Well after some business trips to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, HCMC, I had to settle in Mumbai for the last few days. These conferences bring together school leaders and decision makers that may be in the market for what my company has so I get to travel and share stories.
Everyone of us has heard of Mumbai, likely through the movie SlumDog Millionaire, So I was intrigued as well for my first visit to Mumbai. I landed at 1 :30 am in the new international airport which opened two months ago and is certainly state of the art, with 10 levels in a massive structure near the edge of the city. Before I exited the baggage lounge I was searched and luggage was scanned again. The people waiting for their family are outside the building and there were hundreds of them, even at this time in the morning. Leaving the airport, I certainly got a taste of modern and new versus slum life as the new road winds it's way through the slums, you can see what was left of some homes on either side of highway, still under construction with guards every so often. Funny enough, for those of you in Eastern Townships...there were hundreds of granite shops along the way as well!
Arriving at my modest accommodation, the 547 room Hyatt, the Hyatt limo which drove me from the airport to the hotel was stopped at the gate and searched, with dogs, and a mirror to check the under plate of the car... man I thought this is real security. After a few minutes, I was in front of the main door. As I got out they ushered me through the body scanner and placed my bags through another scanner to enter the hotel. Did I mention security is tight here, what I did not notice till my walk this morning is that there are hotel plain clothes security officers on each end of the street.
Do you see the satellite dishes... life in a box!
This space seemed to have many families under this roof... with space to hang their clothes.
I had to capture the boys crossing the street..they were so cute said hi, and then just walked across a busy road. There are crosswalks to slow traffic..just walks across !
Well a few last words on the school I visited here. It was certian the safety and security agian were evident, as we had to sign in to the school and bag was searched on the way in. There were several guards outside and there were three guards on every floor on the six story building. More interesting though, is that each floor has a male and female bathroom attendant standing outside... periodically they go in to clean the bathrooms, to keep the air clean!
Everyone of us has heard of Mumbai, likely through the movie SlumDog Millionaire, So I was intrigued as well for my first visit to Mumbai. I landed at 1 :30 am in the new international airport which opened two months ago and is certainly state of the art, with 10 levels in a massive structure near the edge of the city. Before I exited the baggage lounge I was searched and luggage was scanned again. The people waiting for their family are outside the building and there were hundreds of them, even at this time in the morning. Leaving the airport, I certainly got a taste of modern and new versus slum life as the new road winds it's way through the slums, you can see what was left of some homes on either side of highway, still under construction with guards every so often. Funny enough, for those of you in Eastern Townships...there were hundreds of granite shops along the way as well!
Arriving at my modest accommodation, the 547 room Hyatt, the Hyatt limo which drove me from the airport to the hotel was stopped at the gate and searched, with dogs, and a mirror to check the under plate of the car... man I thought this is real security. After a few minutes, I was in front of the main door. As I got out they ushered me through the body scanner and placed my bags through another scanner to enter the hotel. Did I mention security is tight here, what I did not notice till my walk this morning is that there are hotel plain clothes security officers on each end of the street.
So here is my cozy digs..
A view from my hotel window... this is not the rich part of town.
Well a short walk down the street and of course you get a better glimpse of life of some of the local residents. Very small shacks tin roofs, lots of garbage around and lots of manual processes like washing clothes and themselves. On my trip to the school, I saw people washing with buckets in front of these shacks, wash clothes, sewing etc... but really notice that there is junk everywhere! And this is the clean areas of town.. I did not venture to much further on my own...
Do you see the satellite dishes... life in a box!
I had to capture the boys crossing the street..they were so cute said hi, and then just walked across a busy road. There are crosswalks to slow traffic..just walks across !
Roads are wherever there is no junk, like old dead cars, and the traffic rules are non-existent. While I was in one of these he just turned left into five lanes of oncoming traffic and everyone honks, brakes turns, wheels around.., bikes, cars, rickshaws coming at you and pedestrians crossing the street..simply chaos. You just close your eyes!! and hope that you make it... just have to live it to believe it.
Of course, I did see some other parts of Mumbai as well, with the tall skyscrapers and evidence of modern growth of the city. We took the bridge over to a nice restaraunt and this contrast was evidence that there is progress in some areas. Apparently, one of those towers is a 10 story building one family built to live in... for 2 billion USD.
Next stop... Shanghai.
Wow, the security checks are far more intense than the airports of the world... so India is on my Bucket List...should it still be ?
ReplyDelete