Republic Day – in Mumbai
Monday was Republic Day here in India and it was a national holiday.
I had to be here early on Tuesday for a meeting, so I came a day early to see Mumbai all dressed up in the colours of the Indian flag.
Everywhere you could see that people are proud of the day with flags visible in and on building, cars and even motorcycles.
It was clear that India was not going to be caught off guard in terms of terror attacks and the security at the airport, hotels and all over the city was very visible.
In terms of thwarting the terrorists – I made my own tiny contribution by revisiting the sites that were attacked. I visited the Taj Mahal hotel and the train station.
Since it was a public holiday the train station was unusually quiet.
The Taj Mahal hotel attracted crowds of local people walking past the hotel to view the scene of the nightmare exactly two months ago. Inside it was business as usual, but the older part of the hotel is completely sealed of for repairs. From the outside you can see a few signs of the carnage that were inflicted. (See the missing window in picture on the right).
There is also a book at the back of the lobby filled with condolences from visitors, victims and family members and in the picture on the right you can see a glimpse of the crowds taking a look at the Taj.
As is usually the case you see a few things on the streets in Mumbai that you won’t find in South Africa:
Take the challenge and try to identify all the forbidden vehicles on the sign!
Pir Milenge
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Pieter
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Pieter
Theo Scheffler