Today we left Mumbai. We will have many memories of that city. Such a mixture of beautiful and ugly and bad.
The good, most of the people we met were friendly, polite and happy. The city is colourful with the beautiful array of colour of their saris. It is good with the patience and driving skills of many taxis, motorized rickshaws and cars that abound in the downtown. Sometimes 4-5 cars driving along in a 2-3 lane road weaving in and out of the traffic, passing other cars with just 1" to,spare, but in 3 days travelling around the area we saw no accidents . The business of the streets; hundreds of people bustling around, crossing the roads at their own parrel, darting between cars, rickshaws, push carts, wagons, and buses.
The bad is the numbers of beggars on the street and the large slum area throughout the city among the new high rises. We are told the city is working on programs for youth employment programs. Many of them are working under poor employment conditions, living in large dormitories.
There is the beautiful history side of Mumbai with many old temples, shrines, caves from 1000 years ago with statues that are still colourful. These caves were built by hand and we wonder how it could be done. Even today with our sophisticated diggers and equipment it would be a challenge .
We found a quiet temple pool in the city where people bath to wash their sins away while quietly people pray and partake of religious ceremonies on the stairs around the pool. Just so many memories.
Today is Thursday and we leave for Belgaum. I had a little hitch with my visa which took some time to correct but all worked out. We left on time and even arrived early, met by our Rotary Partners, Dillip and Sandjay for a ride to the hotel. We are away from the bustling city and with quiet green farmlands, with cows going down the centre of the street. Today is a day off, we will visit a newly renovated Rotary pool, have dinner and relax tonight.
Lorna Hedger for Team Belgaum 2015
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