Friday 9th December 1983 We had breakfast just around the corner and set of to find the Tourist Office which we were informed was opposite Churchgate Station. One of the three gates of the fortified island city of Mumbai was at this place. This gate led straight to Saint Thomas Cathedral Church, Hence it was named as "Church Gate". The gate was demolished in 1860. The Construction of station was completed by 1870 and It was named as Churchgate Station. This is the first station of the Western Railway suburban network of Mumbai. Churchgate station is a terminus of Western Railway line of Mumbai suburban railway. It is the southernmost station of the city.
We reached our goal, the Tourist Office, relatively quickly despite it being the tail end of the Bombay Rush Hour. We got a free map of the city and ogled a beautiful tanned female in tight leopard patterned pants that accentuated her feline sexuality. We wanted to book places on the Mumbai-Goa ferry boat and we found the M.T.D.C. Office on Madame Cama Road. After an impatient wait for the Ferry Ticket bloke to show up, we bought upper deck tickets for tomorrow at a cost of 75 Indian Rupees each.
Sightseeing was next on the agenda so we started with number 1 on the tourist attraction list, The Gate of India. The Gateway of India is an arch-monument built in the early twentieth century in the city of Mumbai, in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It was erected to commemorate the landing in December 1911 at Apollo Bunder, Mumbai (then Bombay) of King-Emperor George V and Queen-Empress Mary, the first British monarch to visit India. Wikipedia informs me that at the time of the royal visit, the gateway was not yet built, and a cardboard structure greeted the monarch. The foundation stone was laid in March 1913 for a monument built in the Indo-Saracenic style, incorporating elements of 16th-century Marathi architecture. The final design of the monument by architect George Wittet was sanctioned only in 1914, and construction was completed in 1924. The structure is a triumphal arch made of basalt, which is 26 metres (85 feet) high.
After its construction, the gateway was used as a symbolic ceremonial entrance to British India for important colonial personnel. It has been called a symbol of "conquest and colonisation" commemorating British colonial legacy. The gateway is also the monument from where the last British troops left India in 1948, following Indian independence. It is located on the waterfront at an angle, opposite the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower Hotel and overlooks the Arabian Sea.
As usual the sun was in the wrong place for a good photograph, but we managed a few snaps and passed on, via the Information Counter in the plus Taj Mahal Intercontinental Hotel, to the Post Office to get stamps for our postcards. We wrote them in a dive next door, posted them, and strolled along the Marine Drive to the Taraporewala Aquarium which is India's oldest aquarium and one of the city's main attractions. It hosts marine and freshwater fishes.
Marine Drive followed the curving coastline towards Chowpatty Beach and was a dead ringer for the Thessaloniki coast road. Entrance to the aquarium was 1 Indian Rupee and it was a bit of an anti-climax with plenty of mundane fish in uninspiring empty tanks and very few of the spectacular exhibits that we had been led to expect.
The canteen next door supplied us with a filling egg curry and rice for less than 5 Indian Rupees. We cut across to the east side of the peninsula on the bustling Sadar Patel Road. The road stank but was full of colour with fruit and vegetable traders as well as purveyors of every other knick-knack and gewgaw (a showy thing, especially one that is useless or worthless) that you could imagine. The stench of rotting fish heralded the start of dockland. We weaved through a procession of grubby lorries with George sneezing violently every few seconds. Eventually we found the Mogul Shipping Line Office amongst the squalor and ascertained the disembarkation and boarding point of the steamer bound for Goa.
We wearily trudged back along D’Mello Road which formed a stark contrast to the towering office blocks and colonial British buildings of the financial centre of the city. Children fought over half a chapati outside a crude shack constructed of tin and cloth, one of hundreds that lined the filthy road.
Workers with white “Thunderbird” hats sat around following their days work chatting. Thunderbirds is a British science-fiction television series created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson. It was produced between 1964 and 1966 using a form of electronic marionette puppetry, dubbed "Supermarionation", combined with scale-model special effects sequences. The hats looked like those worn by the Tracey family International Rescue operational team.
Men worked like mules pushing overloaded carts against the gradient, shouting and waving to us occasionally in a friendly manner. Obviously, normal tourists gave this area a wide berth. We found our way back to the Regal Cinema at 18:05hrs. where we had earlier booked to see “Octopussy”, the latest James Bond 007 film.
The adverts showing before the main feature were laughably unrealistic for India, portraying dwellings and amenities that would be luxurious even by top European standards. We laughed and squealed with outrage at the preposterous unbelievability of the Bond movie, but it was just the sort of escapism that we needed.
The Regal Cinema was clean and comfortable, and the audience was civilised, politely asking if we could see O.K., or if we could move to allow others a clear view of the screen. A good escape into fantasy land, especially as the film portrayed a romanticised picture of India. We walked quickly back after a tea at the cinema café and hit the sack. It was still hot and we lay restless for a while. Martin tossed and turned as George and I discussed childhood hobbies and entertainment including Airfix model kits, Action Men and Batman (The Adam West series). Airfix was founded in 1939 by Nicholas Kove, a refugee from Hungary who originally manufactured rubber inflated toys. The brand name was selected to be the first alphabetically in trade directories.
Since 1952, Airfix has been producing model kits for eager, nimble-fingered children to build and enjoy. Through the faithful reconstruction of countless planes and other vehicles (I even had a model of Henry VIII), Airfix model kits have been capturing imaginations for generations. “Action Man” is an action figure launched in Britain in 1966 by Palitoy as a licensed copy of Hasbro's American "movable fighting man", G.I. Joe. “Action Man” was originally produced and sold in the United Kingdom and Australia by Palitoy Ltd of Coalville, Leicestershire from 1966 until 1984. We used to play war games and make accessories for him such as rope ladders and bridges for the trees in our garden.
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