Now this is me in front of the Gateway of India. As you see in my shadow, it was 1:31 pm in June 9th. It was amazing, and impressive.

Frontier trivia the day:

India’s location is in Southern Asia, bordering the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal, between Burma and Pakistan.

Another shot of the towering landmark which is always busy with people hanging around and of tourists. In the foreground was the driver.

Frontier trivia the day:

despite impressive gains in economic and investments and output, India faces pressing problems such as significant over population, environmental degradation, extensive poverty, and ethnic and religious strife.

Finally we were in the Gateway of India. I was so glad to be there for the first time.

This 25 meter high stone archway is the landmark of Mumbai. It was designed by George Wittet in the 16th century Gujarat style and was built to commemorate the visit in 1911 of of King George V and Queen Mary to India. The foundations were laid on March 31, 1913 and between 1915 and 1919, the land on which the Gateway was to be built was reclaimed from the sea. The Gateway was formally opened by the then Viceroy, the Earl of Reading, on December 4, 1924. The design of the Gateway is in the style of the 16th century Gujarati architecture. The main structures is in yellow basalt stone, whereas the domes and galleries are of reinforced concrete.

Frontier trivia the day:

by the 19th century, Britain had assumed political control of virtually all Indian lands.

One thing I like about India is the music. Though I don’t understand the lyrics of its local songs, the sound is universal, and I like their style, their rhythm. Hubby used to play the TV for their music every morning to awake him when he is alone, not when I was there, I love sleep, silence please.

Frontier trivia the day:

literacy in India is 79.9%.

Namashtè. Now meet Paul the driver. He was a good driver, and patient too, for a tourist like me. He was ‘educating’ me about what he knew of India and the landmarks that were seeing. I appreciated it. there is nothing better than learning it from the local people. Of course we communicated by English language.

Frontier trivia the day:

the average life expectancy of Indian people is 68.28 years. Males expected at 66.28 and 71.17 years of age for females.

Now this is Mumbai the beautiful and nice from the distance. Just one pack of the emerging establishments.

Frontier trivia the day:

India’s nuclear weapons testing in 1998 caused Pakistan to conduct its own tests that same year.

A scene in one of our tour stops in Mumbai. Actually we would see it almost everywhere where it is allowed or accessible. Just some people enjoying their peace behind the busy Mumbai.

Frontier trivia the day:

it is projected that by 2010, India’s population would be 1,175 millions for all ages.

Where do you think we were going? Right. We were heading to the Gateway of India in Mumbai. Another driver was taking me there, through the courtesy of hubby’s colleague, a very nice Indian man. I was about to finally see the landmark myself after all the reading and seeing it just in the papers and literatures. I was excited then. And why not? It was one of my wishes in life.

Frontier trivia the day:

in 2001, there are about 16.2% of the population in scheduled Castes. Scheduled tribe is 8.2%.