Mumbai, Mosquitoes, and More


I spend the day in India, en route to Sri Lanka

I landed in Mumbai at 8 am. The moment you get off the plane in Mumbai (Bombay), the ratty international area of the airport greets you with a curry smell, and lots of mosquitoes. My pulmonologist told me that whenever he goes home to India, he takes prophylactic medication against malaria--as was I.

For some oddball reason, you are expected to x-ray your luggage as you leave the airport as well as when you arrive. But security was quite lax. Half the people there only x-rayed their checked luggage.

I was not expecting to spend lots of money in India, but I knew that people were going to want money just because I am a big fat American. So I changed $50 into Indian Rupees to create a "shoo fund." And as soon as I left the airport proper, a woman followed me and the hotel driver to my car. Twenty rupees was enough to send her on her way.

Human misery in Mumbai (Bombay) is abundant and even evident from the air. We landed at 8 am and before we landed, several hundred feet above the city, I could see many square miles of tin roofs covering a vast slum. No streets were even visible. When we drove to the airport, and back, there was squalor everywhere. There was some big public works project happening on the side of the road and even older women were simply moving rocks by hand to and fro.

I stayed at the Leela Kempinski Hotel, where there are plenty of employees, all of whom are looking for tips. When I got to my room, a man working in the hallway fairly pounced to "show me" how to operate the room key. Fifty rupees later, I was in my room and enjoying solitude and a shower.

Indian television was a mass of musicals, and the commercials were a mix of hip, youth-oriented Clearasil ads, and traditional "what rice do YOU recommend" supermarket scenes.

I had a delightful lunch of chicken tikka makhani and cocktail samosas. I had thought of using the pool, but between the mosquitoes everywhere and the prospect of dragging my wet suit on two more flights helped dissuade me.

The trip back to the airport seemed much longer than the trip in to the hotel. As soon as we got to the airport, a "porter" ran over to "help" me with my bags. I wasn't completely worried about him stealing my bags, but to avoid that, another fifty rupees took care of the intrusion, although he had a hurt look on his face.

The airport has none of the mod cons, but the domestic side was nicer than the other side. No mosquitoes this time, but no electronic board announcing departures., etc. It was hot and humid and there was one nonmoving fan. At some point, they finally announced my flight and a bus took us to our plane. The planes were practically walking distance from the airport terminal.

The airline, Jet Airways India, smartly loaded the plane from both ends. No jetway, just a ladder. I had an empty seat beside me and I slept quite nicely en route to Bangalore, a large city in the south of India.

Posted: Thu - March 17, 2005 at 01:39 PM        

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