Bombay Dreams and "Brangelina"

Sorry, I couldn't come up with a better title than that of the pathetic Andrew Lloyd Weber musical of the same. I spent this past weekend in Mumbai (or Bombay), which is the capital of the western state of Maharashtra (in which Pune is located). It is approximately 4 hours by train or car from here. Mumbai is a port city located on the Arabian Sea. It is also India's financial and movie capital (India's NY and its Hollywood rolled into one fabulous ex-colonial sprawling mess). I am reading in the "Eyewitness" travel guide that Mumbai is 166 sq. miles, of this I perhaps saw the most beautiful 6 sq. miles. This part of town, which stretches south on a promonotory point, is the site of the British Bombay Presidency, which at one time ruled much of west India. The British made a point of creating outstanding monumental architecture in this neighborhood. It is a mix of neo-gothic (Parliament, Westminster Abby, Oxford) and seikh (sorry, no well known examples... Amritsar?) architecture. Hopefully I can post some pictures soon. This part of the city is busy, but not as congested as Pune. We saw some hindi caves at Elephanta Island, which is 9km off SW of the city by ferry. I also enjoyed a night of dancing, a night of live music, and a king dungeness crab dinner. These crabs were much better than the ones in Bangkok, thankfully.

On my flight to Mumbai from Bangkok I made friends with a Bombay resident named Nilesh. He gave me some Pune restaurant recommendations and told me I should call him should I ever make it to Bombay. Well, I gave him a ring and he was upset that he was out of town but was glad to offer his chauffer and car for the weekend. Saturday afternoon was spent in a car with 7 other students being shuttled around Bombay.

In other news Brad Pitt and Angelina arrived in Pune last week to film the Daniel Pearl story. Indian news leaves much to be desired, but the papers have got their coverage of "Brangelina's Jolie Pitt Stop in Pune" down to a science. Apparently Pune's inner city and the surrounding mountains are extraodinarily similar to Karachi and Islamabad. Glad I no longer have a need to visit...