Time to come home

Well, I had my worst fear happen today. Maybe not worst but definitely up there. I had just woken up and was wondering about the backroom when I noticed something on my foot. After my eyes focused a bit, I realized it was a cockroach! A very large cockroach on my very bare foot! I screamed, shook it off and when it started running around, I covered it with a towel. It is now locked in the bathroom. Hotel staff is on the way. I can handle furry rodents but large bugs I can not handle.

National Park

Today I had a very different experience than yesterday. I went to the Buddhist Caves (Kanheri) about 45 minutes north of my apartment. They were really fascinating, much more interesting than the caves on Elephanta Island and much closer. Again, the monkeys sort of stole the show. We fed them for a bit on the drive up to the caves. We ended up hiking to most of the 100+ caves. Besides being interesting, it was a great work out! After the caves, we went on the Tiger/Lion safari in the park. The two tigers and one lion we saw were all sleeping. It was about 12:30 in the afternoon, I don't really blame them. No pictures of the safari because the animals are too far away for the pictures to mean much.

Reality

Saturday I toured the largest slum in Asia, Dharavi, which just happens to be in Mumbai. I can't say the tour was fun but it was very interesting. We saw two sides of the slum, the industrial side and the residential side. The primary industry of Dharavi is recycling in all forms. They recycle plastic, oil cans, paint cans, leather, etc. Honestly, the hardest part of touring this side was seeing the toxicity. They burn the labels off the paint and oil cans and boil off whatever was inside. Melting the plastic and recoloring it also created a lot of smoke and odd liquids. I felt bad because I was uncomfortable breathing the fumes for the two hours I was there and the people that live there breath it all the time. Especially the workers who live over their workshops.

Most of the 1 million plus residents live in what is called the residential area. Here the houses are packed in. Each one is about 10 square meters. The alleys that run between are about 18 inches wide. Even I felt very claustrophobic walking through. Only 1% of the residents have toilets so the rest share one public toilet where you have to bring your own water. Right outside of the public toilet is also where the trash is dumped. The trash pile seemed to be a favorite place for the children to play. All of the kids we saw were very happy, telling each of us an enthusiastic "Hi" at every turn. The guide said that when the trash pile gets too tall, they burn it. Again, not great for the environment. It was disturbing to hear that there are government workers paid to clean the toilets and carry away the trash but they just don't do it.

All in all, I was amazed at how organized the slum is. I was also impressed with the very strong sense of community there. Most disturbing for me was the pollution and how dirty it was. However, I really wanted to see this ever present side of Mumbai. I've seen the luxurious side but wanted to see this as well. One misconception is that only the poor live in slums. You may be surprised to know that most of the residents work in the city and even in many of the call centers you may talk to on a regular basis. Most of the houses have satellite dishes and electricity. Almost all of the residents have cell phones.

Mango Taste Test 2011

We are getting into Mango season here in Mumbai. As one of the only fruits grown in Mumbai, I knew I needed to try it. What I didn't know was how many kinds of Mango there are. In the grocery store I went to, there were five variations. One of my team members was able to eliminate 2 right away leaving 3 for the taste test: Badami, Alphanso, and Tapuri. One of the mangoes (Alphanso) was about 3 times the cost of the others so it was the front runner right from the start. I recruited Mike, currently visiting from Minneapolis as well, to be my fellow taste tester. After trying all variations, Alphanso was indeed the best. It wasn't even close. It was by far the sweetest and you can tell from the picture, the most colorful (left most mango). I fancy myself a true mango connoisseur now. I'll probably repeat this test in a month to see if the results stand. I'll keep you posted.

It's Raining

No, not outside but rather in my apartment. We're months away from monsoon season but my ceiling decided it couldn't wait. Unfortunately I didn't notice it until I had quite a puddle. The hotel staff fixed the leak (apparently from the AC unit) quickly. It was a good display of separation of duties. The maintenance man came and fixed the leak and the housekeeping team was then called to clean up the mess.

Who Knew

I've been having problems with the corners of my mouth since just days before my visit to the US. The corners seem to have cuts that are pretty painful. At first I thought it was due to stress since there has been so much going on preparing for the trip and then actually traveling. However, when nothing seemed to heal them, I did some research. Apparently, my problem is the leading symptom of a Vitamin B deficiency. When I looked up sources of vitamin B, it made sense since the best sources are red meat and dairy products. Both of which I don't eat/drink at all in India. I visited the chemist (pharmacy) today to get some supplements. Hopefully, they will take care of it and I won't look like I have a clown mouth anymore. Oh the things you take for granted when you can eat/drink anything you want.

Yada Yada Yada

I finally made it back to Mumbai after a very long 24 hrs of travel. For anyone traveling to Mumbai, my advice to you is avoid the Paris airport. There is no comparison to Amsterdam. The Paris airport is so spread out, I had to be bussed from the plane to the arrival gate, from the arrival gate to the departure terminal, and from the departure terminal to the plane. Each bus ride was packed and about 10 minutes long. I also had the wonderful experience of sitting next to a man that loved to talk about himself, how much money he and his children had made, how working for a company was a waste of time, how statistics is the only way to make a decision, yada yada yada. Even when I had my headphones on listening to a movie he would interrupt to talk to me.

Jet lag seems to be much worse this time. I can't seem to get a handle on how best to handle it. I'm hoping a good night's sleep tonight makes everything better!