However it was several hours after our landing in the city that we were able to reach our lodgings in Colaba, due to the typical afternoon traffic. The journey of just over twenty kilometres took over two hours, in both directions, but our taxi driver took it all in his stride.

The domes of the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower Hotel are a welcome sight for any weary traveller that can afford to stay there. Which didn’t include us.

The Gateway of India stands right opposite the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel. It was the site of the departure of the last British troops from India in 1948, the year after independence. 

Given the amount of personal belongings a lot the people had with them, I can only presume that at least some must have been waiting for ferries to Elephanta Island, or perhaps further afield. 

The Taj Mahal Palace Hotel was opened by an Indian of means, so the story goes, that was refused entry from a snooty British establishment, so built his own hotel to be even better. Just under a year after our visit the hotel was part of the 2008 terrorist attacks, in which thirty-one people were killed, with foreigners being singled out by the Pakistani perpetrators. There were several explosions and a fire destroyed the roof, during a siege that lasted three days.

The old Bombay name persists, not just in legacy company names but also informal reference amongst some locals, in much the same way Ho Chi Minh City is still referred to as Saigon by its residents.

Our lodgings for the two nights at Garden Hotel, which I was pleased to find was still in operation during my 2023 re-write. Basic but comfortable, we made use of the services of a nearby fancier hotel for a swim.

Colaba is fairly dense and with the high proliferation of cars, parking is a problem. Although drivers appear to laugh in the face of such threats as these.

No trip to Mumbai would be complete without some Bollywood magic, so we headed up to the art deco Metro Adlabs cinema to catch “Om Shanti Om”, on the recommendation of our hotel. As it was no longer the headliner, it wasn’t sold out, but ended up being the biggest movie of the year. Not knowing what to expect from our first taste of Bollywood, we were blown away by how entertaining it was, and particularly liked the pakora served in place of popcorn. We all had to stand for the national anthem before the picture, and there was even an interval, just like UK cinemas of yore. The film was so good (the music in particular) that I bought the DVD, and have since been on the lookout for more Shah Rukh Kahn classics.

On our way back to the airport, we cruised along the famous Marine Drive, with the new apartment towers appearing in the distance. I understand in the years since my visit that the skyline has boomed, rapid development to support the rapidly increasing population. The city is enormous, with over twenty million people it’s one of the ten largest in the world together with the likes of Tokyo, Shanghai and Cairo.

These street kids were pretty cheerful and larking around. Digital cameras were still fairly new at this point, they all demanded a photo, and to see it, of course.

At the domestic airport terminal while waiting for our flight to Goa, I saw this advert promising Indian migrant workers a better life in the construction industry in the Emirates. Burj Dubai was renamed Burj Khalifa in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, and by this stage in late 2007 it was well on its way to completion.