Advertisement
Published: March 9th 2015
Edit Blog Post
From Kochi I flew with SpiceJet to Pune, located in the state of Maharashtra. The city is located about 140km southeast of Mumbai and has around 4 million people. Honestly, there wasn’t much interesting stuff to see and do here and I didn't visit for tourism. The reason I went to Pune was to catch up with Saiprasad, and Indian guy I hosted two years ago in Curaçao through Couchsurfing. We always remained in touch and he travels a lot too, so we had a lot of stories to share. Given the fact that Pune isn’t too far from Mumbai, I decided to fly to Pune and stay for just three days before continuing to Mumbai. I spent most of my time with Sai and his family and friends, going to the mall, going to a bar, watching movies, go to the cinema and so on. Nothing special to mention. And of course I had plenty of time to do some typing and search for information about upcoming destinations.
I took a bus from Pune to Mumbai, which took about 3.5 hours.
Mumbai (or Bombay) is the largest city in India by population with about 14 million people and
it's the financial capital of the country. It’s a very hectic city and I was immediately able to experience that from the moment I stepped out of the bus at Dadar bus-station. So many scooters, cars, taxis and pedestrians; so much noise and constant honking! I had to go to the toilet and I crossed the street to use a public toilet on the corner. They had some urinals there and the stench was unbearable. I had never, ever smelled such a bad urine odour before! Even though I knew what to expect of Mumbai, it was still a bit overwhelming and I did not like the city! I seriously considered skipping Mumbai but I'm happy that I got to see and experience a little of the city! I was invited by a couchsurfer, Frazan, who hosted me in the city for 3 nights. It was the first time in just over a year that I used Couchsurfing again. I took a taxi to Frazan’s apartment and after driving for about three minutes, the engine stopped running and they had to push the taxi to the side of the road. They called another taxi to proceed with my ride. Frazan
was a very friendly guy and an excellent host. He was extremely helpful and explained in details how to get around Mumbai. There was also a Polish couchsurfer, Marchin, staying there and together we explored the city a little bit. Frazan himself was pretty busy with work so we didn't spend much time with him. We took a train to South Mumbai, where we wandered around for some time. Taking the train is an adventure on its own. The doors remain open and people like to stand at the door, even when the train is moving. Apparently, an average of 10 people die every day on the trains in and around Mumbai. We arrived at the station and went down on the platform just when a train was leaving. Marchin went quickly on board but he remained near the door, blocking the entrance a little. I had to tell him quickly to move while the train already started to move and I had to run a little bit and jump on board!
South Mumbai is where the big arch is located, Gateway of India, which was built in the 1920’s to commemorate the visit of British royals in
1911. Many buildings in South Mumbai were built in European style. The luxurious Taj Mahal Palace Hotel is also located here, which was one of the targets during the November 2008 terrorist attacks. We had a short walk inside this world famous hotel. From a pier close to the Gateway of India, we boarded a boat that took us to Elephanta Island, just off the coast in the Arabian Sea. The ride lasted about one hour. The island is well known for its caves, which are temples with several sculptures carved out of rocks. It is not exactly known when they were done, but it’s estimated that it must have been around the 6
th or 7
th century. Some sculptures are pretty well preserved, many others were not. The arrival of the Portuguese in the 1500’s didn't do the caves any good.
The next day we took a slum-tour. As most people know, poverty is very much present and visible in India and many people live in slums. This company organizes walking tours through Dharavi, a slum with about a million inhabitants and it’s the largest in India. The majority of the profit they make, goes back to the
community in the form of projects. Pictures were not allowed inside the slum but I was a little bit naughty and quickly snapped just “one” picture with my phone. To enter the slum we had to walk over a bridge which crosses above the rail road. From the bridge we were allowed to take pictures and from here you already get a good impression of what you’re about to see once you go down the stairs and enter the slum. On the right there were kids playing cricket but the field had a lot of garbage laying around. A whole disorganized block of shacks and houses made of inadequate material and roofs full of plastic and other rubbish is what your eyes will be seeing when standing on that bridge. It rained a little bit the day before, so there was a lot of mud. It’s chaotic, it’s busy, at some parts it stinks, dirty water flows along the streets at some parts, children walking bare feet and playing close to a pile of garbage just behind their house. None of these things surprised me, since I knew what to expect. I've seen slums in Venezuela, Philippines, Argentina, Ghana and
Cambodia for example, but it was the first time I actually walked this much through one. All I could think about, again, was how fortunate I am. That’s the reason why we should appreciate the things we have and count our blessings, instead of complaining too much and being materialistic. Dharavi has electricity and water supply, which makes it a pretty good slum compared to those that do not have these basic services. Some of the alleys in Dharavi were so narrow that the bigger people among us would not fit through! If you go without a guide, you will get lost for sure because many of these streets and alleys do not appear on Google Maps. What I really liked about Dharavi is the fact that the majority of the people actually work, they struggle, they try to move forward and they don’t just sit down doing nothing. Everywhere you look, you’d see so many people doing something. I enjoyed watching groups of women, happily sitting down together, rolling dough and then put them to dry in the sun on some things that look like big Vietnamese hats. That's the way they make papad. There is a big plastic
recycling industry in Dharavi which provides work for a lot of people. We had the chance to enter into one of the recycling places where we got an ample explanation about the industry. Other major industries include clay potting and embroidery. The working conditions are far from good and healthy. We were told that they have safety equipment, but most employees don’t want to use them because it gets very hot. We also visited a community centre opened by the tour company where they have a classroom but since it was Sunday, there was no class. The tour finished at the main office of the company from where we were brought back to the train station.
The next day I took a sleeper-bus to travel further to the north. It was a pain in the ass to get a bus-ticket. I wanted to travel by train but the trains do not run every day. The main problem with the bus was the fact that I couldn’t book it online because they do not accept international credit cards. I called them but I couldn’t understand the guy because of his accent, so I decided to send an e-mail instead.
They called me the next morning and said that they’re going to deliver the ticket where I was staying and I had to pay in cash, which was an excellent service! More from India in the next blog!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.541s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 31; qc: 144; dbt: 0.1973s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.5mb
carmen
non-member comment
Ik mis n beetje gevoel enzo in je blog wuahaha :-P