Lane's Adventures

This morning we got an earlier start as we headed for the Grant Road railway station to meet up with Jitesh and see the Hanging Gardens. The Gardens were very nice, and weren’t necessarily “hanging” per se, but they were “hanging” over the edge of the city, perched atop a hillside that overlooked two different neighborhoods. Again we had some time to talk with Jitesh about his family, the local customs, and history — I think this is the best kind of advice you can get: unsolicited and honest, so we learned a lot!

When we left, we decided to go shopping and get Megan and saree. Megan’s shopping reminded me of my mom’s – no nonsense shopping…perhaps “buying,” rather. So we ended up with a saree in no time. Now it was time to make it to the rescheduled Dharavi Slum tour, which began at the Mahim Junction station at 2:30. We met up with the tour guide, and two others, Katherine from New York, and Felipe from Columbia. The tour was a walking tour, and photography was strictly forbidden. The guide informed us that one of their main purposes was to dispel the negative connotations associated with slums and show that there are many enterprising and very hard working people living and working in Dharavi.

Our first place on the tour was the recycling area. As in the book that Megan and I are reading, “Behind the Beautiful Forevers,” people collect recyclable plastic materials from across the city, including bottles, toys, containers, TV housings…pretty much everything that’s not a plastic wrapper (which isn’t recyclable). After sorting, they grind the pieces into rough plastic chips which are melted down, strung into 3 or 4mm diameter thread, and chopped into plastic beads for resale. This particular enterprise is incredibly hot and with toxic smells. The workers handle the material with their bare hands, and with no respiratory protection. In fact, one of the workers handed me a handful of hot beads, and I had to throw them down because they were burning my hand.

The next enterprise that we saw was recycling of tin cooking oil jugs. The jugs are washed, rinsed, dents are pounded out by hand, then they are stacked for re-use by the manufacturer. Most of the workers of these factories live and work in the factories, because they are migrant workers from every part of India trying to earn money to send back to their families. The guide said the factory owners allow it because it doubles as a place for the workers to stay, and free security for their equipment at night.

On the residential side, there weren’t as many toxic smells, but there were cramped alleyways between buildings, and houses that were no bigger than some of our closets (one that we saw was bout 10′x10′. Children were playing nearby in open sewers that crisscross the alley ways, and on mountains of garbage outside. This slum is the size of half of NYC’s Central Park, and with a staggering population density, so people are literally living right on top of one another.

Enterprises also operated on the residential side. The first we saw was a leather treatment business. Although tanning is illegal in Mumbai because of the polution, much of the leatherworking process is done here, and there’s even a factory outlet of sorts, hawking the leather goods they make there.

While we were making our way through the alleyways, we also got several offers from little boys to play cricket, the national pasttime in India. Unfortunately we couldn’t stay (and we have no idea how to play!), but all of the kids were having a blast!

The aforementioned industries are staffed almost chiefly by men, but women also have a food manufacturing business, on contract from a major food manufactuer in India. They make dough, roll it into tortilla-like rounds, and sun-dry them into crispy snacks that are packed and sold.

The tour operator, Reality Tours, is a social entrepreneurship venture which gives 80% of its post-tax profits to its NGO, Reality Gives, in order to improve the conditions in Dharavi. One of the projects is to empower “the least powerful members of this society” with art. They give small children cameras, and send them out to take photos, then they sell the best photos in order to purchase more cameras. We saw some of the photos and ended up buying postcards of some of them after the tour.

Going a little further, toward the end of the tour, there was a ceramics business, creating pots, water jugs, and small clayware. Amazingly, they fire everying in pits between shacks, right in the middle of the residential area.

We were very surprised that all of the residents here were incredibly welcoming and happy to see us. Children cheerfully shouted “hello” as we walked by, but we were never met with any contention. It was striking to be a voyeur into a snapshot of thousands of peoples’ entire lives, happening right there in Dharavi. Although it’s easy to feel an overwhelming sense of despair, it’s also hopeful to see that people are so hardworking, and are making their lives better little by little. In order to try fix this massive poverty, though, the government and NGOs will need to step in and provide assistance and real options for exiting the slums. This is what Reality Gives is doing in the form of education, training, counseling, etc. Check out their website…

I also talked with our tour guide about having some UC students from Serve Beyond Cincinnati visit and work on their projects, and he said it was a definite possibility, but I’d have to talk with the founder of Reality Gives when I return stateside.

