Travels to Mumbai

At 6am on Wednesday morning, I left the apartment in order to go find a rickshaw- which I was told would be hard because there wouldn’t too many on the road. However, I quickly found a man who was willing to drive me to Pune Railway Station. It took about 25 minutes and once there, I was immediately overwhelmed by the smells of delicious foods, the perfume of some of the women walking by covered in Burkas, as well as the smell of urine and so much more. Our train was supposed to leave at 710am but like all things in India, of course there was a delay and we didn’t really end up leaving until about 740. I wish I could say it was a great train ride but we were in the AC section- which meant the oddly tinted windows had be shut the entire way. But as a bonus, we received omelettes for breakfast which were SUPER yummy!

We reached Mumbai by 11am and my first impression was- wow. We were in the old part of Mumbai- the very southern tip. So all of the architecture was from the colonial period and the scenery was just breathtaking. Another thing that caught my attention right away was the amount of pollution. What some people believed to be fog or mist covering Mumbai’s skyline as we drove by- was actually pollution- our first glimpse of the many problems that plague the growing city of Mumbai.

We quickly dropped off our bags at the hotel- which was a very nice hotel might I add. It even had showers! I happily enjoyed my first overhead shower since August and reveled in it J We then went to Manibhavan- where Gandhi lived from 1917 to 1934. It was an odd feeling to be walking around and looking at all of the books that he read during his lifetime, and viewing some of the letters he wrote to people such as Hitler.

From here, we went to the Bombay High Court. We were given the opportunity to enter a few of the rooms where there were active cases going on. What I liked most while I was there was the fact that the lawyers have an ongoing conversation with the judge(s)- there is no jury. From what I could tell, it really gave the judge the opportunity to use his expertise and experience to challenge the lawyer- while giving the lawyer an opportunity to show the courtroom his skill in arguing the judge. Though I could not understand what most of the cases were about (due to the time limit), it was a really neat experience to be inside of the high court. Unfortunately, I have no pictures- as we were not allowed to bring our cameras in!

The next day, we listened to two different speakers. One, Ms. Neera Adarker, spoke about the transition of Mumbai from Mills to Malls, while the other, Matias (from Switzerland) spoke of his study on ‘neighborhoods’ (not slums, I’ll explain later) around the world- from Tokyo to Mumbai. He has a background in economics and urban planning. I cannot explain how much I liked him and what he had to say in a few words. But I’ll try to sum up what he said. Essentially, the government is trying to ‘redevelop’ slum areas by tearing down the structures in place, and constructing high rise buildings in order to move people into ‘better lives.’ What the government is not realizing is that these people move into the high rise structures, don’t really know how to live in it because they aren’t given any type of aid or maintenance help, and so they immediately move out back into another slum area. As Tokyo did many years back (and now known to be one of the best cities in the world), Matias believes that the government here should allow the slums to be in a constant state of development. In his words, “dynamism is important- as is allowing this development in the presence of vernacular forms.” He also told us that the people of these neighborhoods are incredibly skilled- with a variety of businesses.

And boy, are they skilled. After Matias’s lecture, we went to Dharavi, mistakenly known as Asia’s largest slum. This is where Slumdog Millionaire was filmed. Apparently, there are larger slums in Mumbai than Dharavi, but people simply refuse to look into the matter before putting a label on it. However, we were given the opportunity to visit a recycling unit as well as a potter’s business. My group had a tour guide by the name of Raiz Khan, who lives in Dharavi. Just looking at him, I could tell he was a genuine man. He carefully took us through the alleyways and brought us to various destinations, one being the recycling unit. Here, people cut up different plastic materials, sift through them, then pick out the various colors and organize the pieces. Some of these colorful pieces are then used as beads while other materials are used for other purposes. As we looked on to the people going about their business, we realized that they had no protective gear. There were no safety measures taken- and yet they went about laughing and going on with their work. Next, we were brought to a potter’s business. He was such a jolly man who made perfect pots without even looking! And as we walked to various locations in the areas, we looked inside some of the homes- at what all the people were doing. Many homes were not simply homes- but also places of businesses for things such as tailoring etc. I remember talking to a few of my friends while walking through the alleyways and we spoke of how skilled these people were- how knowledgeable they were. I’ll use Raiz as an example. Despite being a tailor, he also works as a journalist and an activist- and yet his life is confined to such constraints where he is unable to move up the social ladder.

