Day two in Mumbai, India

I went to bed last night with a “plan” of how my day would be today… This was it:

Wake up at 6, shower, get ready, take a taxi to Gateway of India, get on ferry to Elorra Caves, maybe walk around that part of town for a bit, take taxi back.

That did NOT happen.

Instead, my day was so much more fantastic, it almost brought me to tears thoughout the day and nearly brings me to tears to think about it as I prepare to write about it right now…and I’m not an emotional person.

This is what DID happen:

I woke up at 6, showered, got ready and went down to the front to ask the reception the best way to get to Gateway of India. The receptionist told me I could take the local train which would take me 1.5 hours, or I could take a taxi which would take me 1 hour. Considering I wanted to get on the 9am train and it was nearly 7am, I told him I would rather the taxi. He told me to walk to the main road and take a right and that there was a taxi stand there I could get a driver from.

I walked to the main road and saw a line of tuk-tuks.

Unsure if this was the correct kind of taxi he was referring me to, I began to ask the men standing with their tuk-tuks if they could take me to Gateway of India. You would think I had made the place up as nobody seemed to know what I was talking about. The tuk-tuk drivers flagged down a local who appeared to be my age to try to use him as a translator. The translator talked to the tuk-tuk drivers for a few minutes and it seemed to me that nobody in the tuk-tuk group wanted to work this morning. The man who they had flagged down then told me that the tuk-tuks would not take me the whole way because it was too far, but that I could either take a tuk-tuk half way and take a taxi the rest, or just take a taxi the whole way but it would be upwards of 700 Rupees one way. I told him I’d rather just take the taxi, so he advised me that if I keep walking in the same direction and I’d see the taxi stand.

I walked down the same street, around a bend, and back up to where I had been nearly five times before already and didn’t see anything that looked like a taxi stand, so I asked someone new. The gentleman who helped me the second time told me to walk back the way I had come from and that the stand was right on the bend on my right hand side. He said the taxi would either be black and yellow, or blue and yellow.

I began to walk back.

As I was getting to the bend, I saw two black and yellow taxi -ish looking vans and I met eyes with an older gentleman sitting in the back of one who just happened to look up from his newspaper as I looked over at him. We smiled at each other, so I said a prayer and walked in front of all the incoming cars in order to make my way across the busy street to him.

“Are you a taxi driver?” I asked him

“Yes, where would you like to go?” he replied

“I’m trying to go to Gateway of India, though I understand it’s pretty far away.” I responded

“It’s no problem. You are a guest in my India, I will take you where you want to go.” He assured me. “Have a seat”, he said patting the backseat of the car where he had been sitting, “I will take you there, and if you want, I will take you site seeing and bring you back too.”

“Well, how much will that cost?” I asked him.

“For you, 1500 Rupee”

Considering it’s an hour drive and that’s only 20 US dollars, I agreed, and got in.

As we took off onto the crazy road, my driver began to share with me that he had been in Mumbai for 42 years and that he had been driving taxi for over 20 of those years. Before driving taxi, he parked cars for hotels (Valet?). He told me about his small village 1500km north and about his wife, children and grandchildren.

His grasp of the English language was not 100%, but I understood 90% of what he was saying to me which is more than good enough.

I then told him I intended to take the ferry to see Elorra Caves when we arrived at Gateway of India.

He looked at me strange and said, “Elephanta caves? Elorra caves is a 7 hour drive in the other direction.”

Considering I don’t feel confident about anything I say here, I said “sure!”, and we continued on our way.

Something told me I was in good hands and that wherever we were headed would be amazing.

As our journey continued, the driver, who by then I found out’s name was Tiwari, began to ask me how I wanted to plan the day. I told him I wanted to go to Gateway of India, get on the ferry to the caves, check them out, and then I would maybe want to grab a bite and head back.

Tiwari told me the ferry alone was an hour in each direction, but that “no problem, I will wait for you at the car whenever you return”.

This seemed ludicrous to me.. Drive me an hour to a place where I will take an hour to get to my destination and then check it our for at least an hour before taking another hour long ferry back …. that would mean him waiting at his taxi for at LEAST 3 hours for me if not longer… so I invited him to join me and told him I’d pay his way.

Ohhhh my, GAME CHANGER!!!

Tiwari was so excited at my offer, and we made a light plan for the rest of the day as we drove toward Gateway of India.

In the hour it took us to get to our destination we talked a lot about everything under the sun while he simultaneously pointed out our surroundings.

Tiwari and I spent the entire day together!! We walked around Gateway of India, jumped on the ferry to Elephanta Caves, explored the hand carved caves which is said to be one of the enigmatic heritage sites in India, met some furry creatures that I fell absolutely in love with, and then we drove around town and had a delicious Indian lunch, stopped for some beers and whisky, and then he drove me back to my hostel.

I was a whirlwind of emotions when I got back to my room this afternoon.

I will see Tiwari again tomorrow morning at 5am as he will be taking me to the train station for my departure to Goa. I told him I’d call him again prior to my return on the 4th of September in Mumbai so that he could show me more of this city he loves.

I have so much to look forward to!

I also have two more beers and some whisky to enjoy before bed!!

Mumbai– You’ve been awesome!! See you again soon!