Note to self

I arrived in Mumbai for a five-day orientation last Saturday night.  The airport seemed not radically different from home… until I got outside.  Swarms of people behind a metal barrier.  Thankfully the AJWS arranged for a driver to pick me up (sweet!), and I spotted him holding a sign with my name on it right away.  Then I had to get my luggage cart through the crowd and shouting policemen on the sidewalk.  My first impressions of Mumbai on the drive to the hotel -- albeit through a sleep-deprived haze and what I now know to be the relative quiet of Mumbai at 1am -- was of people everywhere, ramshackle buildings, dirt.  I wondered, would the most cosmopolitan of Indian cities look shinier in the daylight?

 

Alas, it did not, at least not the parts I saw.

  Corrugated metal shacks covering every free square inch, people living in them with no running water.  Mangy dogs everywhere.  Chaotic traffic, moving by a set of rules I can’t determine.  And forget crosswalks and seatbelts. 

 

Strewn in with the chaos are some modern buildings -- shops, restaurants, movie theatres.  I went to a lovely arts festival with some of the other volunteers, which reminded me of the booths in (New York's) Union Square in December.  I had an amazing dinner, sitting in a garden outside, talking for hours, the sounds of the city seeming far away.  (Though in retrospect, I honestly didn't think about the money I spent on the meal probably being more than what many people earn in a month.)  Taking in a Bollywood movie was another highlight.

  Nearly being mowed down by a bus on the way there was not.  Note to self: Pedestrians do not have right of way in India.

 

I’ve become fast friends with the other volunteers and AJWS staff.  This was a gentle introduction to India, and I’m nervous about leaving the safety net of having companions.  I haven’t had to negotiate cab fare yet (yes, it's negotiable) or even buy my own food.  Though it’s still hard to articulate why I came to India, I can say for sure that it wasn’t to spend the whole time with other Americans and have meals in a hotel.  So it’s off to Bhubaneswar and my volunteer assignment.