Mumbai, India - day 1

We docked in Mumbai, India, a city of 23 million persons soon after we woke this morning. We had a tour scheduled (not with Oceania but through a travel agency) called “The Real Slumdog Millionaire” after the movie “Slumdog Millionaire.” Ronnie really wasn’t interested in going but I had purchased the tour some months back. We rode the shuttle a short distance to the port gate where we met up with our guide, a really sweet local gal from – you guessed it - the slums. I can’t pronounce her real name but she told us to call her “Diva” which was close, and easier to pronounce.

 

a friendly greeting as we disembarked from the ship

children come to car window asking for money

It was extremely hot and also very humid since it had rained earlier this morning. We began our walk after a bathroom stop at a coffee shop. From there we walked across the street toward the train station where we climbed several levels of stairs to reach the bridge that crossed over the tracks. There were many pedestrians on the bridge with homeless people sleeping here and there on the concrete floors - filthy with nothing more than the clothes on their bodies.

Hindu gods & goddesses on car dashboards

car dashes become little altars

darling little boys with baby goat

We were late in meeting her due to slow lines through customs and passport control but she was patiently waiting for us. We learned that there was another couple from the ship on the tour so we waited another 30 minutes or so for them to arrive. An hour later than our tour time, the 5 of us were driven by car to an area near the Dharavi Slums. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dharavi  On the way, she asked each of us “what comes to your mind when you hear the word “slum”? Only after hearing everyone’s answers, did she tell us that she lives there, and that she hates the word “slum”, preferring to use the word “chawls” instead. Right away, I realized that she was taking us to her own neighborhood! So we tried very hard not to react negatively to whatever we were seeing.

 

sorting trash (L) banana vendors (R)

contemplating stealing some bananas

he grabbed some, but was quickly shoo'd away, leaving bananas on the street

getting a shave

 

Dharavi is considered to be one of the world’s largest slums. It has a population of one million people, and is one of the most densely populated areas in the world!

 

Dharavi market

Hindu temple

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open for business

Our guide explained to us that the 3 main industries in the slums are plastic recycling, leather work and pottery. She took us first to the area where they chop any and all kinds of plastic into small pieces, melt it and form it into pellets for resale. We walked on through an area where they were processing animal hides and lastly into a small shop where the popular Dharavi bags, wallets, backpacks, etc were for sale. Of course she gave us ample time to make a purchase. We didn’t buy anything but we appreciated the short reprieve in the AC.

 

pressing animal hides

molds to simulate animal skins

Dharavi leather goods sold here

stacks of pressed animal skins (no cow)

 

From there she took us through an area that appeared to be more “residential” on our way to the market (actually, people live everywhere). Between the heat and the smell, it was quite unpleasant at times. We definitely stuck out because of our skin color and we felt like “strangers in these parts.” I tried to be very discreet when taking photos. But I also got the feeling that some of the people working were used to seeing tour groups come through as they seemed not to mind at all if I snapped a quick photo. 

 

sewing room

plastic chipper

making some type of flat bread

One can find pretty much anything in the street market – clothes, shoes, meats, fruits, vegetables, etc. Needless to say, poverty was everywhere. Our guide told us that the people living there are India’s middle class. I’m not so sure about that. 

 

getting a breath of fresh air in the plastics area

 

to market, to market

this lady was scraping glue from the back of linoleum

fresh produce

a peek through the barbershop door

 

street life

store front

 

Next, she had planned to take us to the area where pottery is made (where she lives). The walk was much longer than she told us and I started feeling worse and worse. I don’t think I mentioned that I’ve been sick the last several days with some kind of upper respiratory thing. I was tested for covid at the ship clinic; thankfully I tested negative. So these last 2 days at sea I’ve rested a lot and treated the symptoms, thinking I was good enough to go this morning. On the way to the pottery making area, I started feeling like my legs could actually give out from under me! I’ve never had that happen before but I’m guessing it was a combination of having been sick, the heat, the odor and all the walking. All of a sudden I envisioned myself lying on the street in Mumbai! I told our guide that I wasn’t feeling well and asked the other couple if they wanted to go to the pottery place. This being their third visit to India, the woman said she had “seen enough” and that they were fine to cut the tour short. I was able to sit down on some steps in the shade for the next 20 minutes while we waited on an Uber to pick us up. I hate that it happened because I really would have enjoyed seeing the pottery making area, but I was in no shape to continue on.

 

sitting in the doorway

egg delivery

It was obvious our guide didn’t want to accompany us back to the ship (she was already in her neighborhood and that meant another trip to the port and back for her. I would have liked to have told her she didn’t need to accompany us but in reality, we preferred that she stay with us. What if something happened and here we are in a foreign country, not speaking the language and in the car with a complete stranger. So we told her we would appreciate her accompanying us back to the ship. She was a very sweet girl but we were surprised that a tour guide would trust tourists to get back to the ship on their own, even if she did call us an Uber. lol

 

some type of flatbread drying in the sun

machine squeezes sugar cane

headed to the market

some Muslim men die their beards red

busy market

About 40% of the population of Dharavi is Muslim, compared to 19% in Mumbai overall. The Christian population is estimated to be about 6%, while the rest are predominantly Hindus (53%), with some Buddhists and other minority religions. Among the people, about 20% work on animal skin production, tanneries and leather goods. Everyone works in the slums.

We walked along beside Mahim Creek, a local river that is widely used by local residents for urination and defecation causing the spread of contagious diseases. The open sewers in the city drain into the creek causing a spike in water pollutants, septic conditions and foul odors. Very unpleasant even to walk past! I read that lung cancer, tuberculosis and asthma are common in slum residents (our guide had a terrible sounding cough and told me that her mother has asthma). This is what people wash their clothes in. I also read that doctors see over 4,000 cases of typhoid a day. ☹

 

a quick glance at Mahim Creek