Bombay Part I: A Structured Program

Day 1: Arrival and Bombay High Court

As part of our program, all of us had a three-day scheduled trip to Mumbai.  Our train for departed on Halloween around 7am out of Pune Railway Station.  The station exhibited well every walk of life in India.  There were morning commuters, individuals and families sleeping on the streets and sidewalks around the station, beggars, hawkers, and I was even privileged to see a man pissing on a pile of stinking garbage.  What a pleasant start to the day.

My host-mom had warned me against eating train food so I had eaten breakfast at home and avoided the uneasy sickly feeling some of the other program kids had later in the day.  The train was pretty “normal” compared to Amtrak (the only US train I’ve ever ridden... do we have any others?) and I think it only took us about 3.5 hours.  Upon arrival, we dropped our things at the YMCA and YWCA in Colaba, Mumbai which is the Southern tip of the city, also where the Gateway of India and the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel are located.  It’s pretty much the nicest part of Mumbai.  Rickshaws aren’t even allowed within that part of the city.

Gateway of India

Taj Mahal Palace Hotel

First stop: Gandhi Museum

It was somewhat underwhelming compared to the Smithsonian but it did have a few cool items like a letter Gandhiji wrote to Hitler basically asking him to please not invade Poland, and then apologizing ahead of time if this letter upset Hitler.

Next stop: Bombay High Court

We had a cool opportunity to walk around inside the High Court and step into a few courtrooms to watch the proceedings.  The grounds looked somewhat like Hogwarts, no joke.  It was incredible and would make an amazing location for a haunted house (we were there on Halloween, but alas, no haunted house).  Adding to the Hogwarts atmosphere, everyone was walking around in ridiculous robes.  Inside the courtrooms, there were papers everywhere and I found it difficult to tell who was arguing on whose behalf, especially given that the defendant and plaintiff were not actually present.  It was surprisingly informal, almost like a discussion at times rather than someone representing a case.  The lawyers did not always stand up to address the judge, and one of them even interrupted the judge.  Maybe I’ve watched too much T.V. but I feel like that’s the sort of thing you get in trouble for.

One of the main differences between the legal system in the U.S. and India is the idea of ‘trial by jury’.  There is no jury in India.  One of the judges explained that a jury of peers does not fly in India because the peers are not educated and qualified enough to make a proper decision.  I guess they’re not worried about biased judges... Of course, all of the answers we were given by lawyers or judges were extremely polished.  Apparently everything is hunky-dory with the legal system in India.  Oh and fun fact, their idea of a work day is from 11am-5pm.  Don’t worry, that’s not all of India but it did irk me to hear them mention that they were at the end of a long work day.

After the High Court, we headed back to our hotel and a few of us went out to eat at a local eatery.  The menu said ‘where you can mix music with beer’.  This sounded so new and exciting to us that we were sold! Music... AND beer?! We had a good time and may have broken curfew by a few hours but it was a great time.  We even got to choose our own songs on the jukebox machine and an old man kept telling me how ‘brown’ I was.  I never thought I was very brown, but thank you old man by the jukebox.

Day 2: Dharavi

As we drove through the city on our way to Dharavi which has a reputation for being the largest slum in Asia (although some sources deny that), I was struck by a funny thought.  All around me, the windows of people’s homes and flats had clothing racks with all of their personal laundry flying in the wind for everyone to see.  I then fondly remembered my Bonne Maman, may she rest in peace, who used to insist that it was unacceptable for us to lay our towels out to dry on the balcony railing when we were in Bethany Beach with the whole family.  I think she may find India’s lack of laundry privacy a little shocking.

Anyways, Dharavi is incredible.  We walked up to the eighth floor rooftop of a building in the middle of the slum to see the view (pictured below).  It was incredible.  Over 1 million people squeezed into those little disheveled stacked-on-top-of-each-other homes.  We had a brief discussion with the slum’s community leader and then headed down to visit a potter and the recycling unit in two different groups.

Dharavi

The Gujarati potter we spoke with was the most genuine man, he was fantastic.  We went up into his workshop in groups of five because there was not much more room than that.  Climbing up to his shop was like climbing into the hayloft at my grandparent’s house up in Maine.  So picture a pottery workshop in a hayloft and you’ll get the idea.  He even let us try our hand at some pottery, trying to teach us how to make a little pot or a flower pot.  I was pretty terrible at it.

Learning pottery from the Gujarati Potter in Dharavi!

The most incredible thing about this potter was his sense of identity and values.  He was very intent on explaining that foreigners, including NGOs etc., were guests and they would be treated so in his home.  He did not take anything from them.  He even hosted a man from the Discovery Channel for a three-day stay.  Now, on the other side of this, he is the last generation of potters in his family because they don’t have the resources to continue making a living off of the trade.  It was sad, but he said his kids are getting an education and he’ll still teach them the trade, it just won’t be their main profession.

Next stop: Recycling Unit

It was somewhat overwhelming, and somewhat beautiful and strange twisted ways.  Such as the tiny colorful particles of grounded up plastic.  Or the man who was like a human-sized ant carrying a pack on his head about five times his own size.  Most of the workers waved at us and said ‘hi’.  Others kept to their work, grinding and boiling and breaking down materials that we use in our everyday lives.  It was cool to see it but I could smell and even see the chemical particles in the air.  Let’s just say I’m not looking to work there anytime soon.

Man carrying his ant load

What a natural color...

On Day 3 we just had a handful of lectures on various topics of development and then we were free to go.  A handful of people headed back with the program, but a bunch of us stayed back to enjoy Mumbai for the weekend.  To be continued...