumbai (2 weekly: 1 hr 20min). Vishakapatnam to: Bhubaneswar (4 weekly; 55min); Calcutta (4 weekly; 2hr 20min); Chennai (4 weekly; 1hr 5min); Delhi (4 weekly; 3hr 35min); Hyderabad (2 daily; 1 hr-1 hr 30min); Mumbai (1 daily; 2hr45min).

The Pink City of Jaipur in Rajasthan

Jaipur's most famous monuments - the Hawa Mahal and Jantar Mantar Observatory - both lie within the City Palace Complex, are the heart of the Pink City. For anyone familiar with Indian cities, the grid-plan may come as a surprise. Instead of a maze of narrow winding alleys, the spacious streets of the quarter are completely straight and laid out at right angles in accordance with the Vastu Shasfras, ancient Hindu architectural manuals, carefully adapted and applied by the local maraharaja in the eighteench century. However, the city's single most striking feature, its pink colour, did not form part of

Emporium in Calcutta

Good selections of most handicrafts, including lace, can be found in various state emporia, many of which are located in the large Dakhsinapan shopping complex south of Dhakuria Bridge near Gol Park. Offering fixed (if slightly high) prices, these are the simplest places start shopping. Aavishhar, 20K Park St. Popular shop on the corner with Middleton Row, stocking stationery and cards, music, pottery by local artists, and garden-fresh Oarjeeling and Assam teas. Assam. 8 Russell St. As part of Assam House, the emporium sells handicrafts and textiles from Assam including fabrics in pat and tnoga, two techniques of silk manufacturing. Bengal

Uptown and the outskirts in Mumbai

Greater Mumbai has crept inexorably northwards to engulf villages and swampland in a pall of chimneys, motorways and slums. These grim industrial areas hold few attractions, but possibilities for full- or half-day excursions include the quirky Victoria and Albert museum and botanical gardens in Byculla, and the beach at Juhu. All lie within reach of a suburban railway station, although you will, in most cases, have to take a rickshaw or taxi for the last few kilometres. Beyond them to the north lie the Buddhist caves chiselled out of the hillside at Kanheri, and the crumbling Portuguese fort at Bassein.

Tibet House in South Delhi

Tibet House. Institutional Area. Lodi Road (Mon-Fri 9.30am-lpm & 2-5.30pm; free), a cultural centre that organizes seminars and monthly lectures mostly in Hindi, also has a small and limited museum of Tibetan art, worth a visit it only for its beautiful thangkas (painted scrolls: admission Rs5). Other objects on display include old currency notes, costumes, objects of prayer and musical instruments; the shop sells the usual mix of clothes, Jewellery, medicines, incense and curios.

Colaba The City of Mumbai

At the end of the seventeenth century, Colaba was little more than the last in a straggling line of rocky islands extending to the lighthouse that stood on Mumbai's southernmost point. Today, the original outlines of the promontory (whose name derives from the Koli who first lived here) have been submerged under a mass of dilapidated colonial tenements, hotels, bars, restaurants and handicraft shops. It you never venture beyond the district, you'll get a very distorted picture of Mumbai. In spice of being the main tourist enclave and a trendy hang-out for the city's rich young things, Colaba has retained

The City in Mumbai

Between the airports to the north and the southern tip of Mumbai lies a thirty-kilometre, seething mass of streets, suburbs and relentless traffic. Even during the relatively cool winter months, exploring it can be hard work, requiring plenty of pit stops at cold-drink stalls along the way. The best place to start is down at the far south end of the peninsula in Colaba, home to most of the hotels, restaurants and best-known sights, including the Gateway of India. Fifteen minutes' walk north takes you past the Prince of Wales Museum to the Fort area, home of all the banks