Slums with AC

 The sun rose over a turquoise sea which sparkled with clarity and lapped onto our white sand . We were sitting on our  deck chairs of this little bit of Maldivian paradise . An island which takes 20 minutes to walk round , with no motors , just feet. Only four buildings were greater than single story. The view to the curve of the horizon was all that sea, with just the occasional small island in the distance. 

In a blink , here we were in the centre of a metropolis of 20 +million . We had arrived into Mumbai airport and fortunately whisked along infinite corridors on a buggy . The arrival facility had 30+ passport control desks in a cavern  of a space rivalling Dubai. Outside was a green vista, where even the elevated motorway had palms and bushes along its entire  length; reminiscent of Singapore . India competing on a world stage . 

The green motorway soon merged into an 6/8 lane highway , the number of lanes dictated by the driving patterns . Since our last visit 15 years ago, acres of slums had been cleared for acres of high rise . Such is the density of people , slums still filled any remaining spaces along the road . The other notable change to these three story slums all seemed to have satellite dishes ,and some even with AC units. Clearly economic trickle-down was applying here.

In was a week-end evening and  the roads were chocker block with cars , Tuk-Tuk’s and people , people and more people ; out to enjoy a sea side space , even if a hospital visit would follow immersion . 24 stories up in our sea side hotel,  the view was a world away from Maldivian paradise. The morning sun struggled through the haze and sea looked anything but swimmable . Tower blocks stretched into the gloom . 

But we had arrived , defeating the obstacles of two countries immigration procedures , trebly enhanced with Covid barriers. For India alone it consisted of visa, Covid on-line form ,hard  copy arrival form and hard copy Covid questionnaire ; then  production at the airports of Covid vaccination certificates and PCR results .

 In the hotel we were immediately whisked into the tailor’s space for final fitting of our five outfits . We were here for a very special family event, destined to be delivered in a style applicable to this vibrant country.