Golden Triangle Part 1 : New Delhi

I composed the first bit of this blog from the back of the car en route to Jaipur from Delhi.  The car that I had pre-arranged for our trip was a nice old Ambassador (I’m a sucker for punishment) but unfortunately we were instead given a crappy Tata car of non-descript character.  Apparently, due to it being Diwali last week, there was a shortage of cars and drivers but no-one bothered to tell us that until we arrived.  Oh well, at least we were more likely to get from Delhi to Jaipur and on to Agra without breaking down and at least we were guaranteed Air Conditioning.  Although our driver seemed to prefer the window down method of AC, forcing dust and pollution into our throats and lungs as we flew along the highway to Jaipur.

Traffic and rickshaw mayhem - Chandni Chowk Bazaar, New Delhi

Well Delhi was very interesting and not at all what I was expecting.  It seemed to be much more spread out, much greener and a hell of a lot cleaner than Mumbai. But I am not sure if that was just on the tourist trail.  There were also a lot more tourists than I have seen in Mumbai, most of them overweight Americans and Germans pounding the same trail on organised tours in their giant coaches.

Illuminated ice cream cart at dusk (India Gate, New Delhi)

Our hotel, Shanti Home (highly recommended), was a bit further out of the city then I reckoned upon but it was so nice and so friendly that we didn’t mind. La Visitante was especially enthralled with the fresh fruits available at breakfast.  I stuck to my customary cheese and tomato omelettes. So much better for keeping things ‘bound together’.

Interesting wall on the rooftop restaurant of Shanti Home

Arriving quite late on Friday, we checked into the hotel and then asked our driver to take us to the centre of Delhi so that we could do a quick recce and grab something to eat.  On the way into town we got out of the car to quickly look at India Gate (slightly more impressive than the Gateway to India in Mumbai) and then we went on to Connaught Place in the centre in order to search for something to eat.  We were looking for a Rajdhani, an outpost of the excellent Gujurati restaurant that I had been to in Mumbai (spotted in the Lonely Planet guide) but after about 30 minutes of walking we gave up and went into a local looking restaurant called Saravan Bhawan. Turns out Rajdhani was closed down and we had been needlessly walking around the eternally circular Connaught Place for nothing. We ordered Thalis for about 160 Rs each (£2) and noticed that more and more foreigners were walking in (clearly I consider myself an Indian local by now).  I consulted our Lonely Planet guide and it turned out that Sarvan Bhawan was actually the ‘Top Choice’ eating place in Delhi.  Indeed, the food was authentic and cheap, but I would have preferred to have eaten with few other tourists.  The scourge of the Lonely Planet Guide was something that would become a recurring theme on our trip.

India Gate, New Delhi - 42 metres tall

Going back to the hotel that night was a bit of a mare.  Friday night before Diwali and in a disaster movie-esque way it felt like a volcano was about to erupt and the city was being evacuated.  Everyone, and I mean everyone was in their cars, travelling out of Delhi to get to their loved ones. The traffic inched along at a snail’s pace - worse than any Christmas Eve traffic than I had seen in the UK.  A forty minute journey took about two and a half hours.  Needless to say we went straight to bed when we got back to the hotel. 

The next day we were up early to start our proper tour of Delhi.  The driver was wearing a jumper in the early morning cold – cold to him but it was the perfect temperature for us Brits.

We spent most of the day going from one site to the next.  I have to say that Delhi’s monuments and historic buildings are quite spectacular, making me realise that Mumbai is very much lacking in this respect.  We visited the Red Fort, we battled the crowd at Chandni Chowk, the local bazaar and we also visited Jama Masjid, the largest mosque in India. Here, we had to take our shoes off (as could be expected) but then we were also made to wear ridiculous and brightly coloured burkas to hide our feminine forms.  I was most put out as I was covered from neck to toe quite adequately in my mind but apparently my leggings were deemed far too risqué.  For goodness sake!

