Day 17: Kotachiwadi

The trees grow into the buildings here, and suggest the deeper roots that entwine the Kotachiwadi community. Beyond those greys and worn walls that James Ferreira, fashion designer, later explained, "could have been so beautiful" lay a community of Portuguese cultural preservation generations old.
Their twenty-seven houses reflected the eclectic set of individuals that lived within them. Pinks and yellows, a white shelter with "JESUS" written on a neon sign, hanging outside the shrine where he hung. A tiny yellow cat blends into an equally as yellow wall, the only distinction between the two a black motorbike leaning against it. A street down, a giant Ganesh memorial has been built, and is accented by many mini-shrines dotted about the village.
His comments were as brazen as the gold tops found in his closet, and his house as tasteful as the white chiffon floral print dress I fell in love with.
His short talk and just as small village opened up an entire community that most walk by and ignore, just as big business builders are doing to make way for sky scrapers. Originally 65 bungalows, that number has been reduced down to one as low as 27. Ferreira, along with some of his neighbors, are working to maintain the community through a number of cultural preservation projects. It is worrying that such rich history is so quickly disregarded, especially one with such a close connection to colonial times.
This ignorance is just one of the reasons he believes that "Bombay is becoming kitch, something that could have been so beautiful is getting uglier and uglier."
Maybe true in some circles, but he's certainly done an excellent job of only surrounding himself with its beauty. 

Dahravi becomes DahRave-y during Ganeshi Celebrations

The following is an excerpt from my Yatra, dated 10 September 2013

Just came out of Dahravi, one of Asia's biggest slums. It's raining and we occasionally catch a glimpse of lightening.
If anything, the music only gets louder with the rain. Locals threw pink dust on us as a part of their Ganesh-related celebrations. I assumed that the poverty they lived in would have prevented them from such extravagant worship, or they would have been hand made or equivalent. There were tons of Ganesh idols. Some small, some large, all surrounded with ecstatic, shining faces that waved at us when we passed and said "hi!" I guess when you live on the basics, without needing anything more, faith is your extravagance. It is refreshing. Our guide mentioned they collect money from each house, and over one million residents adds up fast.
We tripped through Dharavi. Over children, limbs, uneven pavements, and the occasional dog. Outsiders describe it as poverty, but I feel simplicity is more fitting. Everyone seems much too contented to label themselves with words that have such negative connotation. None of them struck me as self-pitying. There were no beggars here.
That being said, the corruption of those who own the recycling industries is apparent. The most shocking was hearing of those who work in the aluminium garages, who melt down the materials and reshape them into blocks. The fumes they inhale make them ill, and where the owners generate a combined $65bn in re manufactured goods a year, the workers make as low as 200-300 rupees a day.
One asked if they rebel, only to be told that when they try, they fail.
I asked if the men who ran the companies were bad people. Our guide simply said, "their motive is to make profit." And left it at that. 

Day 16: The City that Sleeps (However Briefly)

6 AM. We cycled on empty roads that were full with the promise of terrifying traffic come 8 AM. Peaceful, sweaty, even before the sun has risen.
6:20 AM. Eels were dropped at my feet, and a fish monger vaguely waved a 10 rupee note at the women dressed in pink, with a wicker basket on her head. Ahead was a dark sky whose stars were substituted for white fishing boats, waiting until open hours and a job to do. It smelled, but it was one that you could sense would remind some of home had they grown up with it, ingrained in their minds and in their clothing. All I could think was how this was a livelihood, fishing. Did these people realize how ancient and vital a role they play in this community of 22 million?
6:50 AM. People draped themselves among the fruit they were selling. Sleeping on the streets, cats curled on their backs. Tiny cats, tiny people, even the banana were small. We saw the fruit baskets people piled high for gifts, and the decrepit fountain Rudyard Kipling's father built.
7:15 AM. A traffic jam involving a couple cows, motorcycles, two cars and an astounding amount of people for this hour resulted in us dismounting our bikes and taking us through a back alley of hanging light bulbs, sweat peas, roses and stunning colors. You found your breath was lost in the crowds, mingling among the people and peonies that emanated from their sweet buds.
7:45 AM. The flies almost outnumbered the cows that devoured the grass we fed them. Twenty rupees for an entire pile. We were amused by the cows, the locals watched. Does this describe more than one scenario?

