Thursday 13 October 2011

"Good brakes, good horn and good luck" ... those are the three things you need if you want to get from a) to b) by car here in Mumbai! This is one of the scariest driving cities in the world ... but strangely I feel rather safe! No vehicle seems to ever hit each other ... just lots of threats. We have been driven about in new Jaguars and Mercedes ... and they are dent-free.

OK - sadly checked out of the Four Seasons, Mumbai. I didn't sleep last night as I watched the entertainment from the 32rd floor ... a thunder & lightning show! It went on most of the night ... lovely. I just sat in bed with a drink and watched in the dark ...

Anyway - the Four Seasons does fabulous cuisine and I have eaten dosa EVERY morning for breakfast! I am so fat!

SO - I am now in my second Mumbai home. I am staying at the Taj Mahal Palace hotel which overlooks the Arabian Sea and the Gateway of India ...The suite is just amazing ... one of the finest I have ever stayed in ... I will have photos and full description tomorrow!

In the afternoon we headed over to Mani Bhavan - 10 minutes drive away. It's located at number 19 Laburnum Road. It is one of the most important memorial museums to Mahatma Gandhi.

When the Mahatma was in England studying law, he made friends with the son of Revashankar Jagjeevan Jhaveri who owned this townhouse (previously owned by the Mani family)... and was invited to stay in this house on Mumbai visits. He stayed in the house from 1917 to 1934 ... and was arrested there ... and fasted for peace there ... and he wrote, spun thread and planned his fight for Independence there ...

We were allowed to film in the actual room that he used to live in ... a REAL honour. The last people to be allowed in the room so publicly were President & Mrs Obama ... who also stayed in this suite at the Taj hotel ... hmmmm ...

The Mahatma's room
His actual slippers
His phone
My "Guide" - Sajeev Rajan
 
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