Globe Trotting J's 2019 Trip Day 12: Five Star Slums
I cannot tell you how great it felt to spend some time relaxing yesterday. After a lot of tours / activities over the last ten days or so it was nice to come back to the hotel and enjoy the facilities. This morning we were up early again. Jake and I went to breakfast (while Jenn continued to sleep) where he had waffles and I stuck with my cappuccino. A little before 9 AM we made our way down to meet our tour guide Nano who took us to our van to drive us to the Dharavi Slums in Mumbai, the highest populated slum in the world.
In full transparency I think we were all a little conflicted on whether we should even do a tour of a slum. There’s something about going to a place where people live and being a spectator. You’ll notice that there are almost no pictures for our nearly three hour tour of the Dharavi slums, that’s because there was a very strict no picture policy (Jake didn’t fully oblige). The drive to the Dharavi slums about a half hour after departing the hotel. We were told to stay close, watch out heads, and let Nano know if we were ever uncomfortable or if there was ever a smell that we couldn’t tolerate. We were also told there would be no bathrooms for the next two-three hours.
We began our journey it was considered the “commercial” side of the slum. There we went into a half dozen different businesses from plastic recycling, to pottery and leather making. We even went on the top floor of a couple to get views of different structures throughout the slum. To get to all of these places we weaved in and out of incredibly tight alley ways, ducked under electrical wires, hopped over in puddles and all sorts of debris to get to our next destination. We were at all times concentrating on our next step and yet never felt unsafe or threatened even in the slightest. In fact quite the opposite. We never got the sense that we were “welcomed to be there” but we were basically ignored the entire time by the locals which is totally understandable.
From the industrial area we made our way to the residential area where we saw a ton of homes no bigger then a decent size master bathroom in many homes in America. The vast majority of homes do not have toilets so people are forced to pay to use public facilities. I can’t tell you how many people were brushing their teeth in the middle of open streets as we walked by. We got to walk into a few schools, one which was funded by the tour company we went with (Reality Tours) where we got to smile and wave at all of the kids in class.
The tour ended going through the marketplace of the slum which had live chickens being slaughtered for lunch, shops the size of a backyard shed being used as barber shops or cell phone SIM card stands before ending our tour at the Reality Tours office right at the edge of the slum. I’m not going to wax poetic about our experience at the Slums. In all honesty its something that I want to give more thought and reflection on. It was an experience that I’ll never forget, and there’s no way any of us left the slums today the same people we were when we entered.
When we left the slums to get back to our van the rain re-appeared and we were caught in another downpour. We made a run for it and arrived back in our van a little wet, but otherwise no worse off. The drive back to the hotel was about double getting to the slums due to the infamous Mumbai traffic. When we did arrive we all re-showered and had our clothes and shoes cleaned from the tour. We also ordered room service where I had lentil soup, Jenn had rice and naan, and Jake had a margherita pizza.
When we booked the tour we knew there was going to be quite the juxtaposition from our morning to our afternoon. After lunch Jenn went down for a three-hour spa experience where she had a facial and a massage. Jake went shortly after Jenn to get their signature massage which had two masseuses working on him for an hour, I followed Jake with the same thing. We all enjoyed their incredible spa facilities with steam rooms and spa and helped to unwind from two full days of touring.
The relaxation all hit us hard so we decided instead of going back out for dinner that we’d go back to San:Qi near the hotel and have another great dinner there. We once again went with the butter chicken and the same phenomenal naan along with chicken korma, and a spicy shrimp dish. These selections were even better and we all cleared out plates with what was another phenomenal Indian meal. We had a new waiter although ours from yesterday came over and gave us a dessert after our meal, this time a mint ice cream.
We closed out the night re-packing our suitcases (for the almost last time) and watching Aziz Ansari’s new stand up special, Right Now. I fell asleep during most of it but Jenn and Jake loved it. After that we turned out the lights on our last night here in Mumbai. Today was such an odd, humbling day that I’ll just end by saying this; I’ll never forget today.
