Dia 252 / Day 252 - March 11/2013

En la mañana me fui para Mumbai Central, una estacion del tren a comprar los tiquetes para Ahmedabad… otra experiencia de comprar tiquetes de tren.  Tome un taxi que me llevo a dar una super vuelta por Mumbai antes de dejarme en la estacion, claro para poderme cobrar mas.  Le tomo como 30 minutos un recorrido que debio haber sido de 10 minutos… por suupuesto que me tumbo!  Llegue a la estacion y pregunte por el numero de tren (para poder llenar la forma quella, se acuerdan?) y aunque you era el unico en fila la señora toda acelerada vio que habia un tren a las 10:00pm pero no me dio el numero.  Despues busco otro que salia a las 7:30pm y llega a las 4:30am y me dijo que ese era el que debiamos tomar.  Yo le dije que queria irme en el de las 10:00pm para llegar mas tarde, pero no le dio la gana de darme la informacion y me volio mano en gesto de “quitese de la ventanilla”… eso fue todo, solamente me dieron el numero de tren que sale a las 7:30pm pero llega muy temprano, asi que no compre los tiquetes.  Regrese al hotel con un taxista bastante honesto, me dijo que me llevaba por lo que marcara el taximetro y fue menos de la mitad de lo que me cobro el que me trajo… se gano una Buena propina por honesto, es muy dificil encontrar gente como esta por estos lados!

Volvi al hotel con la eperanza de que si podamos consegui un pasaje de tren para esta noche. Fuimos a la terminal Chhatrapati Shivaji (sitio declarado patrimonio por la UNESCO), la estacion principal de trenes en Mumbai. Finalmente coseguimos un pasaje para el tren que sale a las 8:00pm de Mumbai y llega a las 4:45am a Ahmedabad… ya para el tren de las 10:00pm no habian pasajes, algo que la señora en la otra estacion no ma habia dicho.

Caminamos desde la estacion Chhatrapati Shivaji hasta la puerta de India.  En el camino se ve de todo, pero nos encanto el servicio de distrubucion de almuerzos.  Ya Jacob en Kochin nos habia contando como funciona.  Los señores recogen los almuerzos en la casa de cada señora que los ha terminado de preparar y se lo llevan a los esposos al sitio de trabajo. Es un sistema muy sencillo sin codigo de barras ni nada parecido y el servicio es mas eficiente que el de entrega de UPS, DHL o FedEx…. En la Universidad de Harvard escribieron un articulo comparando el servicio de estas grandes empresas con Dabbawallahs of Mumbai, la compañia que entregan los tiffins, tenemos que leerlo.

Caminamos por la biblioteca central… todavia funciona como en los viejos tiempos, sin computadores, todo manual, se usan las tarjetas para encontrar los libros… yo casi no me acuerdo como es que funciona el sistema de tarjetas para explicarselo a Marcela.  El area de los periodicos esta llena de gente, los periodicos tienen una section para anunciar el cambio de nombres… si, en India un cambio de nombre tiene que ser anunciado en el peridico.  Tambien hay secciones para anuncio de matrimonios y la compañia del tren saca las listas de personas que son candidatos a entrevistas para algunos de sus puestos.

Despues de almuerzo fuimos a Crowford Market, no tiene nada nuevo, pero caminamos y vimos las tienas de especias y compamos Tang! Igual que el Colombiano, compramos de Mango y de Limon.

El area del mercado es super ocupada y congestionada… y todo el mundo pitando!  Nos fuimos para un lugar tranquilo… Subway, alli nos tomamos una coca-cola y estuvimos viendo gente pasar por la calle… muy entretenido!  Vimos a un muchacho vendiendo almohadas inflables (las necesitamos para el tren), fui y le pregunte el precio… sin titubear me pidio 180 rupees; le dije que era mucho y empece a caminar.  Me pregunto que cuanto estaba dispuesto a pagar y le dije que 50 rupees.  El muchacho bajo a 150 pero yo estaba firme en mis 50 rupees… despues bajo a 120 pero yo le dije que 50 era lo maximo.  Empece a caminar y grito 75… escuche que sus amigos le decian algo en el idioma local pero como uno no entiende nada lo unico que podia ser eran dos cosas: vendeselas por 50 o dejalo ir.  Yo le dije que 50 era lo maximo y me las vendio por 50.  Esto es lo bueno de India, venir y disfrutar de un pais lleno de atractivo con frustaciones y satisfacciones… pero hay que pedir descuendo y duro!

Estuvimos caminando por la zona cerca al mercado… mucha accion.  Vimos como los hombres se pelean por descargar un camion; desafrotunadamente esta vez muchos quedaron sin caja lo que significa que no les pagan.  Despues nos encontramos otra vez con el muchacho que vende las almohadas, hablamos un poco con el y le tomamos foto a su negocio portatil.  En esta zona hay muchos negocios y todo el mundo esta pendiente de los pocos turistas que se meten por aca… no es peligroso pero no es para todo el mundo.  En un par de cuadras ya nos habian ofrecido miles de articulos, la almohada inflable (ya la compramos), estrellas que brillan en la oscuridad, un aguja magica, etc… si hubieramos comprado una cosa de cada una de las que ofrecen a “bajo cosoto” ya estariamos cargando 3 mochilas.

