We had a huge day today, with visits to the main vegetable market, a "laundry village," a fishing village right in the middle of the city, and the chance to walk through a middle class neighborhood main street. To top it off, we went to see a Bollywood film in the theater. Despite the humidity, the crowds, and the extraordinary smells of this city, we had a fabulous day.
Our fantastic local guide--a woman!--took us first to the central vegetable wholesale market. This was not a tourist place, and it was crowded and stinky and dirty and absolutely fascinating. We saw birds jam-packed into cages, puppies for sale, all sorts of fruits and vegetables, from giant piles of watermelons to exotic fresh litchis still on the branch. Some of the fruits and vegetables were so unique we had no idea what they were. Mixed among the stalls were tiny storefront shops selling everything from perfumes to candy. Much of the market was indoors, in tiny warrens and passageways that people barreled through as if they were highways. Part of the market was outdoors with only a large roof overhead. Men were everywhere, as the wholesale buying and selling of vegetables is apparently a gendered venture.
Our next visit smelled even *better.* It was a fishing village, around which the rest of the city grew. This village is more than 1500 years old, and predates the founding of the city. It was quit interesting, appearing at first to be a seaside slum. But looking more closely, it was apparent that while houses are ramshackle and tiny, and built of odd materials, they are also cared for, with small seating areas and gardens. The village has its own school, although many of the kids help their families with work instead of getting an education. The village also has two small temples, one to the monkey god Hanuman and the other to the ancient goddess from whom Mumbai got it's name: Mumba Devi.
Surrounding the village and lining the bay on either side are a number of modern high-rise buildings. The contrast is striking.
We then had an opportunity to visit the Dhobi ghats. This is a place where laundry is cleaned in the traditional manner--beaten by hand against rocks in soapy water. Then it is hung to dry, ironed, and delivered to the home or business who hired that particular laundryman. Again, it was mostly men we saw working here, though we saw a lot of kids as well. The families live right there, as the homes are not separated from the work of doing laundry. The main central area has a number of what can only be described as large concrete pens filled with water. These pens are probably 4 foot by 3 foot, and 3 feet high. Men or boys stand outside the pens dipping cloth bags of clothes in the water and swinging the wet bags up over their heads to beat on the concrete pen walls. They do this over and over aging in a rapid and fluid motion. Dip, swing, slam, dip, swing, slam! In several pens, there were young boys, maybe 7 or 8 years old who were swimming and playing while they washed clothes. They didn't have heavy bags to dip and swing, but they did have a lot of loose smaller clothing like underwear that they were washing while playing around.
The position of Dhobi is hereditary. Few are educated, and the work is backbreaking and relentless. Since most in Mumbai use the dhobis instead of doing their own laundry, there is a huge demand for this difficult work.
We ended our afternoon in the Colaba neighborhood, a middle class shopping district that blends the east and west, the old and new. A Nike store stands next to an ancient sari shop. Tiny vendor stalls line the sidewalks, making it difficult to walk. It's jammed with people, mostly middle class Indian shoppers, but Westerners as well. We had some free time there so we could walk around and experience it. After our time in the wholesale market earlier, it was quite a different experience. It definitely felt more familiar, but at the same time, everything about it was different.
We finished our day with a trip to a local (air conditioned!) movie theater. This was a multiplex theater with an Indian- style food court on the way in. The film we saw, Vicky Donor, was a Bollywood comedy/love story. With a happy ending, of course! Even though none of us speak Hindi, the language of the film, we all got the story. In fact a fair number of words were in English, which helped. Of course, we didn't understand all the humor--there were times when everyone else was laughing, including our guide. But we had fun. The best part, I think, was during the credits when they did a traditional Bollywood style musical number that looked like it had been heavily influenced by 1980s era MTV.
The humidity has been extreme. While it is actually 10 degrees cooler here than it was earlier, it feels more oppressive. The crowds of this city don't help. While we don't have the intensity of the streets of Veranasi, the packing of so many people into the spaces of streets and sidewalks is challenging. There is a lot of jostling and touching and bumping and pushing. It's not directed personally; everyone is just trying to get where they are going. But it is a very different sense of proxemics than we are used to, and it requires more attention than walking usually does. Coupled with the humidity and our packed schedule, we are really wiped out at the end of the day. But it's all good. What an experience this is!
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