Mumbai, India- Laundry, Train, Krishnas

Dhobi Ghat is Mumbai‘s 140-year-old, open-air laundromat, and it is estimated that each day half a million pieces of clothing are sent there from hotels, hospitals, and homes. CHAOS? It looks like it but they are actually very organized. After a code is written on the back of each garment to say who it belongs to, clothes are sorted, soaked in soapy water, dhobis beat the clothes, they are hung between lines (no clips) to dry and then according to the code they are sorted and ironed and then packed and delivered … simple. Per their Guinness record, Over 5000 Dhobis (Laundryman) from 200 families, wash the clothes on 731 washing pens (each fitted with a beating stone). Each Dhobi stands at their washing stone for up to 16 hours in a day and its remains open daily 24 hours. So why do so many people have their laundry picked, cleaned, and returned daily? Are they so busy or lazy. Probably both but people do work long hours and mostly 6 days per week. As an aside, there is a similar centralized operation for lunch boxes that are made up for over 250,000 workers a day in Mumbai and delivered without mistakes to each person’s workplace for a very reasonable price.

We then visited the main railroad, the heart of India and a sight to be seen (see photos). Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus is a UNESCO World Heritage Site designed by a British architect in an Italian Gothic style. Its construction began in 1878 and was completed in 1887, the year marking 50 years of Queen Victoria's rule. It is the headquarters of India's Central Railway and one of the busiest railway stations in India with a total number of 18 platforms. The train is made to hold 2,100 people per train but there are usually 5,000 on any actual train. That being said and how they are crammed in, there are about 8 million people that ride the train every day one way. It was voted one of the Top 10 most beautiful train stations in the world - this is the 2nd one on our trip that we have visited!

We visited the International Society for Krishna Consciousness and experienced prayer time praying for the welfare of humanity. The Sri Sri Radha Rasabihari Hare Krishna Temple in ISKCON Juhu Mumbai was very interesting. This marble Temple complex had many rooms and places to worship and beautiful artwork and goldwork. Krishna (established in 1965) comprises of more than 400 temples, 40 rural communities and over 100 vegetarian restaurants. It also conducts special projects throughout the world, such as “Food for Life”, the only free vegetarian relief program in the world. The aim of ISKCON is to acquaint all people of world with universal principles of self-realization and God consciousness so that they may derive the highest benefit of spiritual understanding, unity and peace.

The last photo is of the home of an Indian billionaire, Mukesh Ambani and his family, who moved into it in 2012 to this skyscraper-mansion, is one of the world's largest and most elaborate private homes, at 27 stories. Shows the dichotomy and sometime irreverence of the rich.Read more