Solitary prayer at Jama Masjid 

Tourists wearing ridiculous cover-ups whilst inside Jama Masjid, Delhi

After that we went on to see Humayun’s Tomb (the inspiration for the 'Taj Mahal’ and Unesco World Heritage Site) and then the driver took us to Raj Ghat to visit the grave of Gandhi but this was slightly marred by the hordes of uniformed schoolchildren everywhere. By this time, we were rather fed up of sightseeing and bumping into the same groups of coached-in foreign tourists over and over again, so decided to go and get a cup of ‘proper’ tea.  For this we chose the Imperial Hotel which we had looked up in the Lonely Planet guide as a good place to have High Tea. Little did we realise that this was probably the best hotel in Delhi. The inside of this place is a staggeringly elegant combination of Art Deco and Victorian colonial design – and even has a Chanel shop.  We had our afternoon tea in The Atrium and it was ‘simply delightful’ although we ended up spending more there than we had the last 24 hours.  But it was worth it.

Humayun's Tomb New Delhi - reflected in its own pond

Well deserved (and half-eaten) High Tea at The Imperial New Delhi

Exhausted after a day’s sightseeing activities we went back to the hotel.  Thankfully the traffic was a little better this time.  We had gin and tonics on the lovely rooftop terrace and I managed to fit in a succulent chicken kebab for dinner - despite our massive high tea.

Tomorrow we drive to Jaipur – but en-route we will visit The Anokhi Museum of Hand Printing in Amber (hoping there will be a heavily discounted factory outlet shop there!) as well as the Amber Fort.

La Visitante at Humayun's Tomb

Contemplation in amongst the tourists at Jama Masjid, New Delhi

The Woman in Orange - Humayun's Tomb

Gorgeous old Jaguar outside The Imperial Hotel, New Delhi

My First Visitor

I am so excited to have my first visitor from Spain ("La Visitante") staying with me and Mr Jules in Mumbers!  Actually, La Visitante is actually of Scottish origin but she has been living with her handsome Catalan husband in San Sebastian for seven years now and speaks very good Spanish so I regard her as a bit Espagnole.

La Visitante (Spanish for The Visitor) at the Gateway to India

Anyway, I am off on my travels again tomorrow (with La Visitante) so I will be a bit quiet for the next 10 days or so.  Very excited as we are doing the interesting, if slightly predictable, Golden Triangle Tour - Delhi, Jaipur, Agra and Varanasi.  I booked all of this some time ago, not realising that we will be away during the Indian festival of Diwali 13-17th November - so we are sure to experience some interesting sights and sounds!  And I am excited to be seeing the Taj Mahal again - but this time we are staying in Agra itself so we will be getting up before sunrise to see the famed mausoleum shrouded in the early morning light.

It's been interesting showing La Visitante various sights around Mumbai.  She has taken everything very much in her stride and has been fearless about peering out of the car window at what may be perceived to be pretty scary stuff.  But it also made me realise that I am already totally immune to the every day life of every day people in Bombay.  I speak of the millions of poor and destitute living on pavements and verges, of mounds of rubbish being dissected by crows, of dogs and humans sleeping everywhere and anywhere they can, of crazy people weaving in and out of the insane traffic.

However, I did become quite distraught when we drove around Mahalaxmi yesterday and noticed that the BMC had been around with their bulldozers, knocking down rows and rows of pavement dwellings, leaving nothing but rubble for the ex-dwellers to pick over. These people have gone from having very little to having absolutely nothing in a matter of minutes...who needs a tsunami when human beings can do this to each other?

Anyway, enough of that talk!  I just wanted to say bye for now and see you soon.  I hope to have some stories to tell upon my return!



 

Shop: Bombay Paperie v Chimanlals

I've been meaning to write for a while about paper products. The fabulous paper products that you can buy in many shops in Mumbai but which are particularly beautifully showcased at Bombay Paperie and Chimanlals.

For a country where sophisticated presentation seems to be a low priority - I speak mostly of company websites, shop windows and restaurant frontages - conversely anything bound up in paper or card is always so innovative and pretty - takeaway packaging, shopping bags, stationery and the like.  I can't quite explain why this should be the case but I do know that when I go anywhere near either of these shops, I tend to go into one of my adrenalin fuelled frenzies, grabbing everything in sight and then accumulating it in my wardrobe (out of the sight of Mr Jules).  Don't get me wrong, I'm not a hoarder or anything....lots of you lucky friends and relatives will be getting this stuff for Christmas!

