After the adventures of Goa I headed to another indian metropolis: Mumbai!
I took a night train from Margaon to Mumbai. I sat down at my seat and was suprised the train was so empty! About an hour later when the train stopped at an station I noticed people staring at me. It was an entire indian family. Apparently they reserved the other berths in the compartment and were flabbergasted at what a white person was doing in their seat. They stood there for a few seconds staring at me. Their faces were priceless! Slowly they arranged and sked me if I was really in the right seat, so I showed them my ticket and they realised the family was split into 3 groups.. They didn't ask me to swap or anything or talked to me after that. I heard them joking using the word "english", I guess they were wondering about if they'd have to use english now that I was in their midst.
Only later, when they were having dinner they asked me, if I could move and let them all eat together. This again was a wonderful picture, though I was too afraid to ask to take one. Probably 12 people had gathered, some sitting on the floor, 4 on each berth and talking, opening their huge bags and pulling out huge amounts of food. They had Biriyani, sambar, other sauces and chicken. They all shared it and had a nice time. Once they were done they split again and I was able to eat (after they had finished I got my ordered food from the train-pantry). A lovely family experience =)
I took a night train from Margaon to Mumbai. I sat down at my seat and was suprised the train was so empty! About an hour later when the train stopped at an station I noticed people staring at me. It was an entire indian family. Apparently they reserved the other berths in the compartment and were flabbergasted at what a white person was doing in their seat. They stood there for a few seconds staring at me. Their faces were priceless! Slowly they arranged and sked me if I was really in the right seat, so I showed them my ticket and they realised the family was split into 3 groups.. They didn't ask me to swap or anything or talked to me after that. I heard them joking using the word "english", I guess they were wondering about if they'd have to use english now that I was in their midst.
Only later, when they were having dinner they asked me, if I could move and let them all eat together. This again was a wonderful picture, though I was too afraid to ask to take one. Probably 12 people had gathered, some sitting on the floor, 4 on each berth and talking, opening their huge bags and pulling out huge amounts of food. They had Biriyani, sambar, other sauces and chicken. They all shared it and had a nice time. Once they were done they split again and I was able to eat (after they had finished I got my ordered food from the train-pantry). A lovely family experience =)
After arriving I headed to a small "hostel" quite far away from anything happening. Getting there was interesting. It was basically a "hostel" inside an appartment. So while I was walking with my big backpack people asked if I was searching for the hostel and sent me down alleyways untill I ended at an dead end and only thanks to 2 other backpackers, who were exiting the building I found out it was actually in there. One floor was remade to a hostel, with bunkbeds and the lot.
I soon met up with Will and Christina again and we did a tour through one of the Slums of Mumbai, the Dhavari Slum (it was featured in the movie slumdog millionaire, though people from the slum dislike the movie, claiming it shows a person from the slum but actually portraying a person from a different place or something like that...). It was really interesting. Someone I met told me that Mumbai was the most dirtiest city he saw in India and people were living in garbage. But in the slum I saw they were more living of it rather than in it.
They were recycling alot of old plastic and many other smaller industries were housed here (like tailors, making trousers, shirts, gloves and suitcases). Another one was a leather shop, who named their business after the slum: Dharavi.
Our tourguide (who grew up in the slum himself) said it's good quality and in the shop in the slums it's much cheaper than at other places. Same with most of the other places here, once they move to stores the prices go way up.
The tour was really nice and was organised by a NGO called "Reality Gives". Alot of the money from the activities and tours go towards their project, to support children from the slums. So here the kids could learn different subjects additionally to school and get help and support.
At the end they sold some of the articles people living in the slums made with the help of the project. It is a fair trade based upcycling system. So old Sarees would be made to scarfs, bags and other things. But they would also use other materials to create more.
Mumbai has a really high population density, it is over doulbe than that of London or Hamburg. There are still alot of slums, though the govournment is trying to get these people better living spaces, but is bound by a law made a few decades ago, where new slums won't be allowed, but the old ones preserved. So unless the people leave the slums voluntarily, the cannot force anyone out of there.
