Sunday, July 16, 2006
a walk to work
My hotel is about 2km from the office we work out of. My driver (doesn't that sound pretentious) normally picks me and drives me to the office. (I've tried to say I want to walk and we'll meet there to head out into the field, but my Hindi is limited to "yes," "no," and "water." And I forget how to say "water" sometimes.) Anyway, as things turned out, I did walk yesterday (which was a really good thing since I needed find a place that would do my laundry instead of paying hotel prices for it).
So...the walk to work
Mumbai is...well...mumbai. Different from Delhi in various ways, at least comparing the parts I've seen. More crowded than Delhi, but more trees amazingly enough. The pollution is better than in many American cites and most of the time you don't even notice it here(perhaps because we're right on the ocean?)
My hotel is in a decent area, although no where in mumbai are you very far from the slums, which make up more than 70% of the city. Along my walk there are several "factory outlet" stores. Since most of the major companies have factories (aka sweat shops) in India, factory seconds and discontinued lines often get sold at greatly discounted prices in country. Of course, right along side those are the open store front tailors with foot-powered sewing machines, fabric stores with hundreds of bolts of cloth stacked to the ceiling in all imaginable colors, street vendors selling everything from fried snacks to fruit to shoes, stray dogs wandering around hoping to find someone who will feed them a cracker (which people often do), homeless beggars sitting on the sidewalk leaning against the store with the "Nike" sign in the window, and hundreds of people dodging each other on the sidewalk in their attempt to get wherever they're going as quickly as possible.
One of the things I love the most about India is the colors. The women in particular wear incredibly beautiful clothing, saris and salwars in all colors of the rainbow. I don't think I've seen a single one that looked liked any other. Most people buy cloth and take it to tailor to get their clothing made and embroidered, so everyone's clothes are unique. And they are all beautiful. When I compare that salwars I wear to the ones I see on the street, I get jealous. Mine aren't nearly as pretty and colorful. Thankfully, one of my colleagues is going to take me to where she shops later this week. I imagine my wardrobe will become more interesting after that. The funny thing is, though, when I compare what I wear here to what I wear when I'm home I'm so far outside my normal color range that it's funny.
The smells of India might be the topic of the next post. And, yes, there are many very pleasant ones.
So...the walk to work
Mumbai is...well...mumbai. Different from Delhi in various ways, at least comparing the parts I've seen. More crowded than Delhi, but more trees amazingly enough. The pollution is better than in many American cites and most of the time you don't even notice it here(perhaps because we're right on the ocean?)
My hotel is in a decent area, although no where in mumbai are you very far from the slums, which make up more than 70% of the city. Along my walk there are several "factory outlet" stores. Since most of the major companies have factories (aka sweat shops) in India, factory seconds and discontinued lines often get sold at greatly discounted prices in country. Of course, right along side those are the open store front tailors with foot-powered sewing machines, fabric stores with hundreds of bolts of cloth stacked to the ceiling in all imaginable colors, street vendors selling everything from fried snacks to fruit to shoes, stray dogs wandering around hoping to find someone who will feed them a cracker (which people often do), homeless beggars sitting on the sidewalk leaning against the store with the "Nike" sign in the window, and hundreds of people dodging each other on the sidewalk in their attempt to get wherever they're going as quickly as possible.
One of the things I love the most about India is the colors. The women in particular wear incredibly beautiful clothing, saris and salwars in all colors of the rainbow. I don't think I've seen a single one that looked liked any other. Most people buy cloth and take it to tailor to get their clothing made and embroidered, so everyone's clothes are unique. And they are all beautiful. When I compare that salwars I wear to the ones I see on the street, I get jealous. Mine aren't nearly as pretty and colorful. Thankfully, one of my colleagues is going to take me to where she shops later this week. I imagine my wardrobe will become more interesting after that. The funny thing is, though, when I compare what I wear here to what I wear when I'm home I'm so far outside my normal color range that it's funny.
The smells of India might be the topic of the next post. And, yes, there are many very pleasant ones.
# posted by Disease Cowgirl @ 6:22 AM 
