A to B - London to Bombay:
An aeroplane is a capsule protecting you from the outside world. Upgraded into first class for the final leg of our journey , we were cosetted Westerners unaware of what was to come - and then the lights of Bombay appeared through the planes' windows... Arriving at 5 in the morning, finding the airport's "essential" (Rough Guide) pre-paid taxi booth closed, we walk out into madness. Attempting to haggle with the hundreds of touts who surround us and yet we still get spectacularly ripped off for the one hour journey through some of the worst shanti towns in India.
What have we let ourseleves in for....?
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WE SAW:
THE GLANCE OF THE MILLIONS

A book lined colonial reading haunt
The dawn at the Gateway of India
Shared with crows and hawkers
And absorbed Hindu blessing the sun
Milk streaming down the lingam.

Street vendors, onlookers, businessmen, beggars, leppers, movie stars, wealthy families, sadhus, wandering dogs and cows, junkies and street cricket playing children.

Opulent sarees in air conditioned boutiques
Back street men only bars

Teaming train stations disturbed by glaring on screen advertising

Families promenading on wide boulevards at dusk (the Champs Elysees of Bombay)

Claustrophobic cubes mascarading as restful lodging
Prominent towers for the dead waiting to be pecked clean (Parsis)

A DAMP LAND RECLAIMED FROM THE SEA
CHAOTIC DISORDER TRANSFORMING INTO THE ENTERPRISE OF SURVIVAL

[ Poverty line: 50 ruppies - 80 pence per day ]
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TIPS FOR ARRIVING IN BOMBAY AIRPORT:
Make sure to take a proper cab (buying a ticket before in a cab office outside the airport and not from touts), and be ready to cross miles and miles of disturbing shanti towns. Booking a hotel before is a good idea if you can so the cab can leave you in front of the door. We took a cab to the Gateway of India and walked around till we found somewhere to stay... there are lots of hotels around there, from well expensive to dodgy drug dens (where we stayed!). A good idea is to get a train ticket at the station as soon as you can as you might have to wait for a few days for the right train....