Saturday, May 10

We began today with a walk around a district of Mumbai that we had not yet visited.  We walked through some fruit/vegetable stalls and visited a temple.  My favorite part was the many floral stalls where we saw men tying and weaving flowers into floral necklaces (similar to leis).  We then hopped on our bus and headed for Dharavi.

As I mentioned yesterday, Dharavi is the largest slum in the world; it hosues over 1 million residents.  It is not a slum in the traditional sense, though; Dharavi is home to the strongest entrepreneurial spirits in the city.  Almost everyone is self-employed.  India has no welfare or government safety net—if you don’t work, you won’t eat.  We first saw the clay pottery district and saw all parts of the pottery-making process.  There were piles of red powder that colors the clay at one house.  Another area was allotted for measuring amount the correct amount of clay for each pot.  Next, the pots were spun on a wheel and left to dry in the sun for 24 hours before being fired in a kiln.

The most amazing part of Dharavi was the plastic recycling sector.  Kids and young adults collect plastic and other recyclables which are then sorted by color and material.  The plastics are ground into a powder using a series of machines.  The powdered plastic is then rendered into pellets, which are then sold back to plastic-making companies.  Nothing goes to waste in Dharavi; residents collect trash on the ground and recycle it in order to lean a living.  Much of the city of Mumbai also sends its plastics to Dharavi so they can be recycled.


The class had a great discussion about our visit to Dharavi.  We covered everything from the ethics of photography to how what we saw in Dharavi relates to our study of climate change.  We had another academic session this afternoon where we learned about different types of climate modeling systems.  Tonight I watched part of a cricket match on TV with a few other students and our tour guide.  By the time I return, I hope to be able to talk cricket with the best of them (aka. Trevor).





Comments

  1. Tavish, I love that you are sharing your travels in a blog. You've reminded me how much I want to return to India someday. I know that you are an expert traveler at this point, far more so than myself, but I can't help myself but offer a few unsolicited pieces of advice. I am jealous of all the delicious food you are eating and think it would be funny, though unlikely if you actually packed on a couple of pounds during your visit. Street food is amazing and cheap, just make sure it is hot. I think my run-in with 'Delhi belly' came after a meal at a truck stop, so watch out for that. Also please rinse any fruit thoroughly and be careful where you buy you bottled water. Does it really look like that seal came from a factory, or could it have been melted with a lighter?
    Okay, enough silly advice that you probably already know anyway. As I was reading one of your posts I actually got an image of you working as a foreign service officer at an embassy somewhere. Does that thought hold any appeal to you? I think you'd be great at it. Safe travels! Keep taking pictures!

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