So firstly - the low down on Bombay Paperie.  The shop is located in the financial district of Mumbai - south of Horniman Circle and near the Bombay Stock Exchange.  When you enter the shop, you are immediately dazzled by the array of colours.  There are stacks and stacks of wrapping paper - graded by colour into a rainbow of columns, some of it hung beautifully from old colonial style towel racks.  The paper is not paper as we know it.  It is actually made from cotton pulp - a by-product of clothing manufacture.  It is soaked in water for many days, beaten slowly and methodically into a pulp which was then made into sheets of paper by hand.  So the paper has a marvellous texture to it, slightly frayed at the edges, making it excellent for crafting and scrapbooking (if you are into that). In the shop you will find an incredible selection of handmade products, from notelets, notepads, greetings cards, lanterns, gift bags and crafting kits.  I love the colourful folders containing note cards and envelopes for 250 Rs.  Brilliant for gifts even in the age of emailing and even better for getting creative with. 
 

Bombay Paperies - 'I can see a rainbow'

 

Demonstrating some paper crafting

Secondly - the fabulous Chimanlals. An entirely different prospect.  The Chimanlals shop is again in South Mumbai but this time in the Fort financial district (I am sure it must be possible to walk or cab it from one shop to the other).  The interior of the store has none of the contemporary feel of Bombay Paperie.  It appears to be very traditional and has two stoic looking cashiers sat near the door.  But this is where about-to-be-married Indian women come to sort out their wedding stationery.  It is the place in Mumbai to buy your wedding stationery, so you will always see girls with their mothers (or even sometimes with their fiancees) hovering around the invite section.  As for the products themselves....everything is such nice quality and again, all handmade.  Jewel coloured gift envelopes stamped with paisley motifs and adorned with colourful tassels, gold-leaf embossed writing papers, a stunning array of notelets and cards with all types of designs, distinctly Indian.  There is a huge range of handmade gift bags, and gift boxes.  I love the specially made bangle boxes for a mere 72 Rs! And I love anything with elephants on them - gift boxed notelets with pink elephant motifs, writing papers with gold and red elephant motifs, the wonderful gift wraps with block printed elephants.   There are cardboard bins, pen holders, photo frames all with block printed designs and everything comes in at least four colour combinations.   And the prices are to die for!  19 Rs for a huge gift envelope with a large painted elephant on it, 30 Rs for 10 gift-tags embossed with gold leaves, 101 Rs for the 10 notelet/envelope in a gift box and gift wraps at 15-52 Rs per sheet. Who can resist?!
 

Gorgeous block printed note cards, invites and greeting cards



Gift tags with gorgeous Indian motifs such as paisley - 30 Rs for 10



Inside Chimanlals

 

2013 'Calendar of Noteable Indians'.  175 Rs..  I bought one.

Just some of the beautiful Chimanlal gift wraps

Although very different stores, I love both Bombay Paperie and Chimanlals and I recommend you visit both!
 
Bombay Paperie
63, Bombay Samachar Marg,
Mumbai 400 001, Tel.: (+91) 22-6635 81 71
e-mail: contact@bombaypaperie.com
www.bombaypaperie.com

Chimanlals
Wallace Street,
Fort, Mumbai 400 001.
Landmark: Close to New Excelsior Cinema
Tel (+91 22) 22077717. Tel (+91 22) 22074764
enquiries@chimanlals.com
www.chimanlals.com
 

Weighing and Measuring (Kids)

It has been a while since I mentioned the Foundation.  And it had been a while since I had been down to one of the intervention sites - as I have mostly been concentrating on the financial and administrative aspects of our NGO from the comfort of a desk and chair in my own apartment.

It's always good to keep fresh in the mind what the end product of our joint efforts are.  To ensure that every child reaches their full potential in life via optimal nutrition and food education.  To this end I would like to share with you some scenes from one of our clinics and show you what goes on there every day.

