Poverty and Begging

The view from my hotel window

The poverty in India is unimaginable. I have been taking a lot of pictures because it is hard to put the city of Mumbai into words. I would be scared to walk outside the security gates of the hotel alone. The line between riches and poverty is very slim. Our hotel is gorgeous however as soon as you leave the gates you are in the slums. When I look outside my window the view is horrible. I can see this swampy area with grass, dogs, birds, mud, trees and water. Within this area is a small white shack and people walking around. On Wednesday morning I woke up and upon looking out my window saw a man with no clothing on using the bathroom in a puddle and using that same water to clean himself.

Houses, trash and water from the monsoons

You also see a lot of little roadside “houses”. These little shacks that many people call home are made from plastic sheets, cardboard boxes and flat metal. You also see many people sleeping in cars or rickshaws. I have also noticed that people are awake at all hours of the day. When the car is driving us to the hotel at the end of our day it is 3:00am Mumbai time and many people are still out and about. Far less traffic than during the day but still very crowded.

Roadside store- notice the stray dogs

The people here walk around with no shoes on. I assume this is because they do not have or cannot afford to purchase shoes. When we are in the office everyone wears sandals or shoes but outside most people walk around barefoot. It makes me sick to see the filth in the streets and then people walking around with bare feet right over everything.

Children in the street with no shoes

Begging is something I had heard a lot about before coming to India. I was told not to look at or give money to beggars because that would signal many others to come towards you. I have also seen the Slumdog Millionaire movie which shows people forcing children to beg for money. I did not actually think I would come in contact with this. On our very first day driving to the office the car was sitting in traffic. All the sudden I heard a little tap on my car window and turned thinking a bird or something had come near the window. To my surprise it was a lady holding a baby begging for money. Of course I turned and looked away but it was so sad to sit there knowing this tiny baby was probably hungry. The lady stood and tapped on the window and talking at me the entire time the car was sitting in traffic at that point. So sad.

Tomorrow two of the girls in our class are taking Steve and I sightseeing and shopping. Our driver we have used all week will be taking us and they will tell us the good places to visit!

P.S. All of these pictures were taken from inside our car on the way to work.