Lake Walkathon

This morning we participated in the Lake Walkathon, a walk around lake Doddanekundi (behind Adarsh Vista) to create awareness of all the work that has been done to preserve the lake.
About a year ago the whole lake was emptied, islands were created and sewage inlets closed. The sides of the lake were reinforced with stone blocks and drains and walkways are being created.
There used to be a lot more lakes around Bangalore, that served as water reservoirs, and rain water would flow to the lakes through the storm water drains during monsoon season. Unfortunately many lakes have been drained and the land is used to build houses or apartment blocks on. That, in combination with the lack of maintenance on the drainage systems, leads to more and more flooding during the monsoon season. Not a good development.

Doddanekundi lake looks nice, but it has caused a fair bit of discomfort to us too. The smell can be almost unbearable at times (caused by the sewage) and the mosquitos that breed in the stagnant water are a real pest. Let's hope that the work that is being done will solve those problems.

The walk this morning was very nice and we plan to go for a walk around 'our' lake more often.

The official ceremony was still in full swing when we arrived: speeches. We decided to start our walk before the whole crowd would go and we went in the opposite direction.

Valentines heart in the lake?

A different view on Adarsh Vista

Adriaan



The part where the sewage is still flowing (not into the lake anymore) and garbage is being dumped

Adarsh Vista from the other side of the lake

A workers' camp along the railroad

Fast asleep

Clothes are being sorted to be ironed

A little temple at the side of the road

TG for duct tape!

Our house here in India is huge and has super high ceilings (up to 8 meters!). Those high ceilings are great in summer, since warm air rises and it keeps the house a bit cooler, but they are a pain in the @#$ when it comes to changing light bulbs or cleaning the fans.
We have a window in our bedroom that is leaking when it rains. I have had it 'fixed' a few years ago, but that event still gives me nightmares (people hanging upside down from the roof top) so now we just put some towels under it when it rains.
It turns out that the window is made out of two pieces. I figured that out on a windy night this week, when I heard it rattle and saw it move back and forth. It looked like it could break or fall down any minute, so something needed to be done about it.

I don't know much about DIY, but I do know that everything can be fixed with duct tape :-)

Only problem: the window is at four meters and we don't own a ladder that is long enough to reach. So out we went to rent a bamboo ladder down the street at the sum of INR 250/= (3,50 euro) and took it home. That was the easy part...


The ladder-rental place down the road ('our' ladder is the one on the left)

That roof rack was a great investment

The first puzzle was to get the ladder inside the house and upstairs. We decided it would be best to haul it up to the balcony instead of going through the house.

Joshua and Vincent, wondering what they have gotten themselves in to

And it is upstairs

and inside

They say men are bad at estimating length, but I am not that good at it either apparently. It turned out the ladder was a bit too tall to stand upright....

How are we going to do this?

Almost there

So we finally got the ladder in the right position, the top leaning on the windowsill and the bottom firmly against the wall. The only thing left for me was to climb up there with the duct tape and scissors to fix the problem.
I got half way up the ladder and it started to bend so much that I decided to send one of the boys up, since they are much lighter than I (aren't I a great mother to leave the scary and dangerous stuff to my kids?).

Ruben went up and managed to put the tape on the glass.

Child labour

Beautiful!

PS

In case you are wondering why the boys are home on a Friday: it's sportsday at school and the smart @#$-es made sure they didn't get selected for any of the events... I am such a good mother for keeping them home and out of the sun.

Improvement!

Garbage is a big problem in India and unfortunately many people just throw their garbage in the street or literally over their fence. Garbage segregation is compulsory (I have 5 bins in my kitchen!), but outside of the gated communities not many people seem to care (or willing/able to pay for the garbage collection).

Down the main road from our complex this used to be the daily sight:

Breakfast!

Garbage was dumped on the sidewalk, spilling over on the street. Cows and dogs would come over for breakfast, tearing open the plastic bags and making an even bigger mess. Later in the day a truck would come to collect most of it.

Last week this sign appeared at that same spot:

It is a start

And it got even better! Look at what I saw this morning:

WOW!

