Departure and Dharavi

MUMBAI, MAHARASHTRA - 20th November 2009

Surprise surprise, leaving Mangalore yesterday wasn't exactly fun. Without wanting to sound like a broken record, leaving "home" is a pretty uniquely emotional experience for me (and, I guess, most of my family), though trying to articulate why is always hard - after all everyone always says and knows holidays have to come to an end - and 6 weeks is certainly enough. The only way I can think to describe it is like this: coming to Mangalore isn't so much a holiday, which is a break from your normal life, as a shift to another, equally integral part of your life. So when you leave, you're also leaving that part of your life too... which is pretty gutting. What made it harder than usual was that, unlike almost every other time I've left before, this time I had no idea when I'd be back again.

However, it's pretty pointless for anyone to sit dwelling on sorrows, especially when time in India is limited - and coming to Mumbai presented 6 days to achieve a whole swathe of new experiences, beginning immediately after i landed yesterday with a trip to a Hindu wedding. As is standard here, there were something in the region of 1000 attendees - all dressed in the most vibrant colours imaginable, and none moreso than the bride's family. The level of gold and general jewelry on display would have had a souk owner licking his lips - there were things glistening on pretty much every part of every girl/woman's body. It would have made an excellent fashion parade.

The bridal couple had, funnily enough, been inadvertantly set up by my aunt. As kids they'd played together in the same block of flats, but years later, when they were teenagers, my aunt gave them and a load of friends a bunch of free tickets to the movies. These two sat next to each other, and the rest is history...! (As an aside, kudos to my Dad for jumping at the opportunity to suggest Mamta give me some free movie tickets... )

I jumped from one end of the opulent spectrum to the other today though, when fellow Pembrokian Anna (lately of "Young Pavlova" fame) invited me to join her and her friend on a tour of Dharavi - Asia's biggest slum. The tour was pretty impressive - people see Dharavi stretching for miles in every direction when they come in to land in Mumbai, but only by being on the ground can you appreciate the sheer level and scale of industry happening under the corregated iron rooftops. Our tour took us inside plastic recycling houses (guess where you're white recycling bags in Sevenoaks ultimately end up...), leather manufacturing shops, pottery barns and bakeries. For sure, every one of your senses takes a battering - the sight of rotting garbage, the stench of sewage, noise of machinery and motors in every direction, and of course kids jumping to shake hands with you every step of the way - but it's great to see how people don't stife in adversity, but work as hard as the next man. The place may be a slum, but it's got the productivity of Canary Wharf - perhaps not in value, but certainly in effort.

En route, I jumped at the opportunity to bowl a few balls at the local slum kids playing make-shift versions of cricket. It really is true that whatever language you speak, or wherever you're from - sport unites everyone.

Step 1. Mumbai.

MUMBAI, MAHARASHTRA, INDIA - 3rd October 2009

Sitting down to write this, I didn't think I had much to blog about at this stage. However, it will be scant surprise to anyone that, when push came to shove, I had a fair amount to say...

Arrival in Mumbai turned out to me more action packed than I realised at the time. Sure, there was your bog-standard one hour delay at Heathrow thanks to some numpty who checked in his bag but didn't get to the aircraft in time. Instead of letting him on board a few minutes late, whichever genius runs British Airways' operations decided the best option would be to unload the entire baggage store in search for his one bag. 45 minutes later, they were still searching. I couldn't help thinking that Eamonn would not be impressed.

Eventually we were moving, albeit moving in no systematic direction as we rolled around the Heathrow airfield for 25 minutes. Still, we caught a jet stream and landed only a little late. The real action was a few hours later when the BA plane started its return journey...

A British Airways Mumbai-London flight with 207 passengers on board made an emergency landing in Mumbai early Thursday following a fire.

The captain of the BA-138 flight, which took off from the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport at 3 a.m., heard a fire alarm in the cockpit about 30 minutes after take-off.

He immediately decided to return and a full emergency was declared at the airport.

Great entertainment for everyone on board, no doubt, but a shame it wasn't 24 hours earlier. Then the real entertainment would have been my Mum's blood pressure!

Anyway, as has been the norm for every one of my previous 12 visits to Mumbai, everything has changed, but everything is still the same. The former, in that every other building you pass, down every road you drive down, is brand new. And everything new is modern. But the constant change is equally the thing that stays the same. Everything is always changing here - the one constant is the chaotic traffic. When I say "every road you drive down", "drive down" is used in its loosest sense. "Plough through" is probably more appropriate. Its stated so much that its pretty much cliched, but Mumbai traffic tops anything, anywhere. Particularly in the suburbs - in the main city limits auto-rickshaws are banned, so things are relatively (at least by Mumbai-standards) civilised. The moment you're outside - all hell breaks loose. Yesterday we saw a guy in a Merc attempt a three point turn on a two lane high street that had 3 lanes of traffic moving in both directions. And that way remarkably normal. It has to be seen to be believed.

The other constant is the heat. We left the plane at about 12.45am local time, and were greeted by 29C heat and 98% humidity... so pretty toasty really. 3 days in and you're used to it though - and the healthy combination of fans and air-con do their bit as well.

A new experience for me was hitting Mumbai by night with my cousin. A few beers and some nice food preceded a walk along one of Mumbai's infamous beaches. Golden sand, check. Adjacent slums, check. A healthy level of dirt in the sea, check. But it was night, so it was still beautiful... though we did end up getting stuck at a dead end between a river and the slums. Good times.

Plans for the next few days include a trip up to Nashik to see my eldest surviving relation - Auntie Martha is going strong at 96, and the odds of her remembering who I am are about as remote as England winning this year's Champions Trophy (which, as of last night, are pretty remote).

Right now though, it's off to the pictures.