When you walk on to site, the first thing you see is an Anganwadi school full of cute little children.  An Anganwadi (literally translated from Hindi as "courtyard shelter") is a scheme initiated by the Indian government in 1975 as part of the Integrated Child Development Services program to combat child hunger and malnutrition.  When I get my camera out, the Anganwadi workers get all the children to turn around and pose for me - whilst I try and get them to wave (rather unsuccessfully!).

Anganwadi Cuties

Next door at the clinic itself, it is 10.15am - just after opening time - and there is already a line of 'patients' (we also call them 'beneficiaries') waiting to see the doctor. Our doctor - sometimes assisted by other volunteer doctors - has been a committed member of the Foundation for over five years, coming twice a week without pay in order to help hundreds and hundreds of children and their families.  There are also paid members of the team including a qualified nurse, several nutritionists, social workers and field workers.  They are always smiling and happy and always there to help members of the community who may know little about why they are here.

Dr Rupal - one dedicated lady!

At the Foundation, one of the main objectives is to reduce 'SAM' and 'MAM' children.  Which means Severely Acute Malnourished and Moderately Acute Malnourished kids, usually between the ages of 0 and 6 years old.  If you don't catch poor feeding practices before the age of two, you can not reverse the damage that will have been done to a child's mental and physical development. Therefore a child's potential to do well in life will be forever impaired.  And it's not necessarily about the affordability of food and it's definitely not about food availability (after all, we are not in a famine situation here).  It is more about teaching mothers not to feed their children junk food, the importance and difference between food groups and their nutrient and vitamin content, as well as educating them on how to breastfeed properly.  I have already written about our cooking demonstrations to uneducated mothers here.

The process of assessing whether a child is SAM or MAM involves simple weighing and measuring.  Their height is checked against their weight by plotting it on a WHO (World Health Organisation) chart.  If a child is too short for his (her) age, then he (she) is stunted.  If he is too light for his age then he is underweight.  If a child is too thin for his height, then he is wasted. When a child is first brought to the clinic they have their measurements assessed and marked on the chart and then they are brought in front of the nurse, doctor and nutritionist for further assessment.  The procedure is the same for every follow up visit - if they come back to see us regularly and the parents follow our staff's advice and guidelines, we will start to rapidly see improvements in their weight and height charts.  However, it is a difficult task to gain commitment from some of the mothers as they have social and domestic problems to deal with - or just plain don't have time. That is why we will soon implement a peer education programme which will enlist and educate  'Didis' (Big Sisters) to go forth into the community to spread the word and provide basic nutritional advice.




Measuring the babies - a bit more of a challenge! 

 

Weighing.  This baby is one of our success stories coming in at 'normal' weight.

Whilst our Field Officers are weighing and measuring, our nurse will check children for anaemia using a pin-prick blood testing machine, she will enquire to see if their immunisations are up to date (something that the parents don't tend to keep on top of) and ensure that their medical files are all in order. 

On top of the SAM and MAM issues above, a child may also experience Type I and Type II nutrient deficiencies.  Type I is where basic nutrients are missing in a child's diet leading to such conditions as anaemia (being the most common), rickets, scurvy and beri-beri.  These are the types of ailments that were common in medieval England or amongst sailors at sea in Tudor times.  It is hard to believe that these disorders still exist in the modern day world.  Rickets - caused by a lack of Vitamin D - is especially common due to children living in windowless chawls off dark alleyways where they may also play.  The sun simply does not get to them.

When there is a deficiency of one of the type II or 'growth' nutrients, a child (or even adult) stops growing, the body starts to conserve the nutrient so that its excretion falls to very low levels and there is minimum reduction in the tissue concentration. With continued or severe deficiency the body may start to break down its own tissues to release the nutrient for use by the rest of the body; this process is associated with a reduction of appetite.  Basically the body feeds off itself.  Our staff see plenty of these Type I and Type II cases and our nutritionists will do their best to counsel mothers on a one-to-one basis on feeding practices (breast-feeding, weaning, vitamin and food supplements etc).

