MUMBAI,
Received
March 22, 2005
Incredible
(Written
by Steve)
That’s
what the sign says as you enter the Customs/Immigration terminal, and I will
tell you, that’s Mumbai in a nut shell. This place is a must see, and I will
have to say that so far it is the most interesting port of all, and we will
most definitely come back. I can’t even
try to explain the poverty to you, or the emotions you feel for the many
homeless, but I can tell you about the people and the culture and the City
itself. The people are super fantastic! They are kind, hard working and very
beautiful in every way you can imagine. This city has 15 million in the city
centre and 3 million that live on the streets, and beg, so it can be very, very
overwhelming. I can’t really sit here and tell you about Mumbai because there
is so much to tell, you must come see it all for yourself. I am not talking
about just the yucky stuff, I am talking about everything that this city has to
offer, stuff like the Laundry, train station, Gandhi’s home, Museums, Parks and
crowds and crowds of people. We have only been here for less than 2 days, but I
feel like we have been here for a month. I was told about Mumbai from several
people and there were 2 stories that made me not want to see it (The city). We
were told about a place called the Cages or the Crates, and this is a place
where they sold children. The information was not accurate and you can find the
information on the Cages yourself on the net, but it was not like we had been
told. When the ship pulled into port I managed to go ashore with a couple of
friends Bill and Betty, a super nice couple from
You
can get burned here just like any big City and we got a taste of it today.
I
got ripped off today and was a little disappointed with myself, and I only have
myself to blame for it. It’s a way of life for these folks and you should
expect them to try and be ready for it, but I missed it. Basically we overpaid
for lunch, and I know that may not seem like a big deal but it really is. You
see we were not so sure where to eat so we thought we would just eat in the Taj
hotel to be on the safe side. To make a long story really short, we paid over
$100 bucks for a small Chinese meal with only pop for drinks and no dessert.
The money we just spent on lunch could have fed a whole family here for a
month, and I feel really stupid. We ended our day on a positive note thanks to
our last taxi driver. An act of kindness that easily could have meant an extra $100
in his pocket if he just drove away after dropping us off, but he did not. You
see, we forgot our digital camera in his taxi and before driving away the gent
called me back over and said “you forgot your camera sir”. It was a nice ending
to a very interesting day.
There
is more, but I have to send this out before we lose our cell phone signal.
(Written
by Helen)
It’s
funny how certain situations or experiences remind you of other things. While we were touring Mumbai I kept thinking
about a book I read a long time ago called “A Fine Balance”. It’s the life story of an Indian fella and I
must read it again now that I have sampled an inkling of Indian life.
We
decided to book a tour for Mumbai because many people told us a lot of horror
stories about the city and we were very nervous about this place. We had to get up early and we set out with
our group at 9am. We were herded into a
waiting air-conditioned bus which, believe it or not, was needed even at this
time of the day. During breakfast we had a very long discussion with Nikolas
and Danika to prepare them for what they were about to experience. We didn’t want to scare them but we also
didn’t want them to be totally shocked at what they were about to see. Danika didn’t seem to care but Nikolas
started saying that he didn’t want to go anymore. I think we over did it. Anyway, we got on the bus and our tour guide
was a wonderful lady who spoke excellent English and she welcomed us to her
beautiful city. You could tell she had
such pride and she was very excited to get going and for us to see her
wonderful land.
We
pulled out of the port area and even from that moment I noticed that this city
was much different than
Our
first stop was the laundry market. This
area measures about 4 blocks long and 2 blocks wide. It is huge.
It is one of the most unbelievable sights I have ever seen in my entire
life. This is no exaggeration. The bus stopped at the top of a bridge and
when you get off and look down you see a sea of laundry in various levels of
cleaning. Some are stacked awaiting
wash, some are being washed by the people, some are sitting in huge piles
soaking wet, some are being rinsed by being whacked against the walls, some are
hung on lines that stretch forever, some are arranged along the black dirty
roofs. It is unreal. Then when you really look closely you see
that the colour of the water that they are washing with is a dark browny
greenish colour. We also saw a man
emerge from the water in his underwear apparently after taking a bath in it. Our tour guide talked about this place as if
she was recommending a local laundry mat.
