A Month In Already

Hi all. Still alive and thriving with not a single bout of dehli belly...yet! I haven't written in a long while and I don't really have a great excuse. Work has been great. It's basically exactly what I signed up for and my coworkers are really a great bunch. I'm currently staying at the company's guesthouse about a 3 minute walk from the office. Right now, it's myself, my Brit colleague, Richard and his wife Caroline and Praveen the live-in housekeeper. My roomates are super nice and I'm quite happy they enjoy a drink or two most days :) I can get used to having someone cook and clean for us too. The only thing is, he only cooks Indian food. He has quickly realized that he needs to make a version that is sans spicy for me. Richard and Caroline love the spice!!
I have done some exploring with my roomates but there aren't a ton of sites to see here. Unfortunately, where I'm located is on the outskirts of town so getting anywhere is a bit of a pain. There aren't any taxis only auto rickshaws and to get back to our place in the evening, they charge minimum a 50% premium because it's out of the way for them.

Being out and about surely allows me to experience living in India but it can be rather stressful. The rickshaws never obey traffic signs (like drive the wrong way on one-ways etc)and there aren't a lot of streetlights so there seems to be very little order in the traffic system here. There have been many death defying rickshaw rides here. Sometimes after a ride, I need a stiff drink to calm my nerves... You'd feel the same way if you saw a massive truck's headlights barreling towards your little rickshaw in the middle of the night. Crossing the streets, which of course I have to do daily, is also a rather harrowing experience. ahhhh... it all adds to the experience I suppose. I visited the area around Laxmi Road to check out all of little stores and markets around. We even ended up in the red light district, inadvertently. Over the course of my stay, I have seen teems of cows, anorexic-like and well fed ones. Herds of goats alongside the traffic on the highways and also camels. It's quite interesting to see these animals co-habitating in the city with the hustle and bustle of the cars and stores and people around.

What is my impression of India so far? I'm not totally shocked, surprisingly. I think I had a good idea of what to expect. It is crazy though, the disparity between rich and poor. There is rich and poor that that are present right next to each other. There are fancy malls, satellite tvs, luxury cars, movie theatres, cellphone ads, internet, all right next to shacks where people live. I've even seen people brush their teeth, bathe, wash their hair and kids and babies just sitting on the floor hanging out. It's a normal site here. Actually, in one of the shacks, which is little more than 4 sheets of metal put together on a dirt floor, it had a satellite hookup. I have no idea where the electricity is coming from.... It's quite amazing everything that I'm seeing here. I will definitely go home with a greater appreciation of the comforts of home.
Steve is coming out soon. I have just booked his ticket. My plan is to pick him up from Mumbai airport and stay the weekend there to see the sites. I'm tossing around the idea of taking a tour to the Dharavi slums. It's the second largest slum in all of Asia other than the one in Pakistan. It has over 1 million people living in 175 hectares. I'm undecided because I am unsure how ethical it is...We'll see. Apparently this tour I'm considering donates 80% of profits are donated to a local NGO. We shall see. Until next time...