The Durant news. (Durant, Miss.) 1882-1985, 1950-06-01
THROUGH
. HAZEL
EYES
by Hozel Brannon Smith
Bombay, India
Delayed


bay which was none too long To
permit the curious traveller 10 ex-
piore the many unusual and ex-
citing points of interest IN and
about this city teeming with
over million and half people
From the time of arrival until
sailing every moment seemed 10
hold something strange, exotic,
and different. As the ship ap-
preached the pier and SLOWLY
made her way through the locks
into the narrow canal which leads
into the Alexandria Basin, the
passengers were entertained by a
troop of tiny children whose gym
nostic and tumbling fea,s earned
them numerous coins. The child
rem were dressed in rags and
looked as though they had never
had a bath, yet they capture our
hearts with their brilliant smiles.
shining eyes and flashing white
teeth.
AS the ship was tying up to
her berth several Indian snake
charmers caught the attention of
the group. A young Indian boy
acted as their interpreter and
managed to wangle sufficient
Rupees from our group to induce
these mystic gentlemen 10 open
up their bag of tricks. No, we did
MT see the famed Indian rope
trick" but we did enjoy the bat
tie between the mongocs and the
cobra. The mongoos, a small AMI
NAL which looks like large rat,
Is very fast and had little trouble
etching and Staying the veno-
nous snake.
For our first trip into tow n we
chose to ride in horse drawn
carriage rather than taxi think
ang that this method of trans
portation would afford us a bet
ter view of the city. This proved
true, but we soon realized that
the city was larger than We had
imagined and the horse SO very
much slower that we were happy
to change to a taxi. Then too,
our taxi driver spoke g0rsd Eng
lish and was able to act as a
guide as well. He promised to
show US many Of the places we
had Been told not to miss, so off
We drove We quickly passed
through the dock area and the old
business section Of the city ieav-
ing behind us the many over
crowded narrow streets, .he un-
usual pungent odors. and the dirt |
and squAl0r Of this section. We
were soon ON Horribly Road, one
OF the main business streets of me
city with its many modern build
ings and spacious stores. The
driver pninted ouf a mumber oil
shops specializing in rugs, brass
ware, jewelry and we made note
OF these planning to return later
IN the day for at the moment we
were on our way to see the Hindu
Burning Chats, the Tower Of ST.
lence, and the lannon's gardens
which were located IN the resi-
dental section high atop Malabar
Hill The driver seemed quite
proud of his city and immediate
ly took us along the bay drive,
spectacular in that 1T is semi
circular and has a wide promen-
AIDE along the bay side and flank
ed with very modern ste apart
ment buildings of various pastel
shades. He referred to this as the
Queens necklace which was an
apt description of the drive as
viewed by night.
As we reached the Burning
Chats, the driver motioned that
a funeral party was approaching
We waited in the taxi as a group
of Hindus carried their loved one
inside to be cremated. It was a
very simple procession and OBJ
viously one of the poorer caste
for the body was laid on a straw
rack and covered only with flow
ers and carried by the mourners.
We later went inside and saw the
iron racks and were told tn It
the fires were never out. II was
rather interesting to learn that
various grades and types Of wood
were purchased and used in ere
Hindus according to their
station in life.
The Parsees, another religious
group, have an even more un-
usual method of disposing of their
dead. They have built the Tower
OF Silence" which is circular
tower with a center well and an
inner platform upon which they
expose their dead to be dissipat-
ed without polluting the earth.
The bodies are placed on various
levels, the highest for the males,
the middle platform COR the fe-
males, and the lowest Cor the
children the vultures do the
rest. The visitor is not actually
permitted to watch this process,
but is able to get close enough to
satisfy any morbid curiosity he !
might have. '
BY this time we were ready for