Mumbai as a visitor.

Fionabog

We've just returned from a very memorable visit.

We stayed at the Suba Palace hotel which I would recommend to anyone staying in Mumbai. The Location was fantastic, 4 minutes away from the Gateway, lots of nice food 5 minutes walk the other way.
The hotel was spotless, the service great, and the management fantastic. We cannot praise this place highly enough!

What I loved about Mumbai was

the people, overwhelmingly hospitable, and lovely
the liveliness
the sense of 'what will be round the next corner'
the wonderful opportunity to see so much
the sense of safety

What I didn't like at all about Mumbai was

the level of violence directed at children. (this was actually my biggest issue. At one stage we had a little boy persistantly begging for maybe 100 metres. Now, we're used to far more serious levels of begging then we experienced in India, so it was a problem) We were ignoring him, and just walking along, sooner or later he'd give up on us.... A man (either a cop, or an army guy, I'm not sure which), walked up behind us, and grabbed the kid. I turned around to say 'thanks', and saw this guy giving this small child the worst sort of blows around the head it would be possible to give a small child WITHOUT actually inflicting brain damage!! Each blow knocked the child over.
That image has stayed with me still.
One a visit to the museum, a mob of well behaved school kids saw us, and of course all wanted to shake hands and say 'hello'. I could see they were getting over-excited and was trying to say 'calm down, you'll get into trouble..' and the teacher came up and started hitting them all about the head. I looked at the teacher, and thought, 'if you did that to a kid of mine, you'd be sorry, mate', and just left quickly..
Spitting, sorry I am so so over spitting.

So many people have told me that you come back a different person, and I reckon that's true. People have been asking me to 'tell them about India', and I find that I can't. Apart from pointing out that all I saw a tiny tiny spot of it, the experience has been almost too big to get my head around.
I AM SO GLAD I WENT!!!!!!!!!

the opoponax

Woohoo!

Thanks for the update, Fionabog. Omigod I can't believe I'll be in Bombay in 5 days!

shashank.aggarwal

Thanks for sharing this Fiona...good that you mentioned this..we really need to change our outlook towards kids, this is something I have recently realized after watching 'Taare Zameen Par', rarely a bollywood film leaves such a strong impact, to change the outlook of a lot of people..

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navinkurian2002

Colaba has a greater concentration of beggars and also abuse due to the concentration of hotels and its proximity to the railways stations .

Staying in the suburbs we usually do not see the aggressive beggars we see at colaba.The way these beggars hound the tourist is worrying.The violence is sad...

The school teach probably was a teach at a municipal school (blue uniform?) where they still resort to corporal punishment event though it has been banned in all schools in mumbai and india.

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Fionabog

There were one lot in blue uniforms where the teachers hit them across the head.

The second lot were in brownish/khaki/yellowish ones.

I was actually surprised by how easy the beggar situation was. We had expected it to be far more 'intense'.

All in all, we found Mumbai much much easier than we had anticipated!!

Fionabog

the teacher with the kids in brownish uniforms ALSO hit them across the head.
Certainly makes you wonder, doesn't it?

New-South-Welshman

In all Mumbai I only experienced one beggar. Amazing isn't it. A girl on the corner of Veer Nariman and Marine Drive. Thanks for the story on Bombay. I'll be there in less than a month and can't wait.

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Fionabog

OUr personal favourites were the little girl begging with an almost full bottle of Coke in her hand. I couldn't help myself. Without thinking I said,"you're begging with abottle of Coke. You must be joking."
The second was a woman with 3 scruffy kids hanging outside of Macdonald's who wanted me to buy them an icecream.

One of the managers of the Suba Palace ( a Parsi) told me that when they touch and grab hold of you, to turn around and say, in tones of total outrage 'get your hands off me, don't touch me' or something similar, and it always worked a treat!

I used to give 10rupees a day to one person, BUT I'd watch a bit, and pick someone NOT hitting just on us whiteys.
That was my trick, but it's funny how quick you start to harder, when a beggar DEMANDS to be given 200! Lucky I didn't take back the 10!!

navinkurian2002

Hiya fiona

Brown uniform if they were wearing slippers then probably also government run schools where the teachers are usually untrained and believe in corporal punishment.

I usually looks if the beggars are small kids (without their mom egging them to harrass) and i have a semi finished bag of chips or maybe a semi finish bottle of coca cola. I know any money in the kids hands would be snatched from them by the bigger bullies in the food chain.

The managers advices is really good advice... Sad but it looks like only that harsh tone works on these kids who have grown up with so much abuse.

Looks like the beggars outside Mcdonals seems to be regulars as I too was asked to buy them an ice cream .

AvidTrekker

Begging in Mumbai is an organized industry, very professionally managed. Mumbai Mirror (Times of India) ran a story on this industry some eight months back, which even shocked me, a beggar-hardened Mumbai veteran.

Some beggars owned multiple houses and rickshaws which they rented out to others. One fellow came to his spot in spotless clothes and changed them for his begging clothes. His family does not know this. Some of them have good bank balances. The article was accompanied by photographs and interviews. Many of these beggars earn much more than an honest day's earnings of a taxi driver, for example.

The really poor beggars are organized into gangs by the beggar kings. They take a daily commission from the beggars. Children are deliberately kidnapped and maimed to fetch a "higher" catch. Very small children are hired out for fifty to seventy five rupees a day to young women to attract "pity". Many of these children are drugged on opium so that they don't cry for their real mother. One gang does not encroach into another's territory for begging. Hijras [eunuchs] have their own gangs and rules, the local beggars somehow stay away from them.

