45 Minute Assault

My room mate and I decided to be adventurous today and decided to talk a walk down the street in front of the hotel. What I experienced only meters from the hotel lobby, was something like no other. It was culture shock. A 45 minute walk turned into a full on assault on my senses.

Here, there are people everywhere on the streets. People are intermingled with cars, buses, coconut cabs, bicycles, motorcycles, and dogs. The tiny streets, with mangled concrete strewn about, has no signs, no lanes, no obvious standards for traffic. Every second, 1000 car horns sound off. Every second you must ensure that you don’t take a wrong step or you will be run down. On the side of the street runs the open sewer, with street vendors selling their goods above them, their carts set on planks of wood which cover portions of the sewer. Garbage is everywhere. You walk in, around it, and through it.



There is one thing that I will never forget about day 1, it's the smell. A smell unlike anything else I’ve ever smelt before. I am not sure if it is a smell of pollution, or sewer, or garbage, or everything put together. But the smell, I will always remember the smell.

There are men everywhere. The ratio of men to women walking the streets of Mumbai are most probably 1000-1. The women that I did see, where graciously and beautifully dressed in Saris and traditional Indian dress. So beautiful, and graceful.

This is my first experience of India. Although one might think that the sights , sounds, and smells are what have impacted my impression of the country so far they would be wrong. So far, it's the people, especially the women, that have impacted me the most.
Tomorrow, the slum tour.