Afternoon tea at the Taj (visitors and handbells)

We have been fortunate to welcome several visitors since the beginning of the year and I've been terribly neglectful in writing about anyone.  Our guests have included Jake and Linda (bellringing friends from Bedfordshire), Vibhuti and Aruna (non-bellringing friends from Cambridge and Lincolnshire), Luke, Lizzie, Richard and Dickon (more bellringing friends with Cambridge connections).

We try to show all our guests the sights and sounds of Mumbai and for nearly our guests above, this included afternoon tea at the Taj.

The Taj hotel is an institution.  This grand palace of a hotel was built by Mr Tata at a time when only white people were welcome at fine hotels in Mumbai.  He opened the Taj hotel to welcome anyone (who could pay), white or Indian, and it is now the only fine hotel from that era left standing.  The Taj epitomises elegance, grace and luxury and has a photo cabinet devoted to the illustrious visitors it has welcomed in the past.  This includes US Presidents, British Prime Ministers and the great and good of Hollywood, Bollywood and the music industry.  The Taj hotel group is now a chain of luxury hotels in many locations all over India and worldwide.

The Taj Hotel viewed from the seafront next to the Gateway to India.

Whilst there is little point in us staying at the Taj hotel given that we live in Mumbai, I always enjoy the treat of a drink in the Sea Lounge, the cafe/bar overlooking the Arabian Sea and Gateway of India at the front of the hotel.  From 4pm to 7pm each day, the hotel offers afternoon tea which includes one of a wide selection of gourmet teas, a stand of delicious sandwiches, cakes, scones and savoury treats, and a large buffet of delicate treats just in case the food on the stand isn't enough.  It isn't really afternoon tea, it's easily tea and dinner rolled into one, and is a great way to enjoy the finer side of life in Mumbai and transport yourself back to an earlier age of 4pm tea, conversation and cucumber sandwiches.

We've now been twice (well Phil much more, but me twice only) and here are some pictures from our initial trip.

Jake and Linda relaxing after a hot walk through South Mumbai. 

 The stand of delicious treats (we had two!).

Moving in for a sandwich with my Taj House Blend tea. 

Vibhuti and Aruna (sorry I've picked a picture with your eyes closed Vibhuti!) 

A sweet interlude from the buffet for Phil 

Contented Phil.

The corridors of the Taj are adorned with fresh flowers. 

 Milling on the grand staircase which leads up to the Sea lounge.

We had time for a quick trip to the Gateway to India before the sun went down.

A useful local tip is that the additional bonus of the Taj is its superb bathrooms.  India doesn't do usable public toilets and, if out and about in South Bombay, you can't do better than using the facilities at the Taj.  If you are lucky you will have your hands washed for you!  If you are unlucky and dressed like a scruffy backpacker like when Phil's sister visited several years ago, you will get ejected from the hotel pretty quickly, possibly before you have had the chance to avail of the facilities...

As an aside, the visits of Jake, Linda, Richard, Dickon, Lizzie and Luke have increased the peal total for our apartment.  Here are the details of the three peals rung during their visit, including one of maximus, not unknown but a rarity outside Britain and certainly a first in Asia.

Kent Major with Jake and Linda.

http://bb.ringingworld.co.uk/view.php?id=368290

Yorkshire Major with Luke and Lizzie

http://bb.ringingworld.co.uk/view.php?id=458895

Spliced Kent and Bastow Maximus with Luke, Lizzie, Richard and Dickon.

http://bb.ringingworld.co.uk/view.php?id=461823

Peal band for Kent Maximus rung in May 2015 for the ASCY and Cambridge University Guild.  Seated clockwise from bottom right:  Lizzie, Dickon, Jennie, Phil, Luke, Richard.

A royal experience in Mysore

Combined with our trip to the Coorg region, we spent a night in the royal city of Mysore, a three hour drive from Bangalore.  Mysore has a rich history and even richer royal family and its palaces mean that it is a popular spot on the Indian tourist trail.

Mysore palace is the famous home of the Wadiyar dynesty and was built in the early 20th century when its predecessor burnt down.  The new and current palace was designed to be fireproof, using marble in place of wood, and is spectacular.  Mysore is particularly famous for its celebrations, centred around the palace, during the Indian festival of Dussehra, in which elephants seem to play a significant role.  We visited the palace and took the audio tour around the main rooms open to the public, although our visit fell on a public holiday which meant that it was extremely busy, even though we arrived before the palace officially opened.

Photographs aren't allowed inside but the exterior shots should give some idea of the scale and grandeur of the building.

The grand exterior of Mysore Palace. 

A nearly ex-palace (of which there are many) which now hosts a rather musty dusty art gallery.