We walked twenty minutes, got back on the train, and headed to a different reality of prospering middle class, shopping malls, BMWs, and McDonalds. It can literally be hundreds of yards away – that’s how dramatic the differences in socio-economic conditions are here. Our last dinner came on the recommendation of Cincinnatians Ryan and April who we’d met two days prior. It was a delicious 7th floor rooftop restaurant on one of these shopping malls in the Bandra neighborhood. Megan and I enjoyed some Biriani and Chicken Masala, and of course, our favorite butter naan. By the time we finished, the sun had set, and we headed back for our hotel to collect our bags and head to the airport.

One last surprise, Jitesh met us at our hotel and wish us goodbye and even gave us a gift of flowers and a Lucky Ganesh statue. Again, we were so surprised and heartwarmed by his kindness and willingness to go out of his way to help us out after a completely random meeting. I guess that our failed trip to the forest wasn’t such a failure! Hopefully someday he’ll be able to visit us in the US, or we’ll meet again in India.

Just like that, our eight-day excursion drew to a close. Now we’re on the 18-hour journey home and will head to class when we hit the ground.

UPDATE: Sorry, having trouble uploading pictures…will update from home tonight!

Today was quite an unexpected day, to say the least. We got a bit of a late start, and after grabbing food at the hotel, we weren’t out the door until 10:30 or so. Nonetheless, we decided to try and make the most of the morning before our planned tour of the Daharvi Slum at 2:30, so we jumped on a train heading north (the opposite direction). Our destination was the largest tropical forest in a city, the Ghandi National Forest. We never made it there, because when transferring trains we found that trains somewhere in the system had power failures, which caused a massive backup.

So we waited. And Waited. We talked with some locals who gave us advice on when the train would come. One of the locals who helped us, Jitesh, was especially kind, and offered all kinds of advice on things that we should see, where we should go, etc. As we sat on the train for a couple of (very hot!) hours, we told him that our 2:30 plans would no longer work, and he suggested visiting the house of Ghandi, which was located at a stop near his house. Afterward, he had a suggestion for lunch (which had turned to dinner by this time), we explored the Ghandi house, and got in a cab for Cafe Leopold in the Churchgate area. In the meantime, he went back and got his motorcycle…he has a really cool Yamaha motorcycle and he said that we would drive later (I was scared to wreck it!).

At Leopold’s we chowed down on some more delicous Indian food (see pictures), and had to explain to Jitesh why we were taking pictures of all our food. Ha. They were blaring American 90′s music at the cafe and we all had a good time singing along.

When lunch finished, we headed for Marine drive to cruise around on the motorcycle. When we got there, he first let me drive, and I had to go back to my dirt-bike-riding knowledge to shift, but quickly remembered. It’s a nice bike. Megan went for a spin after we got back (but she didn’t want to drive!). Then we relaxed beside Marine drive and chatted while taking in the sun setting on the skyline.

It was quite an unexpected day, but we were so surprised by the kindness of our new friend. He had gone completely out of the way to help us out, then hang out with us for the rest of the day. On Sunday, our last day, we planned to go to the hanging gardens per Jitesh’s suggestion, and he would meet up with us in the morning to check them out.

but by this time, it was almost too late, and we wouldn’t make it back in time for the Dharavi tour.

What an eventful day! First off, we were eaten alive overnight by mosquitos, so we decided to check out of the hotel and switch to another about 1km away. It turns out that this one is a HUGE upgrade, so we didn’t get any more moquito bites! After we moved everything, we ventured out toward the train station to make our way down to Churchgate, which is near several things that we wanted to see. The train is similar to the one that we took to Mysore from Bangalore – it’s just a train car with doors open and people PACK in like sardines. Interestingly, like many things here, there is a separate car for men and women, but the women are allowed into the mens’ car, so we were still able to ride together.

After about a half an hour we’d reached the last stop, Churchgate, and we walked out of the station to find a very picturesque scene of sandstone buildings buildt in what I’d call Indo-european style (if any architecture people are reading, don’t kill me, because I have no idea!). The buildings feature domed archways and Islamic-style domes, along with ornate edges. Near the station, there was also a large greenspace where college students were playing cricket (we want to learn how to play!), and several large groups of German tourists.

