I finally made it to Elephanta. I'm not sure it was worth it, except to learn about India's heat, potential for friendliness and meeting a travel companion for the next few days. Elephanta has a few caves that once would have been spectacular but the Portuguese used the statues and carvings for target practice. You can read about Elephanta here. (Be warned this is a 5·9 MB download, even though the illustrations have been JPG-crunched.)
The real highlight was talking with the tourist guide, a local called Sameer. He's a bright young lad who wants to make it off the island by his own efforts and so is working as a guide, while studying, farming rice and keeping house with his sister, Sanskruti. I think he's doing bloody well - his dad was relatively rich from running a tourist boat to Elephanta until a new jetty, capable of taking larger boats, was built. Sam's dad's business faltered and so dad hit the bottle...
So if you're coming to Mumbai, then contact him and Sanskruti as follows: Sameer and Sanskruti Bhoir, At-post, Bombay, Elephanta Island, 400001, India.
Before I left, my dad warned me They could steal your ringpiece and you wouldn't know until you smelt the shit on the floor. So far I'd been dipped twice, losing in total Rs1000 (about £13). I could afford it but I was far from pleased, both with the perpetrators and with me for letting it happen. However, the main way Mumbai will pick your pocket is with its tongue - folk won't have change or will just ask for money. Eventually I learned to say no but I was looking forward to get out of the traffic noise and overcrowding. Then my hotel's manager tried to claim I hadn't paid for the next few nights. He'd given me receipts but wouldn't look at them. A lot of terse conversation followed before I gave up and marched up the stairs, in no mood to be ripped off.
© (except the blatantly ripped-off bits) Random Bozo 2006