We stayed in Mysore for one night only but Phil did very well with our accommodation.  We stayed in the Lalitha palace which was built by the royal family of Mysore as guest accommodation for the visit of the Viceroy of India in the early 20th century.  The palace design was modelled on St Paul's Cathedral and it is a glorious building.  It is now run by the Indian government as a hotel and, rather amazingly under the circumstances, it beautifully kept with good well maintained rooms and for an impressively low price (we paid 4000 rupees though I think this was an exceptionally good deal, it's usually a bit more).

The palace has lots of incredible original features and we happily wandered through the corridors exploring its treasures.  A highlight was the original lift installed in the 1920s which has been maintained in its original form.  Other highlights were the delicious dinner of a Mysore thali in the grand ballroom (now the dining room) and a game of snooker in the bar.  It was easy to visualise how the bar must have looked 90 years ago - full of smoke and smartly dressed Brits and Indians enjoying their post-dinner whisky and billiards.

The Lalitha Palace - with a striking resemblance to St Paul's Cathedral. 

The grand entrance hall.  By the time we left, the whole palace was heavily decorated for a wedding happening the next day.  It appeared to be extremely lavish and we were told there would be 5000 guests.  It was a local MP getting married... 

The ballroom and now dining hall 

The Mysore veg thali, definitely fit for royalty. 

A very civilised (until it got a bit competitive) post-dinner game of snooker. 

Just a corridor.  Even the corridors were spectacular. 

A horse and carriage was waiting outside the main entrance, possibly as part of the upcoming wedding celebrations. 

Me in the lift.  Most comfortable but with limited people capacity.

A pleasant surprise in Mysore was the zoo.  We have been to several Indian zoos so far which are typically full of animals with very little space and little in the way of information or structure to the zoo experience itself.  Mysore zoo was different.  Covering a huge area, the animals had large, well designed enclosures and the whole zoo was generally in a great condition.  We didn't really have enough time to enjoy it fully, but I would thoroughly recommend a trip to zoo for anyone with a day or two in Mysore.

The zoo had several tigers which, unsurprisingly, were the star attraction. 

In the reptile enclosure... 

Phil particularly liked this chimp. 

The elephant were doing a thorough job at washing each other from these water tanks. 

Rhino 

Happy hippos

Coorg

Coorg is part of Karnataka state in South India although used to be its own independent state until 1955 and retains a distinct cultural identity.  Coorg is hilly, lush and green, it is dominated by coffee plantations and is a popular destination for weekend breaks from Bangalore (it being only a "short" 6 hour drive from the city, close in Indian terms).  Like many of the cooler hilly parts of India, there was considerably British influence earlier in the 20th century which is still evident through the high standard of spoken English and customs across the area.

We stayed in Coorg for three nights at a homestay owned by a elderly couple from the Coorg region who own a coffee plantation and grow every kind of fruit and vegetable going in their (large) garden. It was extremely quiet and restful, particularly because a storm had taken out the power lines shortly before we arrived so there was no electricity for most of our visit (bar a couple of hours with the generator in the evenings).  With no phone signal, we had certainly got away from it all (something I tend to be a bit keener on than Phil) and spent the weekend recharging our batteries.

We timed our trip to coincide with the "Coorg Escapade" - a three day programme of activities including a tough, hilly 10k run, cycling races and organised treks up a big hill.  Phil participated in the race and trekking and the whole weekend was well organised, plus our hosts couldn't have been more helpful in ferrying us around to the events and helping us to get involved.  I walked part of the running route and concluded that it was extremely steep!  Phil did pretty well and was one of the first to get up, but got overtaken by a few army runners coming down.

I thoroughly enjoyed the time we spent there - we saw a couple of storms and the rain was a welcome relief following months with no rain in Mumbai.  The car journey there (from Mysore) and back to the airport in Mangalore was long and winding, although I managed to keep my food down on one of the journey's at least though sadly not the other (car travel is not my favourite occupation at the moment!).

Here are a few photographs from our visit:

Our home for three days.  The house was built 20 years before almost entirely using materials found on the plantation (stone and wood).

Me and Kavita. Kavita is 20 years old and was working with her mother Leela to look after us for 3 days (cooking, cleaning etc.).  Leela has been the family's maid for 17 years and the family (Lal and Swathy) have funded Kavita's education.  They are currently encouraging her (and her family) to ensure that she finishes her nursing qualification and finds employment before looking for a husband. 

A coffee plant.  You can see the very small buds for the beans on the stem, but it will be many months more before these are ready to be harvested. 

