Mumbai - First Full Day

Tuesday, December 9: Our first full day here.

After breakfast, we did a walking tour of Mumbai.

How British this city was! Here in the older, historic area of the city, so many of the buildings were built by the British. Well, they were mostly BUILT by the Indians, no doubt, but they were designed by the British. So you have many magnificent colonial structures. The juxtaposition of these grand structures and squalor is jarring. And even some of those buildings were not maintained so well and were a bit dog-eared. The High Court - a most impressive structure, was looking dilapidated in some parts - and that's the High Court!

Becky & Raphael in front of the High Court

The High Court is a magnificent structure, but here you can see in this historic landmark building, dilapidated awnings - saw several examples like this.

Athletics are not as big a deal here as in other countries, but the big sport is cricket. Every park we have passed has been full of guys playing cricket. I have yet to see anything else going on in the parks.

Cricketers playing in a Maidan - a public park in Mumbai

During our walking tour, we visited Knesset Eliyahu, one of two synagogues in the city. Security is tighter now, after the attack on Chabad, but it really was not that tight at all.

Knesset Eliyahu Synagogue

The shamash told us there used to be 15,000 Jews here; now, just a handful. Nothing happens here, he told us, other than Shabbat and holidays. The synagogue is a striking blue and well-maintained, but otherwise it reminded me of so many other synagogues I’ve seen where the community has dwindled and a small and diminishing aging cadre perseveres.

I have to say that Indian media coverage of the Chabad massacre has been extensive and continuing. I'd have half expected that the focus would have been more on "Indian" targets like the Taj Mahal Hotel or the train station, but interest in the (Chabad) Holzberg story and, especially, "baby Moshe" has not waned. It is not clear whether people truly understand the Jewish character of this part of the story - that is, that it was not coincidental that a Jewish site was targeted.

As a whole, the city does not appear completely traumatized by last month’s attacks, referred to as 26/11 (26 November). Of course, it’s the major topic of news and conversation. But life goes on.

There are multiple reactions as the experience recedes by days and now weeks. There was an initial anti-Muslim and anti-Pakistan and certainly anti-Islamist/terrorist backlash of public opinion. And there seems to be still a great deal of anger and distrust toward Pakistan . But there are 100 million Muslims in this country and there is, as there was in the U.S. after 9/11, a desire to not devolve into broad inter-religious conflict. Several prominent Indian Muslims (including some Bollywood stars) have spoken out against the attacks and Bakr el-Eid celebrations were muted as Indian Muslims strive to demonstrate solidarity as Indians against the violence.
Back to our walking tour - Passing all this interesting old architecture, we made our way to the Gateway to India, a great arch of Indian colonial triumph, built a hundred years ago. Ironically, 23 years after the British finished it - they were gone.

We ended our walking tour at the Gateway to India - built as a monument to British imperialism. Two decades after they finished it - the British were out and India was independent. Next to the Gateway is the Taj Mahal Hotel, another target of the terrorist attack - it was still not opened at this point. From here we took a boat to Elephanta Island.



Gateway to India (on right of photo) and Taj Mahal Hotel (not yet reopened then after the Mumbai terrorist attacks) next to it on the left