A touch of the colonial past

Today was the day to nurture my cultural side:-) No! Watching Bollywood films, listening to "Driving home for Christmas" or reading "The Skinner" is just not enough! India is blooming with historical and cultural sights - just waiting for me, and my city Mumbai is no exception.   

If you want to get a feeling of the British Colonial India - South Mumbai is the place to go! Monumental buildings all around and in one of the largest we ended up today - at the formerly named Prince of Wales Museum of Western India, now named Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalay. It was the coming King George V (at that time Prince of Wales) who laid down the foundation stone of the museum in 1905.

The museum is surrrounded by a lovely large park with green grass, palm trees and flowers.

In company with Indian school kids and American cruise-tourists we explored all the exibitions on all the floors - Indian in the permanent ones and Egyptian art in the temporary one. Well done to us! Some impressed more than others, I have to admit. My hightlights from the visit are:

One happy dude!

1. The statue of the God for amusement and joy in life. Funny guy!
2. In the coin room (Yawn, Pia:-) ) - Indo-Greek section on Alexander the Great. Yeah!  
3. The Golden Buddist statues - gorgeous.
4. All the school children who were smiling, greeting and waiving and then when one started to shake hands with my dear friend Pia, they all wanted to shake hands!

Indo Greek on Alexander the Great

So, my cultural needs are fed  -  for now that is...:-)

You can find more info on the museum here