At very short notice, we had the opportunity to spend a few days in Mumbai as a warm up for our Safari to the Tiger reserves later in March of this year. Adam had been down in Hyderabad since the start of the year and we thought this was a good opportunity to explore Mumbai as a prelude to one of our photographic city-break tours. Mumbai is a wonderful city which has as many contrasts, colours, foods and vibrance as any you could name. As you would expect, it has its beggars:
What impressed us most was the Dhobi Ghat or Washers' Area, the City's largest laundry. This is where almost all of the clothes in Mumbai get washed, ironed and repaired. It is a photographers' dream with colour, movement and children who get to wash themselves at the laundry! The workers here are very proud of their profession and while the rewards appear low to us (2 rupees to iron a shirt) it is a proper job for all of them. We always like to see people who are very good at what they do and give 100%.
The clothes are washed in a concrete cubicle. This is a small area where a man (and it seems to be a man's job) spends his time washing (read beating) the clothes against a patthar or concrete block. It is very hard work and the guys become very fit!
There are many fantastic people around, most of whom seemed very happy to have their portraits taken.
And the children are so beautiful. Seeing these children playing delightfully as their parents washed their hair in the open-air laundry lifted any thoughts of our financial depression. While we spent over an hour there, we could easily have spent a day. Next time ....
All these photographs were taken with a Canon G10. This is an excellent "compact" camera with has the advantage of taking RAW images. Really excellent. The only disadvantage is that it cannot burst, ie take a sequence of shots. So for both of us used to rattling off 5+ images at a time to get the 'perfect' portrait, this takes one shot at a time. Julie's 5D SLR battery had died so we were stuck with the G10.
Food ... simply amazing. We would recommend Trishna for fish, Kebab and Curries for Northern Indian food, Konkan Cafe for a lunch on Banana leaves and Leopold Cafe for breakfast. Not the cheapest meals Mumbai has to offer, but exceptionally good value by London standards and no Mumbai Belly!
Thank you Mumbai!
Julie and Adam
Mumbai - 3 February 2009
