Will's description of life in the biggest city in the biggest country (and one of the poorest)

First of all, I have to address the road "work" and the Indian policy of hiring as many people for one job as possible.

I'm convinced that if there is a 100 foot section of sidewalk or road anywhere in this city, someone will dig it up.  I think it's a form of job creation. 

This country seems to have a knack for providing a ton of jobs, but they probably all pay crap.  Every restaurant, no matter how busy, has at least 10 guys standing around watching you eat, one waiting to take your glasses when you're done, one waiting to wipe the table, one waiting to take your order, etc.  And then when you order your meal, the waiter turns around and repeats it to another waiter who then goes to the kitchen and repeats it to the cook.  And most waiters, busboys, etc. are barefoot.  Can you imagine?  You can't even get service in McDonalds in the States without shoes...much less having the people serving your food sans shoes.

We walked past a jewelry store last night that had three small counters, each with 5 employees behind them, for all of 7-10 customers.

Yet trying to get someone to come to your house to do some work is a pain in the ass.  The gas guy was supposed to come before noon on Saturday, and when I called the office at 1 p.m., after being hung up on TWICE, finally some woman got on the line and told me he would be there by 6 p.m.  Right.  Conveniently, 6 p.m. was when the office closed, hence I couldn't keep calling and complaining.  We'll see when we get the gas stove.

Walking on the sidewalk is like going through an obstacle course.  If you aren't dodging open manholes, you're avoiding the bricks that are piled up, or the curb that has been removed and laid to rest on the sidewalk, or a pile of one-foot diameter concrete water mains that someone has left there...or the occasional dead rat.  Given how many dogs there are wandering around, it's a wonder avoiding dog shit isn't a huge problem.  I haven't figured out where the dogs are all going, but maybe they have taken on cat like qualities and are digging holes and covering it up.

By the way, today qualifies as a "toxic" air quality day.  I cant see more than a half-mile.

However, I don't think I would like to be anywhere else.  The people here are laid back and friendly, and I'm amazed at how hard everyone works. 

Even the beggars...they are determined folk, and are out there everyday, in the heat, pollution, dust, scrambling for a few rupees.  I've watched the locals and realized saying "no" doesn't work - instead you give a little click with your mouth and shake your head to the side once...miraculously, I've turned beggar kids back from ten feet away with a preemptive "click."  And if they are really persistent, you just have to get over your western-culture barrier of avoiding physical contact.  It seems mean, but if push comes to shove, and they won't let you walk freely down the sidewalk, you just have to push them away.  But here in Mumbai, there aren't many tourists and the beggars aren't really much of a nusiance. In Delhi the beggars were much more persistent and annoying.  And here in Vashi, there are NO tourists whatsoever, so you don't get targeted anymore really than locals do.

However, walking past a woman sitting in the dirt, with her baby laying naked in the dirt and trash next to her, is tough.  It's happened a couple of times, where I've seriously wondered if the kid was dead.  If not dead yet, it was only a matter of time.  But there's not much you can do, especially now that we are on an Indian salary.  Our money doesn't go that far to be able to afford even giving a couple of rupees...and since we do kind of stand out as white folk, we have to be careful not to get a reputation as the "foreigners that hand out money" in the neighborhood.

At work, I've noticed a big difference in how women act.  They are aggressive, outspoken, assertive and NOT intimidated by men.  It's quite a change from Japan.  I had a meeting at work, and the women dominated it.  They feel free to interrupt, speak their mind, and NEVER apologize for anything. 

My work week is slow on thursday and Friday, so I think soon I can start volunteering at one of the centers from the NGO Serenity is working at.  There is one just a short train ride away, and I can spend a couple of hours in the afternoon with the kids.  I think that is the only way to really help anyone, cause handing out spare change seems only to solve the problem temporarily and really probably only serves to ease your own conscience. 

This is kind of just a rambling post, but lastly, I'd like to address an uncomfortable incident last night that reminded me of a problem that I can definitely now identify as "non-eastern."

Alcohol seems to be a curse upon largely western countries of the world.  Japanese love to drink, but as I've mentioned before, have a certain social responsibility that comes with it that deters aggressiveness, misbehavior, etc.  In Afghanistan and the UAE, alcohol was illegal (only consumed by the tourists in Dubai), so that area of the world doesn't seem to have a problem like in the States.  And here in India, alcohol is available, but not as popular (likely because of cost).  Even so, I haven't seen any evidence of any serious or chronic alcohol-related problems...no loud drunks, no aggressive, fighting drunks, etc.

But last night, while eating our dinner inside a restaurant, in walked a woman and her two kids.  I heard her talking to the kids as we walked past, telling them to "make it quick."  Obviously they were stopping just to use the toilet.  She had a slight African sounding accent, but appeared western in most respects.  She was well-dressed and was financially well-off. 

One of her kids, probably about seven or eight years old, came over to our table, and without saying a word, reached over and grabbed one of the little licorice candies they give you here after a meal.  Serenity told her to hold out her hand and she would give her some, but the girl didn't respond - didnt say a word, and acted like she didn't understand, though obviously her mother spoke to her in perfect English.

Then the mother came over to our table, and obviously drunk, started a conversation.  She didn't have much of an accent, and my guess would be she wasn't straight off the boat from Kenya, where she said she was from.  Anyway, the waiters were uncomfortably trying to usher her and her kids out of the restaurant, but she was to drunk and was oblivious to everything around her. 

Then her kid came back over, and again without saying a word, grabbed two huge handfuls of the candy from the tray.  meanwhile, her older brother was bouncing and hitting the back of Serenity's chair as hard and as fast as he could.  The mother was oblivious, continuing on with her drunken conversation that only she thought was appropriate. 

I realized that her kids didn't know how to communicate with anyone.  It wasnt the language, it was the complete lack of structure, attention, proper guidance, etc.  The little girl didnt know how to talk to someone normally.  It was sad.

Finally the waiter lost it and pushed the two kids out the door.  The mother still didn't notice.  She went over to another table and tried  another inappropriate conversation with another couple, while her kids were out on the street.  She was barely aware they were around.

I was bothered because here was someone who had the financial means to be able to provide for her kids, as opposed to the sea of poverty surrounding us.  And yet she couldn't.  Alcohol had taken that from her.

The beggars, the kids living on the street that probably bathe once a month, and live off of scraps and garbage, know how to communicate with others.  they may be poor, but at least their parents know how to instill some semblance of social conduct.  They don't grab what isn't theirs.  They respond when spoken to.  The difference seems to be alcohol.

I don't know why so many people have a hard time controlling alcohol.  And I don't know why it's something that we haven't seen inherent in Japanese, UAE, AFghan and now Indian society.  I'm not saying it isn't existent in any of those societies, but it doesn't seem as common.  And I think this is something many societies see in American society, and has something to do with their resisting any American-culture saturation of their own.  They are scared that it may become a problem.

Anyway, that was my rant.  It's 11:40 am on Sunday, and the gas guys just showed up.  Better late than never, and come on, it's a Sunday....where else can you get the gas company to do anything on a Sunday?  Like I said...hardworking.