There is a problem. We cannot transfer photos from D's camera to the tablet in order to illustrate this blog. It appears that the little bit of wire with the special plugs on the end that connects the card reader to the tablet has a malfunction. This has to be sorted.
After breakfast D sets out to look for a replacement. It's still a bit early but some of the electronics/photography shops near CST are starting to open. At a couple they consider the issue before shaking their heads, at one two chaps have a very lengthy discussion before deciding they cannot help. At another spot the chap says "Please wait" and recovers a box from the back. This contains all sorts of weird and wonderful cables but not the one that we need. He is very apologetic.
D is nearly back at the hotel when he spots a couple of stationery stores that seem to have computer accessories. The first two are a blank but at the third the chap says "Please have a seat". He makes a couple of phone calls and then dispatches an elderly minion on an errand. Within a few minutes the minion returns with exactly the right piece of kit. On Amazon UK the original cost over a fiver. Here 150 rupees. It doesn't quite solve the original problem but it does give a workable fix and we can once again be fully illustrated.
The main event today is lunch in Bandra with B, another IndiaMiker who is visiting Mumbai from Delhi. We have plenty of time to get to the station so we take in the Bombay Store, a top dollar emporium catering for gullible tourists. R has to be surgically removed from the display of earrings but is permitted to purchase a couple of stencils. Watch out for greetings cards bearing elephants. D also remembers to get a top up of data for his phone. A shop over the road has a big Airtel banner over the door. The entrance turns out to be a stairway up to some offices and the shop is a cupboard fastened to the outside wall of the building tended by two young men seated on plastic chairs on the pavement. The transaction takes less than a minute and D is now the proud owner of 2 Gigabytes of data.
R wants to visit St Thomas Cathedral, which sits a little incongruously amongst the commerce of the Fort district. It is well maintained and has a few people in praying and reading the bible. The place is full of memorials to Brits who met untimely deaths serving the East India Company or the Army in India. We also pass a couple of Parsi temples but these have notices forbidding entry to non-Parsis.
Trains run to Bandra from both CST and Churchgate but the m-Indicator app warns us of a service suspension between CST abd Bandra so we walk across the Maidan to Churchgate. As we do we see lots of the legendary dabbawallas riding bikes and pushing carts laden with lunchboxes of all types. These are picked up from homes and delivered to offices all over the city. We still have plenty of time so we go to the Tea Centre for a cuppa. Our order is taken but 25 minutes later nothing has happened so we have to cancel and go for our train. The Tea Centre must be some sort of Government establishment.
The station forecourt at Bandra is covered in tarpaulins and worshippers who have overflowed from the nearby mosque for Friday prayers. There is a roped off passage to allow infidels to get to and from the station. We have only been there a couple of minutes when B arrives and we squeeze into an auto to head for lunch. The venue is Hakkasan, a very smart Cantonese place on the second floor of an office building.
It is an incredibly smart place and we appear to be the only diners, greatly outnumbered by the staff. We are so busy chatting that we keep having to ask for more time to order. When it comes the food is superb, even the lotus roots that we have to try out of curiosity. Nobody hurries us and it is about 4 p.m. before we leave, moving on for a coffee and then a Friday evening beer.
B is a little concerned about our plan to take a train back to the city but we persist, even when the taxi driver joins in on his side. Bandra station is busy and R learns not to stand too near the platform edge when she is clattered by somebody hanging out of the door of a moving train. We get seats on a fast train to Churchgate and have a hassle free trip. As we walk back to the hotel the music is thumping out from the Kala Ghoda live stage, too loud for old folks like us.
We don't feel too energetic tonight so it's a couple of cold beers from the offy and a bag of Bombay mix while we catch up on the emails.
Ohhhhh glad you all had a good day! X
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