elephanta island and cst

yesterday i went to elephanta island, a world heritage site. the island is the home to a complex of caves dating from the 9th to 13th century carved directly from the rock, with intricate statues of the gods in various poses. to get to elephanta island - 11km off the coast of mumbai - i caught a ferry from the gateway of india. standard was 100Rs, luxury was 120Rs. i of course chose the luxury option.

on the boat i met a man called mukul who was on holiday with his family from bangladesh. he told me of his "very old man friend from england mr. chris" and he insisted that i come and stay with him next year in bangladesh. the journey took just over an hour and on the way we passed a couple of small islands, fishing boats, divers, massive oil tankers, and a crazy fishing boat that i thought was going to ram us at one point! we also saw a submarine surfacing about 300 metres away which was hella cool. as i sat and spoke with mukul about family, work, and our different lives he asked me if i was married. i told him no, but showed him some pictures of claire. i couldn't think of a way to explain to him the craziness of mine and claire's relationship so i fibbed and told him i was to be married next year. he said that was very good, as i was getting too old to be having children. by the time they are teens i would be an old man!

on arrival at elephanta i had the option of taking a mini train down the jetty for 10Rs, or walking the 500m or so. as i walked down i was accosted by a local villager, who offered his services as a guide. i told him that i was happiest when i was alone as i liked to see things at my own pace, which he accepted with a smile and then he told me about his life on the island and his family. one day he dreams of living in mumbai and dining in fancy restaurants. his english was impeccable, he said that he learnt from the tourists and talking to people like me helped him to practice.

to get to the caves there are steps built into the hillside, lined with market stalls selling hats, shawls, necklaces and all manner of trinkets. for the lazy there are scores of porters at the bottom offering to carry you to the top on a chair for 250Rs. though tempted, i thought that i could use the exercise. and it turns out i do need the exercise, at the top i was a big sweaty mess! to get through to the complex proper you have to pay - 10Rs for indians, 250Rs for foreigners. when i had paid and gone through i saw my first monkey!! he was sat gnawing on an old crisp packet, which couldn't have been good for him.

on entering the main cave i was struck with the enormity of the task that must have faced the people who constructed it. everything was carved out of the rock, and it was on such a massive scale. the air inside was calm and the groups of people walking around spoke to one another in that hushed tone you tend to hear in holy places. the walls were lined with statues (again carved straight from the rock) of shiva. at the back of cave 1 was a 20 foot high statue of the trimurti sadasiva - an image of the 3 headed shiva carved into the rock. this is a pretty awesome spectacle, and remarkably well preserved given that many of the statues had lost arms and legs and were generally in a bad way.

walking around the outside i saw village children at play under a huge stone gazebo, singing and laughing and clapping. beyond them there were a lot of monkeys, and a few of us had a giggle at one male monkey who kept showing the female monkeys some lovin'! after that the path went uphill to the cannon hill station, but time was running out as i needed to get back to mumbai to buy my train ticket for monday.

i went back to the bottom of the hill and was faced with a few different options for food. a couple of the places were pretty much empty save one or 2 people sipping chai and nibbling on some food. i chose to go to the busiest one, and had a vegetable biryani, a roti and a bottle of coke - 54Rs!

i really need to get over how cheap the food is here!

the trip back was wonderful - it was 1pm and the heat was starting to become unbearable. sat on the lower deck in the shade with a cool breeze was a welcome relief. as i watched the islands slip past i realised that this was all real, the palm lined beaches, the fishing dhows, everything was really happening - i was in india. as mumbai slowly approached us people started jostling for position at the front to get the obligatory snap of the gateway of india. because of its proximity to the shore the only real way to get a good snap is from the sea. i think i got rather a nice one, don't you agree?

walking back to my accommodation (i had moved that morning from the swankiness of the apollo hotel to the modesty of bentley's hotel, backpacker central in colaba) i thought about walking to cst - the recently renamed victoria terminus, now chhatrapati shivaji terminus. looking overhead at the afternoon sun, and peeling my wet shirt away from my skin i decided that a shower and a change of clothes were in order. i went back to the hotel and did just that, and then did the sensible thing and grabbed a taxi. the driver fleeced me out of 50Rs, quoting 100 at the start and demanding 150 at the end. i didn't really quibble too much, 60p isn't worth getting into a fight about! in fact, i'd hardly call it being fleeced..

my first encounter with indian bureaucracy was intriguing. to reserve a ticket you first have to register at one building, then skip across to another building with a completed form, which is checked and stamped. you then take the form to another window and a number is stamped on your form. then you have to go to a booth on the 1st floor which corresponds to the number on your form and then you are finally given your ticket. mumbai to nasik, 08:20 on monday morning. a trip of 110 miles in 2nd class AC for about a fiver - beat that virgin trains! i had a wander around outside to take some pics, but it was approaching rush hour and the light was pretty poor. i stood for a while and watched the mass of humanity descend on cst, fresh from a day's work. i have never seen so many people in one place at one time - apparently 2.5 million people pass through cst each day!

i jumped in a cab back to colaba, this time costing me 50Rs. i was starting to get tired so i headed to leopold's again as i couldn't be bothered to find somewhere new. when i was seated and reading my book with a kingfisher a camera crew arrived - apparently a famous australian author was eating there this evening. the place filled up very quickly but i was too sleepy to get excited. damn my jet-lagged body! i ate quickly and went to bed at around 1900. i had an awesome dream - i could fly! in my dream i rescued dr cuddy (from house) from a burning train and she let me do naked things with her afterwards as thanks. i was devastated when i woke up - at 2:30am. i tried to get back to sleep but i was wide awake. i turned on the tv and watched a cooking show in english called lock stock and two smoking tikkas! i love this place, i really do. i called home and wished my brother a happy birthday before settling down with my book. it's called holy cow by sarah macdonald and it's a really good read.

today has been all about the web cafe hunt to upload my photos, i can't have you all thinking i bailed and went to cornwall or somewhere instead can i? lonely planet tucked under my arm i headed to the fort / churchgate area and began my hunt. it turned out to be unsuccessful (the 3 cafes listed were long-gone) but i got to see some cool-ass sights on the way. sunday is cricket day in mumbai, and on the maidans (long, wide avenues of grass next to the mg road) there were dozens of cricket matches going on. i walked through the maidans, and was struck by the beauty of my surroundings. behind the fields were palm trees and poking through were the tops of huge colonial buildings. i finally found a webcafe with a decent enough speed to upload photos, and here i am! i have been here for 90 minutes and i am currently 34/170 uploaded! whilst it is kind of a waste of an afternoon, i won't get the chance to upload again for 2 weeks as i head to nasik and aurangabad tomorrow so it needs doing. the photos are at http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidouch/ if anyone fancies a look-see. i'm starting to get used to it here, the culture shock hasn't happened yet but i hear it takes a week or so to set in. all around me the buildings are decaying, the streets are lined with stray dogs, sleeping children and the ever-persistent street trader.

it's hot, smelly, chaotic. and i love it.