The tour continues

For all the grandeur of the finished piece, the way in which these buildings are constructed is, in many ways quite archaic. Check out the bamboo scaffolding, used for buildings of almost 30 stories - usually with nothing in the way of safety precautions. The towers are painted by men suspended on a platform held by rope, using a paint pot and brush! Quite scary to watch.

Urban India is fast becoming inundated by western-style supermarkets. 'Tru Mart' is one such example, just 5 minutes from our home. I do shop in these places, lured mainly by the air-conditioning and the imported goods that you can't get elsewhere. However, I prefer to use the small traders as much as possible. Their fresh produce is by far superior and I prefer my money to go to them than into the pot of some chain.
Interestingly, yesterday, many of the small local traders shut up shop and gathered in central Mumbai to oppose these corporate giants. The 'Times of India' called it 'perhaps the largest protest against organised retail in the country'. I hope it had some impact, although I know that to make a real difference people like me could start by boycotting the 'Tru Marts' altogether. When does conscience overtake convenience....?

Ashamed to say it but here is another popular chain that we frequent, also just 5 minutes from our home. Our local coffee shop, which actualy sells a reasonable cup of coffee. This was Alistair's final destination. He likes it here (often in the middle of church he announces "Can we go to Cafe Coffee Day now?' as we often do go after church) and as you can see, was glad to have arrived for some air conditioning and a cool drink.
Yet again, the contrast between this kind of existence - which can, if wished, be lived blinkered with no thought of the 'other' India -
and that of the folk that, for example, Adam works with everyday is marked.

Homeward bound. We live on the eleventh floor of this tower block in a very comfortable flat. We have our complaints, a clean garden of our own would be nice and a constant clean water supply and no power cuts . . . but really we count our blessings to have the provision of such a nice place to live.