I arrived in Mumbai on Wednesday evening and after a late dinner was up early for a meeting with Big Blue. Their offices weren't far from the Westin hotel and we were done by 1pm. I left my Mumbai colleague on site and dropped the other one back at the airport so he could fly home to Delhi. That left me the rest of the day to myself as I wasn't leaving until 2.30am.
My driver, Muri, took me back into the City and we headed for the more affluent south (isn't it always that way?). Eventually, having driven for twenty minutes south from the highway, we came to a river and a view of a city sky-scrapers on the far shore (picture here doesn't do it justice).
There was a two year old 9km sea bridge to reach the City and I was quietly impressed. Across the estuary and after another twenty minutes or so we climbed a hill that ran into the sea and Muri stopped at the park on the top. He encouraged me to get out and from here I could see the city to the north and the distant sea-bridge. The view south was more impressive still. A large bay stretched out with an even denser cluster of larger buildings. We headed south again and stopped so I could visit the one-time home of Mohandus Gandhi. It looks largely untouched in 80 years and is, in effect, a museum to the Mahatma and his devotion to love, peace, personal self discipline and non-violence. Very interesting, if over-poweringly musty and probably deserving of a more professional set-up.
Another twenty minutes down Marine Drive and heading around the bay and through down-town south Mumbai. The streets here are an alluring mix of local shack-shops and luxury brand outlets. No shortage of high-end car dealerships or Bond Street brands and the colonial architecture looks untouched since the British left in 1947-8. The Gateway of India was a landmark I have been very familiar with, having seen many photos over the years and having read about. It was built to commemorate the arrival by sea of King George V at the old port in 1911 and it continued to welcome ships from the west until air travel became more practical for visitors. Crowds of largely Indians milled about around the monument and hawkers were selling the usual array of drop-down postcards and souvenirs. I was very surprised to see the instantly recognisable Taj Hotel and Oberoi Hotels right bang next to the Gateway of India. I had assumed they were several streets away. I watched the terrorist attacks on these hotels unfold on television at the time and the footage somehow avoided back-grounding the monument.
I had to have a beer in the Taj (the Oberoi is still undergoing renovation) which is owned by Ratan Tata, the head of the massive Tata conglomerate.
Tata has taken "diversification" of businesses to extremes and does everything from making it's own steel to producing cars, energy, chemicals, watches and everything in between (including the Taj Hotel chain). The business was founded by Ratan Tata's ancestors in the 1800's and behaves in an unusually responsible and caring way towards the communities in which it operates, and these are literally, all over India. Part of Tata's guiding principles are that they become either number one or number two in each of the businesses they invest in or they pull out. Tata Consulting Services are another of my suppliers and are very different to do business with.
Mumbai is home to 12m people and the scale of the city supports that view, although it probably looks so large because it's spread out down the coastline and you get these huge vistas. I have been trying to think of a comparable coastal city but everyone I can think of has a focal river estuary which makes the city at least semi-circular layout e.g. San Francisco and Sydney. Next time I return, I want to have dinner at the top of the Taj at night and spend sometime looking around the imposing Victoria Station which I only got to see from the front.
My driver, Muri, took me back into the City and we headed for the more affluent south (isn't it always that way?). Eventually, having driven for twenty minutes south from the highway, we came to a river and a view of a city sky-scrapers on the far shore (picture here doesn't do it justice).
There was a two year old 9km sea bridge to reach the City and I was quietly impressed. Across the estuary and after another twenty minutes or so we climbed a hill that ran into the sea and Muri stopped at the park on the top. He encouraged me to get out and from here I could see the city to the north and the distant sea-bridge. The view south was more impressive still. A large bay stretched out with an even denser cluster of larger buildings. We headed south again and stopped so I could visit the one-time home of Mohandus Gandhi. It looks largely untouched in 80 years and is, in effect, a museum to the Mahatma and his devotion to love, peace, personal self discipline and non-violence. Very interesting, if over-poweringly musty and probably deserving of a more professional set-up.
Another twenty minutes down Marine Drive and heading around the bay and through down-town south Mumbai. The streets here are an alluring mix of local shack-shops and luxury brand outlets. No shortage of high-end car dealerships or Bond Street brands and the colonial architecture looks untouched since the British left in 1947-8. The Gateway of India was a landmark I have been very familiar with, having seen many photos over the years and having read about. It was built to commemorate the arrival by sea of King George V at the old port in 1911 and it continued to welcome ships from the west until air travel became more practical for visitors. Crowds of largely Indians milled about around the monument and hawkers were selling the usual array of drop-down postcards and souvenirs. I was very surprised to see the instantly recognisable Taj Hotel and Oberoi Hotels right bang next to the Gateway of India. I had assumed they were several streets away. I watched the terrorist attacks on these hotels unfold on television at the time and the footage somehow avoided back-grounding the monument.
I had to have a beer in the Taj (the Oberoi is still undergoing renovation) which is owned by Ratan Tata, the head of the massive Tata conglomerate.
Mumbai is home to 12m people and the scale of the city supports that view, although it probably looks so large because it's spread out down the coastline and you get these huge vistas. I have been trying to think of a comparable coastal city but everyone I can think of has a focal river estuary which makes the city at least semi-circular layout e.g. San Francisco and Sydney. Next time I return, I want to have dinner at the top of the Taj at night and spend sometime looking around the imposing Victoria Station which I only got to see from the front.
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