2019 India – Mumbai
9th February 2019
Our return flight to the UK was from Mumbai so as we enjoyed the city the last time we were there we decided to stay a couple of extra days. We booked the same hotel where the receptionist played an amusing game of showing us the room we had booked and then the room we could have if we gave him a big tip. We were happy to go along with it as the other room was far superior and it was good to know the money went into his pocket rather than the hotel coffers. Good luck to him. I doubted he was paid anywhere near enough to support the 15 children he claimed to have.
We booked to go on a Slum Tour of Mumbai which sounds like a tasteless thing to do but it was run by a charity where all the proceeds went into slum development and the guides were young people who grew up in the slums. Our guide was a young girl who was using the tours to finance her studies as a doctor. She was fascinating to talk to and we were amazed to hear that the caste system was still active in India and that she had a “caste certificate” which limited her scope as a doctor. Despite everything that was thrown at her she was determined to succeed and said it wouldn’t have been possible without those slim tours and most of her colleagues were in the same situation. If they did succeed they were expected to give back to the community which I was sure they would do anyway as you could sense a great loyalty to their roots.
Unsurprisingly, conditions in the slum were pretty grim but what surprised me the most was how enterprising the inhabitants were. 
There was no benefits system so people had to find ways of feeding and housing themselves. There was one large area dedicated just to laundry and another area for pottery. One area was used just for collecting and preparing plastic bottles for recycling. Everywhere we looked there was a mountain of plastic bottles. Being the dry season, everyone was working and living at ground level but every rainy season it became flooded so they all had to move upstairs. At the end of the tour they took us into a room where they showed us the statistics of their work which claimed to educate 1500 children a year from the proceeds of the tours. They were selling a few souvenirs and asking for donations which of course everyone was happy to give. 
It was a joy to walk around Mumbai as there was something to see on every corner. On one side street a young girl was walking a tightrope with her mother standing below holding a baby in one hand and taking donations in the other. At first, the girl walked bare feet doing the occasional tricks with props that her mother passed to her. The rope was at least three metres from the ground so falling badly could have done a lot of damage. The next time we walked past there was a child around eight years old doing the same thing although nowhere near as skilfully. What struck me was that we have seen similar things on our travels but the people performing always seemed to be enjoying themselves. In this case, I saw no joy and it looked like they were doing it purely to make a living with the mother cracking the whip. 
Down another street, there was a full-scale cricket match going on while cars went whizzing past. They were using a wooden box for a wicket and it all looked very serious with wild applause when the batsmen hit a six.
The streets were incredibly busy at all times of day so it could be quite difficult to walk which was why I was so surprised to see a woman ready to deliver a stack of 500 eggs strapped onto the back of her bicycle.
As the sun was setting we went on a boat ride around a local island. They were selling packets of crisps on the boat that people were buying to feed the seagulls. We held out our hands holding a crisp and the seagulls swooped down to a take crisp. It was much more fun than it sounds. As we pulled back into port we were treated by the majestic sight of the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel
The next night they were holding the Gala Ghoda Arts Festival in a park in the centre. There was a large stage with excellent acts performing from early evening until late at night. There were some well-known singers, some classical dancers and a variety of other acts.
Around the park people were doing their own things. There was a fancy convertible car parked on the grass with six young kids sitting in the pack performing a rap song and loving every second of it. It was such a great night.
Now we come to the end of our Indian adventure 2019 and it is time for me to say “alavida” until next time.
2019 India
