January 21st - Mumbai So.. Where to begin. First I have a few pictures to share with you. These are all unedited images, and they are just a tiny fraction of what I would like to share, but these things take time. Hope you like these..
This was a section of the city less travelled, north of the markets, away from the tourist sections. I wanted to capture the intensity of the streets, the hustle. I wish I could record sounds and smells, to give a better perspective. The horns blare non stop, smoke from vendor stalls chokes the air. The smell of a farm works its way through the smell of desil fumes. So far from my world. I love it.

My Indian College friends from my first morning in Mumbai. I later ran into them dressed in uniform on the way to some presentation. I was walking down the street and I hear "Thomas, Thomas" I assumed that this could not possibly be my name being called, but sure enough I have more friends in Mumbai than I thought :)

This was the early morning when I had arrived to the hostel. To tired to read, too excited to sleep, I waited in the lobby for day break. This Cab driver likely works both the day and night shift. If you look closely you can see him sleeping. This guy scammed 150 rupees out of me to see his snake. A full days labour in the industrial slums of India will earn a worker 130 rupee. But of course I didn't learn that until the next day...

January 20th - Mumbai slums

Today was truly an eye opening experience. I was witness to a side of mumbai that few will have the opportunity to see. I joined a tour group that focusses on the largest slum of India, A location 1.74 square km packed with over 2.5 million people. This is the highest population density of anywhere else in the world. At first I had some moral objections to taking this tour of poverty. I was objected to paying 800 rupees, the average monthly salary of many, to gawk at poor people. I pictured in my mind a sad group of undernourished people, wasting away in squalor, while rish white westerners parade through dark alleys snapping pictures to take as souveniers. We may have been rich and white, but the people were far from sad. This particular slum area acts not only as a residential area for a large percentage of the population of mumbai, it opperates as a full scale recycling depot. Everything from plastic, aluminium and cardboard, to old paint cans are brought to the slum and made into something new. This bustling metropolis is a living, breathing factory. The people here have adapted to adversity in such amazing ways. The plastic as an example is collected from the streets, shipped from North America and china, and from within the slum itself. These items range from computer casings to pop bottles. The manufacture their own machinery to crush, cut and melt these products into new coloured pellets of plastic. This new product is then sold for a profit. This remarkable task takes place completely within the slum. I found it strangely ironic that our garbage, our over consumption of crap is being shipped around the world and used by the people of India for a profit. If the oil runs out, and we are cast back to the stone ages, these individuals would have little problem adjusting. It felt like being 1000 years in the past.. Kind of like the movie Alladin. Just like the open markets in that disney flick. While the work performed in this are is dangerous, toxic in some cases and extremly hard, the families in this region are not malnourished, they get by on what little they have. I was discussing this with a friend this morning about the concept of happiness. I would argue that often times these people's simple lives provides more satisfaction than in the west. Our stuff doesn't bring happiness.

What made me feel good about this trip, and which reduced my objections, was the fact that the tour company work closely with local charities within the slums. The funds generated from the ticket sales directly supports the educational endeavors implemented by the charity. This charity opperates two schools, providing up to 80% of the children with a quality education, in an attempt to break the cycle. I feel I have learned so much from the tour, it opened my eyes to a world I was largely oblivious of. I will continue to share this information with others. I feel that by bringing awareness to the issues, more people will benefit from the efforts of this charity, in however small ways.

Ok, I'm exhausted from writing. I have come down with a little bit of a cold, likely from the shitty air quality and from the tour. I'm hoping to get out of the city Saturday morning, off to the Ajanta caves (http://ajantacaves.com/) about six hours away. After a few days there, we will be back to mumbai for the 26th for a National Holiday. From there I head south for a few days of relaxation on the beach. I will keep you posted. Thanks for reading. And thank you for the comments :)