Sunday 20th - Worli Promenade

After I'd been back at the hotel a little while I decided that there was little point me just sitting in my room, especially as it was likely to be my last Sunday at that hotel. The concierge had told me earlier that the new bridge (the Worli - Bandra Sealink) was worth seeing, and that the Worli Promenade was a good place to see the sunset. He'd also shown me on the fairly rough local map where it was in relation to the hotel, but advised me to take a taxi.

Perhaps foolishly, I decided to walk. As a result, I got somewhat lost getting there, and took much longer than I should have done. (Note - I took a taxi back at the end and it cost notably less than £1. Sometimes it pays to listen.) On the positive side, I was able to get some orientation of myself with relation to the hotel and began to realise that walking to work was doable.

Anyway, I only needed to ask directions once to get where I wanted, albeit that I probably approached it from totally the wrong end. The bridge itself is clearly a wonder of engineering, although (at least from the Worli end) isn't the most photogenic, having something of a dogleg in the middle. I understand (from a chat with a local who said he was a policeman) that the plan is to extend the bridge so that it goes down to the city heart in South Mumbai. The promenade itself, however, is quite attractive and is very busy with couples and families walking along it, along with quite a number of traders.

There is a proper coastline, rock not sand, and without many people going on it as they tend to stay on the promenade. The crows remain ubiquitous, and are happy to sit eating in the middle of the promenade, largely unconcerned by the people and more bothered by other crows muscling in on their patch. The people, similarly, are far from concerned about the birds and just get on with their lives.

One thing that is noticeable is that, in India as in the UK, it tends to be the women who get dressed up when they go out, whilst the men tend to wear what they feel most comfortable in.

As is the way with more tropical climes, the sunset itself happened really quite quickly, to the extent that you feel that you can actually see it dropping below the horizon. It was, however, quite a pretty one with plenty of orange in the sky.

I wasn't feeling confident enough about taking photos of people who could tell, so I mostly took longer lens shots. Then, at the end, a girl came up and asked if I would take her photo. I did, and showed it to her (thank you, digital). She then dragged her little sister over and, with her mother's blessing and, indeed, encouragement, I took a couple of photos of her. One of these is the main picture of the Flickr set for the day (see the link).