I soon met up with Will and Christina again and we did a tour through one of the Slums of Mumbai, the Dhavari Slum (it was featured in the movie slumdog millionaire, though people from the slum dislike the movie, claiming it shows a person from the slum but actually portraying a person from a different place or something like that...). It was really interesting. Someone I met told me that Mumbai was the most dirtiest city he saw in India and people were living in garbage. But in the slum I saw they were more living of it rather than in it.
They were recycling alot of old plastic and many other smaller industries were housed here (like tailors, making trousers, shirts, gloves and suitcases). Another one was a leather shop, who named their business after the slum: Dharavi.
Our tourguide (who grew up in the slum himself) said it's good quality and in the shop in the slums it's much cheaper than at other places. Same with most of the other places here, once they move to stores the prices go way up.
The tour was really nice and was organised by a NGO called "Reality Gives". Alot of the money from the activities and tours go towards their project, to support children from the slums. So here the kids could learn different subjects additionally to school and get help and support.
At the end they sold some of the articles people living in the slums made with the help of the project. It is a fair trade based upcycling system. So old Sarees would be made to scarfs, bags and other things. But they would also use other materials to create more.
Mumbai has a really high population density, it is over doulbe than that of London or Hamburg. There are still alot of slums, though the govournment is trying to get these people better living spaces, but is bound by a law made a few decades ago, where new slums won't be allowed, but the old ones preserved. So unless the people leave the slums voluntarily, the cannot force anyone out of there.
Me infront of the slum, picture taken by Will
The next days Christina, Will and I did some more sight seeing, visited the Gateway of India, through which in 1947 the last british troops left India.
The Gateway of India, directly by the ocean and quite nice!
And a fancy Hotel (I think) close by in a victorian british style (or something like that)
And I was in contact with Peter. Peter was our neighbor and we spent alot of time together playing after school and also in school. He was in the same class as my older brother, so they were almost inseperable. I had met his mother in Kodaikanal and was now eager to meet him once again.
We met one evening for a few drinks, Will joined us. We talked alot about the old days, Kodaikanal, what he was up to and so on. He is currently working for a big company and visited a very good business school, so alot is expected of him but he makes alot of money. Thanks to this he has only little time left for holidays and is only rarely in Kodaikanal, but is travelling around India on business trips.
It was great meeting him again and I enjoyed seeing him in such a good place and being able to talk again as adults. His company was going to send him to Delhi in the middle of october (when I'd also be there), sadly that meeting had been postponed so he couldn't make it. But next time I'm in India we'll definately meet I hope =)
We met one evening for a few drinks, Will joined us. We talked alot about the old days, Kodaikanal, what he was up to and so on. He is currently working for a big company and visited a very good business school, so alot is expected of him but he makes alot of money. Thanks to this he has only little time left for holidays and is only rarely in Kodaikanal, but is travelling around India on business trips.
It was great meeting him again and I enjoyed seeing him in such a good place and being able to talk again as adults. His company was going to send him to Delhi in the middle of october (when I'd also be there), sadly that meeting had been postponed so he couldn't make it. But next time I'm in India we'll definately meet I hope =)
The last day I headed to the Helen Keller Institute in Mumbai. Helen Keller was a blind and deaf woman who had achieved some fame in her day and is often shown as a prodigy, that educating people, who are deaf and blind, works. There are several institutions named after her in the USA (where she lived) but the one in Mumbai only shares the name. Unfortunately I arrived too late at the school and so teaching was over. But I was able to talk with the head of the educational board of the school.
She told me, that their teachers are all trained by the institution and so are more or less specialized in deaf and blind education. The building I visited housed the school for mostly children with multiple disabilities, so deaf and blind or other "combinations". The deaf school was a little further away more in the "new Mumbai" area. When I asked about the Cochlear implant she explained it is too expensive in India. And they would always tell the parents, that the surgery isn't the only step. After this the child needs extensive training to learn how to cope with the implants and maybe be able to hear again. Often this makes the parents think double to pay this huge sum of money. So the main form of communication is sign language. She showed me a book, that people from this Helen Keller Institute made, which contained alot of signs. Here was shown clearly the origins of the sign language. Depending if the schools had british founders they'd use the two-handed alphabeth or if it was more us-american they'd use the one-handed alphabeth. She also explained, that almost every school uses a different set of signs and so the talking between them is difficult. But they manage. In their school they'd use a system more similar to ASL (American Sign Language). While the school in Andhra Pradesh used something derived from BSL (British Sign Language).
