Over Christmas we went to Mumbai and enjoyed some of the faces of this Indian metro. We celebrated the holiday in a restaurant, where I was able to finally have a nice beef steak again. The state Gujarat, in which I live, is not only the only “dry” state of India (no alcohol) but also generally quite conservative. And since cows are holy in Hindu religion, beef is hardly served anywhere in this state. So the most festive meal I could imagine was a steak! J
Some guys having Cheese Fondue at the neighboring table !!!
Another mentionable experience in Mumbai was the visit of a somehow scary street in the Muslim neighbourhood. We entered the street for some meters, realized that without exception everyone was wearing black and women were covering themselves much more than I had seen so far. Then we saw stalls selling various symbols and playing videos which looked like some recruitment material. We read posters and supportive slogans for some “Martyr of Karbala”, Mullah Omar and Ali Khamenei …yeah and then we decided to move out again immediately. I had never felt uncomfortable in a very religious neighbourhood before, but there I really felt weird. Now I found out that this was the celebration of the day of Ashura (also Moharram) which commemorates martyrs of the battle of Karbala 680AD and is a public holiday in many Muslim countries. (Thanks Wikipedia J ) But still, this experience was quite impressive.
Close to the entry of the described street (i didn't dare to take pictures any closer).
A "regular" street in the muslim neighbourhood of Mumbai
Of course we also visited some other sites such as the Elephanta Island 1,5hours away from Mumbai, the heritage part of the city, temples, etc.
Posing in front of the three headed Shiva. Or according to an american NRI (non resident Indian) "hey and who is that fellow over there, is that buddha or something?"
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