Back in Mumbai

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Travel blog 6.24.2010

Back to india—this time for a year three program: global poverty and economic development. Travel to India was as smooth as silk—just long. Chicago to Frankfurt Germany. Then Frankfurt to Mumbai. The body clock does get messed up when flying 18 hours to the east. We left at 4pm on Tuesday and arrived at 9pm on Wednesday. So a day is lost to the airplanes. When you exit the airport in Mumbai two things hit you right away are the heat and the people: lots of both. In fact there are so many drivers and drivers helpers that you feel you might entertain them with a dance or something.

We had a relatively easy first day for us in India—getting settled and making our plans for the next few days. We then surveyed our conference room space took a walk on the street in front of the hotel—something we plan to have our participants do tomorrow. Even a short walk in Mumbai gets you thinking about water and waste management. How do 17 million people have enough water to drink, and systems to remove their waste? The answer is they don’t. This is the largest city on the earth, and getting larger every day, one account is that 900 people per day move to Mumbai.

In the evening we took a car from our hotel to South Mumbai—the tourist heart of the city—to see the Taj Hotel and the Gateway to India. In South Mumbai, you feel you in Mahattan—with wonderful shopping, cafes, architecture, and the center of the city. But unlike New York the growth here means the whole suburbs grow up overnight.

Here are some photos of the team—Matt, Imroz, Amit, Lane and Emily. The great thing about this institute is that we have a great team, so we will be able to overcome many challenges.

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Photos

Emily, Amit and Lane
In front of our hotel in Mumbai

Comments

[Cecilia]

Best Wishes!!
Matt- Don't you miss me in India? Good times - wish I were there this time. Well, you know I will be following you and the team and I wish you all the best! Cecilia :)

[Joan]

great team!