Sunday turned out to be a little more relaxing than I had intended, which is a good thing. The original plan was to go to the Elephanta Caves, which are these caves that are used for prayer that have religious images carved into the stone. I was supposed to go with Ami and a colleague of ours from work, but both of them cancelled on Sunday morning. I was exhausted after my Bandra adventures on Saturday so decided to make it a lighter day so I could rest a little bit.
First thing - I went to the gym and was FINALLY able to get a membership. I don't think I've updated you on the process, but it's been a bit ridiculous. We stopped by that first time last week, and the sales people were gone as of 6:30 or 7 pm. I stopped by again at 9 am another day - still no sales people. We left our contact information with the front desk and asked them to call us so that we could get information on rates - we received no such calls. I sent them an email asking them to help us sign up - no response. Seriously, people, please take my money!! Anyway, at 11 am on Sunday I tried again and this time was able to become a member. It's crazy expensive for what I'm getting, but I know that if I don't join I won't find an alternate place to work out, so I needed to make this happen. I don't get a membership card or anything - they just gave me a receipt for my purchase, in which I prepaid for 2 months of membership. If I'm challenged when I go into the gym to work out I can just produce the receipt. Welcome to India.
In the afternoon I went down to South Bombay and visited the Gateway of India. It's this beautiful gate/archway on the water that was built to commemorate King George's visit to India in the early twentieth century. It was also the gate by which the last British troops left India when the country gained its freedom in the late forties.
It's a stunning piece of architecture, but also very touristy, so I had to fend off quite a few people trying to sell me postcards and trinkets while I was walking around the square. South Bombay is the oldest part of the city - apparently anything north of Worli (where I live) is a former suburb that has been incorporated into Mumbai proper as the city has grown. South Bombay has all of these beautiful colonial buildings - I plan to go explore down there some more.
Next I went to meet Ami for tea at this restaurant I had read about online called the Tea Centre. It has an impressive list of Indian teas, and the menu did a decent job of explaining the differences between types of teas. For example, did you know that Darjeeling is called the champagne of teas? Well, now you do. We tried 3 different kinds - the first was called a blooming darjeeling tea in which tea leaves of different varieties are hand picked and then literally sewn together to resemble a flower in bloom. It looks quite pretty in the tea pot. We tried a lemongrass green tea and a ginger and lime green tea as well - all were delicious.
We had to rush out of the restaurant a little bit so that we wouldn't be late for our 6:30 curtain of Blame it on Yash Raj! The play turned out to be a farcical comedy about the process of getting married in modern day India, and the effect that Bollywood has had on the marriage industry here. There were several song and dance numbers in Bollywood style; although these sequences seemed like they were cut and pasted into the show rather than blending with the plotline, it still was fun to watch. I have to admit that I probably only understood half of the jokes - either because the actors were speaking too quickly in accented voices, or because the joke required some contextual knowledge of Indian culture that I'm lacking. One funny bit was when the author and director of the show made a cameo as the priest who married the couple. Another interesting segment was a scene occurring in the imagination of the bride's father when he hears that her groom-to-be is a Muslim (not a Hindu). The groom-to-be is arriving at the front door, and the father-of-the-bride imagines that he arrives in desert guerrilla gear, carrying an AK-47 and arriving with an entourage of similarly dressed terrorists. They attack the family and make the son put on a suicide bomber vest. I'm not sure that American audiences would think this was as hilarious as the audience here did, but I'll defer to G&G on that one. Regardless, it was fun to go experience the theater here, and Ami and I plan to go to other shows while we're here.
As for the title of this post, the show concluded with the entire cast dancing to Psy's Gangnam Style song. No, that's not a joke.
After the show we went to grab a bite at the Trident hotel (formerly the Oberoi). You'll remember this hotel from the news when it was bombed and attacked by terrorists a few years back. The hotel where the terrorists made their "last stand" was the Taj Mahal, which is next to the Gateway of India.
Anyway, we stopped in for dinner at the Trident and were surprised to see people in the lobby lined up behind red velvet ropes, anxiously looking at the elevator bank. Apparently the Mumbai Indians cricket team was staying at the hotel, and people were straining to catch a glimpse of their favorite athletes. We had a nice dinner at the hotel and enjoyed exploring the lobby and public areas a bit - since this is known as one of the nicest hotels in Mumbai - before heading home to go to bed.
On a separate note - happy mother's day to all of the moms in my family!
