1/17/2006
Mumbai memory
The recent work by Books for the World in India got me to thinking about my first impressions of that country. I was traveling with four other people - all of us members of a Rotary Group Study Exchange team - in January 2005. We flew into Bombay - now called Mumbai - unfortunately, without our luggage. As it turned out, we'd be without it for another week until it finally caught up with us in Madras.
We spent a few hours at the airport dealing with the luggage situation. All the while, I swatted mosquitos and worried about the fact that my Larium - malaria medication - was in my lost suitcase.
Our first look at India was from the taxi window on the way from the airport to the city. This was Coventry Road, and all along it, mile after mile, was the most incredible squalor. It is estimated that nearly a million people live along this road in nothing more than shacks and lean-to's and cardboard boxes and tents made of plastic bags and tree branches.
It's difficult to imagine this kind of number - a million people. Try this: Think of all the people assembling at Heinz Field for a Steeler game, then multiply that by 20. Then imagine all those people homeless, and all in the same place.
By the time we reached our hotel, I was nearly ill from the experience. I thought, could all of India be this way? And if it was, could I spend five weeks here?
As I would learn, all of India was not like the airport road in Mumbai. In fact, that area is notorious in India for having the highest concentration of homeless people. I would learn that although hundreds of millions of Indians live in poverty, it is still a nation rich in culture, spirituality and history, and that I was a richer person for having experienced it.
