A variety of animals in a big city

In Mumbai you encounter a lot of everything on the streets; traffic, people, buildings, businesses, dirt and also animals of all sorts and sizes.

At the bus stop across the hotel this little goat was nibbling on a leaf:

These goats were in front of some shops:

This goat was playing with the hand of the shop owner, using it to bounce his head against and jump.

In the meantime his 'fellow' goat was sleeping in the shop shelves, next to the merchandise:

There are cats, although not so many and the ones I saw were quite skinny and small:

And here, there and everywhere there are cows and bulls standing, lying or working. They generally DO belong to someone and of course it is a handy source of daily milk for the children. The bulls often pull wagons with cargo.

This bull was resting with his head on his legs. When the owner saw me taking pictures, he yelled at the animal to wake up and look at the camera:-(.

Dogs are all over the place. Most of them are stray dogs. They lay and sleep in the strangest places.

 When I took this picture of the puppy, a guy came up and gave the little one a big smack, just for fun, thinking that I would think it was funny:-(.
The pup woke up with a scream and fled away.
My blood was boiling, but hey, I'm in India and just a tourist....better keep my cool. 

A rooster in front of a carpet shop:

Ok, Mumbai and India may seem way back in time for western eyes, in some aspects, but not that back in time that they actually have dinosaurs...hahaha. These are standing nearby our hotel, near the Neru Science Centre.

Better not be an animal in India (nor in many other places on this planet);-), I guess.

Fortunately there are also people that love and care for animals here, like there are those everywhere, like my new friend Kitu. She owns a cat and feeds stray cats; good for you, Kitu!!!!

This is Kitu's cat, checking out our lunch. Hmmm, mackerel!!! Hahaha....

Mumbai 's colorful people

Driving (in a taxi) or walking through the streets of Mumbai I'm about the only Westerner amongst so very many people. What a crowded city Mumbai is!

Here are some random pictures of the locals. Ofcourse there are the women with their beautiful, colorful sari's:

Many people do NOT like to be photographed. And then we have the people who ASK to be photographed, just for the fun of it. Which I then of course graciously do;-).

I do not know the reason for the bright orange hair of some people; I have been told it's just for esthetic reasons.

There are people from various area's, castes, religions, etc. Like these muslim men....

Sleep in between work hours...?

That's all, folks. Till the next Mumbai blogpost!

Earning a living in Mumbai

The contrasts in  Mumbai are huge. There is a number of obscenely wealthy people and there are many, many very poor people.

What is clear though, is that everyone is trying to earn a living, one way or another. And believe me, there are many ways. Some very specific and -for us westerners-  unusual or even unknown jobs, services and businesses.


Here are some examples of what people do for a living:

You can transport things,

like cans:

Or big sacs; empty:

Or big sacs with cargo:

Or metal pots with...? Milk?

You can transport stuff on ur head:

You can work high up:

Like so:

Or even worse:...

You can sell stuff on the street:

You can go in the food business:

Like so:

...sell figs and sweets...

...prepare bambooshoots for sap and drinks....

...or make and sell lemonade:

...sell neon colored cotton candy:

You can sell clothes or fabrics:

You can be a hairdresser without a proper salon:

Ofcourse you can also deliver other services, like laundry.

Not far from our hotel there is the famous Dhobi Ghat, an enormous open air laundromat since ages. 

Laundry from all over town, from hotels and hospitals, is handled here and it seems about nothing ever gets lost. Which is amazing if you see the amount of laundry and the primitive circumstances. Most of the work is done manually by 5000 men, the Dhobi's. There are however also some (old) washing machines, dryers and hot water is being boiled over a fire.

One piece of laundry costs 5 rupees which is about 1 eurocent. 

The wash is picked up up at home and delivered back, clean and folded.

An overview picture of the area of Dhobi Ghat:

In the middle we see the washing basins, where the men wash and where they beat the laundry against the stone to loosen the dirt.

Whites by whites, yellow by yellows, etc.:

There are men that wash, that hang, that fold, etc.:

For 100 rupees you can visit the grounds. The 'entry-money' is used by the workers association to improve the circumstances in the 'laundromat'.

As you can see  part of the work is done by some machines. These are not in plain sight, because Dhobi Ghat is a tourist attraction (as well) and we tourists want to see the authentic hand work;-). Which is the main part, truthfully.

While you are at it, you might as well wash yourself, as this man does!

One of the centrifuges:

And one of the washers:

Ofcourse there are many more ways to earn a living in Mumbai. About some of these ways I will blog another time.