Weekends can be a time to rest and a time to explore.  These past two weekends I was able to do both!  I had heard about the Mumbai at 5am tour offered by the Be The Local company, and the positive reviews prompted me to get up ridiculously early on a weekend and set off to explore Mumbai’s key businesses getting organized at dawn.  Be The Local, which only uses university students who are from the Dharavi slum, is the ONLY way to see this amazing tight knit and organized community.  For those in PYP schools: the Dharavi community is How We Organize Ourselves in action.  But I digress – on to the tour.

The tour started with visiting the chicken ‘market’ – and I use the term loosely because basically the farm trucks from from the countryside park on the street.  Vendors and couriers with their smaller trucks or handcarts come to buy what they need and deliver all over Mumbai.  This visit (and the photographs below) is not for the vegetarians among us, as it is not pleasant to see these creatures being handled – but since I eat chicken I cannot complain.  As always, kind people happy to be photographed and excited to be part of the ‘show’.

Next stop was the newspaper market.  A large truck from the printers arrives and the middlemen collate the proper combinations of newspapers, insert sections and make sure languages match – which they then deliver to their vendors.  There are 378 languages spoken in India and with Mumbai being a commercial mecca, many people from all over India now live here. As a result there are newspapers in at least 6 languages for sale: Hindi, English, Gujarati, South Indian, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, and of course Marathi the official language of this state: Maharashtra.  Of note is how the main newspapers often have full-page ads in lieu of the banner headlines found in the US.

I hope I got the languages correct:

Our third stop was the infamous fish market.  The original inhabitants of Mumbai, the Koli people, have been fishermen for hundreds of years and as a result are the only official fish wholesalers in Mumbai.  As this market is next to the Naval station, you are not allowed to take photos.  Being me, I was able to snap a few secret photos and I hope they capture some of the essence of this place.

The first area we went to – calm and with no crowds – was the export section of the market.  A lot of the fish sold here goes to Japan and other countries. 

There are 3000 fishing boats, and the various colored flags on them represent the various sects within the Koli community.

The fishing boats go out for a week at a time and return with several tons of fish (they return when the ship is full). I was lucky enough to see one arrive with the baskets of fish thrown up to the dock.  I was amazed how the fish floated in the air (out of the basket) yet landed all together on the dock.  Clearly a well rehearsed skill!

Next, we walked to the neighboring dock to the ‘local’ fish market.  There were men auctioning off collections of fish for restaurants and stores.  The women were selling to individual customers.  I saw two massive red snappers being auctioned – the first price I heard was 825 but they were sold for 800.  Look up the price on the internet….

Of course, I wanted to buy some fish!  With the guide (who also wanted some fish for his family) we purchased: one whole red snapper, one whole sea bass, a kilo of shrimp, and 500 gm of giant prawns totaling 2400 rupees (around $30 – so far I have eaten the red snapper which was delicious).  The fish was cleaned and filleted for us (at an additional cost of $1). I was shocked at how large the scales were: the size of quarters.  Then I saw some lobsters, so I bought the equivalent of 6 lobsters for $10. I ate them with some friends and the large one was not tasty but the small ones were.  Last, I purchased what is considered the most delicious fish in Mumbai, pomfret, as a gift for the guide (I also split the two whole fish with him).  Lobsters are not usually eaten in Mumbai, so I gave one tail for the guide to try. The driver was not interested in one, and in his limited English the driver said ‘lobsters are not a smile’.    A last highlight was the HUGE sting ray that was on display – which I shamelessly photographed without hiding my camera!

As we were leaving, the vendors were heading to the export market with their carts and scales.  We also passed the ice factory where ice is made and sold to protect the fish.

There was a quick stop at an outdoor laundry market.  As I had already toured the largest outdoor laundry in Mumbai, this was a quick stop.  It was nice to get close to the unique way these laundries hang the clothes and the system to tag customers when one is illiterate.

On our way to the next stop we passed the lone horse racing track. I learned that betting on horse races is the only legal betting in India.

Our next stop was the wholesale flower market, which specializes in flowers for temples as opposed to your house (although there were some cut flowers for sale).  Outside the official market, like everywhere, were women making the various wreaths and necklaces for sale.  Inside the official market there were also large tubs of petals for sale.

Walking through the hordes we passed garbage collectors cleaning up sections of the market that were empty, probably because the sellers sold out. 

We then arrived at the wholesale vegetable market – with of course individuals selling on the street.  I was able to buy some of the vegetables I needed for my weekly meals and was pleased to learn that my veggie guy at home gives me good prices. 

Outside the market there was a knife sharpener at work. You can’t tell by the photo, but once he parks his bike he raises the rear wheel and pedals to get the stone wheel to turn!

Once inside the official market, the expected crowding and intensity was at play.

Carrying the produce was hard work. One always had to be on the lookout for young men lugging huge bags of heavy carrots so as to get out of their way.

As expected, there were items for sale that were a mystery for me!

The ride back home passed two interesting views.

First, the ‘basket market’ where the trays and bowls were being created on the street.

The second was a VERY long line of women waiting to get into a temple for a particular goddess.

Once home I stopped to buy a few last minute vegetables from my guy. While there I saw one of the middlemen vendors arrive to deliver some goods.   I was tickled to know that we were probably both at the wholesale market at the same time!

The next weekend I was invited to a family from my school for their annual party to celebrate the goddess Mata Rani.  This was my opportunity to witness how a Hindi ceremony works. 

First there was the opening of the celebration with both the goddess and family being blessed (I believe I missed the idol’s arrival).  Everyone in attendance was standing at this time. Then the music and blessings continued over several hours as people arrived, paid their respects, sat for a while in the temple area, and then went downstairs for the buffet dinner (delicious of course).  After a long and hard week, it was so relaxing to sit and listen to the music and develop a sense peace.  I did some small talk with families I knew, smiled at the students who were thrilled to see me, and then went home as Friday nights are not my time to party!

I am ending my post with a week-day treat….we were celebrating our annual Arts Week when I was chosen to try the puppet (one of the benefits of being the principal!). I also bought one of the real puppets from the puppeteers. The snake charmer now adorns my apartment wall.

Not all weekends are this exciting, but when they are it is energizing and inspiring!