Weekend Adventure

On Sunday, Matt and I went on an adventure to South Mumbai. It involved riding a tuk tuk (like a cab) to the train station. All traffic is insane here. Every vehicle weaves in and out of one another in total chaos but it seems to work. There are no doors or windows on the tuk tuk and it does not go that fast. I loved riding in the tuk tuk!

At the train station, we were found ourselves being enveloped by a swarm of people. They were not ashamed to stare... relentlessly. Dressed in a white tank top and brown shorts, I received disdainful looks from most of the women that walked by me. Yet, I didn't feel threatened by anyone. I felt like maybe I was disrespecting them by wearing something that did not fit their fashion.

Across the tracks there was a large slum. People were disappearing and reappearing from its units. Garbage carpeted more garbage which carpeted the ground. Then my eyes found a little girl swinging on a makeshift swing. A pole, a large ladder leaning on the pole and a short ladder laid horizontally above her head held the scarf or blanket that supported her little body. Amid the filth and chaos, she rocked back and forth not seeing what I was seeing. Just swinging. Appreciative of her lesson to me and the moment, I took out my camera to take a picture of her. After snapping the shot, I realized the intended subject of my picture was no longer the focus -- a little boy had run in front of her, squatted down and publicly emptied his bowels. No one noticed or cared. He stayed there for as long as he needed to balancing on trash. She kept swinging.

I was glad Matt was with me. I would not have wanted to that wait alone.

Then we took about a 40 min train ride down to Churchgate (the last stop). They do not use the doors on the train so people often hang out of trains for air. Often trains are completely packed -- capacity is 1700 people but during rush hours you may find one with 4700 people (17 people crammed within 1 square meter). 8 people on average die each day as a result of the trains. We were lucky to have a fairly empty train in both directions.



On our way to the Gateway of India, we got lost a little bit which is always a great way to see things you normally wouldn't. After making our way through a few back streets containing goats, food markets, highly decorated horses and carriages, entire families on one motorcycle, different types of housing and shops, we found our way to our destination.

After our adventure, we returned to the hotel and jumped in the pool. It was a great day. :)