Friday 21 December 2007

3rd day: Chabolandia/on the way to Gujarat

What shocks you on the first sight and never lets you go after in India is the extreme poverty.

When our plane was landing in Mumbai's international airport, from the window we could see a huge area of houses which we call "chabolas" in Spanish. This is kind of small barracks/shacks, made from different kind of construction boards, plastic or wood, practically remainings from the construction. Homeless people live in such houses, gipsies in Romania live in such houses...and now I have a feeling that at least 20% of population of India lives in such houses. People living without any civilized conditions, families with children, you would see "chabolas" everywhere, every city, every village, even in the central parts of Mumbai & Delhi. You can see big rats on the street, a lot of garbage, food remainings, the streets are so dirty that you imediately get a feeling you need some more covered shoes (outside 35C though). Looks really awful!


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