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| MAC and 'friend' |
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| The exterior of the former Victoria Terminus |
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| The booking hall |
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| The crowds rush off the arriving train |
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| The signs for the 'Ladies Only' car |
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| The concourse |
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| More exterior shots of the Victoria Terminal |
Today’s adventure was to be to Elephanta Island which is offshore from Mumbai and contains rather remains of some cave temples. The trip involves a 50 minute boat trip (it actually turned out to be more like a 70 minute trip). MAC decided to forego this as she suffers from seasickness and was not sure how rough the trip would be. With a flight home tonight, this may have been wise. Here is some information about Elephanta Island
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Known in ancient times as Gharapuri, the name Elephanta island (i.e. "ilha do Elefante"), was given by 16th century Portuguese explorers, after seeing a monolithic basalt sculpture of an elephant found near the entrance. They decided to take it home but ended up dropping it into the sea because their chains were not strong enough. Later, this sculpture was moved to the Victoria and Albert Museum (now Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum) in Mumbai, by the British. This island was once the capital of a powerful local kingdom. In Manuscript F by Leonardo da Vinci (kept at the Library de France) there is a note in which he says 'Map of Elephanta in India which Antonello the haberdasher has.' It is unclear who this Florentine traveller Antonello might have been
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We took cars down to the Gateway of India plaza where the boats leave for all sorts of destinations and offshore islands. The Gateway of India itself is a huge archway which was constructed to mark the arrival in India of King George V and Queen Mary in 1911. (Check date). It is situated close to the main Taj Hotel (there are several Taj Hotels in Mumbai), where we would return for lunch after the trip. Hament bought tickets and we soon boarded a boat. You could pay an extra INR10 to go upstairs but I decided to remain below in the shade. Our trip took us past a naval base where a large aircraft carrier and what looked like a destroyer were berthed and we could also see a large cruise shop called “Mein Schiff” (strange name), in the distance. Moored in the harbor were offshore oil-rig support vessels and other working ships. We passed two large oil or gas terminals with a couple of large tankers alongside. It was very misty which was, I suspect really smog from the still air and poor quality. It was not possible to see our destination until we came quite close. In the background one could just make out their container gantries of the new port which has been constructed to relieve the congestion which was chronic in the old port. The new port is very large and has multiple container gantry cranes.
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| The Gateway of India |
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| The Gateway with the old and new Taj Hotels in the background |
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| The ferry boats to the island |
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| The Indian Navy's aircraft carrier |
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| In the mist, the large German cruise ship called 'Mein Schiff' |
We arrived at a the island, disembarked from our boat and walked the short distance to a small train which carries visitors along the quite long jetty to the shore. The train took just a few minutes and was very welcome to avoid the long walk in the rising heat of the morning.
From the train, we embarked on the long climb to the caves. Linda who is not well and also has knee problems elected to take a chair to make the climb. The chairs are strapped to long bamboo poles on each side which are then lifted by 3 or four men, none of whom look that strong. The ride is a bit bumpy as the men negotiate the slopes and steps to get to the top but with a short break about halfway they made it and Linda was able to see the caves without too much stress. We all labored up the steps with varying degrees of huffing and puffing and reached the top. There were more steps after this but we did not go right to the top of the hill, just to the caves.
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| The small train to take us along the jetty |
At the entrance to the caves we met a feisty elderly lady who informed us that our group of 10 (Steve, who was not too well and MAC being absent) had to have a licensed guide to enter the caves. After a brief discussion and negotiation with Hament she was engaged and proved to be a very interesting and knowledgeable guide.
She told us that the date of the caves which were excavated from the rocks is not certain. Inside the caves are multiple statues and carvings of the god Shiva and other characters associated with the deity. Unfortunately, the Portuguese when they came her in the 15th century used the stone works for target practice and some of them are damaged but may retain very fine detail. Our guide explained the meaning of each set of carvings and I will have to research them to make sure that I recall them correctly. Each depicts a particular incident in the history of Shiva and his life. More detail will follow. The guide ended with a nice story about the lotus flower which is the national flower of India. She said that although the lotus plant grew in dirty muddy ponds and lakes, the beauty of the lotus flower shines through its environment. This gave us a lesson that whatever our surroundings of corruption or chaos, we too should retain our inner beauty and transcend the environment in which we find ourselves. Here is some onformation from UNESCO regarding these caves:
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The Elephanta Caves are located in Western India on Elephanta Island (otherwise known as the Island of Gharapuri), which features two hillocks separated by a narrow valley. The small island is dotted with numerous ancient archaeological remains that are the sole testimonies to its rich cultural past. These archaeological remains reveal evidence of occupation from as early as the 2nd century BC. The rock-cut Elephanta Caves were constructed about the mid-5th to 6th centuries AD. The most important among the caves is the great Cave 1, which measures 39 metres from the front entrance to the back. In plan, this cave in the western hill closely resembles Dumar Lena cave at Ellora, in India. The main body of the cave, excluding the porticos on the three open sides and the back aisle, is 27 metres square and is supported by rows of six columns each.
