The Dabawallahs

Everyday, these guys go to 200,000 suburban households and pick up hot meals prepared by mothers and wives and deliver them to office workers throughout Mumbai. With the grueling traffic and overflowing trains that most commuters face everyday, getting lunch delivered to your workspace from home has got to be a nice thing. The lunches are carried in cylindrical aluminum tins that stack on top of one another. And because many of the dabawallahs are illiterate, they use a sophisticated system of numbers and colors to indicate where the meal must be delivered. The really impressive aspect of their work is the level of efficiency that they attain. According to Forbes, only one tin in 6 million does not arrive safely to the correct son or husband.

Mumbai (Bombay)

In many ways Mumbai is a pretty typical metropolis- loud and filthy. With 17 million people is not small and being situated on an island (60% of which is reclaimed), it is very densely populated- something like 30,000 people per sq. km. Hundreds of refugees from the rural areas of the state come to Mumbai daily looking for a better life and it seems few find it. The level of poverty is mind-boggling. One third of the entire population lives on the streets and it is an incredible sight to behold. I, for one, have never seen so much poverty in one place. I saw some really sad things. It was jarring at first, but there is so much going on in the city as far as smells and noises and crazy traffic, that it is easy to divert your attention elsewhere and just keep walking. My second day I witnessed some unfortunate old guy get mowed over by a taxi in a busy street. People rushed in to help him, so I just turned around and tried not to let it affect me too much.

There isn’t much reason for a traveler to come here, but because this is where I entered the country, I hung out for a few days to get my bearings and arrange my train tickets before hitting the road again. There were a few fun things to see downtown, mostly stuff left over from the British Raj. The gothic architecture of the High Court and the University of Mumbai really stand out among the contemporary offices and apartments. And placed right in front of these two buildings is the Oval Maidan which is just a huge field where hundreds of Indians get together to play cricket everyday. It makes for a nice place to sit and hang out for a while.

Essentially what I took away from Mumbai was merely a set of general realizations about India- lots of people, lots of filth, and the fact that this was going to be a unique and really interesting experience.

From Mumbai I took the train east to the caves of Allora and then up to an isolated little town called Orchha. Since then I’ve been through Khajuraho and Varanasi. Before I leave on the 1^st of April, I’d like to get up to the Himalayan foothills and hopefully to a wildlife reserve to see a little Indian nature.

I was able to upload a few photos from India. Please feel free to check them out at: www.kodakgallery.com/douglegrand

Dubai

I feel as though I’ve been fairly tight lipped blog-wise during my trip up until now and while it’s not been for a lack of internet access or even inspiration, there are always a number of factors that can take priority, at the end of a day, over sitting down and logging an entry here and there. That said, as I am about to begin the second and most probably the more culturally interesting half of my journey through India (26 days) and China (31 days), I believe the real adventure has only just begun…
Upon arrival in Dubai, I was not at all sure what I should expect to find. With all the buzz about the insane levels of growth and development (the tax-free port being the fulcrum for the enormous expansion) I was really looking forward to seeing it for myself. An illustration of Dubai’s more ostentatious building plans can be seen in an email forward that has been circling around lately (www.sensiblyeclectic.com/news/index.php?/archives/6007-And-now-we-know-where-the-3gallon-goes....html). And amid the crazy accounts the BBC has broadcasted over the last year detailing the hard line, zero-tolerance policy of U.A.E. customs officials, I was a bit on edge about the over–the-counter meds I was carrying. Probably the most outlandish example being the case of a British national having a poppy seed muffin at London Heathrow just before his flight to Dubai and being detained for the possession of 3 poppy seeds that were found on his jacket. The man was convicted and sentenced to 4 years in prison. Moral of the story, be very aware of the laws and regulations of a country to which you’re traveling and how strictly they’re enforcing those laws.
After passing through airport security “undetected”, I went to my 3 star hotel as there are no budget accommodation options in Dubai other than the youth hostel and it was fully booked. It was a nice excuse to stay in a room with a TV and AC and not have to pop in the ‘ole earplugs when someone stumbles into the dorm room from the bar at 3 am. After walking around and getting my bearings I realized that I felt very relaxed, but very lucid at the same time. It was a good feeling.
Businesses in Dubai really cater to their clientele and by treating every visitor like a VIP, it seems people are much more likely to spend like a VIP. The shopping scene in Dubai, with its many modern malls and more traditional souks, is immense. Surprisingly, it is not oil that is fueling the economy so voraciously. Knowing that their reserves will not last forever, the oil in the country only accounts for 6% of GDP and by 2010, with the billions in foreign investment and massive economic boom, is proposed to be only 1%.
While I was there all I really did was walk around for a couple of days and soak in the atmosphere of the city. The massive creek makes for great place to kick back and enjoy the views. Walking down the beach to the west you’ll find the 7-star Burj al-Arab hotel. It is designed to resemble the sail of a traditional boat and is built on its own manmade island that juts into the surf. The Burj Dubai building is the really tall and slender skyscraper in the photos. It may already be the tallest building in the world, but as they are still constructing upward, no one really knows yet. They don’t want to challenge competitors with measurement numbers.
Without a fat bank account and a car, it’s difficult to experience everything in Dubai. With all the shopping, horse and camel races and the indoor ski mountain, you kind of feel like you’ve left without doing much when you’re on a tight budget. But being able to see the city first hand and get to know the culture of the UAE a little bit was definitely an awesome experience.