City of strugglers

A cold journey on train before Mumbai was the least I needed. Our train was stopping about 20 km from were I wanted to stay, and yes, it was stopping in the city. A huge city. As I learn later on, a city of strugglers. People not only struggle to survive everyday in the city, the slums, their works, their love lives, they first have to struggle to get in. I had to struggle to get in.

I was trying to know what to do with two Italian girls I had met in the train. Well, women. Whether to try get another train or get a taxi. Tommy came in our rescue. He not only saved us from not knowing what to do, but he saved me from having to search endlessly through the busy streets of Mumbai south in search of a cheap room.

He first sorted out a taxi for a very good price for the four of us. Then we shared a room at Sea Shore Hotel where he had been 2 years before. Thanks to that, we had what we thought, a discount.

Sea Shore Hotel was at the fourth storey of a building in Colaba, in south Mumbai. Most tourists stay in this area. The storey underneath was another guest house where the hero of the book Shantaram stayed at when he got to Mumbai for the first time. I haven't read the book yet, but for what I heard, he also had to struggle in the Indian version of the US. People come here to see their dreams come true.