WHO weight to height chart

Going back to the clinic.  I should describe this to you - it is a room of about 20 ft x 15 ft in the middle of a marginalised community inhabited by the many workers of Dhobi Ghat, the giant laundry.  There is no furniture save one table and some filing cabinets.  Everyone including the doctor sits cross legged on a mat on the floor.  This is perfectly normal.  Actually it feels quite homely.  There are a few pictures on the walls and randomly, there is a giant Mickey Mouse peering down from one of the shelves.  There is no privacy, no airs and graces, there are no computers, no telephones and there are no windows looking out on to a beautiful view. Each patient has their own paper medical file which is safely locked away when the clinic closes. When you are working to a tight budget, it has to be a no frills operation.  But lives are so greatly improved from this one room.  And the two other rooms like it that the Foundation runs on nearby streets.  Because of the work of all of these committed individuals and the willingness of the community to learn, children who may otherwise turn out to be BMC street sweepers and rickshaw drivers may now one day gain college degrees and become nurses and doctors themselves.  Purely because they've been given the correct 'brain-food'.  




This little boy is another success story - brought to the clinic before the age of 2 when he was malnourished
- now he is on a feeding and vitamin plan that is seeing him grow into a 'normal' sized child.

In the room there is a plastic box filled with children's books and I have noticed that the toddlers like to go straight in there to pull out their favourite book - especially the one about kittens or the one titled "What I Will Be When I Grow Up".  I think to myself..."keep coming here and you will be able to follow your dreams..."



When I Grow Up, I Want To Be.....

Thanks for reading, here are some more photos of the clinic in action:



 

Mickey Mouse watches over the proceedings...



Every patient has their own file.  A future investment will be a computerised system

So you get an idea of the size of the room.  The staff will see perhaps 20-22 patients this morning, spending at least 15 minutes with them all, if not more.  You wouldn't get that service on the NHS!

 



One of our lovely, qualified nutritionists advising on food supplements.



 

This adorable little boy is stunted.  He is three years old but has the height of a 1.5 yr old. 
Our staff can help him as much as they can now but the damage may already have been
done in terms of his long term development. His little sister is the baby in the weighing machine above - brought to us since she was born and after her mother gained better knowledge, she is growing completely normally.
 Bringing awareness to the parents of similar cases is one of the major missions of the Foundation

 

The Unforgettable Taj Mahal

I have seen some pretty amazing sights in my life in terms of landscape and architecture; my favourites to date being Mount Fuji, a magical vision of Japanese serenity and the gigantic Cristo Redentor atop Corcovado in Rio.

But nothing could prepare me for my first glimpse of the Taj Mahal.  The most amazing and unforgettable building in the world - to see it shrouded in early morning mist leaves you speechless - such an ethereal, unreal tribute to a loved one. It is hard to believe that the Taj Mahal is actually a mausoleum - built by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his beloved third wife Mumtaz Mahal.  She must have been one amazing lady.  And it leaves you wondering how you will be represented after departing from this world (no pressure Mr Jules).

We visited the Taj as part of a long weekend starting in Gwalior (1.5 hour direct flight from Mumbai, and only a two hour drive from Agra, which is so much better than coming the other way from Delhi, over four hours drive away if you are on a short weekender).  Gwalior itself was extremely interesting and so will write about it in my next post.

We set off by car & driver from our hotel in Gwalior at six in the morning in the hope of arriving early enough in Agra to beat the crowds.  But as can only happen to us,  Saturday 27th October was not the most auspicious of days for tourists to visit the Taj Mahal.  As it turns out, because it was Eid (one of the most important dates on the Muslim calendar) the authorities were allowing free access to anyone into site.  And when I say anyone, I mean everyone! Already at 8am, there were tens of thousands of people streaming through the gates, mostly men dressed in white cotton salwar kameez and flat topped kufi head wear racing to get to prayers at the Taj Mahal Mosque (masjid) aside the main mausoleum. By the time we got through security checks and had walked through the Great Gate in front of the Taj, there were already too many people filling every space, bench, stairway and vantage point - making it impossible to get a good central view of the building.  This was very disappointing for someone such as myself that likes to fill their blog with perfectly composed photos!  But I was even more sorrowful that I was not going to get the famous 'Princess Di' pose in order.

