Ok – i’m not really sure this is a fishing village at all. But it is crammed with boats in various states of disrepair, alongside others that look as if they could – and do – still take to the seas. A few unusual views from a small village not far from the heart of the throbbing big city, a short walk from the Gateway of India, perhaps Bombay’s most celebrated monument.
Airborne, somewhere between land and sea, somewhere between sky and earth.
As kids will be kids, what can be more fun than clowning around for a stranger’s camera? The kid on the left is posing as a football (soccer) player – one of the few young Indians for whom cricket is not the only sport to be seriously concerned about.
It may not seem much of a beach, but – hey – not all things in life are always as pristine as they might be. And the kids seem to have all kinds of fun just romping around.
In this “fishing village” boats of all sorts line the sides of the streets, not far from modern, concrete high-rise buildings. And it’s all just a stone’s throw from Bombay’s most celebrated monument.
The water may not be the cleanest around, but there’s nothing like the Bombay sun – and an abandoned vessel of some unusual shape – to dry off after a refreshing morning swim.
Unusal geometries from the series “only in Bombay, today”.
And, last but not least, what is the most fun thing to do among so many beached vessels? This being India, it would be a game of cricket, of course!
Here is how to get to this most unique of places. Start at the gateway of India – the large-ish triumphal arch right on the waterfront in the Colaba area of town, not far from the now infamous Taj Mahal hotel. Walk south for about ten to fifteen minutes. Then take a sharp left, and head through the narrow alleys to the waterfront. Instantly, magically, you are transported from the crazy traffic of one of the world’s largest and most congested cities to a small, homely village of tiny houses, many kids, plenty of boats and, well, what some of us like to consider a village-within-a-metropolis.
Hope you enjoyed.
Alessandro Ciapanna
ciapannaphoto 