India Travel
Elephanta in Mumbai
An hour’s boat ride from Colaba, the tranquil, forested island of ELEPHANTA is one of the most atmospheric places in Mumbai. Populated only by a small fishing community, it makes a wonderful contrast to the seething claustrophobia of the city, even when crowded with day-trippers at weekends. Originally known as Gharapuri, the “city of Ghara priests", the island was renamed in the sixteenth century by the Portuguese in honour of the carved elephant they found at the port. Its chief attraction is its unique cave temple, whose massive Trimurti (three-faced) Shiva sculpture is as fine an example of Hindu architecture as you’ll find anywhere.
“Deluxe” boats set off from the Gateway of India (Oct-May hourly 9am-2:3Gpm; Rs85 return including government guide); book through the kiosks near the Gateway of India. Ask for your guide at the caves ticket office on arrival - they take about thirty minutes. Ordinary ferries (Rs65 return), also from the Gateway of India, don’t include guides, and are usually packed. The journey takes about an hour on either boat.
Cool drinks and souvenir stalls line the way up the hill, and at the top, the MTDC Chalukya restaurant offers food and beer, and a terrace with good views out to sea, but you cannot stay overnight on the island.
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The Gateway of India in Mumbai
Mumbai's most famous landmark, the Gateway of India, was built in 1924 by George Wittet, responsible for many of the city's grandest constructions. Commemorating the visit of King George V and Queen Mary in 1911, India's own honey-coloured Arc de Triomphe was originally envisaged as a ceremonial disembarkation point for passengers alighting from the P&O steamers. Ironically, today it is more often remembered as the place the British chose to stage their final departure from the country - on February 28, 1948, the last detachment of troops remaining on Indian soil set sail from here. Nowadays, the only boats bobbing
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.
Caves 17 to 29 of Ellora in Maharashtra
Only three of the Hindu caves strung along the hillside north of the Kaiiash temple are worth making the effort to visit. Cave 21 - the Ramesvara - was excavated late in the sixth century. Thought to be the oldest Hindu cave at Ellora, it harbours some well-executed sculpture, including a fine pair of river goddesses on either side of the veranda, two wonderful door guardians and some sensuous loving couples, or mithunas, dotted around the walls of the balcony. Look out, too, for the superb panels featuring Shiva and Parvati. Cave 25, further along, contains a striking image of
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
Details of Mumbai
Young, brash and oozing with the cocksure self-confidence of a maverick moneymaker, MUMBAI (formerly Bombay) revels in its reputation as India's most dynamic and Westernized city. Behind the hype, however, intractable problems threaten the Maharashtran capital, foremost among them a chronic shortage of space. Crammed onto a narrow spit of land that curls from the swamp-ridden coast into the Arabian Sea, Mumbai has, in less than five hundred years since its "discovery" by the Portuguese, metamorphosed from an aboriginal fishing settlement into a sprawling megalopolis of over sixteen million people. Whether you are being swept along broad boulevards by endless
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,
The Cave of Elephanta in Mumbai
Elephanta's impressive excavated eighth-century cave (9.30anM-pm; $5 [Rs5]), covering an area of approximately 5000 square metres, is reached by climbing more than one hundred steps to the top of the hill. Inside, the massive columns, carved from solid rock, give the deceptive impression of being structural. To the right, as you enter, note the panel of Nataraj, Shiva as the cosmic dancer.Though spoiled by the Portuguese who, it is said, used it tor target practice, the panel remains magnificent; Shiva's face is rapt, and in one of his left hands he removes the veil of ignorance. Opposite is a badly
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).
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.
City transport in Mumbai
Only a masochist would travel on Mumbai's hopelessly overtaxed public transport for fun. For much of the day, traffic on the main roads crawls along at little more than walking speed, or grinds to a halt in endless jams at road junctions. On the plus side, it might take forever to ride across town on a dusty red double-decker bus, but it will never set you back more than a few rupees. Local trains get there faster, but are a real endurance test even outside rush hours. Rickshaws do not run downtown. A less stressful way of seeing the historical
Byculla and the Veermata Jeejamata (Victoria and Albert) museum in Mumbai
As the bedrock of Mumbai's once-gigantic weaving industry, Byculla, immediately north of the central bazaar, epitomizes the grim legacy of nineteenth-century industrialization: idle chimney stacks, overcrowding and pavements strewn with ragged, sleeping bodies. The cotton mills and sweatshops are still here, churning out cheap clothes for the massive domestic market, but few can claim the turnovers they enjoyed a hundred years ago. Today, eclipsed by their old Gujarati rivals in Surat and Ahmedabad, all but the larger nationalized mills teeter on the brink of bankruptcy. Visitors are welcome to look around the few of Byculla's cotton mills still in business, but
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
Nightlife and entertainment in Mumbai
Mumbai never sleeps. No matter what time of night you venture out, there are bound to be others going about some business or other. The city has always led the nightlife scene in India and there are bars and clubs to suit every taste: jazz dens compete with salsa, tabla-dance fusions and funk. Mumbais alternative but decidedly yuppie crowd meet at the Ghetto Bar before heading down to the gay, glitzy or groovy clubs around Colaba and Juhu. Of course, Mumbai is also a cultural centre, attracting the finest Indian classical music and dance artists from all over the
Traveling from Goa To Mumbai
If you're heading north to Mumbai, the quickest and easiest way is by plane. Between three and six planes leave Goa's Daboiim airport daily. One-way fares for the forty-minute flight range from $53 with Indian Airlines, or $83 with Sahara, to $93 ($72 for under 30s) with swisher Jet. In addition, Air India operate an Airbus service to Mumbai on Mondays and Thursdays. Few people seem to know about this flight, so you can nearly always get a seat on it; the one drawback is that you have to check in three hours before departure as Air India is an
Travel details in Maharashtra
Trains Aurangabad to: Ahmedabad (4 daily: 18hr); Delhi (5 weekly; 24hr 50min); Mumbai (20 daily; 5hr 15min). Jalgaon to: Agra (3-4 daily; 14hr 20min-17hr 20min); Bangalore (1-2 daily; 24-26hr 30min): Bhopal (2 daily; 7-8hr 25min); Calcutta (4 daily; 28-34hr); Chennai (1 daily; 24hr); Delhi (3 daily; 18-22hr); Gwalior (3-5 daily; 13-15hr); Jhansi (3-5 daily; 11 hr 15min-13hr 20min); Mumbai (9-11 daily; 7hr 40min-9hr 35min); Nagpur (5-7 daily; 7hr 45min-9hr 35min); Pune (16 daily; change at Bhusavel; 10hr); Varanasi (2-4 daily; 19hr 40min-23hr); Wardha (6-7 daily; 6-7hr 30min). Nagpur to: Bhopal (13 daily; 5hr 30min-8hr 30min); Calcutta (4-6 daily; 18hr 40min-24hr); Chennai
Information of Mumbai
The best source of information in Mumbai is the excellent Government of India tourist office (Mon-Fri 8.30am-6pm. Sat 8.30am-2pm; 022/203 3144) at 123 M Karve Rd, opposite Churchgate station's east exit. The staff here are exceptionally helpful and hand out a wide range of leaflets, maps and brochures both on Mumbai and the rest of the country. There are also 24hr tourist information counters at Sahar International (022/832 5331) and Santa Cruz (022/615 9320) airports. Maharashtra State Tourism Development Corporation Ltd (MTDC) main office, on Madam Cama Road (Mon-Sat 8.30am-7pm; 022/202 6731), opposite the LIC Building in Nariman Point, sells tickets