Jules and Diego went to Elephanta Island the first weekend she was here (while I stayed home with Luis). She wrote up an account for it for her blog, and was kind enough to translate it and share it with me - and you. These are also her pictures.
Early Sunday morning I left with my brother to the Elephanta Island. He hadn't taken the tour before so it was new to both of us. We reached Colaba in the south of Mumbai, and this is one of the few places I've been where downtown is literally "down". On the way there I saw the Hadji Ali mosque, which is located in the middle of the water. During high tide, you can't cross since the water covers the way there. I asked my brother if we could go and see the place, and he mentioned that on each side of the road to the mosque, there is a long line of lepers, beggars and maimed people begging. They all want something from you and are quite insistent... being white, we would immediately get singled out as good sources of income. The reason this area is very popular is because part of the muslim religion is the need to give alms and help the needy, so being the only way to reach the mosque it is quite the hotspot.
All along the coast there is a boardwalk, and couples walk along it seeking a bit of time for themselves. One can see parsis, christians, muslims, hindus, jews and tourist from non established religious denomination walking side by side. We finally reached the "Gateway to India", a huge arch build for the sole benefit of two people: The King and Queen of England, George and Mary. In front of the arch, it looks like a bazaar. Large numbers of people taking pictures, selling you things and trying to get you to buy more stuff; they are quite insistent and don't seem to take no for an answer. Thanks to Diego's driver Anwar, we snagged a good guide for the Elephanta caves: all he needed was one call and his friend would meet us at the island, and he gave us an updated account of what it would all cost once we got there.
The ride on the ferry takes an hour, and on the way I thought about life in Mumbai, politics, how things work here. I think India is one of those places people arrive drawn to the exotic, to millenary tradition and find that it is perhaps these two characteristics which make our western style of development impossible. Making laws gets a lot more complex when you take into account that people from many different cultures and religions live here side by side and the caste system is still strong in many areas. Who knows when gender equality, community service and environmental laws will be addressed fully.
To get out of the ferry boats, you have to cross other boats which are docked, so you basically jump from one boat to the next until you reach firm grond. There, you can take a 5 rupee train which takes you for about 200 meters, and then stops. We decided to walk. After that, there are the 120 steps one needs to climb to get to the caves, and along the way there are many tables with tchotchkes, souvenirs and memorabilia on either side.
The way up is covered by tarps, so the temperature is a bit lower under the shade, probably something that gets people in the mood to stop and dawdle along the way.
Once we got to the top, our guide Mili gave us an excellent tour of the caves. Originally, this island was a place where yoguis came in to practice their Yoga. They would exercise, meditate and come to peace with god, the universe and themselves. Once they were there, and this community began to grow, they decided that everyone should have the right to learn about India's history, about their gods and yoga, and not just have it by word of mouth. So they sculpted these intricate murals all around the cave which tell the story of Shiva and Parvati, all filled with wholesome moral teachings. I myself was amazed at how similar the Hindu mythology is to the Old Testament: it even includes a deluge and an arc filled with animals that is sent to rest on the top of a mountain until the water recedes. In any case, the Portuguese are the ones who found this island with their caves, and they named it Elephanta on behalf of a giant sculpture of Ganesh which welcomed visitors to the cave. They took this statue and it now rests at Victoria Gardens.
The rest of the sculpted pictures were used for target practice, which seems to be the common factor whenever we hear about conquerors venturing into foreign lands: go in and destroy as much as you can find. There is only one image they respected, where the 3 aspects of God are portrayed: Generator, Operator and Destroyer, Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva respectively. They recognized it as proof of the Catholic idea of the Holy Trinity... so it remained as it was.
One of the other impressive aspects of this island is the incredible number of monkeys that live there. Mumbaikars arrive to Elefanta and pay quite a low sum to get in, about 20 cents. Foreigners pay a bit more than 6 USD. Locals visit the caves and leave offerings at the different shrines to the Lingam that they have (I saw 3), but locals also use the island as a family picnic destination. So we are talking about fearless, greedy and very well fed monkeys. They will steal the food of your hand. We saw this girl set her diet coke by her side while she rummaged in her bag, and the monkey jumped down, stole the can and then proceeded to down down the cola drink. A couple was sitting under a tree happily munching on an apple, and a monkey called the alarm. Suddenly, monkeys from all over were converging on the blissfully unaware couple, until one of the cheekiest monkeys stood beside the girl and basically demanded to get the apple from her with a fearsome display of growls and bared teeth. The couple then looked around, saw the half dozen monkeys glaring at them and quickly put the apple away in a bag, not falling into the monkeys' harrassment. The monkeys lost interest and wandered off, picking fights with stray dogs along the way.
So Mili, our guide, lives in Elefanta. This island so far has no electricity, and it is a bit sad to realize that although they are making a lot of income thanks to tourism, it is not being reinvested in improving the island inhabitant's quality of life. Trash is everywhere, even though there are trash cans every 20 paces and although many companies have offered to provide electricity, they have been turned down by the government. So instead, they have to use a generator to get lights in the town at night. More contamination. I trust that this will change soon. This past week there has been talk about injecting money into Elefanta and getting it in better shape: electricity, better signage and cleaner bathrooms. I sure hope it works, because it's a great destination that has quite a great potential!