She’s telling us that it only costs 300 rupees for 300 articles of
clothing. She says, “What a great deal!”
and then continues to say that you could take your clothes elsewhere but they
charge you 300 rupees for one article of clothing. She said that apart from a few missing
buttons and some materials that lose their colour, the service is
excellent. They don’t use electricity
for the ironing, they use heated flat stones.
Mind-boggling to say the least.
I’m hoping the pictures turn out!
While
we were there we were accosted by the first wave of beggars. At the beginning, Nikolas did not want to
leave the bus but he did and he held my hand very tightly and kind of hid
behind my back as we walked. The people
did come up to us but they were in no way overly aggressive or repulsive the
way everyone described them to be. Most
of the ladies here were selling their wares and we only saw a couple of small
children and at first it makes you catch your breath because they look so
scrubby. They are absolutely filthy with
dirt on their faces and they are literally dressed in rags. Of course they are barefoot and you would
think that their faces would look hardened but when you look in their eyes they
look surprisingly bright and curious. Of
course they were staring at Danika and she would smile and wave and then you
would be shocked when they smile and you see these dazzling white teeth and the
happiest little face. They don’t look
the least bit concerned about the fact that they are begging, it’s almost like
they are well practiced and they imitate the act of eating with one hand while
they hold out the other. It’s their way
of saying I need money to buy food to eat.
They all do it exactly the same way almost as if they’ve been coached,
it’s really bizarre. And as soon as they
see that you are not interested they move on and do it all over again to the
people behind you. The tour guide lady
said that we should never give them money because if we did then another ten
would materialize instantly and it would create a huge problem. She said that these people are from
communities outside of Mumbai and that they write to their families there and
say how lucrative the big city is and that just brings more of them in. She didn’t speak very highly of them and she
even said that the government has provided schooling for the homeless children
but they refuse to go. I don’t know, I
find that hard to believe. Sometimes I
wonder if people say these things to ease their conscience. You know, the typical, Oh if they really
wanted to work they would find a job.
Unfortunately I don’t believe it’s that simple.
As
we continued our tour the bus takes you along streets that are lined with
shacks that are literally made out of a couple of sheets of plywood. Curtains hang as doorways and you can look inside
and see families living inside. The
shacks are just big enough for them to lie down in. There are about 15 of these, all in a row
connected and then, surprisingly, at the end is one that is a barber shop and
sure enough there is someone getting a shave.
Then the funniest sight is the next shack holds the lotto store. It is so crazy. Then you drive a little farther and sure
enough there’s the McDonald’s and the Pizza Hut and then when you turn the
corner and there is a little baby sitting on the sidewalk eating a piece of
onion she found on the ground. It is
just so hard to comprehend.
Next
we visited the Mani Bhavan Gandhi Sangrahalaya.
This is one of the most important Gandhi Memorial Museums in
“The
Mani Bhavan is a place where Gandhi lived and conversed with his colleagues,
moulded the nation in the image of his cherished ideals of Truth and
Non-violence and inspired his followers and devotees who went forth from here
in the world charged with a sense of service and sacrifice. Mani Bhavan, once the residence of the Father
of the Nation is now a source of inspiration for freedom and peace loving men
and women all over the world.”
From
the museum we stopped briefly at the Gateway to
The
bus was to take everyone back to the ship but Steve asked if we could walk to
The Taj Mahal Hotel that was just a few blocks away. So after our tour of the
museum we were on our own and Steve led us down the street and across a street
that I am still astonished that we crossed and survived to write about. Walking the streets of Mumbai was such an
experience and I will never forget it.
The smells, oh the smells, the people, the sounds of honking horns, the
thousands of taxi cabs, the traffic, the ox and wagon, the children playing in
the middle of an intersection, the women and their babies sitting on the
sidewalk. I have no more words to
describe it so I shall move on.
We
got to the hotel and of course it is like a grand palace. Marble floors, huge bouquets of exotic
flowers, lots of “white” tourists walking around with their designer clothes
on. It just makes no sense at all. Buuuut, we were hungry so this was the place
to eat and Nik wanted Chinese food, AGAIN, in
From
lunch we made our way to their swimming pool and pretended that we belonged
here and jumped in the pool. They came
and brought us towels and never questioned us so we had a wonderfully relaxing
time cooling off. I wanted to go
shopping but Steve ended up paying way more than we expected for lunch so we
had just enough money to barely get us a taxi back to the ship.
Our
experiences in