March 31, 2019 – Mumbai, India
Today we arrived in Mumbai at 7 am. The port was right outside our room.
I am expecting a total assault on the senses today. We packed up our gear and went through the port building. Luckily we went through customs already in Kochi so we only had to present our landing card to port authorities. Things moved quickly. We met up with our driver and guide after a few minute wait. Freni was our guide and she was going to show us us around Mumbai.
The Taj Palace Hotel was our first stop. The hotel faces the harbor and can easily be seen from the port where the ship is. This part of Mumbai was originally 7 islands that were separated by water at high tide and mud at low tide. The area has been filled in and is now on all solid ground. The hotel was built in the early 1900s. There is a lot of interesting history here.
People here refer to it as simply the “Taj”. Beautiful interior with high end shops and restaurants.
In front of the Taj is this gate. Built in 1924.
Mumbai was quite empty since it was Sunday and it was early. Shops opened after 9 and many were closed for the day. The assault of the 22 million who lived here was not felt at this time of day. We were able to get around quite freely.
The trains station below handles 5 million people daily. Today it was very calm. Many of the buildings are under renovation to prepare for the monsoon season where 2 meters of water fall over several months.
We drove and stopped at some sites with some interesting architecture. Ghandi’s home was our next stop.
I learned a lot about Ghandi from Freni in a very short period of time. Here is a letter to his friend, Adolf Hitler.
Next stop is the Douby Ghat. Here is where manual washing takes place. The tracking of all items is done without computers.
Lunch was at the horse track. The Gallop.
We had chicken and some shrimp that we all shared. Very tasty. It was time to Freni to leave but not before we met our guide for the afternoon. Raz lived in the Dharavi slum and he would be our guide. Our driver drove us a few miles where we started our tour. Up and over on a pedestrian overpass and down into the slum. Before our descent, Raz described what it was like growing up in the slum. He is the 7th generation of his family living there. He described his high school graduation and how he was called on stage and when it was announced where he was from, the student body laughed at him. There was a lot of emotion still left to this day. He went home and told his mother and she said “Well why don’t you do something about where you live?”. He was one of the reasons that Freni did not continue with us. Those from the slum feel that they should be the people giving the tours and they are now hired to do that.
The beginning of the slum.
If you look closely at this photo you can see bits of plastic in a pile. This area of the slum is the plastic recycling area.
The plastic is purchased from the government at the dump. There are different sources of plastic.
Old phones and computer cases.
Car numbers and fenders.
Plastic is send through a grinder made here in the slum.
Washed and rinsed in these tubs.
It is dried on the roof and then bagged.
It is then turned into pellets and sold to plastic manufacturing companies where it is made into other items.
A pickup game of cricket.
It’s Sunday. Time for a shave.
This is the fabric dying area. Tubs for fabric and dye.
The dye.
This area takes paint cans and removes the leftover paint and then sells them back to paint companies.
The men in this area heat the cans until the paint dries and then they scrape it out by hand.
These men are making collars and cuffs.
The cardboard recycling area. Raz asked me a few times if I have ever tasted cardboard. I said no. Good thing he said, the middle layer is made from elephant dung. High in fiber I learned. No worries to you. US cardboard is made with cow dung.
Former river, now a drainage ditch.
Advantages of the slums for those that live there. Close community, common goal, no rent, no government intervention, no taxes, no building codes, no regulations. Advantages for the government – a cheap way to recycle.
People use the lower quarter of their shack to cook and clean and sleep up stairs.
This is the leather products area. Buffalo and goat are used.
Many high end brand bags are made here in the slum. Aramani, Jimmy Choo, etc. They are beginning to put the Dharavi name on goods. It will go no where in India but may take off internationally. Terri purchased this bag.
American tourister luggage? Made right here in the slum.
School at the edge of the slum.
No reason to leave the slum. Everything is right here.
This is the clay pot area.
Our guide. Raz
We had another great day of learning. Many Indians look down on the people from the slum but they are providing a much needed service. The slum is mainly full of men who come from villages all over India. They come here for two or three years to make money to take back home and start a business.
We ended our day back at the Taj for a drink.
We decided to walk back to the gate of the port. About 3 miles. I’m glad we did. The area outside the Taj was now teaming with Indians that were all around this area. It was difficult to walk on some streets and traffic was at an absolute standstill. A cab ride would have taken double the time it took us to walk.…