Slum Dog Millionaire city

---

Hiya Guys
Mumbai - Slum dog Millionaire city, just a fleeting visit on my way home - 2 nights and I full day!. It is huge over 18 million people crammed into this peninsular of originally 6 islands once linked together by causeways now one heaving mass of roads buildings and humanity. People have come to Mumbai from all over India to find work and be a part of its success, It is the commercial and financial centre of the sub continent and was first founded by the Portuguese when vasco de garma sailed into its waters, It is on the coast of the Arabian sea and soon became crucial in the trade routes and flourished when first the East India company was involved and then the Brits took charge!! The Uk has left its mark all over the world , remembering the pink bits on the atlas when we all were in school - more than half the world seemed to be in that colour - it certainly shows here with Victorian gothic architecture and the bureaucracy that is India !

I had a guide and a driver to whisk me around the city, when I say whisked , that perhaps is a euphuism as the traffic does not permit much movement let alone whisking. Mumbai does not have a subway unlike Delhi so everything has to travel by road or train. The train system is timely and vast India has the biggest network in the world with over 700,000klms of track ( I think that’s right though it could be 70,00klms , I have had so many facts bombard my brain that its begun to shut down!) We strolled through the immense Victoria Station which handles over 1.5 million passengers a day , it was teeming , I couldn’t take photos since this is banned after the Mumbai attacks in 2008, The Indians are very sensitive now which is quite understandable so again no photos when I visited the very famous Taj Palace hotel which too was stormed on that date and many people died. I should have stayed there, and remembered India in great class and comfort , it really is sumptious and was re-opened in October last year. It was built in the very early 20 century and has seen the rich and famous pass through its doors.the Arabian sea is across the road from the hotel and the gate of India dominates by King Georg V's in 1911
the landscape built to commemorate a visit

Mumbai is famous for the two amazing areas of work , the dabbawallah's precision collection and delivery of tiffin lunch boxes and the open laundry. dabba means box and wallah means a person who does something. They handle several thousand tiffin boxes a day which come in from the suburbs by the train system , They are collected from Victoria station by the wallahs and distributed to a number of different points across the city. They are then sorted into small areas with the wallahs knowing exactly which boxes go where. Their error rate is 1:1.5 million deliveries!!!. it is incredible that it works so well , the system relies on the railways which run on time with only the monsoons sometimes disrupting the service. It is work at its very best and international przes have been won. ! The open laundry is also pretty wonderful with individuals , businesses and hotel using the service which washes and dries mostly sheets and towels but also clothes. It covers quite an area and provides work for scores of men

The most humbling experience in Mumbai was visiting the home of gandhi and tracing his life through words and photos. I think we are all aware of what he stood for, , he was anti partition, wrote to hitler to try and prevent the war, and wanted to improve the lot of the poor, he used civil disobediance to make his points. He wanted to stop the importation of British finished cotton materials and he campaigned to recind the law which prevented the making of salt in India. British imports were he thought taking away the skills and work from the indians. He was assinated, but his legacy lives on. I don't know what it was , I am not a spiritual person but I was immensly touched by the visit and it has prompted me to want to learn more about him

And so we have it! rajasthan in 3 weeks and what a good time we had! I had wonderful company , a brill tour guide in Paula, a driver who safely got us from pillar to post and a country that is just full to the top with history and culture. I take away a country that has some of the riches people in the world and some of the very poorest , under 50% of the people are literate, India has the highest infant mortality rate in the world, It is full of rubbish everywhere, it is dusty and colouful. I will be back to sample the wonders of the south- till the next time!

xxx

---

Photos

The Dabbawallah
The men who pick up and distribute the tiffin ( lunch) boxes with few errors!