We are now six days ride south of Mumbai, which most Indians in our group refer to as Bombay.
My expectations were to discover a lot of suffering and crime, after all it is a city of 25 million people in a third world country. With the little time I had I tried to dig a little under the surface and decided to ride the train like a local and visit the laundry and the slums and get away from any tourist as much as possible. Sticking to back roads has allowed us to do this for much of our trip.
The hotel we were at was nice, not opulent, which I was grateful for. This is where I did laundry and took a shower on the roof. Little things would happen, like the little workers bringing me hangers when they saw me stretching a clothes line. Another time I returned to find my hat hung up. Small things, but they touched me. If I had to try to define the spirit here it would be about sharing and helping each other. I have been unable to tell if this is a function that seems to diminish with prosperity or if it is is a by-product of Hinduism and the culture.
Going into the slums what I noted was a sense of business, everyone going about their business. Catacombs of little rooms and businesses, narrow alley ways with electrical wires hanging, stairs and ladders going up two or three stories. It fascinated me. Never did I feel uncomfortable or in danger.
We have not been near a place where I could posts pictures for five days so I am catching up now trying to get my head around it all.