Day 15: Onwards

On the train to leave for India Part Two: Mumbai. I'm excited, but I think a little nervous as well. I've built it up in my mind quite a bit, what if I don't like it? Or it's not what I expect (to be fair though, I think that's exactly what's to be expected)? I want to love India, but it's something I don't think one can rush. Perhaps that's why all the locals are so keen on taking their time.
It is strange finally having adjusted to New Delhi, only to leave so soon. I'll miss the monkey madness, occasionally functioning electricity in the YMCA, rickshaw drivers, late night lattes in Starbucks...
The woman sat next to me is singing to herself in prayer. I find it incredible how she can be so open about singing! I'm way to shy for such things, even in church with the entire congregation.
A lot of the locals seem to be wandering out the windows, admiring the views and lose their minds in the emptiness of the valleys we are careening through. A few open up the doors at the end of the carriages to sneak a cigarette in front of the sunset, flicking the ash into the wind of the speeding train.  

Day 14: A Fresh Take on Fresher's

Today was our last day with the women of Matreyi College. We celebrated our time together with an event that almost perfectly encapsulates the world's fascination with Western culture: a beauty pageant. I was surprised, only to realize that, once again, my presumptions were incorrect.
The longer I spent with them the more evident it became that the emphasis was not on the physical beauty of the person. These women were not the "brainless beauties" that so many subjectively associate with our pageants, whose goals are world peace and ending hunger and poverty. They have experienced a culture different to the one Westerners project upon India, one that emphasizes the importance of your beautiful self in a non-judgmental environment.
They twirled on the stage, some in saris while others wore ball gowns, and their talents ranged from interpretive, religious dance, to opera-style singing. Each of their smiles were just as brilliant as the sun that unforgivably shone in the heat, maintaining composure was difficult enough for me, and I was sat in the crowd! 

Day 13: FabIndia, FabEconomy, FabEquality

Generally, poverty can be summed up into the absence of six things: adequate nutrition, clean drinking water, access to health care, good education, legal assistance, and sanitary sewage disposal.
500 million people do not have these basic commodities.
Thus began the talk from William Bissel, hugely successful Fab India CEO and political theorist, or perhaps "solutionist". He went on to share his theories of, "How to Eliminate Poverty in India in 1000 Days" leading us through a number of inspirational and thought provoking points that leave one wondering why it has yet to be implemented.
The main thesis of his presentation was his suggestion that within 5-10 years, we would be living in a cashless society, and that each citizen would instead be issued a chip card that can be used to geo-track, monitor citizen's income, and determine which of those citizens are living below the poverty line based on their Aggregate Economic Activity (AEA).
In theory, a cashless system would eliminate black market goods because there would always be a way to trace illicit materials to source on an entirely electronic system, and can also be used to implement a system of vouchers which would be used in exchange for one of the six aforementioned determinants of poverty. This series of vouchers would eliminate poor goods, as few people would choose those not worth exchanging for, and would thus heighten demand for the better goods, making them cheaper.
Sounds simple enough.
While brilliant, and hugely beneficial to society in theory, the question is this: do you trust your government enough to put your money in their hands?

Day 12: Similarities

The following is an excerpt from my journal, dated 5 September 2013

People say when two people are similar, they clash. Two personalities so similar and yet difficult to assimilate. There are so many conflicting ideas here it is hard to identify and create something whole, but India manages it. I feel I have a similar problem, but I haven't quite gotten to my end point. I am so indecisive and impulsive, and sometimes it is nearly impossible for me to make a decision. I do not know what I want, or how I could go about getting it. I don't understand so many things and it drives me insane.
I need to clear my head, I need to go back home to a place I know and understand.
The more I think on India the more I realize that three weeks here is not enough. Maybe three months, years. I tried to come here prepared; I bought bug spray and an umbrella for the monsoon rains, but there really is no preparation one can take. I should have abandoned my assumptions, come here in the mindset I am in now, and maybe I'd have begun to scratch the surface.
I'm looking forward to going to Mumbai. It'll be nice to see somewhere with reflections of Europe and see how it has been integrated into their unique culture.