Thousands and thousands of Muslims going to prayer

After battling the crowds and managing to take a couple of skewed pictures, we made it up on to the terrace of the Taj itself, taking off our shoes and joining a long line of Indian tourists hoping to catch a glimpse of the tomb inside the mausoleum.  When I say a long line, I mean that it went around all the rather lengthy four walls of the building.  And the sun was starting to scorch.  After standing in line for fifteen minutes or so, an American guy came up to us and said that we didn't need to queue and that we could just walk straight in - as we were tourists.  What I think he meant by that, was that we were 'white'.  I disagreed that because we were 'white', that we should just walk straight in, as today, everyone was made equal on account of the free entry.  Normally us 'tourists' would pay a fee of around 750 rupees (£9) to get in, against a domestic Indian's fee of just 20 rupees.  If we had paid 750 rupees each, we would not have hesitated to jump the queue!  So we ignored the man and stayed in line.  So good and equitable of us. However, after about another 20 minutes of standing without any shade whatsoever and despite the very interesting view, Mr Jules went off to investigate how we could speed things up.  Two minutes later he was back, exclaiming that the American guy was right and all we needed to do was walk straight through the front door, along with all the other foreign tourists.  I am ashamed to say that I relented.  (Later I did keep wondering though, how it worked with Indians who are also tourists - those who have emigrated or originate from abroad - do they experience the same prejudice?  And do they try to get away with buying a 20 rupees ticket or do they pay full whack in order to prove that they are entitled to preferential treatment?)

Inside was dark and crammed full of people trying to peer through the intricate marble fretwork at the pencil-box styled tombs. A man tried to con us out of a few rupees by shining his torch on the gemstone inlay (highlighting the translucence of the precious and semi-precious stonework) and by calling out loudly to create an echo - but we just walked off.  After quickly viewing the side by side tombs and the impressive interior design, we went back outside.  I was kind of glad we had not queued for a further hour bearing in mind the few minutes we had just spent indoors!

Some of the semi-precious stone inlay that adorns most of the Taj building

We spent the next hour or so walking around the grounds and getting close up to the exterior decorations - every surface of the Taj Mahal contains intricate carvings, 28 types of semi-precious and precious stone inlays and Islamic calligraphy expressing passages from the Qu'ran.  There is symmetry and architectural perfection everywhere you look.  The sandstone mosques on the two sides are almost as impeccable as the main building itself and beyond is the river.  The translucent marble used to build the Taj was brought from Makrana in Rajasthan and apparently 1,000 elephants were used to transport the materials and a further 1,000 workers used to contruct the buildings over around 22 years.  Not a bad accomplishment I would say!

After our close inspection of the Taj exterior, we meandered out and caught an electric taxi back up the lane to the car park (10 rupees against the 100 rupees we were conned out of for a rickshaw bicycle that we could barely fit our two butts in on the way down!).  I was totally blown away by what I had seen in Agra and Mr Jules thought it wasn't bad either. 

We went on to Agra Fort which I will also write about on another day - an almost equally impressive tourist site.  Here are the pictures of the Taj:

Another side of the Taj - see the long queue of people waiting to see inside?  Now times that by four!



All four sides have identical arches - precious stone inlays and
Qu'ran scriptures decorate each of them

White translucent marble perfection

More inlaid marble

Writings from the Qu'ran decorate every arch

The sandstone Mosque to the left of the main building (also mirrored on the right)

View of the main gateway into the Taj - from the Taj

 

Views from the Skywalk

Going for a simple walk can be quite a challenge in Bombay.  The pavements are broken, there are usually dogs and people (not in that order) randomly lying around, you are liable to disappear down open manholes, rickshaws often want to chase you up the sidewalk, people coming in the opposite direction will never move out of your way, and there is very little in the way of parks or foliage to enjoy whilst you are dodging all of the above.  Taking a simple walk is really a basic human right and one of the things I miss most about our green and pleasant land (i.e. the UK).

So yesterday (being a bank holiday), I persuaded Mr Jules to go for a stroll on the Skywalk.  Now obviously this isn't exactly the same as a ramble across the Sussex Downs (although we did see a few cows), but it is as near as we are going to get to an uninterrupted walk in this crazy city.

