Picto Diary - 15, 16 January 2017 - Mumbai Rest

Above: Floral arrangement. Lobby. Taj Mahal Hotel. Mumbai. 15 January 2017.

Incredible attention to detail, and evidence of significant labor input, as in this floral piece, pervades the "upper end" of the India art and architectural spectrum.

Above: Mumbai City Museum. Mumbai. 15 January 2017.

Mumbai. Pre 1600. 7 swampy islands inhabited by Koli fishing people... a matriarchal culture which still supplies Mumbai with fish, including "Bombay Duck."

1600. Portuguese trading center.

1650. Over to the Brits as part of dowry of Portuguese princess betrothed to English prince.

1660. Leased by Brits to East India Company for British trading concession.

18th/19th Century. Reclaimed land. Queen Victoria and the thrust of Empire. Architectural boom. Fusion of classical architecture and Indian accent.

Today. "World capital. 20MM population.

India rises.

Above: Image in Taj Hotel vitrine.

Ratan Tata greets Barack Obama at his flagship Taj hotel Mumbai in 2015. 15 January 2017.

This Taj was built in 1906 by Ratan' s grandad following a sleight... Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata was, as an Indian, denied admittance to a pukka Brit hotel in Bombay.

Today, the scion, Ratan, who until recently headed the company which among many others, owns Land Rover and Jaguar, and the Taj hotel chain, now receives US presidents as guests.

He who laughs last, laughs best. Put another way, "the worm turns."

India rises

Above: Sunrise shots: Gateway of India. Mumbai. 16 January 2017.

Sleep times still not in synch. Up, wide awake at 4:00 AM.

1. School kids at India Gate.

2. Taj Hotel this AM. But, in 2008: Imagine smoke ascending from the right tower. Hotel attacked by Islamic terrorists.

3. India Gate. Sunrise.

4. Buffing up my size 14's. In India most have to work to make ends meet. No millennial snowflakes here. India rising.

Bye bye Mumbai (for now).

Remainder of day in transit to Aurangabad. One hour, east, by air.

Addendum:

Great images tell wonderful stories. So glad you overcame your resistance to photography. You are getting very adept at it, but I missed the photo of the fisherman tossing the baskets of fish up from the boat to the quay.
Isetta. Chicago, IL

Sasson Dock closed to photos. Fish toss will have to remain a mental image.