Now that we have visited just a little while, we realize there is so much more to learn about India. It is a behemoth and though 900 million of its people live on about $2 US a day, most of them live with a dignity undefinable by our standards. The caste system is peeling away in Mumbai as the burgeoning middle class emerges in India's "commercial" capital. There will almost always be a large population who will never escape the slums...even so, attempts at recycling amid this squalor, were impressive. The dignity of "day worker" is alive and well here.
The classic colonial structures lend their own weighty stature, yet they're beginning to be dwarfed by the modern edifaces marking the emergence of financial successes. The beautiful "Queen's necklace", the hemi-circular harbor of this peninsula, hosts havens to young and old, rich and poor. Chowpatty Beach with its grandparent park, and lively family nightlife area, 5-star hotels, and sports clubs where soccer and cricket matches abound, attest to Mumbai's commitment to be user-friendly amid it's chaos. The city is a constant symphony of horns and cacophony of colors, the fruits, the vegetables, the covered marketplace and night markets are awash with visual masterpeices. The saris float buy as do the black-veiled and tunic-clad muslim women.
It was not unusual to see a large bull saunter down a busy street at his own pace, unflustered by the frustrated congestion he is causing. Colorful temples of different Hindu sects are nestled in neighborhoods.
The central laundry, the Dhoubi Gat (sp?) is a wonder... We watched as tens of thousands of clothes were separated, hand-throttled in hundreds of cement cloudy water troughs, and hung to dry on lines. The whites, so white and colors, vibrant....and all remembering their rightful owners at the end of the day...this is Incredible India.
Harvard Business School sends students yearly to study the time management, labor division, and 99.9% accuracy rate of the Dava Wallas. This team of men, in white nehru hats, who cannot read or write, pick up over 200,000 homemade lunches daily from suburb and city homes before 11 a.m. They transport these tiptins by train and sort them, then bike and deliver them, each to its rightful small businessman and student for lunch for about 700 Rupees a month, that's $20US. India does not want its population to get used to "eating out!"
As a westerner, one starts out being assaulted by unfamiliar sights, sounds, smells, and the shear heat of India....but you end up in awe of its unruffled tolerance, its stalwart perserverance and its inner composure and optimism in facing the challenges of its future. Too soon did our sun set on Mumbai!
No comments:
Post a Comment