MUMBAI CITY

After our quick lunch we found our tour minibus and met our guide, Freni. She ably talked us round Mumbai, as the driver negotiated the hectically busy traffic, with which we were becoming familiar. She is seen here leading us round one of our later stops. Mumbai is now India's largest city with a population approaching 18m.

First stop was at the architectural gem of Mumbai, the Central Railway Station (previously the Victoria Terminus). When it was built in 1887 it was by far the largest railway station in the world - a fitting monument to the Raj at the height of its powers. It has on its main gateway a British lion and a recumbent Indian tiger.

Opposite the Station is the Municipal Corporation Building. The British Raj treated India as if it were home and scattered around Classical, Gothic and Georgian style buildings. As one of our lecturers, Sir Roy Strong, remarked, 'it was like Bath in Bombay'. Mumbai was the old Indian name for the City. The Portuguese named it Bom Bahia and the British converted that to Bombay. Now a cosmopolitan city, the Municipal Corporation provides primary and secondary education in at least 10 languages.

As we travelled on Freni told us of the development of Mumbai from seven separate islands, which had been joined together by causeways and the areas between drained. Before that, the British East India Company had set up a base on the small southernmost island, Colaba, in 1668 after it had been acquired by the British crown as part of the dowry when the Portuguese princess, Catherine of Braganza, married King Charles II. The development had occurred very slowly after that until it gathered pace in the 19th C and particularly after the opening of the Suez Canal. Whilst it is no more than 3 miles across, it stretches 14 miles from North to South.

We then travelled North through a prosperous part of Mumbai, along the long, gracefully curving Marine Drive set by the side of the beautiful bay, and on to a traditional Indian dhobi laundry, which is apparently still widely used. As can be seen, it covers a vast area for washing and drying. An ironing service is also provided.

We went then to the Gandhi Museum set in the house originally owned by wealthy supporters of Gandhi and where he stayed in Mumbai over many years - in between periods in prison due to his campaign of peaceful resistance against the British Raj.

The Museum is also used as a university building for the study of sociology. There is an extensive library based around Guandi's many books. There are displays from Guandi's life and a series of intricately, hand made miniature tableaux of important events. Here is shown the demonstration against the imposition of a salt tax.

We ended our tour with a drive back through the busy city, just stopping for a short walk round the hanging gardens - so named only because they are set up high. Then back to Minerva in time for departure and another day at sea before reaching Mangalore.

Robert Cole