The Skywalk is an elevated walkway between Bandra Station and Bandra Kurla Complex, an expanding and modern office area to the east of Bandra.  On the Skywalk, there are no beggars, no random animals or persons lying in your way, no trash, no spit (specifically banned!), no hawkers and yesterday..not that many other people full stop.  It is constructed of bright yellow struts with roofing to keep off the monsoon rains and even has the occasional bench and rubbish bin. I expect that during the week, workers in their office uniforms (the men in grey trousers with short sleeved shirts with their pens in their left hand pocket) stream across the Skywalk on their way to work, probably completely disregarding the chaos that co-exists beneath them.



"Do Not Litter, Keep Your Skywalk Clean"
Why can't they apply this to the rest of Bombay?

From the elevated position of the Skywalk it is literally possible to pass though all levels of life and livelihood (you will see what I mean from the photos below).  You start by entering up the stairs at Bandra station and passing through the station itself - a pretty hectic place with bodies coming at you from all directions.  Straight away, you find yourself right over some disused train tracks, lined on all sides with slum buildings.  You have never seen such filth nor such a bad example of rubbish dumping in your life!  During my four months in Bombay I have seen more rubbish than your average Englishman will see in his whole lifetime - but this still left me pretty shocked (not to mention disgusted).  Then you see the children in amongst the squalor along with the crows and the dogs and you are left wondering what you can do about it (nothing of course).

Rubbish adorning disused rail tracks

You carry on walking for a bit, peering over the tops of the two and three tier slum buildings which are about at eye-level...the corrugated and plastic sheeted roofs, the multitude of satellite dishes (never ceasing to amaze me), the women hanging out of doorways at the tops of ladders, the walls of their little homes seemingly inadequately nailed together.  Everything is ramshackle and crooked and looks like it should fall down at any minute.  More rubbish, more children playing.  Then you see the huge pipes carrying water down from Powai lake into the city and again, more children playing in the small ponds that have formed in between them, sharing space with goats and cows. 

They may not be able to eat or dress properly...but at least they can watch Man U.

I try not to harp on about this side of the city as I intend to always show Bombay in a positive light - but then again it would be unrealistic to do so.  Bombay is plain filthy.  Bombay has naked, diseased, malnourished kids roaming free in amongst the squalor.  It is all very plain to see from the Skywalk, nothing is hidden.

Then you turn the corner of the Skywalk and you immediately start to see changes in the 'scenery'.  There is a large patch of land next to a narrow canal where farmland is being cultivated.  It seems to be nicely fertile - there are even egrets sticking their heads out of the vegetation.  No-one is occupying it and it is virtually naked of rubbish - a bit further down is a tiny shanty - the 'farmer's' home I assume. 



Land being cultivated - a tiny shanty in the far distance

Then you turn another corner and you start to see properly built buildings.  All offices.  The first one you notice is the Slum Rehabilitation Authority.  "Nice offices" I think to myself.  Something not quite right about that.  Then you see the manicured lawns of Indian Oil with a tall, white, nicely maintained building behind.  As you go on, there are more and more 'nice' buildings.  I also think to myself how quickly we have gone from the virtual 'hell' of the slums to the 'heaven' of high-tech architecture. Literally in the space of ten minutes.

After a quarter of an hour or so we come back down to earth at Bandra Kurla.  We walk a little further up the finely tarmacked road with its perfect sidewalk until we reach Le Pain De Quotidien and decide to go in for Earl Grey Tea and pastries.  Ummmm....now this really is heaven.

People having everyday discussions in amongst the squalor

The Skywalk skims the tops of the chawls...
no need to look straight into the  lives of the 'have-nots' if you don't want to

The child in blue...about six years old, playing fishing in the pond that has formed between two water pipes. 
Stagnant and filthy

The Skywalk - remarkably unbusy on a bank holiday

People keep cows in all sorts of places in Bombay....



The Slum Rehabilitation Authority.  One almost thinks that they should be operating
from a slum themselves, instead of from these nice AC offices!



A glimpse of children playing - out of sight is a mound of rubbish

The fabulous roads, manicured hedges and barely used pavements of Bandra Kurla Complex.

 

A Bandra Kurla eatery - could be New York right? (or California)



The walk was worth it....