Mumbai Meanderings

Mumbai - Bombay - whatever the name... it is a city of many wonders and sights.  We had a FULL, FULL day of sightseeing in the city.

The day started at 4:30AM with the "Mumbai at Dawn" tour.  A unique tour that shows you the city waking up and all of the commerce and activity that occurs before the sun rises.  First, the fish markets to see the fish coming in fresh from the sea. No photographs are allowed down there because that was the landing spot for the 2008 terrorists (they came ashore on rubber dinghys from Pakistan).  So there's now heightened security along that stretch of water.

Then to an area of Mumbai where the newspaper delivery boys sort the newspapers.  Something you’ve probably never thought about:  India has more than 4,000 different newspapers in over 100 languages, most households subscribe to 2 or more papers and the delivery boys are illiterate.  So they memorize (by sight only) which homes take which papers and stack them accordingly on their bicycles for early morning delivery.  No lists, no notes, just memorization. Fascinating.

Next up: tea from a street vendor chai walla. The current president of India (Modi) came from a very modest background. In fact his first job was as a chai walla in a train station.  Could this man one day run the country?

On to the markets: vegetable markets, spice markets, flower markets.  The colors and smells are so powerful.

We got garlands for the girls' hair at the flower market

Next up: the poultrymarket and an opportunity to see the chickens being unpacked from the trucks and brought (dozens at a time) into the market area.

How about an entire row of open air barber booths?  Each barber / stylist has less than 3 feet of sidewalk space for their entire shop and the customer actually sits on a chair ON the sidewalk.

An opportunity to watch – and try – cricket

The kids also tried their hand at a traditional rope climbing exercise at a local community center

This arch is made up of thousands of Ganesh statues (Ganesh is the half man / half elephant Hindu god).  Every statue is unique and slightly different than the other.

Then a tour Gandhi’s house where he lived, wrote and did some of his most famous activist works.

My favorite Gandhi quote: 

The group spent the afternoon touring the Dharavi slum.  Our guide was a 24 year old engineering student who has lived his whole life in the slum.  Dharavi is home to over 1 million people in a 500 acre area.  That works to about 5,000 people per acre.  We toured both the commercial side (where the industries are housed) as well as the residential areas. Dharavi is bordered on one side by the railway line. The cottage industries generate over $500 Million US per year.

This is one of the slum's tanneries where the leather is cured and dyed and hung up to dry.

Last tour stop:  to try some deep-fried street food

We leave Mumbai tonight and fly to Aurangabad.  Tomorrow we visit the Ajanta caves, an all day excursion.

GUEST BLOG: HMM Orphanage from a Teen's Perspective

This is Jordan.  I'm back with my second guest blog.  This one is about the first service project of this trip: our work at the HMM Orphanage. 

The HMM Orphanage is an all-girls orphanage in the heart of Trivandrum, and the girls that lived there really made the jumble of buildings they lived in a home. On the first day, we were welcomed by an entrance festival with drums and dancing.

The girls were all lined up to receive us

The welcome line gave each of us a shell necklace and dabbed red and gold paint on our forehead for good luck.

Each of us got a group of girls to keep track of.  My group called ourselves "Team Butterfly" and with me at the lead there would be no other group to stand in our way. Or at least that was my thinking at the time… Some do say I have delusions of grandeur.  This is a photo of my team and I working on a craft project.

Anyways, after a quick tour of their rooms, all the kids helped us start painting their rooms as they had been just solid white when we arrived. They sleep in bunk beds. Two girls to a bed.

Though my brilliant mind most certainly could have come up with some decorations that would blow the socks off anyone who saw them, I was placed in paint mixing instead of creative design. Granted, I was placed there by myself but I’m not taking back what I said about the socks. The painting was very messy but also very colorful. These kids really like color.

My hands after a few hours of paint mixing

After about several hours of painting (in the 100 degree heat) most of us were sufficiently tired and drenched in sweat, so we all stopped for lunch. Lunch was a delicious mixture of rice, chapatti bread, and a potato curry. We ate off banana leaves instead of plates.

We then painted all afternoon and ended the day by dancing with the kids before heading to the hotel in TukTuks for some much needed rest. 

Day 2: HMM: The next day we all got back to the orphanage in the morning and started doing crafts with the kids. My team painted my fingernails and then we finished our team flag we had been making. And the girls did henna on our hands as well.

After crafts, we taught the kids English using a Rosetta Stone type educational program on the computers we brought to India.  There were 10 or more kids to each computer.

The boys then got dressed in dhotis (Indian man skirts) and button up shirts. We were rocking the look!! 

The guys then proceeded to have a cook-off where we had to make Pongel (a traditional Indian dish meant for special occasions). It has rice and bananas and coconut and is cooked over just wood in a clay pot.  

I ended up losing because I put the rice in too early, causing it to solidify as it cooled. But don’t take that as me saying I’d say no if I ever got asked to make it again. 

Meanwhile the girls got dressed up in saris and the kids helped them do their hair

We all then went to a nearby temple. How weird is this? To get into the temple the girls had to be dressed up in nice clothes or saris but the boys had to take off their shirts!! 

Day 3: HMM: On the last day with the kids, we took them on an outing to the beach and a park.  

We all dipped our toes in the water but could not swim because of the bad currents.  I got my team a decent amount of points in cricket. 

We helped hand out ice cream to the girls, and then headed back to HMM to say goodbye and take photos before we left. Some of the girls cried to leave. I think everyone was sad.

Kerala House Boats:  The next day we drove a few hours and got onto houseboats for the night.  Not only were these boats marvels of engineering, but they also are the definition of relaxation. Each boat has three bedrooms on it and the whole thing has running water and power, even while going down the river. They cruise through the riverways and the outsides are made of thatched hay.

When we stopped at a town, some boys came by in their school uniforms and asked us to give them pens. They said they needed them for their exams.  Rainey and I gave them pens but they were not really nice ones. Just pens we got at the last hotel.

I didn’t do much of anything for the day we were on them except sleep, eat, and be happy. It was a fantastic relaxation after dealing with 80+ energetic girls for three days. I got to catch up on my sleep and read a book before we got off and headed to the airport to fly to Mumbai. 

Just an idea of some of the things you see out of the window as we drive along in India

An elephant. I guess it was just hanging out in its front yard

Monkeys are everywhere

A woman cleaning fish

Women working in the rice paddies

Boating in the backwaters of Kerala

We have been out of internet connection for two days as we cruised through the backwaters of Kerala on houseboats.  Just landed in Mumbai... so here is an update on our last 48 hours.

I'd always heard that staying on a house boat in Kerala, India was a "must see."  Now I know why.  It's peaceful and beautiful and fascinating.  Totally unlike the noise and frantic pace of the rest of India.

To get to the boats, we drove about 2 hours from Trivandrum.  We had 3 boats for our group.

The rooms were more than comfy... and with attached bathrooms and air conditioning (a bonus I frankly did not expect).

We ate lunch pretty soon after we got on board and then spent the afternoon coasting on the river... talking, debating, just relaxing.

And watching the life on the river

Canoes go by ... some so small or skinny that you wonder how the men actually balance in them

Women walk home from the fields

Bathing by the river bank is a common sight

As well as washing clothes

Or just gossiping with friends

At sunset, we pulled into a town and got to walk around a little and visit the church (Catholic)

Super ornate church and every statue was rocking an India-style garland of flowers.

After dinner on the boats, we had an early night. This morning we sailed another two hours to where our bus was waiting to take us to the Cochin airport.  Tomorrow we have to be downstairs - with all luggage - at 4:20AM so I'm off to bed.