Banganga Tank and the Malabar Hill Neighborhood of Mumbai India

The city of Mumbai India is absolutely massive.  As Lindsay and I attempted to explore this concrete jungle we were forced to focus on a few districts and neighborhoods because of the cities sheer size.  With the help of our Lonely Planet guidebook we decided to explore the upscale neighborhood of Malabar Hill.  This area of the city sits atop a hill overlooking the ocean and has some of the nicest, and most desired, homes/apartments in the whole city.  However, like most places in Mumbai this area had numerous older, and less affluent, neighborhoods mixed-in and surrounding it.  We started by catching a cab from our hotel in the Colaba area and took the short, but extremely fun, taxi ride through central Mumbai to Malabar Hill.  Our destination was an area we had read about called Banganga Tank.  This ancient water tank is used for bathing, worshiping, washing and playing by the locals and is surrounded by the Walkeshwar Temple complex (a beautiful collection of temples and colorful buildings).  The word “tank” is a bit deceiving as it looks more like a huge communal swimming pool surrounded on all sides by large stone steps that lead into the water.  It was morning when Lindsay and I first arrived at the tank and it was fascinating to watch all of the locals come/go through the tank and surrounding temples.  The bells from the local temple began to ring and it was a total “travelers high” to be observing all of this.  The tank was not terribly busy but there were a few locals bathing/washing cloths and numerous kids playing in the water.  Lindsay and I just sat on the steps of the tank and admired the extremely unique scene all around us.  The local kids were of course very amused by us and were constantly coming up to talk with us.  The area was very peaceful especially considering the surrounding madness that is the city of Mumbai.  After hanging out at the tank for an hour or so we proceeded to simply walk around the Malabar Hill area which huge tree lined streets offered some much needed protection from the intense summer sun.  Eventually we made our way to a park which contained the “hanging gardens” and simply strolled through the beautiful surroundings.  By mid-day we made our way back to the craziness of central Mumbai which made us appreciate the beautiful, and relatively calm, area of Malabar Hill and Banganga Tank.