Our first day in Mumbai turned out to be a multi-faith pilgrimage that we hadn’t really planned on – at least not in a detailed way.  We started with the Hare Krishna Hare Rama temple.  It’s a pretty amazing complex.  The temple itself is impressive, but a small part of a 22 acre campus that has several 6 or 8 story buildings housing a school, several auditoriums, a restaurant, bakery and a lot of other stuff that we didn’t really see.  I have to admit there was a lot here I didn’t understand, but there were people venerating the images of Krishna and other gods and prostrating themselves on the floor in prayer – all very moving.  Couldn’t take pictures inside, so all I have are a couple of shots of the exterior – and one of another little temple across the street that didn’t seem to be connected.

From there we took a quick rickshaw ride to Juhu Beach and walked about a quarter of a mile up the beach – it’s a nice sandy beach on the Arabian Sea.

From there we took a taxi down the coast to Haji Ali Dargah – the tomb of a Muslim saint.  It’s about 500 yards off the shore with a causeway out to it.  Hundreds of pilgrims making their way there and venerating the saint.  Another very holy place.  Very moving.

After that we headed home and kicked back for a while before heading to Ravi’s friend Chandan’s apartment for dinner with a group of his and Ravi’s friends.  His building is just above Mount Mary Church, so we checked that out on our way.  It was decorated to a fair-thee-well for Christmas.  Outside and across the street from the church is this big shrine to Mary with yet more decorations.  I think my favorite is the juxtaposition of the crucifix, two Santas (one with a saxaphone), a Christmas Tree and Mary up on the top watching over it all.

So, while we didn’t really plan it that way, we managed to visit the three major faiths of India on our first day: Hindu, Muslim and Christian. An auspicious beginning for our pilgrimage.