The Slums of Mumbai

Now we've all seen Slum Dog Millionaire and to be honest this a slum tour was not on our cards at all until we met a fellow traveller recommended it and said it was a really interesting tour. So we decided to do it today. We jumped in the uber and went to Dharavi to meet our guide Mosin. To be honest I didn't have a clue what to expect but we had heard it is more about the positive and business side of the slum.

Mosin was very very well educated and was quite a fascinating guy. He was brought up in the slums but was a true business man at heart. He had got into Ruskin University in Cambridge for his Masters and was just waiting to hear back with regards his visa. He was doing the very same tour we had with a guy from Zurich and then did 3 consecutive tours with the same guy. After the last day he found out that this was a test and that he had been invited to give a Ted Talk! At first, I honestly didn't know what to believe but he sent us a link! How incredible is that?!!

The tour was really really eye opening he knew his facts and figures really well and was so proud to have come from the Slums. There is a lot of political issues going on with regards to taxes, services and actually getting rid of the slums at the moment but surprisingly the people in the slums don't want it to change for various reasons. The slum has various sections including residential, services ie schools, hospitals and shops and also a commercial centre. They have a huge manufacturing sector where they take plastic, metals, textiles etc and sell them to various countries. They are unbelievably self reliant. They even wired in their own electricity and water pipes so that they could connect to the mains. So yes their taxes and service costs might be dubeous but wow they are pretty entrepreneurial and self sustaining. We were told that the slum area alone generates $3 billion dollar for the economy each year with 1 million residents. The average daily income is between $8-10 a day.

The tour was supposed to last anywhere between 1.5-2.5 hours. Ours was over 3 hours because we loved it so much and were asking so many questions about everything from what sights we have to see in Mumbai to everything about the Slums. It was really really interesting. We even met his friend who at the age of 20 now exports leggings to China from a tiny tiny room in the slum. He even gave me a free pair! So if you see me rocking out some Just Do It leggings then they're the ones haha

After the tour he put us on the next train (he even bought our train tickets!) to churchgate where I ate for the first time today. Honestly I was still full from yesterday and had a huge stomach ache so I decided to let it settle down. We tried the famous Egg and Veg Frankie. Yum yum yum. We also knew that we were going out for dinner and Cyrus had warned us not to eat!

Then we went to the Foreigner Tourist office at the train station to attempt to book our tickets for our Christmas destination. For Christmas we decided to meet up with Charlotte who we met in Kochi at the beginning of our India trip. She was already at the destination and had found us accomodation which was so kind. But... Just as we were in the queue I decided to connect to Will's WiFi and double check everything was OK and she sent me a message saying the accomodation had been cancelled! At the time both myself and Will didn't know what to think or feel as honestly we were loving our time in Mumbai, so to be honest if we could stay an extra few days that would be amazing! However, if we could get to the new place that would also be fun. In the end Charlotte was an absolute life saver and booked us a new accomodation and then we finalised our train tickets. Finally Christmas is sorted!

It was pretty late by the time we were done so we just jumped on a train back to our house to get ready for dinner. We got back just in time for Cyrus to pick us up. We met his beautiful daughter and neice too who were 8 and 12 and so unbelievably giggly and shy. They were really cute. Traffic was soooo bad so we ended up being a bit late for the dinner reservation but it was all fine in the end. Anyone who drives in Mumbai is a champion and super brave. I don't think is have the patience!

For dinner we went to Barbecue Nation, uh oh more meat!! It was an Indian version of a Brazilian BBQ. First they give you unlimited kebabs of chicken, prawns, fish and veggies. For mains you help yourself to whatever you want from the buffet and for dessert you can get unlimited of whatever you want too. I hadn't been to an all you can eat since I was younger and there is a reason. I just can't eat so much and just having a plate of starters, mains and an ice cream made me feel really sick. Self control is not my strongest point! But it was really good fun. The restaurant was a family style restaurant and was full of birthdays too which was fun to see and sing Happy Birthday at.

After dinner Cyrus dropped us off back at the house and we both died in pain haha I definitely don't think I'm coming back slim this time hahaRead more