My Taxi Driver’s Neighborhood Part 1: This is a bit hard to explain. In December of 2016 we went with three friends to the tribal regions in the mountains of northern India. These...

MosheR Loc: New York City

This is a bit hard to explain. In December of 2016 we went with three friends to the tribal regions in the mountains of northern India. These areas are visited very little … not at all by Americans, not very much by Europeans, and not too much more than that by other Indians. So as you might imagine, the tourist infrastructure is not very well developed. You’ve already seen several posts from this area: The headhunters of Hong Phoi, the plug nosed women, the opium smokers of Lungwa, and a few others. We remained in the tribal highlands for about a month, where we generally stayed in local hotels or people’s homes that were pleasant enough, but certainly not up to par in terms of the convenient modernity to which most of us are used. Hospitality standards in this area of India are much lower than in the west.

Then we went on to Mumbai, and my wife and I separated from our friends. Here, finally, we stayed in a modern, ultra luxurious hotel. The Taj Mahal Palace is considered to be one of the best hotels in the world. Unfortunately, back in 2008, this well known place was invaded by terrorists in a series of coordinated actions carried out by a Pakistani-based extremist group. The attackers targeted multiple locations in Mumbai, including the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, as well as the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus railway station, a Jewish community center, and other high-profile sites. The motives behind the attack were multifaceted, but it is generally believed that the terrorists aimed to create fear and chaos, damage India's image internationally, and undermine India-Pakistan relations. As you might guess, the security at the place when we stayed there just a few years later was overwhelming. Just to visit the coffee shop meant having to pass through several layers of screening. On the other side, though, we guests were so pampered that they wouldn’t even let us ring our own elevator buttons, the food in the restaurants was always pre cut if requested, and room service was a given. They wouldn’t even allow us to leave tips. This is the hotel where anyone who is anyone stays if they happen to be visiting Mumbai. We spotted several movie stars in the dining room while we were there.

Anyway, we spent a week in Mumbai visiting all its sights, and one of these days I may even post a couple more of them for you. I already did post photos of Mumbai’s famous laundry.

On our third or fourth day in Mumbai I asked the concierge to please get me a taxi that I can use for several hours, with an arrangement to pay after I am returned to the hotel. This is a very common practice that is a win win situation for everybody concerned. The tourist gets a vetted trustworthy driver, and the driver knows where that tourist “lives,” so he cannot skip out on paying the fare. (By the way, if you’re interested in getting some idea of what the Taj Hotel is like, take out or stream the video called “Hotel Mumbai,” made in 2018. It was filmed on location right there, and is one terrific flick. The star of the movie is Dev Patel, whom I’m certain you will recognize.)

When the taxi arrived, expecting to be asked to visit some tourist site, I instead asked him to take me to the neighborhood in which he lived. Why?? I wanted to see and walk through a real Indian neighborhood, not one of the kind of places where tourists are usually taken to, and I wanted to be alone while I was there, not with some guide. He was surprised, but he drove me there, and even pointed out the building in which he resided, parked his car nearly in front of it, let me out, and indicated the direction in which I should walk.

Now I know I’m a little headstrong, but I’m not completely stupid. I’m aware that there is lots of crime in India, especially in large cities, and very especially against confused tourists. But the crime is never violent. It’s generally stuff like pick-pocketing or snatch and run. So I brought very little money, just some basic ID, and only a photocopy of my passport. My wallet was back in the hotel safe, and the money I had with me was in my shoes. The camera I carried was a little underwater job whose body was a kind of plastic looking shiny aquamarine color. It’s not a bad camera, only five mp with a four times lens, but it does a good enough job for my purposes … I do very little underwater work, like the whale photos I submitted here, and mostly use it only when the weather is very bad. And it really looks dinky and cheap, which it is. My more substantial cameras remained back in the Taj, also in their safe.

And off I went.

The rest of this little tale is rather boring, as nothing happened. I strolled through the area for a few hours and, as I walked, I received a lot of side eyes and/or smiles. Sometimes even waves. Nobody ever bothered me, and I got to see a real neighborhood without interference from a well meaning guide. I practiced my usual MO, which is to say I took candid shots from the hip first, then asked permission of my subjects. If they agreed, I took a few more pictures while they stood self consciously at attention and smiled broadly, then I showed them the photos and went off. If they said no, I erased their pics later on. Nothing interesting … meaning bad … happened, and I am now sharing some of this experience with you.

