Faces of Mumbai

During my short business trip in Mumbai, I had the good luck of finding the time, in between meetings and monsoon showers, to stroll around South Mumbai's sights. People always make the best pictures. Here are a few I took on July 20.

A not too comfortable and rather dangerous spot to have a nap ... but this man does not seem to care ...


In the middle of the esplanade between the Gateway to India and the luxurious Taj Mahal Hotel, a middle-aged man was roasting peanuts ... a dark snapshot of this poor man's life ...


At the front desk of the Taj Mahal Hotel, another picture of India, the successful, growing Indian middle class, is represented by this charming hostess.


I was not too sure whether this man was a customer or a fixture of the Taj Mahal Hotel, but he certainly had an interesting face and a remarkable hat.


Five-star hotels such as the Taj Mahal and the Oberoi are symbols of the growing Indian economy, open to the world and to the modernizing influence of trade. This is why they were targeted in the murderous rampage conducted by a band of terrorists on November 26, 2008, which resulted in 166 deaths. In the lobby of the Taj Mahal, an impressive memorial had already been erected a few months later with the names of the 31 people murdered here inscribed on a stelle.

Scenes on Chowpatty Beach at dusk, a popular Mumbai attraction.