The 7-metre-high masterpiece “Sadashiva” dominates the entrance to Cave 1. The sculpture represents three aspects of Shiva: the Creator, the Preserver, and the Destroyer, identified, respectively, with Aghora or Bhairava (left half), Taptapurusha or Mahadeva (central full face), and Vamadeva or Uma (right half). Representations of Nataraja, Yogishvara, Andhakasuravadha, Ardhanarishwara, Kalyanasundaramurti, Gangadharamurti, and Ravanaanugrahamurti are also noteworthy for their forms, dimensions, themes, representations, content, alignment and execution.
The layout of the caves, including the pillar components, the placement and division of the caves into different parts, and the provision of a sanctum or Garbhagriha of sarvatobhadra plan, are important developments in rock-cut architecture. The Elephanta Caves emerged from a long artistic tradition, but demonstrate refreshing innovation. The combination of aesthetic beauty and sculptural art, replete with respondent Rasas, reached an apogee at the Elephanta Caves. Hindu spiritualistic beliefs and symbology are finely utilized in the overall planning of the caves.
The fifteen large reliefs surrounding the lingam chapel in the main Elephanta Cave not only constitute one of the greatest examples of Indian art but also one of the most important collections for the cult of Shiva.
The caves are the most magnificent achievement in the history of rock-architecture in western India. The Trimurti and other colossal sculptures with their aesthetic setting are examples of unique artistic creation.
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| The chairs for those who choose not to walk up the hill |
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| Linda's porters take a break at halfway |
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| A map of the island |
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| Our Guide for the caves |
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| The representation of Shiva which was worshiped |
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| Some of the sculptures in the caves |
After touring the ruins we descended again down the hill and re-boarded the small train to take us back to the jetty where another boat was waiting. The journey back took about 80 minutes possibly because the tide was flooding and several large vessels were on the move, arriving and leaving the port. A very big APL vessel arrived as an equally large MSC vessel sailed.
On arrival back at the Gateway of India pier, there was quite some confusion in finding a place for the boat to moor and allow us to disembark. Eventually after some maneuvering we found a spot, double berthed with another boat which was also disembarking so we had to squeeze past the throngs from both boats but made it safely to shore.
We walked the short distance to the Taj Hotel and the Sea Lounge on the second floor just off the magnificently grand main staircase with its bust of the hotel’s founder very prominent. High tea not yet being served we had lunch instead. I had Pani Puri which are small puff balls filled with vegetables and into the hole in which, you poor a mint liquor. Then, quickly, to avoid spillage you place the resulting treat into your mouth and it just literally explodes with flavor. I could have ordered another serving of them!! We also shared a salad and MAC had another Puri dish. The restaurant is very grand and high tea started while we were there. It is in the form of a buffet and is very popular with visitors and hotel guests alike.
From here, we took cabs back to the hotel for a quick freshen up. MAC, during the day, while I was away on the trip to the island, had completed most of the packing.
Then we walked the short distance to the Performing Arts Center which is about 200 meters from the hotel to see w are from ace of Sufi music and dance for which MAC had secured tickets during the day. The show was very interesting and told stories and poetry of a Fakir Hussein (need to confirm this). From Lahore in Pakistan whose teachings are followed by the Sufi. The cast which consisted of a singer/narrator, a singer/dancer, a tabla player and a guitarist had woven together original music with poetry, song and dance around the work of the poet and guru. The rhythms and singing were not too familiar to the western ear and it might have been a help to have some form of super-titles for those of us not familiar with the language which was not Hindi (what was it?), although there was some narration in English. The singing and dancing were very atmospheric and, in places the dancing was quite energetic and in other places very subdued and expressive.
Then it was in another cab to the InterContinental Hotel and up to the Dome Bar on the 8th floor. The is affords a wonderful view of the ‘Queen’s Necklace’ which is the name given to the curve of the bay which, when lighted at night appears to be like a necklace. The rest of the city stretches out behind it.
Here we were joined by Linda and Stevie, had drinks and listened to a beautiful Indian flute player who told me he was originally from Somerset in England, moved to New Zealand and had them settled here where he had lived for 13 years.
Artist name is Jared Woody and his contact no is 9821142157
and email id is fluteplaya@gmail.com
Then it was down to the Kebab House for dinner. Here we had some spicy kebabs, both vegetarian and non-vegetarian and also celebrated Claire’s birthday with a cake and a rendition of ‘Happy Birthday’. This had really been the birthday trip!! We had Marc, Steve, Darshana and Claire, 4 from 12, not bad.
We had to cut our meal a bit short to go back to the hotel, check-out, pick up our luggage and take the car to the airport. We stopped for a final farewell group photo in the lobby and said farewell to our great traveling companions and, of course our tremendous hosts before heading off for the car and the airport.
Traffic was not too bad and we were at the airport in good time, checked in and shortly ensconced in the GV? Lounge in comfort. We did have a secondary security check before boarding but everything went smoothly and we were soon in our very comfortable lay-flat seats on the Air India Boeing 777. Take-off was delayed and we left at 3 a.m. instead of 2 a.m. The headwinds are scheduled to make the flight over 15 hours so we will be a bit late into Newark.
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