Ali
International business major
Jan. 13, 2007

Today we are in Mumbai.  This city is great. The weather is hot and humid, a nice change from “freezing” cold Delhi.   Our location at the YMCA allows us to explore on our own.  I’ve explored my way to McDonald’s about three times since we arrived!  Hate it in the states, but love it in India.

We were all very excited to dip our feet into the Arabian Sea.  The water was warm but felt so cool in the hot air.  We visited the Gateway of India, which was built to greet King George V.  He arrived in 1911, but the gateway wasn’t actually finished until 1912, after his visit.  Near the gateway were two incredible statues of Swami Vivekananda and Shivaji.  Swami Vivekananda is known as the first Hindu missionary to visit the West.  He is remembered as a hero for that accomplishment.  Shivaji is remembered for never having been conquered by the British.  We also visited The Taj Majal Hotel.  This is owned by Tata, which we visited earlier (see Jan. 3).  That place definitely wasn’t in our budget: very glamorous!

Two of us had an interesting experience with some beggar children.  They actually explained their situation to us.  They are owned by an underground mafia.  These people allow the children to sleep somewhere and give them barely enough food to survive on.  In return the beggars must give all their money to the mafia men.  This is why you should not give money to the beggars. It is okay to buy them food, so we usually empty our backpacks of food or buy the kids ice cream from McDonald’s.  A 12-year-old girl explained that she didn’t even want money, just food and milk for her adorable baby sister.  Another big scam we learned about is that the children ask you to buy them milk or rice.  They then drag you halfway across town, and the underground mafia men sell you milk or rice at outrageous prices.  It is difficult to balance actually helping these people with contributing to the scam and the problem.