Of Gods and Monkeys
The previous night had been one of those ‘cruise things’ where you need to decide! I had been firm in resisting the sounds of cats being murdered in the cabaret lounge but Saturday night had been ‘White Night’; one special event when everyone is supposed to dress in white and attend a big party on the pool deck. We decided to go with it and actually, it was a good evening.
We’ve being playing a mental game of which of our family and friends would have loved this holiday thus far and which would have long since jumped overboard. We’ll compare notes with you all when we get home!
Today’s trip was to the island of Elephanta in Mumbai bay to see some ancient temples. This involved an hour on a small tourist boat each way, from the area known as the Gateway to India, where a massive arch commemorated the visits of various British royalty. This was also quite close to the naval base and I really wanted to get a good picture of the old Hermes. Our guide was very agitated;
“No photos of the naval base – not at all” he instructed, firmly.
I was tempted to point out that I’d downloaded full details of the entire Indian navy, with close up pictures, from Wikipedia the night before but suspected that this would have no effect – so we indulged in some surreptitiously well-aimed ‘selfies’. So far, no one has been arrested.
(There is also a postscript to yesterdays blog; we’d asked our previous, wonderfully non-PC, guide about the shipyards and he’d said that ship-breaking was big business in India,
“…but not here, it’s much further north. It’s a filthy business and up there, the currents take all the toxic waste into Pakistan!”)
Once clear of the chaotic harbour, our guide set about telling us the story of the temple caves which we were to visit. This involved a detailed explanation of the role of the different deities in Hinduism and in this instance, the tales of the God Shiva and how these stories were depicted in the caves.
For the first five minutes, we paid close attention. After the next ten, attention had waned a little. By the end of thirty minutes, some people were preferring the shade of the lower deck. After three-quarters of an hour, there was a gentle splash as someone lost the will to live and fell overboard… and still he went on. And on.
However, as we approached the island, he finally started to wrap up;
“..so that’s the gist of it but I’ll give you the full details when we get to the caves”!
He also pointed out that as toilet facilities were ‘basic’ on the island, we might like to use those on the boat before we landed. S led a rush of ladies to the steps below deck. 35 seconds late, she also led the retreat back up the stairs!
“Oh my God”, it’s a hole in the deck!”, he gasped.
The guide overheard;
“but at least this will be a clean hole in the deck – the ones on the island will be used by very many people”
S and some of the other ladies hesitated in the face of a terrible choice.
Now, S had in fact planned for such a crisis, with a solution that only she can divulge. However, it did mean a return trip to the onboard facilities, by which time we had tied up alongside another boat – and there was a window in the ‘facility’… We’ll draw a curtain over this rest of this episode – if not (unfortunately) the window!
Anyway, we made it onto the island and after a climb of nearly a half a mile up a footway through an absolute gauntlet of locals touting goods of dubious provenance, we got to the temple, which had been carved out of solid rock. It really was spectacular and we showed little compunction in shaking off our guide as he embarked upon his second lecture, to explore it for ourselves.
Having had our full of Hinduism for a while, and seeking shade in what was over 70% humidity, we went for a walk and found ourselves surrounded by monkeys. One was happily drinking a can of Coke (“.. and this how we introduced monkeys to diabetes” said one of our American companions), the others just doing what monkeys do. S was very keen to get some close up pictures and the creatures, totally unafraid of humans, almost seemed happy to pose for the cameras. As S clicked away, some of these poses started to become somewhat ‘unfortunate’ and in no time at all, S had filled up a yet another memory card with what can only be described as ‘Monkey Porn’ ! Not having quite realised, or believed, what she had filmed, she was both appalled and amused when she reviewed the pictures. I have begged her not to upload any onto Facebook for fear of the potential legal consequences – you’ll have to add this to your list of questions for when we get back.
The return trip was uneventful, but by then, the Sunday crowds were out in force and it took another hour of chaos to get back to the boat and a very welcome round of drinks.
Indian maritime discipline isn’t a lot different to their road discipline and there were a number of increasingly frustrated updates from the captain as the dockside workers made a right hash of releasing the ship from the quay, including wedging the gangway between the ship and the quay itself, and then finding his way blocked by a huge car transporter.
So we were nearly an hour late leaving the harbour, by which time the sun was setting once again, both over Mumbai and over our incredible experience of India.