One taxiwallah told me that the bribe money for a traffic cop's posting was the highest at Haji Ali and Lokhandwala, [Rs 2.5 lakhs] coz these are the highest revenue earners from the beggar gangs. I was told that a cop will recover his money within three to four months.... from the beggars.

I have seen a friend who was going around with food packets to give to beggars... She was quite disappointed coz all of them asked for money and that too very haughtily. They just refused the food packets of good home-made food. After deducting costs of bribes and begger kings, they spend most of their money on gambling and drinking and [sometimes] drugs.

One begger was asked by a journalist whether he would do an honest day's hard work at his newspaper office as an office boy...?? In return, The begger asked whether they will pay him an "x" amount for doing nothing? [his current earnings from begging] The amount turned out to be more than the journo's monthly salary.

Not all beggars are so rich. Most of then are quite poor. But they are very professional and very well trained.

After getting this info I have given money to very few beggars, whom I judged to be "not part of a gang" and very old and / or helpless. I could be mistaken, of course.... but that's a risk I'm willing to take

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Mehndi Masala

Wow! That would have upset me too! My only encounter with a group of students was totally charming so now I feel more blessed after hearing yours. A group of blue clad children spotted me and my husband and came running up to shake our hand and say "Hello! What is your name?" All smiles and giggles and I just had to hug several...just wanted to run away and keep them all!!! When asked thier name they giggled and ran away making shy...they hadn't gotten that far in thier lessons to answer back yet! This was at Akbar's tomb. The only upsetting thing was we had not paid for video and just as we started to get it all on tape, some tout came up and started bugging us about a tour...not knowing it was a tout, I had turned off the camera and missed all of it. I was FURIOUS with him...said nothing mean but let him know in no uncertain terms his services were NOT required. We may have said yes if he had just stayed away until we were done with the children or they were done with us as we would have still been happily charmed and warmed by thier open hearts and hands.


I actually only gave to one begger early and then they kept it up asking for more! That was when I stuck to charities and giving food. I already knew about the organized begging, so I didn't want to be a 'mark'.


Kim

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the opoponax

I should preface this by saying that I fully believe you about the beggars' gangs and mafias and people who fake things for more sympathy and all the rest. But this stuff that I've quoted above, resembles a lot of propaganda I've seen in the US about beggars/homeless people. Most of which is patently untrue. Everyone has a story about how actually, they heard that most homeless people really make a very good living, etc. etc.

I have actually had to beg on the street before. It is not fun. I would rather have almost any other job. It's also a lot of work. Usually I needed money, not food, so of course if someone offered food I wouldn't take it (or would take it and then throw it away). I can't speak for Bombay or any Indian city, but in New York at least, food is generally not the problem; you can eat like a king from any restaurant's garbage. The problem is money. Money that might be spent on drugs or alcohol, sure. But that's really none of your business -- would you avoid a shop because you thought the owner was a drunk who'd just spend all his profits on more booze?

Give to beggars or not, whatever works for you. But don't parrot lies and propaganda.

machadinha

Hear, hear, Opoponax

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Fionabog

could make a great deal of money. I sat in Leopolds one day for about 3 hours, just sitting, watching, and absorbing. I saw one woman with a couple of kids get several LARGE donations of about 50rps each from at least 9 or 10 tourists. Would she have earned 500 rupees in 3 hours anywhere else? However, she might have not found more sucker for the next day or two, so maybe it all balances out.
I gave out food when I'd had a serve that was many times more than I could eat. I put what I wanted on another plate, and ate off that, I figured nobody would want my pawed through leftovers, but the remainders were very nice food. I'd then give them to some of the old ladies I saw all the time on the street.
By the way, does anyone know the older gentleman who feeds the dogs and the cats on a streetcorner down and opposite from Leopold's? He was there every single night, and the dogs were canny enough to just 'hang' out there, and wait. During the afternoon, and the evening, the numbers would gradually build up. It was lovely to see that regular act of kindness.

AvidTrekker

You make me sound like a henchman of Dr. Paul Josef Goebbels

I have quoted the source. It was nearly a year back so I cannot get the exact date. They had printed photographs of the concerned persons. It touched a raw nerve in your psyche so i can empathize with your sharp reaction. I am very sorry if I have offended you, that was not my intention.

A Bank manager of a big bank (who was a regular acquaintance) once told me about a beggar who died with a fortune. He used to beg opposite the Bank. His average collection was 150 rupees per day in 1985. He never spent a single penny (even on food). This Bank was the ultimate beneficiary of nearly 15 lakh rupees in 1986 [125,000 USD at the 1985 exch rate][A small fortune even today]

Beggar gangs are a stark reality in Mumbai. Some of them maim kidnapped little children to increase their take. Yes, there are some genuine cases which I have met, but cannot remain "genuine" for a long time (in Mumbai at least). They eventually are compelled to join the gangs (or else get "driven out" or even killed). Very old and feeble beggars are not hassled by the gangs, possibly because they cannot earn enough and are not worth the trouble.

Even after so many negative experiences, I give money sometimes when my heart says so. Food many a times. But nowadays, I am accosted mostly by professional beggars... where I don't feel like giving.

To the opoponax:Again, I apologize if I have hurt your feelings, but I have not targeted you or any one else. Only stated what was around. I agree, some news are pure malicious propaganda... but in this case there was a grain of truth behing it.

Just yesterday, I got conned by a huge family with sweet one-year kids who looked like they had just got off the train. They said they had no money to go home and would I please feed their kids?? I was about to buy them milk and biscuits when my cousin prevented me. I was about to get annoyed when he took me to a corner and silenced me. He said he had himself been conned by the very same gang ten days back when he gave fifty rupees (a princely sum where people just give one or two rupees). He then took me to the corner where the rest of the family was. Sure enough, these guys joined them and they were selling off the milk and food for money....