When editing these, I usually try to put the photos in some sort of order that makes a kind of sense. In this case, I decided to post them in the exact order in which I took them. I took over two thousand pictures here, and eventually culled them down to about two hundred for my own collection. (I really enjoyed this little walk and wanted to remember so much of it.) For this post, I re-edited them and got the whole down to forty, which is by far a more tractable number.

The streets here are very narrow mostly dark, and generally crowded with the people, mostly men, going about their work. Vehicular transportation is usually by bicycle or motorbike, as that's all that fits.

They told me that eight men live and work here.

This street is a bit wider than the first one. You can see part of a motorbike on the lower right.

Same street as above, a few steps further along.

These boys actually caught me sneaking their picture, as did a few other people. They loved it and asked if I could sent them copies. I did, care of the Taj with instructions to give it to that taxi driver, and hope that it actually reached them.

Most people, indeed most whole families in India, bathe from a bucket. Water is very scarce, even for well off folk.

(Download)

Lunch time in the general store.

This almost looks like one of those old Jacob Riis photos of New York's Bandits' Roost, highlighted in the book, "The Gangs of New York." Google it!

Minding the store? Waiting for customers?
Minding the store? Waiting for customers?...

Six men live here. Contrast this with your own life whenever it is that you feel bad.
Six men live here. Contrast this with your own li...

UTMike Loc: South Jordan, UT

Now that was adventuresome, Mel!

NMGal Loc: NE NM

We are so very fortunate!

AzPicLady Loc: Behind the camera!

What a wonderful experience! I get chided for doing similar things in the backcountry of Ecuador. But most people are kind - at least in the country! I'm not sure about doing it in the city.

Horseart Loc: Alabama

Your pictures continue to show that it truly is they eye behind the camera that makes it good. No matter what camera you use, they always look great!
It's so sad that people anywhere have to live like that, but you and your Bronx Beauty always take the bad with the good and show us how thankful we should be! It's no wonder that you two are such good people. You live for a while among the reality everywhere.
I like believing that you are "messengers", put here to show us what life could be like, so we can appreciate what we have.

lnl Loc: SWFL

Yes, you are both messengers to show us parts of the world we will never see. I don’t understand how or why we are so fortunate to live as we do, in a clean and safe area. I do know how thankful I am.

srg

MosheR wrote:

This is a bit hard to explain. In December of 2016 we went with three friends to the tribal regions in the mountains of northern India. These areas are visited very little … not at all by Americans, not very much by Europeans, and not too much more than that by other Indians. So as you might imagine, the tourist infrastructure is not very well developed. You’ve already seen several posts from this area: The headhunters of Hong Phoi, the plug nosed women, the opium smokers of Lungwa, and a few others. We remained in the tribal highlands for about a month, where we generally stayed in local hotels or people’s homes that were pleasant enough, but certainly not up to par in terms of the convenient modernity to which most of us are used. Hospitality standards in this area of India are much lower than in the west.

Then we went on to Mumbai, and my wife and I separated from our friends. Here, finally, we stayed in a modern, ultra luxurious hotel. The Taj Mahal Palace is considered to be one of the best hotels in the world. Unfortunately, back in 2008, this well known place was invaded by terrorists in a series of coordinated actions carried out by a Pakistani-based extremist group. The attackers targeted multiple locations in Mumbai, including the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, as well as the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus railway station, a Jewish community center, and other high-profile sites. The motives behind the attack were multifaceted, but it is generally believed that the terrorists aimed to create fear and chaos, damage India's image internationally, and undermine India-Pakistan relations. As you might guess, the security at the place when we stayed there just a few years later was overwhelming. Just to visit the coffee shop meant having to pass through several layers of screening. On the other side, though, we guests were so pampered that they wouldn’t even let us ring our own elevator buttons, the food in the restaurants was always pre cut if requested, and room service was a given. They wouldn’t even allow us to leave tips. This is the hotel where anyone who is anyone stays if they happen to be visiting Mumbai. We spotted several movie stars in the dining room while we were there.

Anyway, we spent a week in Mumbai visiting all its sights, and one of these days I may even post a couple more of them for you. I already did post photos of Mumbai’s famous laundry.