Coffee beans once dried and in storage.  I can't remember if these had been roasted or not (I would guess not), but I know that the overall roasting / grinding / making into drinkable coffee process happens outside Coorg.  Our hosts receive bags of the coffee that they have grown back for their own use once the coffee has been prepared elsewhere.  Interestingly, the coffee that we saw in the state above did not smell at all.  The coffee smell comes only after the grinding / roasting phase later on.

View across the valley from Phil's trek.  As you can see, it is very lush and green. 

Transport from the meeting point to the trek.  According to Phil is was very precarious with 20+ people standing in the open top truck driving quickly on winding roads.  I ducked out of the trek in the end because it was too hot and, given the transport situation, I was relieved about my decision!

Phil walking up to the peak. 

Some of the many beautiful and colourful flowers in the garden. 

There were two pet dogs at the house, Pepsi and Pluto, and Pepsi had a litter of four puppies born three weeks before.  They were lovely!  There is one male puppy (the beige one on the left) and three female pups.  My favourite puppy was the small white one at the back.  Two of them were looking for homes but Phil put his foot down about me having one (thankfully not on a puppy).

Zoomed in puppy cam. 

When brought out of their box to see me, the boy puppy promptly weed all over the floor then left the area pretending it wasn't him (see him leaving the shot on the front right)! 

More puppy cam.  My favourite is the little one on the right (although adoption of this pup sadly wasn't to be). 

Our hosts kept bees.  Lots of bees.  Whilst I'm really not into buzzy things, these didn't bother us at all and seemed much more focused on their honey making (and the honey was very tasty!)

Pluto the dog.  The one without puppies but who likes lots of attention.  We only found out on our last day that dogs have a fairly high attrition rate on the plantation.  This isn't because they aren't cared for, but because they keep attacking cobras in the plantation and coming off worse (although they have killed some too).  Cobras!  I was assured that they come nowhere near the house and are very shy but I was still not too happy, especially after Phil saw a snake on a recent run too.  I'll be on snake alert from now on.

What's happening at home

Hello again. I'm afraid that my recent rate of blog posts has been poor but I am fully intending to get back on track! Starting now.

So what's been going on? Well, first off, change is on the cards for us as we're expecting a baby in September. We'll be staying in Mumbai for the big event before moving back to the UK for good in June 2016 (this is now definite for a work perspective). For this blog, this means that there's likely to be more focus on Mumbai and less on travelling around India, particular for the rest of 2015, but I'll try to keep it interesting and share more about both Mumbai and what it's like to have a baby in India.
My current blogging gap is because we enjoyed two weeks in the UK earlier in April and have spent the last two weeks settling down to life in Mumbai, which seems to mainly entail fixing things in our apartment.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that when one thing goes wrong in our apartment then many others things happen at the same time.  So here's what's happening:

1) Pigeons. They have nested, on our balcony, having infiltrated our apparently inadequate netting defences. I generally have no desire to harm other living creatures but these pigeons are testing that principle on the basis of being filthy and utterly stupid yet extremely persistent in their quest to set up camp in our balcony! I have declared pigeon war and we are currently on a mission to get better netting and a clean up operation underway, if only the netting man would actually turn up when called...

2) Kitchen cupboards and lights. Are all making a bid from freedom from their wall fastenings. Last week, we noticed that a whole row of cupboards were about to drop off the wall so we engaged in a hasty emptying operation and are awaiting the arrival of a carpenter! The neon lights did the same thing a week before, though apparently these still work when hanging from the ceiling on a single wire so it's not a problem.

3) Treadmill.  The electrics have gone again, taking out the treadmill and washing machine at the same time. Phil is sad (more about the treadmill than the washing machine). Monty the treadmill man will be summoned at the earliest opportunity!

4) Bedroom curtains. Recently decided to drop of the pole through breaking rings thought this was simple enough for me to fix independently. Phil was impressed!

5) Car wash man. Rings the doorbell pick up our car key each morning to wash the car inside and out (I know this sounds ridiculous but is apparently compulsory). After reliably ringing at 730am for most of the last 2 years, he bizarrely switched to a 615am to 630am doorbell ringing strategy when we got back from the UK. That didn't last long, even my Hindi is good enough to convey that the new time system was not popular!

6) Fridge door. Is falling apart. I made a valiant attempt to glue it together again although accidentally glued my thumb to the tube of super strong glue instead! This caused much hilarity for Phil so was worthwhile in that respect.

Although tradesmen are much cheaper in India than in the UK, I am starting to reach the conclusion that you pay for what you get. It's cheap to get things fixed but they rarely stay fixed for long! Sigh.

In good news, we've recently made a purchase which I'm thoroughly enjoying, a second hand digital piano:-) It appears to be working perfectly and it's lovely to be able to play again.

The new arrival.  Don't ask me why Sagar is the one posing, but he did manage to get it in the car and transport from South Mumbai so good work Sagar!