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In the morning I went to Mumbai Central train station to buy the train tickets to go to Ahmedabad… well, another train ticket buying experience.  I took a taxi that took the longest route to get there, it took him like 30 minutes to get there when it should have taken him maximum 10 minutes… of course he rip me off!  I got to the station and went to the inquiry booth (to get the train number so I can fill out the form… remember?) and eventhough I was the only one in line the lady was in a rush and checked one train that leaves at 10:00pm but I did not get the train number.  She then pulled another one that leaves at 7:30pm and arrives at 4:30am and said that it should be the one.  When I requested the 10:00pm train she did not want to give me the information and shake her hand on a “you have to leave the booth” gesture… that was it, I only got the train number of the one I did not want to take because of the arrival time, so I did not buy tickets.  I went back to the hotel with a very honest taxi driver that charged me based on the meter and it was less than half of what the other one had charged me… I think these guys are hard to come by here in India, I gave him a good tip for that!

Back at the hotel and with the hope that we were going to leave at night, we checked out and left the backpacks at the hotel.  We went to Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (UNESCO World Heritage Site), the main train station in Mumbai.  We ended up buying tickets for the 8:00pm train that arrives in Ahmedabad at 4:45am… apparently there were not tickets for the 10:00pm train, which the lady at Mumbai Central did not tell me.

We went for a walk from Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus train station to the Gate of India.  On the way we encounter many special things, however the one that stood out was the lunch delivery business.  We heard about this from Jacob in Kochi.  These guys go to houses, pick up lunch containers from stay-home wifes and deliver them to their husband at the workplace… this system is very complex without fancy barcodes and has a much higher service level than UPS, DHL or FedEx… need to read the case study that compares this companies with the delivery service of the Dabbawallahs of Mumbai, a tiffin company.

We then stopped by the State Central Library… this place still operates using the conventional library system, no computers are found here; everything is manual, the card system is still the way to find books… I even forgot how it works, could not even explain to Marcela.  The newspaper stands are full of readers, especially the section where people announce their name changes… yes, once you change your name in India you post on the newspaper saying that you have change your name and from now on you need to be addressed by your new name.  There are also other entertaining sections like the marriage postings… oh, and I was forgetting one… Indiarailways posts in the newspaper the candidates that have exams, interviews or have been selected to work with them.

After lunch we went to Crowford Market, which had nothing special other than a few spice shops… we also bought a couple of packs of Tang, a power to dissolve in water, that we drank a lot in Colombia.

The area around the market is busy, caotic and with heavy traffic… and lots of honking!  We went to a quiet place… Subway, we had a coke there and watch people on the streets… very entertaining!  We saw a kid selling inflatable pillows (we need them for the train), so I ran to him and asked the price… without hesitation he said 180 rupees; I told him it was too much and started walking away.  He asked me how much I wanted to pay and I said 50 rupees.  He went down to 150 and I stood my ground at 50… he then went down to 120 but I was still holding strong with my 50 rupees price.  I started walking away when he screamed 75… I heard his friends telling him something in their own language which I could not understand but it could mean two things: sell it for 50 or leave it.  I took my chance and walked away saying that I could only pay 50 rupees… he followed me and sold them to me for 50 rupees each.  This is what India is all about, come and enjoy a beautiful country with its ups and downs, frustrations and satisfactions… but most of all BARGAIN HARD!

We went walking around the area… lots of action.  We witness how local men ran to a small delivery truck to hand deliver the load to a designated store; unfortunately there were just a few boxes to deliver and lost of men… some of them were disappointed that they did not get anything to deliver, meaning no pay.  Later we saw the pillow kid again, joke with him and took a nice picture of his “portable business”.  In this area there is a huge variety of shops and everybody pays a lot of attention to the few tourist that venture to walk these streets… it is not dangerous but it is busy and not for everybody.  In a few blocks they had offered us an inflatable pillow (which we did not buy because we already bought it), glow in the dark moon and stars, magical needle, etc… we could fill up a whole suitcase if we buy every “small price” (as they offer it) item offered to us on the street.

Repartiendo almuerzos - Empresa Dabbawallahs de Mumbai, Mumbai, India
Lunch delivery - Dabbawallahs of Mumbai, Mumbai, India

Leyendo el periodico en la biblioteca, Mumbai, India
Reading the newspaper in the library, Mumbai, India

Biblioteca, Mumbai, India
Library, Mumbai, India

Dios Hindu hecho con flores - estilo silleta, Mumbai, India
Hindu God made with flowers, Mumbai, India

Mercado Crowford, Mumbai, India
Crowford market, Mumbai, India

Mercado Crowford, Mumbai, India
Crowford market, Mumbai, India

Peliando por descargar el camion, Mumbai, India
Fighting to unload the truck, Mumbai, India

El muchacho de las almohadas, Mumbai, India
Pillow guy, Mumbai, India

Repartiendo mercancia, Mumbai, India
Goods delivery, Mumbai, India

Mezquita, Mumbai, India
Mosque, Mumbai, India

Repartiendo marcancia, Mumbai, India
Goods delivery, Mumbai, India

Cerca al mercado Crowford, Mumbai, India
Near Crowford market, Mumbai, India

Nuevo estilo de ponerse el saree, Mumbai, India
New style of wearing a saree, Mumbai, India

Mercado Crowford, Mumbai, India
Crowford market, Mumbai, India

Estacion de trenes Chhatrapati Shivaji, Mumbai, India
Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Mumbai, Inida

Listas de pasajeros pegadas del tren, Mumbai, India
Passengers list stuck to the train, Mumbai, Inida

Listas de pasajeros pegadas del tren, Mumbai, India
Passengers list stuck to the train, Mumbai, Inida