We saw the high court buildings, the university and ducked inside the “members only” library, which was really neat. Nearby, off a traffic circle, we headed for the “Gateway of India,” which is a massive edifice built to honor the king and queen when they came to visit. Immediately behind it is the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, so we went in and checked it out. It’s a VERY nice place…way out of our price range.

As we continued to wander around, we ran into a very exciting surprise: Megan noticed someone with a Cincinnati shirt on. We stopped by and found that these two – Ryan and April – were here with a group of students working on reducing sex slavery in Mumbai (the same group behind the Aruna 5k at UC). We learned a bit about their work, and also had a chance to talk about some other opportunities to get Serve Beyond Cincinnati involved with work in India. We’re planning to meet up when we’re stateside, but it’s a very promising contact, since it’s so hard to find reliable NGO contacts here.

After we grabbed lunch, we headed for two temples that Ryan and April had recommended. Initially, the distance seemed walkable, but we soon found it unsurmountable and jumped in a taxi (taxis are amazingly cheap here – you can go about anywhere for $2 or $3). When we got to the Mahalaxmi area, we saw the Haji Ali mosque at the tip of the land near the sea. We ventured down the long path, where the receded waters (from the tide) yielded children playing amoungst hundreds of tons of garbage and nearly-black water. Inside the mosque, it was neat to see many different types of people. Also interesting is that no footwear is allowed inside temples or mosques (or some other important buildings).

The Mahalaxmi (Hindu) Temple was also nearby, but we found a long line. Luckily, we didn’t leave the line, because when we got inside, we were part of a really neat ceremony of offering, singing, and clapping. We were blessed with some oils, smoke, and ash, then we headed back to collect our shoes. Megan and I agreed that it was probably the coolest thing that we did all day!

After grabbing breakfast at the hotel again, we were off on the scooter for Fort Aguada, which is about 15km to the south. The journey was pretty eventless, save turning around a couple of times because the road looked like someone’s gravel driveway. When we finally made it there, we found the fort quite impressively restored, and flanked with Indian tourists who wanted photos with us. The vistas from the top were quite impressive, and there was a lighthouse nearby. After paying some frivilous fees to enter the lighthouse (including a 20RS fee for a camera), we climbed the winding stairs, and got even better views in private.

On our way out of the Fort area, we stopped at a restaurant called Chilli’s, which was apparently closed when we arrived, but they “opened” for lunch, and we were their first customers. Nonetheless, the food was delicious: we had chicken biriani, and chicken masala with buttery roti (bread similar to naan). Then we were on our way in search of a beach. The first beach, Calagulate, turned out to be a bust. It started with a parking scam of some guys charging for parking (10 RS) on a public street, then when we proceeded to the trash strewn beach (oh, let’s mention that there was also a trash dump beside the beach), it was crowded with rowdy, loud people, and motortoys, none of which we had particular interest in, so we headed out.

Back on “our side” of Goa, the North side, we made our way to the quiet Vagator Beach, where we snagged some recliners in exchange for patronage of a beachside restaurant. The rest of the day was relaxing on the beach, and we perfected our bargaining skills. In between, while enjoying some watermelon, I was charged by a cow. Yes, a cow. So on the advice of a nearby beach-goer, I sprinted toward the ocean. Later, feeling bad for the cow, I made peace and fed it the rinds. Apparently this provided considerable entertainment for the rest of the people watching the situation unfold, especially Megan.

We saw a restaurant perched atop the cliff near the beach where we sat, so we decided to climb up and check it out. It turned out to be a swanky, yet reasonably priced Greek restaurant. Unfortunately, to get a prime table, it was necessary to have a reservation, but they squeezed us in, and we enjoyed our last dinner in Goa with the sunset and sound of waves crashing ashore.

All too soon, we were off to the airport for our next set of adventures on Mumbai!

