Bombay, India

In case you skipped the Mumbai post and did not know that Mumbai and Bombay are one in the same, I thought I'd mix it up a bit. Mumbai was the name chosen by the governor in 1996 to make it more local and the roots of the name come from the names of some famous figures in the local culture. Bombay was the name selected by the British.

With 24 million people in town, and having seen Slumdog Millionaire, and having seen Bollywood actively promoted on global flights all fall, our curiosity was peaked. So, we did 3 amazing tours with local guides to get to know these two wildly varied cultural experiences (slum and bollywood). That meant taking a slum tour first. Yes, its a thing. What's more amazing is how vibrant and open the slum, Dharavi was. Per the guides, it's a way of life (which we find incredibly hard to believe, but will reserve judgement), and even some millionaires choose to live this way. Children line the narrow, one person wide ally ways. The place resembles a bunker, with water and mud and trash strewn pathways and doorways everywhere. The people are friendly; Americans are welcome visitors or so it seemed and our fair skin and blue eyes garnered much attention. The people living here work here. There are one business shops (selling just hats, or just suitcases, or just books) everywhere, with a commercial side and a residence side. Plastic recycling and other forms of metals and materials sorting, crushing and filtering are big businesses, as are fabric printing and textile making for the local people. Women wear Saris and these are everywhere for purchase, even in the slums. The colorful dress of women is even within the slums. Strange to an outsider but the norm. The situation seems tenable until you realize that there is one bathroom for every 1500 people and 1 million people living in 500 acres. Also, there are all these children, not in school for the most part, filthy and seemingly on their own. What was fascinating was the reported lack of crime. India is a country steeped in tradition and deeply religious, whether that be Hindu or Muslim or Buddhist. There is also a strong belief in the cast system, that you are born into your class and must be grateful for your lot in life. While we would never venture in the slum alone, we felt entirely safe. People were welcoming, or worst case fully ignoring our presence there. We took limited pictures out of respect but caught a few when empty areas permitted. We also got some great pictures of the major laundry depot, which is globally known and sits on some incredibly valuable real estate.

From the slum we headed straight for Bollywood, a make shift Hollywood in the outskirts of the city. We were able to watch some live taping of local soaps and series, as well as seeing a classic studio at work and seeing some company dancers. S took a pic with a soap star. We didnt know who she was but she was kind enough to let us play along for a bit.

Our third tour will be the subject of the next post, as the sites, smells and sounds were too amazing to lump them all together.