Farewell Juhu Beach
Our Veggie Sellers
Roadworks outside our door, won't miss that noise
Our Butcher
Our Chemist
& some of those who visited......
Friday, May 16, 2008
Farewell India
I start by writing a thank you to my hubby, I’ve enjoyed Marks Mumbai Madness and only wish I made the time to add more entries.….I’ve been one slack bum on it, or rather put my energy into work and not into something personally meaningful, that will create everlasting memories.
One of many personal lessons learnt over here.
It’s our last day in Bombay. We came not knowing what adventure lay ahead and it’s hard to imagine the new road ahead. We may be moving back into the same house, the same street, the same suburb, the same city, but we bring with us a ‘made in India’ addition. Our lives will never be the same again and I’m so excited.
We went to Barister Coffee, for our morning coffee this morning and took our coffee’s with the papers to the beach. Such a familiar thing to do, but we’ve never done it here. We were soon surrounded by kids with babies begging, it never ceases to break your heart, but somehow we now are hardened in our response and the time it takes to forget them. (We did give them Rs55 and the dregs of our coffee cups – Mark even made the little fella put the cups in the bin – a sight I’ve NEVER seen in this filthy place, he deserved Rs100!).
It’s been an amazing adventure and it really does make you appreciate the country we come from. To all Aussie’s who expect they’re owed something from the government, from society, from family - you need to get on a plane & experience India. See what true hardship is, and see the incredible innate human instinct of survival and need to strive for betterment for the future for their offspring. I’m not in favour of the Indian government ignoring these poor souls, but it does show how welfare can dilute this human instinct.
It still astounds me to see the basket weavers or flower stringers, smiling as they work on the road and pavement. They actually live on the same pavement, some of them have made their homes in the massive pipes, sit across from the railway near Dada – a scene I will never forget. They cook, bring up their babies, work, sleep and shit in absolute mess & poverty – yet they converse, laugh, sing and have no trouble whatsoever at procreating.
Today, we successfully found Katherine, our lovely non stop talking maid, a new home of employment. She’s loving life at the moment with all the goodies she’s keeping from us, although she’s genuinely upset that we’re leaving. We even received a call from our other little girl, Renuka to say bye from Israel and may have found her husband Roshan a job driving for Kaisa & Apurv. I swear, you could make a successful business out of passing around good house staff. I wonder if this will sound strange to us soon, but it’s so normal at the moment.
So I say a sad farewell to the place that captured our hearts and souls. A happy farewell to the same place that drove us insanely mad with it’s hypocrisy, noise and traffic. We’ll miss you India, your heartbeat that now pulses in our veins and can’t wait to come back.
One of many personal lessons learnt over here.
It’s our last day in Bombay. We came not knowing what adventure lay ahead and it’s hard to imagine the new road ahead. We may be moving back into the same house, the same street, the same suburb, the same city, but we bring with us a ‘made in India’ addition. Our lives will never be the same again and I’m so excited.
We went to Barister Coffee, for our morning coffee this morning and took our coffee’s with the papers to the beach. Such a familiar thing to do, but we’ve never done it here. We were soon surrounded by kids with babies begging, it never ceases to break your heart, but somehow we now are hardened in our response and the time it takes to forget them. (We did give them Rs55 and the dregs of our coffee cups – Mark even made the little fella put the cups in the bin – a sight I’ve NEVER seen in this filthy place, he deserved Rs100!).
It’s been an amazing adventure and it really does make you appreciate the country we come from. To all Aussie’s who expect they’re owed something from the government, from society, from family - you need to get on a plane & experience India. See what true hardship is, and see the incredible innate human instinct of survival and need to strive for betterment for the future for their offspring. I’m not in favour of the Indian government ignoring these poor souls, but it does show how welfare can dilute this human instinct.
It still astounds me to see the basket weavers or flower stringers, smiling as they work on the road and pavement. They actually live on the same pavement, some of them have made their homes in the massive pipes, sit across from the railway near Dada – a scene I will never forget. They cook, bring up their babies, work, sleep and shit in absolute mess & poverty – yet they converse, laugh, sing and have no trouble whatsoever at procreating.
