I recently stayed in Mumbai at the Anukool Hotel on Grant Road. At 620 rupees a night our double room with bathroom outside but with our own key, it was a bargain. The staff are excellent: welcoming, friendly and well informed about the city. They made our stay there worthwhile and the hotel a haven from the city streets.

This is a hotel for those who want to see the real heart and stomach renching side of the city. It is not for the average traveller with rose coloured glasses who see the world through a permanent TV lens. Take a walk down the street opposite the hotel, the one on which you find the excellent Dali Darbar restaurant, for an educational, vomit inducing look at what the 5000 year old social system of India has produced.

Grant Road Railway is only 10 minutes walk away. Three stops on the train takes you to the sights written in the guide books.