When we asked a few individuals here what they wanted most from the government, they said that rather than the ‘redevelopment’ projects that Matias spoke to us about earlier, they wanted incorporation of their businesses and lives into the development plans. Simply destroying their homes and areas of businesses, and relocating them into high rise structures is not going to make their lives better by any means. They not only lose shelter, but they also lose employment- as well as a sense of dignity, from what I could tell anyway.

Dharavi was incredibly eye opening and I am lucky to have received the opportunity to see it- outside of a movie or a textbook. It made me even more excited for my internship- where I will actually be working in seven slums all across Pune. I am interested in talking to the people more than anything, and besides that, I am going into it with zero expectations. By no means do I hope to enter into their homes as some type of ‘liberator’ that is set on opening their eyes to a better way of life. Rather, I hope to listen, and learn from them. As Matias said, it is highly important for us as individuals to recognize, understand, engage, and THEN go about intervening with what you think is the best route.

Sorry for the incredibly long post… I’ll try to cut back next time, haha. Anyway, this past weekend after Mumbai has been very quiet. I’m actually really sick right now but I’m hoping this lemongrass chai I keep drinking will help. I have a lot of upcoming papers and presentations to be working on, but I figured I’d get this blogpost out of the way first! I can’t believe that I leave for Hyderabad in less than a week—or the fact that it’ll be November upon my return to Pune.

In other news, I saw a parrot today on the terrace! That might not be exciting news for anyone- but I lovelovelove parrots, and getting to see one made my day, as well as the jasmine flowers that I picked off the bush (also on the terrace). Parrots, jasmine flowers, lemongrass chai, overlooking the view from the terrace, and breathing in fresh air I think was exactly what I needed after a hectic few days.

Hope everyone that still reads this thing has a good upcoming week!

Love,

Sai 

Mahabaleshwar- An Amazing Weekend

This past weekend, my environmental class headed to Mahabaleshwar for a 2 day field trip. We were given essentially no information about where we were going, what we’d be doing, or where we were staying (you know, all the important stuff). Our professor did this intentionally because he wanted us to have no expectations before we went. So the entire class was pretty much highly skeptical of the trip. I know I definitely was. But let me just say, it was by far one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen.

We left Pune at around 7am on Saturday morning. The ride there was short (2.5 hours), compared to the 7 hour journey we had to the tribal village. We dropped our stuff off at the place we were going to be staying. I don’t even know how to describe it except for that it was AMAZING. It is a little lodge-type house run by a Zoroastrian couple. I will have to add pictures because my words do not do it justice. We met the man that runs the place, Peter. Peter is practically blind but he is one of the most intelligent, vivacious, and funniest men I have ever met. He used to be a teacher but now exclusively works on maintaining the lodge for those who stay there.

A part of the house is this cool porch area 

After our introductions with Peter, we went to see the Western Ghat mountains up close. It was extremely foggy but it was surreal to be standing there… I felt like I was walking on clouds. I took a lot of photos but I can honestly say that I don’t think any of them capture the beauty that I was surrounded by. While there, we listened to our professor speak to us about the environment in Mahabaleshwar- how it came to be, and what is being done to protect it. It was declared an eco-sensitive zone a couple of years back and because of this, many businesses and corporations are restricted from coming to the area.

The Western Ghat mountain range

I also got my first street corn on the cob here! Sadly however, I was attacked by a baby monkey and he got to eat half of my cob. I thought it was hysterical and I was impressed by how high the monkey was able to jump :P Oh, and the half that I was able to taste of my cob was DELICIOUS- sprinkled with masala and lime J

We then went to an ancient Krishna temple- the temple was built because the location was the origin of the Krishna river (temples are built at all originating places of rivers).  As we sat there listening to our professor speak about how the temple was 2,000 years old- I was left in awe by the scenery around me. We also meditated and chanted OM together, with our professor leading us along. It was incredibly serene and peaceful. I am starting to like and understand my professor a lot more- though he seems to be insane at times… he’s definitely growing on me!

