Touring the Dharavi Slum

We arrived in Mumbai, got driven to my sister's house. We chilled there for about 30 minutes. Enough to take quick showers and get ready to head out.

We went out to the Dharavi slum with Reality Tours and Travel. It was pretty impressive.

Dharavi is a million people living in 2/3rd of a square mile. I smelled things I've never smelled before, and hope to never smell again. There were humans, dogs, goats, chickens, and cats.

The kids loved my hair. They would follow us around and offer to shake our hands. Some of the kids wanted to touch my hair. One asked for a single hair. The kids would often shake our hand and ask us our name. Some would just wave, and smile, and say "Hi" in a very friendly manner. (Never hello, always "hi".)

We saw plastic recycling, leather processing (everything but the tanning which is illegal), oil-paint-can and olive-oil-can recycling, ceramic pot making, and garment making.

To recycle plastic, they sort it, then grind it into scraps with a big machine. After seeing that, we walked around the next street where they manufacture the big grinding machines.

Most of this was occurring in filthy rooms with sketchy electricity, the occasional ceiling fan, but no AC... hell, they only had running water 3 hours per day (in those 3 hours they fill big blue buckets for the day).

The residential section was very interesting. Our guide listed off some various statistics. 40 some percent of people live in a home that is 10'x10'. Another 40 some percent of people live in a home that is 20x20. Only 9% of people live in places larger than that.

Everyone was exceptionally friendly and welcoming. We were warned outsiders get stared at, but my hair kinda pushed that over the top. Its one of those things I only kinda notice... but anyone walking behind me was constantly watching people stare, discuss, and point at me. My attention buffer is full to the brim. I likes it that way.

Hokay, its late, I'm hella jet-lagged. (10:30pm here... 9am back in Seattle). I need to get some sleep. Will try to write more tomorrow.