It was very interesting to talk with her and hear about the work in their school.
She told me, that their teachers are all trained by the institution and so are more or less specialized in deaf and blind education. The building I visited housed the school for mostly children with multiple disabilities, so deaf and blind or other "combinations". The deaf school was a little further away more in the "new Mumbai" area. When I asked about the Cochlear implant she explained it is too expensive in India. And they would always tell the parents, that the surgery isn't the only step. After this the child needs extensive training to learn how to cope with the implants and maybe be able to hear again. Often this makes the parents think double to pay this huge sum of money. So the main form of communication is sign language. She showed me a book, that people from this Helen Keller Institute made, which contained alot of signs. Here was shown clearly the origins of the sign language. Depending if the schools had british founders they'd use the two-handed alphabeth or if it was more us-american they'd use the one-handed alphabeth. She also explained, that almost every school uses a different set of signs and so the talking between them is difficult. But they manage. In their school they'd use a system more similar to ASL (American Sign Language). While the school in Andhra Pradesh used something derived from BSL (British Sign Language).
It was very interesting to talk with her and hear about the work in their school.
Modern Architecture of Mumbai: A walkover above a very very busy junction of junctions
A Mosque I stumbled across while wandering through town
In the evening I met with Christina and William again, we saw a movie in and old cinema. "The magnificent 7" is a western, of a "typical" us-style. 7 cool good guys fight 1000000 bad guys and win. Though not every good guy survives. And the us-american flag wasn't always visible, which was a nice touch.
But in all an ok action movie and so we headed to the train station to get into a train to Jalgaon, a city from where we could get to the Ajanta caves (oooold monastaries of buddhist monks). We arrived there not too early but not too late and when I didn't see our train written anywhere we asked at the enquiry and they said the train leaves at a different station! Mumbai has approxametely 5 big train stations. Or 10? I don't know. This one was new to me and I still don't know what the abbreviation for the mumbai central station is. Our ticket said mcst (mumbai central station, right?!), nope. So we rushed to a taxi and he sped to the right station, luckily just in time, so we could get into the trian. Damn that was annoying... I just jumped into a coach thinking the coaches are all connected and walkable (from my previous travels), but apparently there were several AC-cars between the one I got in and the one I should be in. the others just ran outside the train and then I had to wait till the first station to be able to ge to my berth...
Annoying. The guy should have told us, when we bought the ticket, we asked if it would leave here (we bought it at the central station) he said yes... Bah!
But we made it and were finally able to relax a little and eventually sleep and arrive in the early morning in Jalgaon...
But in all an ok action movie and so we headed to the train station to get into a train to Jalgaon, a city from where we could get to the Ajanta caves (oooold monastaries of buddhist monks). We arrived there not too early but not too late and when I didn't see our train written anywhere we asked at the enquiry and they said the train leaves at a different station! Mumbai has approxametely 5 big train stations. Or 10? I don't know. This one was new to me and I still don't know what the abbreviation for the mumbai central station is. Our ticket said mcst (mumbai central station, right?!), nope. So we rushed to a taxi and he sped to the right station, luckily just in time, so we could get into the trian. Damn that was annoying... I just jumped into a coach thinking the coaches are all connected and walkable (from my previous travels), but apparently there were several AC-cars between the one I got in and the one I should be in. the others just ran outside the train and then I had to wait till the first station to be able to ge to my berth...
Annoying. The guy should have told us, when we bought the ticket, we asked if it would leave here (we bought it at the central station) he said yes... Bah!
But we made it and were finally able to relax a little and eventually sleep and arrive in the early morning in Jalgaon...
Pictures of the Dhoti Ghat (place of the laundry men/ business):
Drying clothes on a rooftop
View from above
Even more clothes hanging t dry, mostly sorted by colours
Random pic of the day: India! Newest member of the EU?! Britain is out, India comes in... sounds fair
Haha, cool xD
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