Today, we successfully found Katherine, our lovely non stop talking maid, a new home of employment. She’s loving life at the moment with all the goodies she’s keeping from us, although she’s genuinely upset that we’re leaving. We even received a call from our other little girl, Renuka to say bye from Israel and may have found her husband Roshan a job driving for Kaisa & Apurv. I swear, you could make a successful business out of passing around good house staff. I wonder if this will sound strange to us soon, but it’s so normal at the moment.
So I say a sad farewell to the place that captured our hearts and souls. A happy farewell to the same place that drove us insanely mad with it’s hypocrisy, noise and traffic. We’ll miss you India, your heartbeat that now pulses in our veins and can’t wait to come back.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Pics from the Rick
Last night was our last trip in a Mumbai rickshaw for some time... we had to take some self pics from the back just one last time...
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Quote...
"To accomplish great things, we must,
not only act, but also dream;
not only plan, but also believe."
- Anatole France
Monday, March 31, 2008
So long Shantaram
Mumbai's favourite reformed Australian convict, Gregory David Roberts, is setting sail for Europe for a spell whilst the film of his book, starring Johnny Depp is under production. He will be returning in November for Diwali for his wedding to fiancee Princess Francoise Sturdza of Switzerland. So if you'd like your book signed, head to Leopolds later in the year...
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Around Juhu...
On a wander around Juhu you'll find quite a few regulars to greet on the street.
This family live on the pavement behind a bus stop on the banks of the dirty drain pictured below. Now these kids don't attend school which is a shame and most of the time we see them at the lights holding out their little hands. Oblivious to anyone walking by this morning the children were absorbed in their colouring books, which was fantastic to see! Rarely do we see the poorer children sharing in the experiences of the well to do.. Unfortunately once I was seen their concentration jumped from colouring books to of course rupee and wanting to see themselves on camera.
The young fella was especially proud of his drawing...
Should you ever be on Juhu beach and feeling a wee bit parched you may like to try your luck at one of the many drink carts set up for evening walkers...
This family live on the pavement behind a bus stop on the banks of the dirty drain pictured below. Now these kids don't attend school which is a shame and most of the time we see them at the lights holding out their little hands. Oblivious to anyone walking by this morning the children were absorbed in their colouring books, which was fantastic to see! Rarely do we see the poorer children sharing in the experiences of the well to do.. Unfortunately once I was seen their concentration jumped from colouring books to of course rupee and wanting to see themselves on camera.
The young fella was especially proud of his drawing...
Should you ever be on Juhu beach and feeling a wee bit parched you may like to try your luck at one of the many drink carts set up for evening walkers...
Mumbai - It's not that dirty...
It's official, Forbes magazine has rated Mumbai as the seventh dirtiest city in the world!!
Mercer Human Resource Consulting's 2007 Report on Health and Sanitation Ranked 215 cities as part of a Quality of Life report, addressing 29 civic criteria including, levels of air pollution, waste management, water potability, hospital supplies, medical services and the presence of infectious diseases. Bonanza!!!
For the record all cities are positioned against New York, the base city with an index score of 100.
The worst on the latest list is, Baku, Azerbaijan with a score of 27.6, the cleanest goes to Calgary, Canada, with a score of 131.7. Delhi was ranked a few pegs higher than Mumbai at 24th.
The local authorities reject the ranking claiming the survey conducted contacted too many expatriates giving a biased opinion and discounting the city efforts and spending to clean up the city infrastructure and the social needs of the population. Following are some of the survey findings:
Drinking water: Marks: 0 /10
You cannot drink tap water directly — it needs to be either boiled or filtered. The water is filthy and not potable.
Dangerous animals and insects: Marks: 3/10
The city is infested with stray dogs and insects that spread diseases and are dangerous.
(Actually there are fewer dogs now than when we arrived. There is a sterilization program in action. As for the mozzies, Yardaf was a victim of Malaria late in 2007)
Infectious Diseases: Marks: 3/10
Infectious diseases are widely spread among citizens and the population of HIV+ citizens is more than that of foreign cities. This makes dwelling in the city for long periods of time dangerous to one's health. It is also harmful to the environment.
