India Trip 2009_Recollections_Part I Mumbai

January 4th - Went to Chicago's O'Hare at 3:00PM and met the students from St. Thomas for the first time. It was a great group. Went through security and boarded the Air France Airbus Flight to Paris.
Had an interesting experience with an elderly French woman, who hushed us because were speaking too constantly for her taste. At the end of the flight, I had to do the gentlemanly thing and help her with her coat.
January 5th - Landed in Paris- saw snow on the ground. Took the bus to another terminal. Boarded the 777 flight to Mumbai, but were informed that the flight was going to be delayed because the plane had to be de-iced. The flight was delayed by more than three hours.
January 6th- Arrived in Mumbai early morning. Flight was late by an hour and a half. After going through Immigration, went to collect bags, and were chagrined to find that the luggage of the four students from Minneapolis was missing. We had to scramble to find an Air France person to report. There were two ladies trying to assist the many people whose luggage was lost. All the Indian locals cut in front of us to report, and we were the last ones to file a claim. It was a bad experience, and I was quite frustrated at the lousy beginning to our trip. Eventually finished filing the claims, but the local agent put in the wrong tag number for one of the bags. Went out and saw our agent Ignatious waiting with a coach bus. Loaded our luggage and took the 30 minute drive to the Hotel Fariyas. It was around 4:30 AM. Going towards Nariman Point the Queen's Necklace was just magnificent in the morning.
Checked in to Hotel Fariyas. The first interesting thing we noted was that the hotel asked for our passports and recorded our info. When we entered our rooms, they were dark. We had to insert our card in a slot near the door for the circuit to be completed and lights to come on. India's approach to power conservation! Had breakfast at 8 and then got ready for our tour at 9:00Am. Our guide Mala came to meet us. First took us to the Taj Hotel and the Gateway of India, then drove by Victoria terminus and the University of Mumbai. We wanted to see the Stock Exchange but could not as it was not set up prior to our arrival. We went to Mani Bhavan, the home of Mahatma Gandhi in Mumbai, and saw the chakra, the place where Mahatma sat, and pictures and quotes of him. It was a spiritual moment. Went to the Jain temple in the upscale Malabar Hill. It was beautiful. Stopped for lunch at an upscale restaurant Khyber Pass. The bill came to Rs. 7000 for 11 of us. Mala left us there, and we had the bus take us to Nariman Point where spent some time and wandered around till 5:00PM. We returned to the hotel, relaxed, and had a leisurely dinner. We went to an Internet cafe and did our quick emails.

January 7th: Running in Mumbai on Wednesday January 7th was a memorable experience. The previous day we had gone by the Taj Hotel and Gateway of India- the location of the terrorist attacks of 26/11. I got up early and went out for a run at 6:00AM. Went by the Taj, looked at it, then cut across towards Nariman Point. Went for quite a while and then turned back. It was a great run, and it was fascinating to see Mumbai in motion at the early hour of dawn. Many people were cleaning the streets, vendors were setting up stalls, people were waiting for buses. Came back to the hotel around 7:30AM. Showered up, went down for breakfast to the Tamarind Restaurant on the first floor. Mala, the travel guide showed up at 9:00AM. Went to the Stock Exchange and tried to get permission but could not. Drove to Crawford Market- the fruit and vegetable market. Amazing place filled with fresh produce. Took a while in the market. Then went to Dhobi Ghat, the place where the laundry of Mumbai gets done. Also saw the Mumbai Dabbawallah delivery system at work. This system trumps all the trite stuff put out by management gurus. Went by University of Mumbai and came back to the Gateway of India. Spent a few minutes there and went to the hotel for lunch. After lunch we checked out, and went to make phone calls/ Internet cafe. We walked around till about 3:00PM, when the bus came to take us to the airport for our flight to Chennai. Ignatious came with us and checked us all in. He did a good job for us. Our guide Mala was more interested in money than in service, and actually asked for a tip.