This was nit the way I wanted to have my first experience of the Subcontinent but plans sometimes have to change and I find myself in Mumbai over Christmas and New Year period cooped up in a hotel in a sling and doing everything very slowly with one hand.
Saifee hospital has a good reputation and I had already used Saifee in Dar es Salaam so I opted for a brand I already knew. The surgeon was suggested for me and what could I say?
The operation itself to repair a torn muscle was quick but the recovery is long and painful. Having to share my hospital room with pewking, pissing and shitting old ladies meant that, even when the pain died down a bit, I had very little sleep.
Before I admitted myself I had all of Christmas Day to explore Mumbai. Firstly I went to the Royal Bombay Yacht Club and then came across the Oval a huge cricket practice ground full of young men, watching and playing and the sound of ball hitting bat – not quite leather on willow – but India’s version. It would be far too dangerous to use heavy cricket balls in such busy surroundings. I already got hit on the arm by a stray ball and I was not yet inside the park gates.
Walking then past the Gate to India I pushed through the crowds and headed up Marine Drive which takes you up shoreline. At least I assume so because the pollution was so bad you could barely see your hand in front of your face. It reminded me of Nanjing in its dirtiest time.
The building of a new metro will surely help with the terrible traffic congestion but currently it just adds to the mayhem, dirt, noise and danger as pedestrians are forced to walk in the centre of a very busy road.
Luckily I had booked a hotel out of the centre in the peace and quiet of the business district. By the time the taxi had torturous journey back I was happy to shut the door and electric curtains on the outside world.
First impressions of Mumbai; noisy, polluted, al taxis look like banger racers, families living on streets, taxis have meters, rubbish everywhere, small boys flying kites, sewerage smell, river full of floating rubbish.