(There are more NGO's making inroads to the HIV epidemic with Hollywood and Bollywood celeb's educating the masses. Unfortunately life is cheap and education is limited)
Hospital services: Marks: 5/10
Hospital services are satisfactory, but most hospitals are located in the island city while the suburbs lack specialised facilities.
(Hospitals are a sight, straight out of the 1950's with some select modern equipment. Bombay Hospital is a large building surrounding a courtyard, trouble is the courtyard is buried beneath building material and waste thrown out of the windows and not removed....)
Waste removal: Marks: 4/10
The garbage collection system is ineffective, and garbage piles are a frequent sight on city roads. However, South Mumbai is comparatively cleaner.
(I would have marked them at 2/10 for this one... check out the pic and some may remember the image of the rubbish washed onto the shore last monsoon..)
Sewerage system; Marks: 3/10
Fifty per cent of city's waste is dumped into the sea without undergoing any sort of treatment. This poses an environmental hazard.
(For those who have visited, you've seen and smelt it... It's not pretty but 15-18 million people living in such a small space it's gotta go somewhere...there's currently limited ways to pipe it and the big question is pipe it to where! The land is so expensive here... although the BMC promises to have NO human poo to the ocean by 2011)
Mercer Human Resource Consulting's 2007 Report on Health and Sanitation Ranked 215 cities as part of a Quality of Life report, addressing 29 civic criteria including, levels of air pollution, waste management, water potability, hospital supplies, medical services and the presence of infectious diseases. Bonanza!!!
For the record all cities are positioned against New York, the base city with an index score of 100.
The worst on the latest list is, Baku, Azerbaijan with a score of 27.6, the cleanest goes to Calgary, Canada, with a score of 131.7. Delhi was ranked a few pegs higher than Mumbai at 24th.
The local authorities reject the ranking claiming the survey conducted contacted too many expatriates giving a biased opinion and discounting the city efforts and spending to clean up the city infrastructure and the social needs of the population. Following are some of the survey findings:
Drinking water: Marks: 0 /10
You cannot drink tap water directly — it needs to be either boiled or filtered. The water is filthy and not potable.
Dangerous animals and insects: Marks: 3/10
The city is infested with stray dogs and insects that spread diseases and are dangerous.
(Actually there are fewer dogs now than when we arrived. There is a sterilization program in action. As for the mozzies, Yardaf was a victim of Malaria late in 2007)
Infectious Diseases: Marks: 3/10
Infectious diseases are widely spread among citizens and the population of HIV+ citizens is more than that of foreign cities. This makes dwelling in the city for long periods of time dangerous to one's health. It is also harmful to the environment.
(There are more NGO's making inroads to the HIV epidemic with Hollywood and Bollywood celeb's educating the masses. Unfortunately life is cheap and education is limited)
Hospital services: Marks: 5/10
Hospital services are satisfactory, but most hospitals are located in the island city while the suburbs lack specialised facilities.
(Hospitals are a sight, straight out of the 1950's with some select modern equipment. Bombay Hospital is a large building surrounding a courtyard, trouble is the courtyard is buried beneath building material and waste thrown out of the windows and not removed....)
Waste removal: Marks: 4/10
The garbage collection system is ineffective, and garbage piles are a frequent sight on city roads. However, South Mumbai is comparatively cleaner.
(I would have marked them at 2/10 for this one... check out the pic and some may remember the image of the rubbish washed onto the shore last monsoon..)
Sewerage system; Marks: 3/10
Fifty per cent of city's waste is dumped into the sea without undergoing any sort of treatment. This poses an environmental hazard.
(For those who have visited, you've seen and smelt it... It's not pretty but 15-18 million people living in such a small space it's gotta go somewhere...there's currently limited ways to pipe it and the big question is pipe it to where! The land is so expensive here... although the BMC promises to have NO human poo to the ocean by 2011)
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