We grabbed breakfast at the hotel, then got some very interesting directions to “Old Goa” where we would find the Bascillica and St. Francis of Assisi churches. Before we headed to Old Goa, we stopped at a famous market which happens each Wednesday in Anjuna, which is the town where we’re staying. The market was sprawled with tents interwoven about palm trees and tarps, bamboo reeds haphazardly holding up tents, all right beside the beach. Since we arrived early we got the “oh you’re our first customer of the day, so I need to make a sale in order to be ‘lucky’ deals”…as opposed to the ‘you are my friend’ deals that we’d normally get. We had a good time at the market, and got some good deals. I also bought some very UC-spiritied (read: red) “Ray Ban” sunglasses for the scooter driving. Check them out in the pics. They are embarrassingly gaudy.

Instead of hiring a cab for the journey to Old Goa, we gassed up the scootie and headed out. Driving out there wasn’t like on the side roads where our hotel is – instead it’s more of a divided highway, but scooters seem to rule the road, despite the occasional bus and truck. Driving on the left and through roundabouts is quite a welcomed adventure!

Our first stop was the Bascillica, which was a sight. Not only is it really cool because it’s still standing after 300+ years, but it’s quite impressive in today’s terms. Driving down the streets in Old Goa felt like a scene out of a european island because of the palm-lined streets flanking whitewashed buildings. We visited both churches and then grabbed lunch at a nearby stand consisting of fried rice, chicken tikka, and naan. It was delicous, especially because we were so hungry!

St. Francis of Assisi Church

Lunch...before

Lunch...after

After lunch, we were back to the scooter for the trek home, which was just as fun! A quick stop at our room to change into bathing suits, and we made an unexpected find of a Portugese fort atop cliffs near the beach, so we parked and hiked up. After conquering the fort, we decided to do some more hiking and found a pretty neat beach. Instead of heading back to the same spot that we visited yesterday, we stayed there and went for a swim, hung out on the rocks, and enjoyed the sun. By the time we were done, it was time to head back and change for dinner. Now we’re heading out for dinner and drinks near the hotel! Sadly, we head out tomorrow evening.

Beach view from the spontaneous trip to the fort

Another view from the fort

We decided to fly out of Bangalore earlier because we’d heard so many good things about Goa. We headed to the airport first thing in the morning by a combination of rickshaw and taxi, and then had to perform some small miracles when we got there. Our flight was pretty rough — there were two stops before our final stop in Goa, so we just remained on the plane in between the 45 minute stops, making for about a 5-hour journey. When finally in Goa, we were met by someone from out hotel, which turned out to be REALLY nice (see photos).

Hotel Lobby

A view from our room's veranda

Driving in, which was about 50km and took an hour, we saw what we had imagined when we thought of India — there were palm trees everywhere, lots of little houses on hillsides, beaches, and small, windy roads. Being the Indian destination that Goa is, there are also tons of guesthouses, restaurants, and shoppes. We ended up finding ours on a suggestion from a friend of a friend (shout-out to Rich and Mona!), and it is completely awesome. The room is very clean and there are veranda doors that open into a courtyard with a pool!

After dropping our stuff, we wanted to head right to the beach, so we rented a “scootie,” a little Honda scooter that I’d imagine someone at least 50 years older than myself driving. These things are EVERYWHERE in this town, and there are tourists zipping about on the left side of the road. It makes for an interesting driving environment, especially given the crazy Indian drivers, but it’s also a blast.

The beach was extremely nice: there are rock-lined sides, then white-sand flats and gentle waves lapping at the shore. Afterwards, we hiked up the side and grabbed a coconut to drink the water (from a vendor, not the tree), before getting back on the scooter to find a place to eat. Of those, there were boundless opportunities, and we chose a place called Fusion that was placed atop the hill. Per many suggestions, I tried the lemon fish, and Megan had some coconut chicken paneer – both were delicious.

On our way back, were cruising around when we ran the scooter out of petrol! Not to worry, though, apparently most shoppes sell it in 1L water bottles, so we had no problem getting some. Next, we headed back to hang out in the pool and relax. This place is really nice! Tomorrow we are heading off to see old churches built in the 17th century by the Portuguese, as well as a market, and whatever else we can find!