Afterwards, we had a delicious lunch AND we had strawberries and cream!!! Mahabaleshwar is known for its JAMS (like the kind you put on bread) and strawberry everything! It was so so so so good. Dinner was also good. We had a typical Zoroastrian meal- and since it was my first time having it, I was excited to try it! And I’m not surprised I loved it. Despite the fact that I was exhausted by the time dinner was over, I ended up staying up past midnight, playing Mafia with the rest of my classmates. It was an awesome time.

The next morning, we awoke real early! We had a tour of Peter’s farm and I was amazed at how well kept it was. There were medicinal plants, lime trees, guava trees, mango trees, lots of flowers, and lots of crops. The women who work at Peter’s lodge actually use these crops to make all of the food. We had a chance to taste all of this at the ginormous breakfast we had after the tour. I don’t think my stomach has ever been happier at any breakfast I’ve had. We had lots of bread with homemade strawberry jam (mmmm!), and Indian style scrambled eggs, as well as fresh fruit. SO GOOD.

After stuffing our stomachs, we got ready to go on a 4 hour trek up the mountains to a destination known as Wilson point, from which we were able to see everything. It was a really nice trek- and a great work out. I also have to mention the fact that Peter came with us the entire way- and may I remind you that he is pretty much entirely blind. Seeing him and hearing him speak really inspired me. He has so much motivation and is just an all around great person. Along the way, we saw some little critters- I held a baby toad and a baby crab! Once we reached the top, we meditated again with our professor and then headed for lunch. It was another delicious meal with grilled cheese & veggie sandwiches and Indian style pizza. I feel like I talk about food so much in my posts but honestly… I can’t describe how AWESOME it is! We dropped Peter off after lunch and then headed back to Pune.

The view from Wilson Point

It became stormy right as we were leaving

No one wanted our weekend to end. It was by far the best trip I’ve had in India so far. Nothing felt rushed or stressful. We were simply able to breathe, relax, and take in the environment around us. It was amazing.

Since the trip however, reality has slapped me in the face as I am presented with more deadlines about lots of papers. We were also informed about our internships, and I actually had my first visit to the organization I am interning for today.

Beginning soon, I will be interning at an organization called Parvati Swayamrojgar. It is a microfinance institution that lends out loans to the urban poor. The organization has 7 branches all throughout Pune. I learned today that my job will be to assess their financial literacy training program. Every individual who applies for a loan from Parvati has to undergo this training program. My job will be to figure out what type of impact the program has had on them. Thus, I was told that I will have to visit all 7 branches, every week, throughout the course of my internship. I will have to develop a questionnaire and then interview the slum dwellers myself (with an interpreter alongside). So I will be doing fieldwork, which is exactly what I wanted to do! It sounds as though it will be a lot of work, but I was told that if I plan ahead and really invest a lot of time and effort into it, I will come out with a much greater perspective on how the urban poor function- and how we can come up with ways to help them in the future. The only downside is that all of the branches are pretty far away from where I live. The rickshaw rides will be super long, but I think it will all be worthwhile in the end.  I’m super excited to start, especially because the one of the current debates in India is about the poverty line estimation. It is said that the urban poor can live on 32 rupees a day while those in the rural area can live on 26 rupees a day. This is being contested to a great extent, and it will be interesting to see what happens. I think, for my final paper, I am going to do a comparative analysis on how Parvati’s financial literacy program has impacted those below the poverty line & above the poverty line.  Also, I will add that 86% of the institution’s loan borrowers are women!! So this organization has done a lot towards the area of women empowerment- which is beyond exciting and I can’t wait to get an up close glimpse of that.

But enough rambling. I will definitely write later about the internship as I visit the organization/branches more throughout the month of October! We have to spend this month familiarizing ourselves with the staff and writing a proposal on the type of work we would like to do. Then the real work begins!

Love,

Sai