A Close Shave

Gentrification: You have been warned! 

Street Cobbler 

Lunch by the Taj Pool

Taj Club Room

At Trishna, our favorite

Kulfi

Today was another jet-lagged day. We took it very easy. It is good that we planned this R&R time in Mumbai at the Taj. What a great place to recover from the trip. We awoke early (3am) and had a very hard time getting back to sleep. This is expected when you fly halfway around the world but with age, I swear it gets harder each time.

We did a considerable amount of walking in The Coloba neighborhood. The condition of the sidewalks (not to mention the cars) makes walking an interesting challenge. We are very careful. There are some streets that are so difficult to cross because of the confusing traffic, which never seems to stop. Our strategy is to find some obvious Mumbaikars (that’s the term for a resident of Mumbai) and cross with them as a group. The entire area of Coloba is going through a gentrification. There are lots of stores moving out (including our beloved Rhythm Planet) and new ones coming in. It isn’t much different from Los Angeles in that regard.

At night we observed lots of people sleeping in doorways and under shelter, however they are actually less messy than in Los Angeles. Homelessness is really an urban problem everywhere.

We had a list of stores we wanted to visit (being Monday the museums were closed). We didn’t purchase anything. Our average daily expenses fell by half! The oldest Barber Shop in Mumbai is right around the corner from the Taj and I went and had my beard trimmed. I don’t think there is any barber in America that uses a straight razor, but this one never nicked me.

See me get a close shave!

It was hot and humid and we returned to the hotel for our favorite cold drink: Nimbu Pani (fresh lime juice with carbonated water).

Later after reading our books by the pool and having drinks in the Club Room we taxied to Trishna our favorite restaurant. Crab with Pepper Garlic Butter Sauce, Pomfret Hyderabadi style and Jerra Rice were all as wonderful as we remembered them. We topped the dinner with Kulfi (not coffee).

It was late and a warm night and we decided to walk back to the hotel. It is strange we would be reticent to walk down streets at night with concentrations of homeless people in Los Angeles but in Mumbai we felt safe. One thing for sure is you don’t have to worry about people with guns.

We returned to the Club Room for Cognac and Chocolates. We were seated at a table with a man from Sweden at a table on one side and a woman from Texas at table on the other. The Swede asked us where we were from (I am sure he knew America) and immediately asked if Trump could really be elected President. He said all Europe is afraid he might. The Texas woman, broke stereotypes and spoke out against Trump and for Hillary. We had a rousing discussion (without much disagreement) and trotted off to bed.