Thursday we went to the Chhatrapathi Shivaji Mahraja Vastu Sangrahalaya, formerly known by it’s more easily remembered name: Prince of Wales Museum. These are images of the garden around the museum and of the statue of the Prince of Wales getting a cleaning. This is the only statue of a British persona left in all of Mumbai.
At the museum, these were two of my favorite pieces. The figure of a dancer done by a kashmiri artist:
On our way to the museum we crossed a large park, right next to Bombay University, that's basically grass-less flatland perfect for cricket.
After a long walk through the galleries of this funny building—a mix of Hindu, Muslim and Christian architecture (!?!) – we returned “home” for a quick nap (Hotel Marine Plaza - I am including the link for those who need a recommendation for where to stay in Mumbai. The hotel is on the expensive end, but it's in an incredible location and has very good rooms and food.)
Next came a lovely shopping experience at FabIndia. We were escorted there by Namita, the wife of a friend of David's, who introduced us to this colorful and high quality store of local Indian cottons and silks. I tried on several salwar kameezes, before deciding on two cotton outfits (for a Bici catwalk see below.)
Photo courtesy of David PritzkerTonight we had a great dinner of vegetarian kebab and I learned that in Bengal a meal is always served in separate courses, meat never coming on the same plate as vegetables. In Western India instead, such as here in Mumbai, a plate of food will be composed of a legume (such as a dahl), a yoghurt based dish, a green vegetable, a non-green vegetable, and roti or papadum. Rice will only be served midway through the course, once the wheat (i.e. roti/papadum) has been consumed. Basically, a thali.
The food is delicious and all is well...