The ferries I would have taken to Elephanta Caves (if I had gone today)
First thing - I went to the gym and was FINALLY able to get a membership. I don't think I've updated you on the process, but it's been a bit ridiculous. We stopped by that first time last week, and the sales people were gone as of 6:30 or 7 pm. I stopped by again at 9 am another day - still no sales people. We left our contact information with the front desk and asked them to call us so that we could get information on rates - we received no such calls. I sent them an email asking them to help us sign up - no response. Seriously, people, please take my money!! Anyway, at 11 am on Sunday I tried again and this time was able to become a member. It's crazy expensive for what I'm getting, but I know that if I don't join I won't find an alternate place to work out, so I needed to make this happen. I don't get a membership card or anything - they just gave me a receipt for my purchase, in which I prepaid for 2 months of membership. If I'm challenged when I go into the gym to work out I can just produce the receipt. Welcome to India.
In the afternoon I went down to South Bombay and visited the Gateway of India. It's this beautiful gate/archway on the water that was built to commemorate King George's visit to India in the early twentieth century. It was also the gate by which the last British troops left India when the country gained its freedom in the late forties.
It's a stunning piece of architecture, but also very touristy, so I had to fend off quite a few people trying to sell me postcards and trinkets while I was walking around the square. South Bombay is the oldest part of the city - apparently anything north of Worli (where I live) is a former suburb that has been incorporated into Mumbai proper as the city has grown. South Bombay has all of these beautiful colonial buildings - I plan to go explore down there some more.
Statue of a swami
Next I went to meet Ami for tea at this restaurant I had read about online called the Tea Centre. It has an impressive list of Indian teas, and the menu did a decent job of explaining the differences between types of teas. For example, did you know that Darjeeling is called the champagne of teas? Well, now you do. We tried 3 different kinds - the first was called a blooming darjeeling tea in which tea leaves of different varieties are hand picked and then literally sewn together to resemble a flower in bloom. It looks quite pretty in the tea pot. We tried a lemongrass green tea and a ginger and lime green tea as well - all were delicious.
Blooming Darjeeling tea...note the little bell we would ring if we wanted our server to attend to us.
We had to rush out of the restaurant a little bit so that we wouldn't be late for our 6:30 curtain of Blame it on Yash Raj! The play turned out to be a farcical comedy about the process of getting married in modern day India, and the effect that Bollywood has had on the marriage industry here. There were several song and dance numbers in Bollywood style; although these sequences seemed like they were cut and pasted into the show rather than blending with the plotline, it still was fun to watch. I have to admit that I probably only understood half of the jokes - either because the actors were speaking too quickly in accented voices, or because the joke required some contextual knowledge of Indian culture that I'm lacking. One funny bit was when the author and director of the show made a cameo as the priest who married the couple. Another interesting segment was a scene occurring in the imagination of the bride's father when he hears that her groom-to-be is a Muslim (not a Hindu). The groom-to-be is arriving at the front door, and the father-of-the-bride imagines that he arrives in desert guerrilla gear, carrying an AK-47 and arriving with an entourage of similarly dressed terrorists. They attack the family and make the son put on a suicide bomber vest. I'm not sure that American audiences would think this was as hilarious as the audience here did, but I'll defer to G&G on that one. Regardless, it was fun to go experience the theater here, and Ami and I plan to go to other shows while we're here.
Stairs up from the lobby of the theater to our seats
Ami and me at the theater
The view from our seats (before the play started of course)
As for the title of this post, the show concluded with the entire cast dancing to Psy's Gangnam Style song. No, that's not a joke.
After the show we went to grab a bite at the Trident hotel (formerly the Oberoi). You'll remember this hotel from the news when it was bombed and attacked by terrorists a few years back. The hotel where the terrorists made their "last stand" was the Taj Mahal, which is next to the Gateway of India.
The Taj Mahal Hotel near India Gate
Anyway, we stopped in for dinner at the Trident and were surprised to see people in the lobby lined up behind red velvet ropes, anxiously looking at the elevator bank. Apparently the Mumbai Indians cricket team was staying at the hotel, and people were straining to catch a glimpse of their favorite athletes. We had a nice dinner at the hotel and enjoyed exploring the lobby and public areas a bit - since this is known as one of the nicest hotels in Mumbai - before heading home to go to bed.
On a separate note - happy mother's day to all of the moms in my family!
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