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Late on my first night in Mumbai (f/k/a Bombay) I two fellow travelers walked to Leopold's Cafe, on the corner of Colaba Causeway and a side street, with both street sides open to the intersecting sidewalks. The next day I found one could shortcut back down the side of Leopold's to the Taj Mahal Hotel and Gateway of India, two landmarks I had not yet been, having only arrived in clamorous, crowded, colorful, pungent Mumbai 2 and 1/2 hour before.
Several Kingfisher beers, good company and a great atmosphere cozyed me up to Leopold's, a cultural crossroads patroned by young, local business-types, vacationing Chinese, backpacking Brits, expat Americans; all kinds of hues and views from the world over. Think a little Rick's Café Américain, sans formal wear.
This won't so much be an autobiographical diary. What I wrote above was just to introduce you to beginning of many casual, comfortable Leopold's memories. Rather, this diary's meant to bring you a little closer to Mumbais' Colaba District, in photo and video, and read about what several of my Mumbai friends, and other, have been thinking and feeling over the past few days.
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UPDATE: With thanks and h/t to "Lady Libertine" in the comments below:
Defiant Leopold's Reopens!. Simply incredible.
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With all the carnage and confusion and chaos beamed from Mumbai to television sets around the past several days, those who've never been would have difficulty imagining smiles and laughter and mostly languid lifestyles that permeated Mumbai. "Mostly languid lifestyles"? How about a meeting I had with an official associated with the Maharashtra Electrical Regulatory Commission on one of the top floors of Mumbai' World Trade Center: the office boys who ran paperwork back and forth between cubicle and floors and from desk to desk for barefoot, for comfort's sake.
I'm also sharing emails received from friends and colleagues in and near Mumbai, as well as some words from a friend whom I first met in Leopold's last April -- who lives in New Orleans now.
I'm also sharing photos and my first-ever vid clips uploaded to YouTube -- a day-after-Thanksgiving project of mine, done in the midst of a many hundreds of pine trees in very rural, very Southeast Alabama. The vids are to me frustratingly short; they were mere experiments when I made them this past April and show only tantalizing glimpses of the streets and scenes and people of Colaba, Mumbai, India.
I caption some of the following pics and vids, and some I don't, and just let the faces and places be what they are to you. I invite opinions, stories, reminiscences, feedback.
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April 27, 2008. In front of the Radio Club, looking towards the Taj and the Gateway of India. Work crew breaking-down the (rather rickety) frame over which bolts and bolts of vivid red and orange fabric had been draped the night before, part of the whole elaborate, spangled, illuminated dream-looking "Bollywood Set-looking" scene that had been erected for a huge wedding reception.
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From a friend who's with a web design company in Mumbai, sent on 27 Nov:
Dear -------
Thanks for writing in - family and friends are all fine. But this new wave of attacks is very depressing - there's still intermittent firing going on at the Taj and the Oberoi, and a hostage situation as well. Quite a few of the guests at both hotels have been held hostage - including many foreigners. While no-one I know has been affected, it makes one sick, thinking of all those innocent people who get caught in such mindless violence...
- A
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Tiny clip. Walking in front of the Taj on Sunday morning in April. Quick glimpse of the Taj on the right, Gateway on the left.
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The Taj portico, looking towards the Tower's (now Main) Lobby Entrance.
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From N, a life-long Bombay resident. A kind-hearted and erudit Parsi businessman, a gentleman of the "old school":
Dear -------,
Thanks for your concern. We are comparatively safe, but for how long God knows. We sat transfixed for 60 hours watching this insane violence and hatred being spewed to supposedly showcase to the world what 20 gutter bastards can do to a civilised society with impunity. As you know they first asked for persons with American, British, and Israeli passports, and killed whoever they thought fit the bill. After that it was just a carnage, whether it was a kitchen boy or security staff, or a tycoon having dinner. -- then they were told to blow up the Taj. They damn near succeeded, if our armed forces hadn't given them a determined fight. Oberoi, where we first met and had breakfast is in shambles and gutted. Some of us have a sentimental attachment to the Taj, and as of now it's just a stone structure with everything in it destroyed.
200 odd dead and about 200critically injured--but these are just single figures. Each one of them have families and extended families. The tycoons had bank balances, but the your friend at Leopold was on daily allowance-- we can't even start to calculate the damage to human society. Do they do all this to get even with Mr Bush, or the Israelis, or for the Masjid in India that the Hindus destroyed. I wonder if anyone has the answer. They have violated all our sensivities and we are more than saddened.. Anyway hopefully this too shall pass.
Kindest regards, and keep in touch.
N.S.
Yes, I first met Mr. S at the Oberoi, almost 2 years ago.
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This short vid was taken walking from the Gateway/Taj towards Colaba Causeway/Regal Theatre. A 10 or so minute walk to Leopold.
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Hanging out. Just down from Jehangir Art Gallery.
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I met a young American woman at Leopold's back in April. She was taking off from college to Be in India. We've been e-friends since. She's in college in Louisiana now. Here's some of what she wrote to me a couple of days ago:
I'm feeling more and more disturbed by this as the standoff ends and the realization sinks in. It's impossible to imagine that beautiful city covered in blood, I suppose - I have such happy, interesting memories there.
On a purely selfish level, I'm thinking of how easily it could have been me sitting in that cafe or in the Taj. Leopold is rather symbolic of many backpackers cafes I've hung out in...they're weird places but never violent ones. People drinking strawberry juice and beer towers and talking about weird shit...yeah, I've been there, that's been me.
I also desperately hope my Muslim friends aren't going to see any retribution or violence. Far as I can tell, Mumbai seems to function okay as a melting pot...I hope that doesn't change.
I'm still planning on returning to India and Mumbai this summer. No way am I going to let fear stop me from going back to the country I fell in love with so recently. You gotta be in it no matter what, I guess. I think we owe it to the nation to not let this bullshit scare us, to come back and help India become the secure and prosperous country it's trying to be.
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Shot in April along Very North of the Colaba Causeway. About 20 seconds in you can get a quick glance across the street, to the middle-left of the frame, a glimpse of a red, storefront sign. That's Leopold's.
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Received this on Friday, from a friend and colleague who lives in Chennai. My last business meeting in India at the end of April was with him, in the Taj's Sea Lounge:
Dear -------,
Thank you very much for your email below. My sincere apologies for the late replies, as I was caught in Mumbai and just returned home. It is sad to see the events happening in Mumbai and memories of our last meeting were recollected when I was near the Taj, seeing it be taken over by a group of terrorists. . . .
R
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A few more photos from around the Colaba District. Yes, all of this is jammed and crammed together in a jumble and tangle of mostly harmonious confusion:
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This photo was taken from the balcony of the Radio Club, just down from the Taj and Gateway, looking out into the harbor...
BenGoshi
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