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Nov. 5, 2009 On Monday, November 9, 2009, I'll be flying from New Delhi to Mumbai, better known by its former official name of Bombay. Ordinarily I would have opted to go by bus or train, but I made up my mind hastily as I chatted with the travel agent, selecting the more expensive transport, especially in view of baggage overweight charges, but, with the ticket in my hand, I didn't want to bother to undo the arrangement. The upside is that it will take only 2 hours, the distance being about 700 miles. I've been in New Delhi since June 17, and almost look upon it as home, so I am not terribly keen on the move, but I hate to come all the way to India without visiting Mumbai and Kolkata (Calcutta), at least, as well as Goa and Chennai (Madras) hopefully. According to Wikipedia, Mumbai is the 2nd largest city in the world, with 14,000,000 people, while Greater Mumbai is the fourth or fifth largest metropolitan area in the world, with over 19,000,000, somewhat larger than New Delhi, which ranks eighth. For all that tremendous size, Mumbai has no Metro, whereas New Delhi bas a beautiful brand new Metro with good mileage and plenty of stations, and it's growing by leaps and bounds. I'll probably have to resort to auto rickshaws, which are three-wheeled cabs reminiscent of Isettas. They are cheap enough, with $2 taking you 5 or 6 miles, but here in Delhi, I can go 20 miles for a quarter. This complication will probably decide me to leave Mumbai within a month or so. I am willing to take buses around town, of course, but figuring out routes is often next to impossible. This was the problem I had in Lima, Peru. A city is less enjoyable with limited mobility, and I get tired of handing out $2 or $3 several times a day for cabs or auto rickshaws. Mumbai is building a Metro, but it won't start rolling till I am long gone. My next port of call after Mumbai will be Goa, a former Portuguese enclave on India's west coast 300 miles south of Bombay. Of course, Goa has no Metro either, but it's a much smaller city. I am planning to go to Goa mainly because it has been highly recommended to me by several people. With a year of speaking Portuguese in Brazil, I will have a foothold on local culture. Incidentally, as I mentioned, I have been studying Hindi very assiduously, but this is more in the interests of culture and philology than a matter of practical necessity. English is official in India too, and you can count on being able to deal in English with almost anyone who maintains any kind of business, for example, grocers, chemists (druggists), hotel staff, transit workers, etc. Many common people, especially poor ones, don't speak English, but if you are visiting India for 2 weeks or 4 weeks, you don't have to give language considerations any thought at all. Delhi is the heart of the Hindi-speaking area. Mumbai, as the capital of the state of Maharashtra, speaks Marathi as its native language. I have no intention of getting involved in Marathi. I just hope I can get Hindi books and newspapers in Mumbai. At least, Marathi is an Indo-European language, related to other languages of India and Europe, if remotely. However, southern India features several Dravidian languages, like Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam, completely alien both in speech and in writing. I have visited quite a few landmarks in Delhi and environs, and my pictures and brief notes may be seen at: www.mecnita.com/India.htm I visited some others too where I couldn't get any decent pictures, like India Gate, Maa Mansa Devi Temple, Akshardham Temple and the Central Secretariat. My visa expires June 1, 2010. Where next? I don't know. ------------ About the author Thomas Keyes: I have written two books: A SOJOURN IN ASIA (non-fiction) and A TALE OF UNG (fiction), neither published so far. I have studied languages for years and traveled extensively on five continents. Visit my website here. Email: udikeyes@yahoo.com Comment on this article here! 
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