The past few days have been hectic. We took a 1 hour ferry ride across the Arabian Sea to visit the Elephanta Caves and learned about various Indian gods and some of the history of the Persians and Indians. It was very interesting to hear different beliefs and worldly viewpoints. The caves had magnificent artifacts that have been around for centuries (See photos) and are still in relatively good shape.

In the afternoon we visited the largest slum in Asia, Dharavi. Having tourist visit the slum was very new and many of us felt it may be inappropriate to be walking through as tourist. Needless to say, there were mixed reactions with our presence. Upon de-boarding the bus, we were immediately struck with the heat, humidity, and a foul, pungent odor. The slum is a city inside the city of Mumbai and has over a million people calling it home. Although the majority of the residents do not acknowledge Dharavi as their home to outsiders, as they are ashamed of telling outsiders where they live, which gave us further credence that we may not be well received by members of the community.

We walked through narrow passages and witnessed how this community operates. Surprisingly, the community operated businesses that forged aluminum, plastic, and they also made and sold clothing and pottery. With garbage in every area of the slum, it was amazing to see how simple and efficient certain small businesses ran within the community.

After an hour, we started receiving a lot of attention from the children. Much to our surprise, not one individual in this community begged for money or food during our entire two hours in Dharavi. The residents predominately had a pleasant demeanor about them and smiled and greeted us. One young woman even offered us chopped up coconut as a courtesy.

The children started to follow us and they all wanted a "high-five" and greeted us with a "Hello, How are you?" We acknowledged and returned the same gesture, but the children looked perplexed and did not know how to respond. However, all of the children were so happy to see us and their enjoyment of having us there made us all feel great.

We ventured out of the slum toward the bus. During this entire "walk-through" I was the only person wearing flip flops (Not a good idea, but I did not bring tennis shoes with me). As we were walking I slipped and my left leg feel into a grayish liquid that ran through the sides of the slums. I quickly pulled my leg out of the liquid and had a solid grey coat from my foot to the middle of my shin. My fellow group members quickly came to my rescue and dumped bottled water on my shin, foot, and flip flop to remove my newly added gray sock.

My first thought was that this grey matter was run off from the slum homes or it was some kind of liquid for patching broken areas of the homes. The next morning, I was advised that the liquid I stepped in was raw sewage. I was disturbed by this and went back up to my room and took another shower and profusely scrubbed my foot until it was nearly raw.

The people of Dharavi left their mark on me (literally) in more ways than one and I will not forget how bad things could be for us and how fortunate we all are in America.

Cheers

The Taj Palace was built by JN Tata after he was refused entry to an exclusive International hotel in Mumbai around the turn of the twentieth century. The sign on the hotel read "no Indians or Dogs."

As a result, JN Tata decided to build India's finest hotel in Bombay. The Taj Palace was completed in 1903 and is featured below.

We were fortunate enough to stay in the Old Wing of the Palace where the accommodations were excellent.

Several of us on the way back from Elephanta Caves

Note the color codes on the lunch boxes, which the Dabbawallas use to deliver lunches to people in Mumbai. The simplest systems are often the best.

"Dabbawallas" deliver tin lunch boxes, or dabbas, filled with home cooked food to an estimated 175,000 people each day in Mumbai. The delivery is performed by people with little or no formal education who are often functionally illiterate when they begin this work. Dabbawallas develop functional literacy skills sufficient to perform one of three roles in this efficient supply chain-Note the color coded letters and symbols which are used to communicate the delivery method and destination. This one hundred year old tradition is Six Sigma certified and reports an error rate of 1 in 16 million deliveries. The dabbawallas are organized in a three-part structure where each receives the same pay-roughly $40-80 USD per month.

Spencer Hanes, an Executive MBA student, succeeded in smuggling Alphonso Mangoes out of Bombay and into Balgalore.

He is the envy of all of us.

Our last day in Bombay was spent visiting the Dharavi slum. This is a one-square mile aggregation of industry and humanity. The living conditions there are primative beyond imagination.

It is safe to say that this visit likely had a profound effect on every single one of us. It was certainly not "fun," but I'm glad that I saw it.

Of the many amazing and shocking things that we saw, I will most remember the fact that despite the wretched living conditions, I noticed people exhibiting hope, pride and optimism.

India is a land of contrasts -- ninety minutes after our visit to Dharavi, we returned to our hotel (The Taj Mahal Hotel), considered one of the finest in the world.

Three of our India travelers are Clemson undergratuates: Kristy Gordon, Jenna Piper and Robert Maner. Here they are showing the Clemson pride in front of the entrance to the Elephanta Caves.

Of course, they're Wake Forest fans as well.

You've been replaced, Andy Dreyfuss

Here's a photo of our hotel, The Taj Mahal Hotel. In the foreground is the Gateway to India. On the left is the original wing of the hotel, built by Jamsetji Tata, opened in 1904. On the right is the new tower. Our group is in the original tower.

Here's a photo of the group with a bust of Jamsetji Tata, founder of The Tata Group, India's largest corporation. Tata's revenue is roughly 3% of India's GDP. The Tata Group is internationally recognized for their excellence in performance AND their pioneering work in citizenship.