MUMBAI PAUSED: Indian Touristers

Showing posts with label Indian Touristers. Show all posts

Mumbai Paused Hashtag: Indian Tourister

Because it's fascinating to see why we travel, how we travel, where we travel to and more. Because of the pandemic, travel has come to a stop and this summer school holidays are a non-starter. On the other hand, we saw thousands of people who did not wish to be trapped in thankless cities escaping the cities by whatever means possible. A journey they did not want. A city that we thought they considered as a home was just a destination for them, to earn a living.

SV Road

Chaith Bhoomi

Dalit Blue: Pilgrims at Chaith Bhoomi

Juhu Beach

Gateway of India - fried snacks for sea gulls

Indian Tourister

Tourists feed a fried snack to a sea gull off Gateway of India. They are not just unhealthy for the sea gulls, it can be dangerous for their lives as they fly off to their other home, migrating.

Photo by Kartik, my 11 year old son who hijacked my camera on our summer holiday outing to town.

Govandi

Indian Tourister. Why do we travel?

Hussein is a surprisingly shy man when he finally reveals himself. He was not in the forefront when a crowd gathered around his colourful autorickshaw at a stand outside Govandi station. Unlike other autos, his auto didn't have the name of Mumbai localities written behind the auto, but Khwaja Ka Hindustan inspired by the popular title of the holy man of Ajmer.

Hussein

Huseein brought his auto to this stand with great fanfare on August 15th, according to his friend who works from the same stand. That explains the tricolour on his auto. Since then, he has taken a permit to drive out of Mumbai and Maharashtra and went all the way to Ajmer in Rajasthan on a pilgrimage.

That explains the Mumbai to Ajmer and other Ajmer linked messages on his auto.

Besides Ajmer he has been on a pilgrimage to the Urs in Gulbarga that was held recently. If you look at the auto, you will hardly find any wear or tear from those two cross country journeys. It was after I had spent some time here that I finally noticed Hussein, the owner of this colourful auto.