Vi tok en langhelg i Mumbai forleden. Anledningen var å være med i et bryllup til ei indiske jente vi kjenner fra Årdal. Det er ikke lange turen fra Doha, men med flybytte i Dubai og tett trafikk fra flyplassen i Mumbai til hotellet vårt, gikk mesteparten av dagen på reiseing. Det er tett trafikk i Mumbai, of de 15km fra flyplassen til hotellet vårt i Chembury tok halvannen time. Taxiene er små her - ikke takhøyde og den ene kollien vår måtte plasseres i forsete fordi det var så lite baggasjeplass!
Vi greide å oppdage at det er venstrekjøring, men øvrige traffikregler var ikke lett å regne ut. disse små tuk-tuk'er mangler ofte både kjørelys og bremselys.
Den ene dagen gikk til selve bryllupet - en lang dag av forsjellige seremonier og mat. Dette var en spennende dag med mange inntrykk. En annen dag tok vi en busstur som turister rundt Mumbai på en nedslitt buss og oss som eneste ikke-indere! Mumbai har ikke så mye å by på turistmessig.
Vi var forsiktig med maten og begge unngikk mavetrøbbel. Da vi kom hjem til Doha hadde det regnet og det var vann overalt - her finns ikke drenering!
Klikk på bildene for å se i full størrelse.
View from our tuk-tuk.
This rather run down looking bus was our sightseeing coach round Mumbai for a whole day. The trip cost 4 US$ and we were the only non-Indians on board!
Denne nedslitte bussen tok us på sightseeing tur i Mumbai - hele dagen for $4.
Family photo of the bridal couple and groom's family.
Brudeparet med familie.
The bride sits on her father's lap and receives two bananas.
Bruden sitter på fanget til faren sin og mottar to bananer.
The bride's hands are intricately painted with henna - a 6 hour process!
Hendene til bruden er malt med henna - en 6 timer lang prosess.
The bride - Abhi - looking radiant.
Bruden - Abhi - ser strålende ut.
Some of the priests at the site of some of the ceremonies.
Prestene eller hva de nå heter ved seremoniplassen.
Her synges det for brudeparet som sitter i en stor gyngestol.
Singing to the bride and groom, who is sitting in a rocking chair.
Norske damer på Indisk bryllup; Benedikte, Rønnaug og Siri (som ligner på Aqva Lena)
Norwegian Ladies attending an Indian wedding; Benedikte, Rønnaug and Siri.
In a park in Mumbai with sculptured bushes - here Nigel takes the bull by the horns.
En park i Mumbai med buskevekster formet som dyr - her tar Nigel oksen ved hornene.
Høflige og blide indiske skolejenter.
Polite and friendly Indian schoolgirls.
Bad flooding in Doha after it rained - there is no drainage system here!
Vi kom hjem til oversvømmelser etter regnvær i Doha.
E.M. Forster's novel was the backdrop (Nigel started reading it a couple of weeks ago) for a long weekend visiting Mumbai in India to attend the wedding of an ex colleague from Hydro in Årdal. The distance from Doha isn't that great - a one hour flight to Dubai, then two and a half hours from there to Mumbai. Still, it tkes all day, particularly as the short (15km) taxi ride from the airport to our hotel goes as a snail's pace. Although the taxi was quite cheap (10 US$), it was a bit of a culture shock! The taxis are tiny - one of our two suitcases finding room in the minute boot, the other having to sit on the front passengers seat. There are no seat belts in the back seat. and the head room seems designed for very short people. The traffic is just one continuous jam with little black and yellow tuk-tuks (in India they are called auto-rickshaws) fighting for space with trucks, buses and some private cars. We determined that the general rule is driving on the left, but any other traffic rules seem to honoured more in the breach than the observance.
The wedding ceremony was held in a suburb - Chembury, which has little to recommend it. It was only part of the entire wedding - which seems a fairly protracted affair in India. This was the groom's traditional part, the brides being completed a few days later in her home town. It is a whole day of different ceremonies involving chanting, fire, food and garlands - a thoroughly interesting day.
We were very careful with what we ate and both escaped any upset stomachs. The hotel restaurant was OK and served some good curry and Indian beer.
Returning home to Doha, we found that there had been some rain and the place looked like Cockermouth Main Street (recently badly flooded in England).
