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).
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?
ReplyDeleteOkay, 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!