On our third or fourth day in Mumbai I asked the concierge to please get me a taxi that I can use for several hours, with an arrangement to pay after I am returned to the hotel. This is a very common practice that is a win win situation for everybody concerned. The tourist gets a vetted trustworthy driver, and the driver knows where that tourist “lives,” so he cannot skip out on paying the fare. (By the way, if you’re interested in getting some idea of what the Taj Hotel is like, take out or stream the video called “Hotel Mumbai,” made in 2018. It was filmed on location right there, and is one terrific flick. The star of the movie is Dev Patel, whom I’m certain you will recognize.)

When the taxi arrived, expecting to be asked to visit some tourist site, I instead asked him to take me to the neighborhood in which he lived. Why?? I wanted to see and walk through a real Indian neighborhood, not one of the kind of places where tourists are usually taken to, and I wanted to be alone while I was there, not with some guide. He was surprised, but he drove me there, and even pointed out the building in which he resided, parked his car nearly in front of it, let me out, and indicated the direction in which I should walk.

Now I know I’m a little headstrong, but I’m not completely stupid. I’m aware that there is lots of crime in India, especially in large cities, and very especially against confused tourists. But the crime is never violent. It’s generally stuff like pick-pocketing or snatch and run. So I brought very little money, just some basic ID, and only a photocopy of my passport. My wallet was back in the hotel safe, and the money I had with me was in my shoes. The camera I carried was a little underwater job whose body was a kind of plastic looking shiny aquamarine color. It’s not a bad camera, only five mp with a four times lens, but it does a good enough job for my purposes … I do very little underwater work, like the whale photos I submitted here, and mostly use it only when the weather is very bad. And it really looks dinky and cheap, which it is. My more substantial cameras remained back in the Taj, also in their safe.

And off I went.

The rest of this little tale is rather boring, as nothing happened. I strolled through the area for a few hours and, as I walked, I received a lot of side eyes and/or smiles. Sometimes even waves. Nobody ever bothered me, and I got to see a real neighborhood without interference from a well meaning guide. I practiced my usual MO, which is to say I took candid shots from the hip first, then asked permission of my subjects. If they agreed, I took a few more pictures while they stood self consciously at attention and smiled broadly, then I showed them the photos and went off. If they said no, I erased their pics later on. Nothing interesting … meaning bad … happened, and I am now sharing some of this experience with you.

When editing these, I usually try to put the photos in some sort of order that makes a kind of sense. In this case, I decided to post them in the exact order in which I took them. I took over two thousand pictures here, and eventually culled them down to about two hundred for my own collection. (I really enjoyed this little walk and wanted to remember so much of it.) For this post, I re-edited them and got the whole down to forty, which is by far a more tractable number.

This is a bit hard to explain. In December of 201... (show quote)

Your posts are always interesting and reflect a clear and powerful mind as well as soul

joecichjr Loc: Chicago S. Suburbs, Illinois, USA

MosheR wrote:

This is a bit hard to explain. In December of 2016 we went with three friends to the tribal regions in the mountains of northern India. These areas are visited very little … not at all by Americans, not very much by Europeans, and not too much more than that by other Indians. So as you might imagine, the tourist infrastructure is not very well developed. You’ve already seen several posts from this area: The headhunters of Hong Phoi, the plug nosed women, the opium smokers of Lungwa, and a few others. We remained in the tribal highlands for about a month, where we generally stayed in local hotels or people’s homes that were pleasant enough, but certainly not up to par in terms of the convenient modernity to which most of us are used. Hospitality standards in this area of India are much lower than in the west.

Then we went on to Mumbai, and my wife and I separated from our friends. Here, finally, we stayed in a modern, ultra luxurious hotel. The Taj Mahal Palace is considered to be one of the best hotels in the world. Unfortunately, back in 2008, this well known place was invaded by terrorists in a series of coordinated actions carried out by a Pakistani-based extremist group. The attackers targeted multiple locations in Mumbai, including the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, as well as the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus railway station, a Jewish community center, and other high-profile sites. The motives behind the attack were multifaceted, but it is generally believed that the terrorists aimed to create fear and chaos, damage India's image internationally, and undermine India-Pakistan relations. As you might guess, the security at the place when we stayed there just a few years later was overwhelming. Just to visit the coffee shop meant having to pass through several layers of screening. On the other side, though, we guests were so pampered that they wouldn’t even let us ring our own elevator buttons, the food in the restaurants was always pre cut if requested, and room service was a given. They wouldn’t even allow us to leave tips. This is the hotel where anyone who is anyone stays if they happen to be visiting Mumbai. We spotted several movie stars in the dining room while we were there.

