The small furry one had decided that he would be organising the day, our main hope being that it wouldn’t involve a hunt for pistachio’s, bearing in mind we haven’t found a single one since arriving in India.
Woolly says – Now that is a good idea, although having covered quite a bit of the country and not finding a single one it might take longer than a day! My plan however was slightly different, having arranged our transport and arrived at the starting location, I gave myself a pat on the back as we saw the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya Museum and its amazing building for the first time. Having done the usual bag and body checks as well as managing to get Zoe in as a student, thereby saving us quite a lot of rupees I felt that I was doing rather well. Known as the CSMVS (and given the real name which is a huge mouthful a good idea to use the initials instead) the museum was formerly named the Prince of Wales Museum of Western India, founded to commemorate the visit of Edward VIII, who was Prince of Wales at the time. Originally established in 1855 the building is constructed in the Indo-Saracenic style of architecture, incorporating elements of other styles of architecture like the Mughal, Maratha and Jain. It looked brilliant with it’s domes and arched windows, a shame that the front of it was covered in tables and a stage for Australia day but you can’t have everything in this world. The large Buddha head that lay in the garden wasn’t quite as good with lights growing out of it but undeterred we took photographs anyway and headed inside.
I could have happily sat for quite a while admiring the fine building, but we appeared to have a schedule so having paused for as long as possible I followed the small one inside. The entrance hall sat under the largest of the doomsf and had a lovely wooden balcony as well as several interesting sculptures to look at.
Woolly says – The first room I entered had a large collection of Hindu Gods from around India, some of the best examples we have seen, dating back to the third century the detailing on many was exquisite. The room next door gave us a variety of items from different parts of the country including a beautiful woven cloth and some wonderful jewellery. I was really getting into my stride as we arrived in an area that was dedicated to metal Hindu Gods, the workmanship was incredible and given how small some of them were, the skills of the craftsmen must have been really tested. As we arrived on the first floor I was delighted to find a room all about Nepal, our next country, with artwork, cloths and delicate artwork as well as flags decorating a large shrine in the middle of the room it was wonderful and full of useful information.
The place seemed to be never ending, as we arrived in a dimly light area of paintings and models from a private collection before moving onto a whole exhibition about the ancient cultures from around the world.
Woolly says – Passing Egyptian paintings and terracotta bowls from 3500 BC I could hardly believe my tusks to find a bust of my hero, Hadrian, he looked very fine and having admired him for a while I realised that the women had vanished. I trotted into the next room to find artefacts from religions around the world, one display made me chuckle as a crucifix with Jesus on had been found in Goa in the fifteen hundreds whilst next to it was a Buddha that had been found in Scotland at the same sort of time, it really doesn’t where you are, your religion goes with you. Failing to spot the females I trotted across the central area and into a place which told the history of Indian artwork, fascinating pictures drawn on everything from papyrus to ivory, just as I thought I might have to alert security to the loss of the group I spied Jo admiring some turbans. Racing over before she could get lost again, she didn’t seem upset that she hadn’t found me for some reason, and instead told me about the turbans she had just seen, apparently the different styles of turbans had come from different regions with each area has its own unique ones, which I hadn’t known. With one female still to find I kept a close watch on the one I had found as we found ourselves in an area of musical instruments and incredible clothes, richly coloured and vibrant like India itself. By now my concern was growing for Zoe, had she been kidnapped? Fallen onto the floor below? Been captured by aliens? I told Jo that is was time to panic, she chose to ignore me….as usual.
Bless him he did seem really worried, but I had already spotted her on the floor above us.
Woolly says – I panted up the stairs and thought I caught a glimpse of our blonde one as she disappeared found a corner and into a whole room devoted to snuff bottles and ceramics from India and China, I paused to look at the lovely little bottles before seeing her in the distance, racing forward I ran straight into a glass cabinet which came as a surprize, the security man gave me one of those looks as did Jo, just as Zoe disappeared once more. Galloping into a rectangular gallery of paintings I skidded to a halt and nearly knocked her over in my eagerness to make sure she was alright. Having raised her eyebrows and told me that she was perfectly fine, I really wonder why I worry so much about everyone when they don’t seem to bother at all!
By now we were all get weary and having admired some traditional clothing, a huge collection of swords as well as some modern artwork, I thought it a good time to have a break and sit down for a while.
Woolly says – Well of course that had been on my plan! Sitting in the garden area admiring the wonderful structure of the museum, I outlined the next part of the day, with heads nodding and reassurances that no one would wander off and put me into a panic we set off to discover more of the architectural delights the city had to offer. The small claims court was first and just as Jo had managed to take one snap a solider with a gun arrived at our sides and told us off, I looked at his size, checked out his rifle and pushed the girls forward whilst muttering apologies. We continued to stroll along the leafy road passing a huge area known as the Oval Maiden which is famous for cricket players, we paused for a while watching a game in progress with Zoe (a former player of the game) giving us a commentary on what was happening, I could feel my eyes glazing over as Jo prodded me and asked which way we were heading next. That was easy to answer, and I merely pointed over the road. At 85 metres high (280 ft) the Rajabai Clock Tower is quite am impressive sight, modelled on Big Ben in London the foundation stone was laid on 1st March 1869 and construction was completed in November 1878. Failing to find a way in, we had to content ourselves with taking pictures over the railings of it’s splendid spiral staircases and beautifully decorated windows. A few paw steps away was the huge High Court of Bombay, busy with bustling lawyers and judges in robes and wigs we happily snapped what we could of the 1878 building, which had been granted a Royal protocol by Queen Victoria, it was wonderful, just a shame we couldn’t go inside although doing that might mean a trip to the cells which I wouldn’t be so keen on. We wandered on taking pictures of the fine buildings that appeared everywhere, what a city it was for buildings, even knowing that parts of the city were slum areas and that the finery that was here was only used by a small proportion of the population I couldn’t be help but admire it.
Although our small tour guide seemed eager to keep going we needed a break and having found a shady café we sat watching the world pass by us for a while as we refreshed ourselves.
Woolly says – Two lemon soda’s later and it seemed that the party was ready to carry on, with only the need to cross the street we were at our next destination. St. Thomas Cathedral with its lovely tower is a 300 year old church which was recently refurbished. As we wandered in the interior was cool and peaceful with a large array of commemorative plagues lining the walls, Zoe sat soaking up the atmosphere while Jo and I read the many many stones, after a while I whispered to her and she nodded her head, we had both noticed that no one that had there name there was over fifty, I suppose given the war that was to be expected, but it was a sad reflection that no one had worshipped there into their dotage. Leaving the cathedral behind we walked through the small gardens next door taking our final shots of the day. It had been most enjoyable, and I felt rather proud that for the first time in India we hadn’t relied on transport but just our own paws for a change.