5/9/14 Mumbai Day 2

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Today began with a visit to the US Consulate in Mumbai.  We heard from a foreign service officer and a public affairs project manager they spoke about a variety of topics including manufacturing, agriculture, and terrorism in India.  One interesting factoid: 50% of India’s population works in agriculture, but this industry only accounts for 14% of the country’s GDP; residents usually spend between 40% and 60% of their income on food.  India is working to make agriculture more efficient and to lower food prices for the population, but this poses other problems.  For instance, if much of the workforce leaves agriculture, millions of new jobs must be created for them in other sectors.

Lunch was again amazing.  Every time I have Indian food in the states, I eat until I can’t eat another bite; I have continued this trend so far in India.  I am loving every bite and so far it is sitting well in my stomach.

We had a long afternoon academic session today, an Introduction to Climate Change Science.  This class was a long lecture, but there is a plan to organize more discussion and group work into the class sessions to break up the lectures.  Tomorrow another class in the afternoon.

After class, we played cricket (hit batting practice) in the street with lots of kids a couple blocks from our hotel.  The makeshift “wicket” was a piece of wood propped up by a smaller piece of wood.  Batting the ball is more like golfing than hitting a baseball, but the technique is much different.  Bowling (pitching) was easier to get the hang of than batting.  Before each pitch a lane was cleared between the pitcher and the batter.  Immediately after the ball was hit, 6 or 7 kids would start running after the ball; if you get the ball, you get to bowl.  Despite their all-out efforts to track down the hits, the kids were very generous with giving us (the Americans) the balls so we could try bowling.  They were also willing to give the ball to their friends.  Runnign after the ball was more about the chase than the opportunity to bowl next.  With many tennis balls in the rotation, the result was a constant stream of new bowlers among kids alternately running after the hits and watching the batter intently to see where the next ball would go.  Professor Ganguly, traveling with the group from Northeastern and teaching the Climate Change classes, was right in front for the fielding.  Each time he caught a line drive, he turned around with a giant smile across his face.


Another excellent meal followed the cricket game.  Tomorrow we visit the Dharavi slum.  It is the largest slum in the world, housing over 1 million people.  I am looking forward to seeing how it compares to the Mathare slum I visited in Kenya in 2007.  Pictures next time (probably).

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