Shelley's was the first we saw of India, and our home for almost two weeks. It was a wonderful (if almost misleadingly comfortable) introduction to India: quiet, cozy, and safe amid the hustle of Mumbai.

We had a beautiful sea view ($5 extra per night, bringing the price to $45/day for two people) framed in red velvet curtains. The air conditioner was ferociously strong -- which in Mumbai in June, you need -- and the service was low-key (which is as we like it). The room also had a telephone from which it was possible to make local, long-distance, and international calls (expensive but not impossibly so), a TV which got some international news stations as well as the local entertainment, and a refrigerator. There was also an inexplicable large, orange, and plastic potted plant by way of décor.

There's a dining room, which we never used because we prefered our air-conditioned retreat. This made room service indispensible. Breakfast was not included in the room rate; we generally ordered the full Shelley's Breakfast, consisting of two eggs any style, toast, a thin unidentifiable jam, and tea or coffee (the tea's better). For two people, this cost us a princely $1.50 every morning.

The hotel boasts an elevator, which we never saw anyone use. More importantly, each floor has a charming sea-view balcony where you can sit with your morning tea, watching the crows fly over the harbor and the hotel’s resident colony of taxi drivers inspect each other’s engines — both surprisingly interesting sights — until the heat drives you back into your room.

Shelley's is in the rich and touristy area called Colaba, about two blocks from the Gateway of India and the infinitely more expensive Taj hotel, where we bought our international newspapers. There's an internet café around the corner.

The area's safe, so long as you're willing to brush off the usual group of children and suspicious-looking holy men. The former will ask for money; the latter will accost you, tie a saffron-dyed string around your wrist, tell you they've walked there from Varanasi, give you a holy sweet which you should on no account eat, and then ask for money. Both can be gotten rid of with a little practice.