We left CVG on Friday evening around 6:00 PM on the direct to Paris. It was the longest flight that Megan had been on, and I felt bad that she couldn’t get much sleep. I was smashing emails all night, so I know when we landed everyone on the recipient list was probably ticked! After a brief layover and catching a shower in the AF lounge there (which, by the way, is MUCH nicer than the SkyClubs in the US — they give you toiletries and have real espresso). We jumped on a flight to Bangalore which would take about 10 hours. By the time we arrived here, it was midnight and we had been traveling for about 22 hours.

Although we looked at our hotel online, the pictures weren’t worth the thousand words that we’d imagined when we paid. I guess “you get what you pay for” also comes into play here. We did catch some good sleep, though, so by morning, we had less to complain about when ventured out. Our goal was just to immerse ourselves in the city and see what we could find, so we stopped by a very authentic Indian restaurant for breakfast first thing. After we chowed down on some naan with what seemed like a paste (wish I could have understood the name of it — it was good), we headed out and saw some buses, so we jumped on. This particular bus terminated at the top of a hill where we had a pretty good view of the city.

Now an aside about this city. Even heading in from the airport, we were taken completely aback by the poverty and disorganization in many of the areas…Megan and I both likened it to what we saw in Haiti at this time last year. Nonetheless, the development is much better; the technology infrastructure and level of education seems much more advanced than we’d have guessed. The sights, sounds, and smells are what I live for; you can really take this in: from smelling fresh flowers in a woman’s hair, to incense at a Hindu temple, to rivers of sewage, it’s a whole sensory package.

After our bus adventure, we made friends with an English-speaking woman, who told us which bus would take us back downtown so that we could visit the Cobban Park and Parliament buildings. Both were very nice, and the park was quite expansive – surprising for the crowdedness of the city! Our preferred mode of transportation, second to walking, is the rickshaw. These things are three wheeled dirt bikes with a bench seat on the back and are apt for dodging head-on buses, pedestrians, cows, potholes and just about anything else. On top of driving on the left, we were in for quite a surprise, but still a ton of fun!

Sunday wrapped as Megan got a henna tatoo, and tried tea for the first time (and I can’t think of anything better to try than Indian spiced chai; it was outstanding!). On an also unrelated note, it’s interesting to see the McDonald’s menu devoid of any beef, which would be taboo to eat here.

Dinner - Day 1

As our day wrapped, we looked forward to our day trip to Mysore, which we took today. Around 7:00 we jumped in a rickshaw for the train station and got tickets for about $1 for the 3 1/2 hour journey. When we arrived, we noted that it seemed much more laid back and the traffic wasn’t as bad. Our rickshaw driver had a great place for us to eat lunch, and we ended up having some delicious rice and samosas while meeting a French woman who had interesting stories (ask us about those sometime). After lunch we took the tip of another rickshaw driver to climb a large hill with about 1300 steps prior to visiting the Mysore Palace, which was our main impetus behind the day trip. The climb was pretty intense, and we finally made it to the top after a few breaks (Megan wasn’t feeling well, but then after some water, felt much better). On the way up, I bought some sugar cane to munch on — hadn’t had it since I was a young kid! The temple at the top was unfortunately closed until later in the day, so we had to descend without seeing it, but the outside is beautiful, as were the views.

Rice Fields from the Train

When we got to the bottom of the steps again, we had put some Tang mix in our water bottles, which apparently monkeys are fond of…the ended up surrounding Megan and I in search of our drinks (which we didn’t know); one was climbing on me and another few standing around us. Finally, someone shouted that they wanted the bottle, so we both threw them and the monkey merrily sipped our Tang from beside the path.

Back on the rickshaw, we headed to the Mysore Palace, which was quite an impressive edifice. Interestingly, it was used by the ruling family there until the independence in 1947. We got an audio tour, which was well worth it, and roamed around the palace…barefoot (as was compulsory, a sign of respect). The entire palace was absolutely breathtaking; it was clear they had spared no expense! As we were walking around the grounds, we saw some elephants, so we hastened the pace toward them. Their owners, of course, offered us to pet them…and then ride them, so we obliged! They were pretty docile as they had obviously been accustomed to this. We had a blast…especially since we didn’t expect to ride any elephants there!

Outside Mysore Palace

Elephants!

Elephant Rides!

The train ride back was quite long as it was delayed by approx 1 hour due to trains in front us. It was also hot, because we paid for the cheap seats without AC! Tomorrow morning we head back to the airport for Goa. More from there.