Early Sunday morning I left with my brother to the Elephanta Island. He hadn't taken the tour before so it was new to both of us. We reached Colaba in the south of Mumbai, and this is one of the few places I've been where downtown is literally "down". On the way there I saw the Hadji Ali mosque, which is located in the middle of the water. During high tide, you can't cross since the water covers the way there. I asked my brother if we could go and see the place, and he mentioned that on each side of the road to the mosque, there is a long line of lepers, beggars and maimed people begging. They all want something from you and are quite insistent... being white, we would immediately get singled out as good sources of income. The reason this area is very popular is because part of the muslim religion is the need to give alms and help the needy, so being the only way to reach the mosque it is quite the hotspot.
All along the coast there is a boardwalk, and couples walk along it seeking a bit of time for themselves. One can see parsis, christians, muslims, hindus, jews and tourist from non established religious denomination walking side by side. We finally reached the "Gateway to India", a huge arch build for the sole benefit of two people: The King and Queen of England, George and Mary. In front of the arch, it looks like a bazaar. Large numbers of people taking pictures, selling you things and trying to get you to buy more stuff; they are quite insistent and don't seem to take no for an answer. Thanks to Diego's driver Anwar, we snagged a good guide for the Elephanta caves: all he needed was one call and his friend would meet us at the island, and he gave us an updated account of what it would all cost once we got there.
The ride on the ferry takes an hour, and on the way I thought about life in Mumbai, politics, how things work here. I think India is one of those places people arrive drawn to the exotic, to millenary tradition and find that it is perhaps these two characteristics which make our western style of development impossible. Making laws gets a lot more complex when you take into account that people from many different cultures and religions live here side by side and the caste system is still strong in many areas. Who knows when gender equality, community service and environmental laws will be addressed fully.To get out of the ferry boats, you have to cross other boats which are docked, so you basically jump from one boat to the next until you reach firm grond. There, you can take a 5 rupee train which takes you for about 200 meters, and then stops. We decided to walk. After that, there are the 120 steps one needs to climb to get to the caves, and along the way there are many tables with tchotchkes, souvenirs and memorabilia on either side.
The way up is covered by tarps, so the temperature is a bit lower under the shade, probably something that gets people in the mood to stop and dawdle along the way.Once we got to the top, our guide Mili gave us an excellent tour of the caves. Originally, this island was a place where yoguis came in to practice their Yoga. They would exercise, meditate and come to peace with god, the universe and themselves. Once they were there, and this community began to grow, they decided that everyone should have the right to learn about India's history, about their gods and yoga, and not just have it by word of mouth. So they sculpted these intricate murals all around the cave which tell the story of Shiva and Parvati, all filled with wholesome moral teachings. I myself was amazed at how similar the Hindu mythology is to the Old Testament: it even includes a deluge and an arc filled with animals that is sent to rest on the top of a mountain until the water recedes. In any case, the Portuguese are the ones who found this island with their caves, and they named it Elephanta on behalf of a giant sculpture of Ganesh which welcomed visitors to the cave. They took this statue and it now rests at Victoria Gardens.
The rest of the sculpted pictures were used for target practice, which seems to be the common factor whenever we hear about conquerors venturing into foreign lands: go in and destroy as much as you can find. There is only one image they respected, where the 3 aspects of God are portrayed: Generator, Operator and Destroyer, Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva respectively. They recognized it as proof of the Catholic idea of the Holy Trinity... so it remained as it was.
One of the other impressive aspects of this island is the incredible number of monkeys that live there. Mumbaikars arrive to Elefanta and pay quite a low sum to get in, about 20 cents. Foreigners pay a bit more than 6 USD. Locals visit the caves and leave offerings at the different shrines to the Lingam that they have (I saw 3), but locals also use the island as a family picnic destination. So we are talking about fearless, greedy and very well fed monkeys. They will steal the food of your hand. We saw this girl set her diet coke by her side while she rummaged in her bag, and the monkey jumped down, stole the can and then proceeded to down down the cola drink. A couple was sitting under a tree happily munching on an apple, and a monkey called the alarm. Suddenly, monkeys from all over were converging on the blissfully unaware couple, until one of the cheekiest monkeys stood beside the girl and basically demanded to get the apple from her with a fearsome display of growls and bared teeth. The couple then looked around, saw the half dozen monkeys glaring at them and quickly put the apple away in a bag, not falling into the monkeys' harrassment. The monkeys lost interest and wandered off, picking fights with stray dogs along the way.So Mili, our guide, lives in Elefanta. This island so far has no electricity, and it is a bit sad to realize that although they are making a lot of income thanks to tourism, it is not being reinvested in improving the island inhabitant's quality of life. Trash is everywhere, even though there are trash cans every 20 paces and although many companies have offered to provide electricity, they have been turned down by the government. So instead, they have to use a generator to get lights in the town at night. More contamination. I trust that this will change soon. This past week there has been talk about injecting money into Elefanta and getting it in better shape: electricity, better signage and cleaner bathrooms. I sure hope it works, because it's a great destination that has quite a great potential!
1 comment:
Loved your photos of Taj Mahal. I feel like I should know your family. I have Cara to thank for sharing your experience with us. Cara's Grandmother Bonnie
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