One thing I did forget to mention last time, though, was the insanity that is the rain here in Mumbai. While we were near Viti and walking around between shopping areas, the rains came by. This is no Berkeley rain where you watch the clouds rolling in, the rain beings to sprinkle around, and there is a nice steady rain that drips from the sky. Rather, on one side of the traffic-filled street where the cars and trucks do not obey proper traffic laws, the sky was slightly cloudy, but everything was perfectly dry. Half way across the street after being almost run over by a large bus, there were droplets the size of quarters falling from the sky. They did not just fall from the sky, but instead, bombarded us and drenched us before we reached the other side of the street. Watching the rain was ridiculously amazing, and Mumbai has never smelled and felt nicer during and after the rain.
So after the fairly relaxing Monday, Tuesday morning started out with a bang. Literally.
I had woken up fairly early as usual, and decided to get some reading done and finally take my beautiful cold-water shower for the day. I was just rinsing off my shampoo and soap from a shower-head that lacks any water pressure at all, when I heard a loud bang and an "oh my god." I did not think much of it, and a minute later, Emily knocks on my door frantically and tells me to get out of the shower. I mention that I just have to rinse off my soap, but she tells me to get out anyway because the light had hit Suneeta.
At first, I was completely confused. In our apartment, we get random bright flashes of light through our window as cars drive into the parking lot of our "chaal-style apartment complex." So when Emily first told me that the light hit Suneeta, I thought it was one of those flashes of lights, or even possibly lightning that had hit Suneeta. Of course, none of this really makes any sense, so I come out, and I see that Suneeta looks quite shaken and is bleeding on her head and facial area.
Then I notice that the halogen light fixture had fallen off and was broken in the garbage can. We were sleeping with our heads facing the halogen lamp, because none of us figured that the entire lighting fixture would ever just fall off. Suneeta had been sitting up doing work when suddenly, the lighting fixture came crashing down on her. Luckily for me, I was in the shower, or else I would have received the full brunt of the crash since my sleeping mat sits directly under the center of the lamp fixture.
As a consequence, much of Tuesday morning was spent making sure that Suneeta was okay, moving everything to the other room, making sure not to track broken glass everywhere, and clean up the place as much as possible. There was broken glass all over the floor and on our bedsheets,etc. There are also definitely pieces of glass stuck under the keys in my keyboard. I had to remove an extremely large piece from under my space bar. Unfortunately, that required removing my space bar and putting it back, and now it doesn't work as well anymore.
Afterwards, I did not accomplish much for the rest of the day. I went out to shop for things like more clothes lines, a mat for wiping our shoes on, poster paper and markers, etc, but nothing more. I was feeling sick and had a wonderful migraine, so I sat around the apartment complex with Suneeta the rest of the day. I lazed around listening to music, and looked up different recipes online thinking of different menus for meals that I could make after I returned from India.
Food here is awesome, but curry, roti, idlly, and upma gets tiring meal after meal. And, of course, for those of you who have been around recently, I just like to make massive meals for people in general. I crashed fairly early around 10:30 pm, since I had not slept much the night before. I was supposed to pick Mary from the airport--her plane was delayed from 10:30 pm until 1:30 in the morning--but I apparently could not be moved until 8:00 the next morning.
This morning, Nick and I went to speak to Dr. Kashyap, one of the microbiology researchers for EurekaForbes. He said that it probably be possible for him to find a lab to conduct water quality testing for both E. coli and other coliforms, and also for cysts and protazoa. Additionally, he said that he would be willing to give us some free samples of filters, and possibly the iodine and bromine resins to play around with. His statement was, "We make 25M Rs a year, so of course we can give them to you for free," which works for me. That was a fairly exciting and inspiring meeting. There was also really good chai there, too.
Afterwards, there was food, and then there was taking a break when Elaine arrived before heading over to Sion to meet with the Community Health Volunteers (CHVs) that work for SAHAS, and NGO that works in health, domestic violence issues, and a lot more. They took us around the slum right behind the Somaiya Hospital, Panchsheel Nagar. This community is broken up into three different areas: One, Two, and Three. Area Three were inhabited by the BMC, Bombay Municipal Corporation, workers, area Two were inhabited by the rag-pickers, and area One consisted of a mix of the two. It was amazing to see the difference between Behram Pada and Panchsheel Nagar, and even just the three areas of Panchsheel Nagar that lie right next to each other on the same straight road.
Panchsheel Nagar was built along the same one pipeline that runs behind the Somaiya Hospital. The dwellers have built the houses themselves from mortar, brick, or sheet metal, or a little bit of both. The government technically owns the land, so they have to pay rent on the land. However, they still need to ask for permission for anything that they do, including putting wallpaper up on their walls. Often, they do not receive permission, and if they do anything without permission, the government goes to them and demand money.
This slum reminded me more of Kenya. Behrampada is definately more of an urban slum, while Panchsheel Nagar is more of a rural slum. Behrampada is a maze of houses stacked on top of houses with pipelines running through sewage in the canals between the houses, and sunlight barely reaches through to the bottom because of how crowded the area is. Panchsheel Nagar is not the same, even though they are able to pull directly from the BMC pipelines and have more or less a constant flow of water 24-7. The reason that a larger slum has not been built around such an amazing resource is because the government and the surrounding lands will not allow them to expand and build on top of each other.
Another striking difference between the two is the cleanliness of the place. This is not to say that hygiene is not a problem, because it definitely is still a major problem. However, the sewage does not run down the street, not as much in the canals between the houses, and garbage is not strewn about as much in the area. Apparently SAHAS has been working with the residents of Panchsheel Nagar a little on hygiene and cleanliness.
If you look closely, you can see the red dome of an Imax theatre in the background.
Still, nobody has any proper plumbing, meaning that there are no toilets inside the houses, not that a toilet would fit into most of these houses anyhow. There are only two public latrines for the three different areas, meaning that there are about four toilets on one end and four toilets on the other end for 7,000 people, making it about one toilet per 1,000 people. Many people also go into the sewage canal which looks more like a disgusting river that runs in the back of the houses.
There is also more obvious poverty in the area. In Behrampada, there is a wide range of different people living there, including somebody with a bachelor's degree. Almost everybody has a cell phone, and most houses are decently furnished, and most with televisions nicer than some that I see back in the United States. In Panchsheel Nagar, the houses were ridiculously small, and the living conditions were definitely simpler than those in Behram. One of the houses that we entered had one room that was about the size of my bedroom + closet, and it housed four adults and three children. There was a tiny gas stove, a small square for washing anything, a shelf of pots and pans, and a bed that definitely did not fit seven people.
It was also slightly perturbing how you could tell the difference between the three areas of the same slum that all exists on the same straight road. The BMC workers are definitely slightly better off than the rag pickers. Their houses a slightly better built, and everybody looked like they were able to pull off a living. However, right after you pass this chalkboard, you can start seeing a difference as you see more garbage in the area, you see more used and dirty clothes drying on the clothes lines, and there were unclothed children running around.
There are more things to say--I've been learning a little about the complicated politics that is India... the Indian mafia, people's dealings with the dons, the orange-colored flags, etc. It is actually all pretty interesting.
Still, it is 11:30, and I have to wake up at 5:45 in the morning to turn the water on, and then again at 6:30 to turn the water off, and tomorrow is a full day of walking around. Just two and a half hours of walking in the sun through Panchsheel Nagar was amazingly draining.
All right. I'm tired.
Picture of the day: Ox cart pulling oil.
Lesson of the day: The sun is draining.
This is Edith, signing out.
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