Anyway, we spent a week in Mumbai visiting all its sights, and one of these days I may even post a couple more of them for you. I already did post photos of Mumbai’s famous laundry.

On our third or fourth day in Mumbai I asked the concierge to please get me a taxi that I can use for several hours, with an arrangement to pay after I am returned to the hotel. This is a very common practice that is a win win situation for everybody concerned. The tourist gets a vetted trustworthy driver, and the driver knows where that tourist “lives,” so he cannot skip out on paying the fare. (By the way, if you’re interested in getting some idea of what the Taj Hotel is like, take out or stream the video called “Hotel Mumbai,” made in 2018. It was filmed on location right there, and is one terrific flick. The star of the movie is Dev Patel, whom I’m certain you will recognize.)

When the taxi arrived, expecting to be asked to visit some tourist site, I instead asked him to take me to the neighborhood in which he lived. Why?? I wanted to see and walk through a real Indian neighborhood, not one of the kind of places where tourists are usually taken to, and I wanted to be alone while I was there, not with some guide. He was surprised, but he drove me there, and even pointed out the building in which he resided, parked his car nearly in front of it, let me out, and indicated the direction in which I should walk.

Now I know I’m a little headstrong, but I’m not completely stupid. I’m aware that there is lots of crime in India, especially in large cities, and very especially against confused tourists. But the crime is never violent. It’s generally stuff like pick-pocketing or snatch and run. So I brought very little money, just some basic ID, and only a photocopy of my passport. My wallet was back in the hotel safe, and the money I had with me was in my shoes. The camera I carried was a little underwater job whose body was a kind of plastic looking shiny aquamarine color. It’s not a bad camera, only five mp with a four times lens, but it does a good enough job for my purposes … I do very little underwater work, like the whale photos I submitted here, and mostly use it only when the weather is very bad. And it really looks dinky and cheap, which it is. My more substantial cameras remained back in the Taj, also in their safe.

And off I went.

The rest of this little tale is rather boring, as nothing happened. I strolled through the area for a few hours and, as I walked, I received a lot of side eyes and/or smiles. Sometimes even waves. Nobody ever bothered me, and I got to see a real neighborhood without interference from a well meaning guide. I practiced my usual MO, which is to say I took candid shots from the hip first, then asked permission of my subjects. If they agreed, I took a few more pictures while they stood self consciously at attention and smiled broadly, then I showed them the photos and went off. If they said no, I erased their pics later on. Nothing interesting … meaning bad … happened, and I am now sharing some of this experience with you.

When editing these, I usually try to put the photos in some sort of order that makes a kind of sense. In this case, I decided to post them in the exact order in which I took them. I took over two thousand pictures here, and eventually culled them down to about two hundred for my own collection. (I really enjoyed this little walk and wanted to remember so much of it.) For this post, I re-edited them and got the whole down to forty, which is by far a more tractable number.

This is a bit hard to explain. In December of 201... (show quote)

Excellent "survival" shots 💯💯🌀💯💯

bcheary Loc: Jacksonville, FL

MosheR wrote:

This is a bit hard to explain. In December of 2016 we went with three friends to the tribal regions in the mountains of northern India. These areas are visited very little … not at all by Americans, not very much by Europeans, and not too much more than that by other Indians. So as you might imagine, the tourist infrastructure is not very well developed. You’ve already seen several posts from this area: The headhunters of Hong Phoi, the plug nosed women, the opium smokers of Lungwa, and a few others. We remained in the tribal highlands for about a month, where we generally stayed in local hotels or people’s homes that were pleasant enough, but certainly not up to par in terms of the convenient modernity to which most of us are used. Hospitality standards in this area of India are much lower than in the west.