No inspiration

I have no inspiration to write, but I do have a nice photo :-)

ready to cross the road

Winter

Janakiram Layout

Finally, after 3 years, I came along on one of the walks though the Janakiram layout, where Anu is based. Tuesdays and Saturdays are 'water days', the only two days of the week when water is coming from the taps in the street. Time to collect water for the coming days and to wash and clean!

Collecting water

Heavy load



Washing



Scrubbing



One of the streets



Sales man



Cute baby



Fast asleep



Iron

Painted face

Breakfast

Why aren't you in school?

Mumbai/Bombay

We have seen many places in India already, but I still have a few on my list that I would love to visit. Adriaan and the boys have told me they have seen enough forts and temples and don't want to come along anymore. Luckily there are enough people around who do want to travel, so this Thursday and Friday I was in Mumbai with 3 other Dutch ladies from Bangalore.

We went for a tour through Dharavi straight from the airport. Dharavi is the largest slum in India. The first part that we saw was the industrial area. People work 10 hours a day recycling plastic, glass or aluminum, cleaning olive oil drum or drums that contained paint or glue. There are also a lot of workshops where they make jeans, school uniforms and other clothes. Most workshop are dark and poorly ventilated. The men do not only work there, but also live at the workshops.
It was very impressive to see, hear and smell.

We then crossed the road to walk through the residential part of Dharavi. The people that live there have jobs in the city. We came though some very narrow alleys and could sometimes sneak a peek into the 'houses'.
Unfortunately we were not allowed to take photographs inside the slum, but I took these photos of the outside of the slum from the bus.

The workshops

Living quarters

Plastic garbage stacked on the roof, waiting to be recycled

Waste water is being dumped into the waterway

Next we stopped to have a look at a dhobi ghat, a washer men's village. I have visited a big one in Bangalore too and am always amazed at how white and bright their wash is drying in the sun.

After this we went to visit the house where Gandhi used to stay when he was in Mumbai.

Gandhi's room

A letter he wrote to Hitler

The house is now a museum with a collection of books from and about Gandhi, a lot of photographs and an elaborate display about his live made with dolls.
It was interesting to see, but by this time we were all VERY tired and in need of some food, so we decided to cut the tour short and go for lunch.
I had been up since 3:30 am and we finally sat down for a meal about 11 hours later...

After lunch we went to our hotel, the famous Taj Mahal hotel. Unfortunately our rooms did not have the grandeur you would expect, but they were nice enough an had a great view.

We went out for a coffee and a stroll around the neighbourhood and were back in the hotel for a tour of the building. The hotel has been build in 1903 by Mr. Tata, as a revenge for the fact that he was not allowed to enter the hotels owned by the British. In November 2008 there was a terrorist attack and security has been stepped up all over India since then.

On Friday we went to Victoria station (also featured in Slum Dog Millionaire) to see the hustle and bustle of the morning rush hour.

The main entrance

Busy!

After Victoria station we drove around to see some more of Mumbai, before we went to the next station to see the Dabbawallahs at work.

Dabbawallahs at Churchgate station

The Dabbawallahs/tiffin carriers deliver home cooked meals from the outskirts of Mumbai to the offices for lunch. Most Dabbawallahs are illiterate, but somehow these men have found a system that works so well that only 1 in six million deliveries goes wrong.
The meals are picked up from the houses and are sent to Mumbai on the trains. At Churchgate station the tiffins get sorted and are delivered to the office buildings.

A big crate with tiffins just unloaded from the train. The sign in the back is a coincidence, but the Dabbawallahs have become a tourist attraction, specially after the movie 'Lunchbox'.

and this is what happens at a tourist spot

Sorting out the tiffins

What goes where?

The codes on the tiffins

The system of the codes

Decorations on a delivery bike

Hooks to hang the tiffins from



I guess his mother never told him not to cycle with something dangling from the handlebars

Deliveries go by bike or by hand cart

We had two more things on our list and the first one was to have a drink at Leopold's. Leopold's is a bar that has been around since 1871 and it features in the book Shantaram. It doesn't look like much, but it is a very popular place and it is always full. We managed to get a table and once you sit there is not much room to move around.

This is it!

Proost!

And then there was only one last thing to do: high tea at the Taj Mahal hotel!



So we started at the slum and we ended with high tea. It was a wonderful trip!!!