Then we went on to Mumbai, and my wife and I separated from our friends. Here, finally, we stayed in a modern, ultra luxurious hotel. The Taj Mahal Palace is considered to be one of the best hotels in the world. Unfortunately, back in 2008, this well known place was invaded by terrorists in a series of coordinated actions carried out by a Pakistani-based extremist group. The attackers targeted multiple locations in Mumbai, including the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, as well as the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus railway station, a Jewish community center, and other high-profile sites. The motives behind the attack were multifaceted, but it is generally believed that the terrorists aimed to create fear and chaos, damage India's image internationally, and undermine India-Pakistan relations. As you might guess, the security at the place when we stayed there just a few years later was overwhelming. Just to visit the coffee shop meant having to pass through several layers of screening. On the other side, though, we guests were so pampered that they wouldn’t even let us ring our own elevator buttons, the food in the restaurants was always pre cut if requested, and room service was a given. They wouldn’t even allow us to leave tips. This is the hotel where anyone who is anyone stays if they happen to be visiting Mumbai. We spotted several movie stars in the dining room while we were there.

Anyway, we spent a week in Mumbai visiting all its sights, and one of these days I may even post a couple more of them for you. I already did post photos of Mumbai’s famous laundry.

On our third or fourth day in Mumbai I asked the concierge to please get me a taxi that I can use for several hours, with an arrangement to pay after I am returned to the hotel. This is a very common practice that is a win win situation for everybody concerned. The tourist gets a vetted trustworthy driver, and the driver knows where that tourist “lives,” so he cannot skip out on paying the fare. (By the way, if you’re interested in getting some idea of what the Taj Hotel is like, take out or stream the video called “Hotel Mumbai,” made in 2018. It was filmed on location right there, and is one terrific flick. The star of the movie is Dev Patel, whom I’m certain you will recognize.)

When the taxi arrived, expecting to be asked to visit some tourist site, I instead asked him to take me to the neighborhood in which he lived. Why?? I wanted to see and walk through a real Indian neighborhood, not one of the kind of places where tourists are usually taken to, and I wanted to be alone while I was there, not with some guide. He was surprised, but he drove me there, and even pointed out the building in which he resided, parked his car nearly in front of it, let me out, and indicated the direction in which I should walk.

Now I know I’m a little headstrong, but I’m not completely stupid. I’m aware that there is lots of crime in India, especially in large cities, and very especially against confused tourists. But the crime is never violent. It’s generally stuff like pick-pocketing or snatch and run. So I brought very little money, just some basic ID, and only a photocopy of my passport. My wallet was back in the hotel safe, and the money I had with me was in my shoes. The camera I carried was a little underwater job whose body was a kind of plastic looking shiny aquamarine color. It’s not a bad camera, only five mp with a four times lens, but it does a good enough job for my purposes … I do very little underwater work, like the whale photos I submitted here, and mostly use it only when the weather is very bad. And it really looks dinky and cheap, which it is. My more substantial cameras remained back in the Taj, also in their safe.

And off I went.

The rest of this little tale is rather boring, as nothing happened. I strolled through the area for a few hours and, as I walked, I received a lot of side eyes and/or smiles. Sometimes even waves. Nobody ever bothered me, and I got to see a real neighborhood without interference from a well meaning guide. I practiced my usual MO, which is to say I took candid shots from the hip first, then asked permission of my subjects. If they agreed, I took a few more pictures while they stood self consciously at attention and smiled broadly, then I showed them the photos and went off. If they said no, I erased their pics later on. Nothing interesting … meaning bad … happened, and I am now sharing some of this experience with you.

When editing these, I usually try to put the photos in some sort of order that makes a kind of sense. In this case, I decided to post them in the exact order in which I took them. I took over two thousand pictures here, and eventually culled them down to about two hundred for my own collection. (I really enjoyed this little walk and wanted to remember so much of it.) For this post, I re-edited them and got the whole down to forty, which is by far a more tractable number.

This is a bit hard to explain. In December of 201... (show quote)

Interesting info and photos Mel.

cyan Loc: Northern NJ

Very interesting! Place I'll never see! I don't get out of NJ.....every couple of weeks I go into the city (NYC).

MosheR Loc: New York City

cyan wrote:

Very interesting! Place I'll never see! I don't get out of NJ.....every couple of weeks I go into the city (NYC).

I'll bet you're in the city more than I'm in New Jersey.

MosheR Loc: New York City

bcheary wrote:

Interesting info and photos Mel.

Thank you for that, Brian.

MosheR Loc: New York City

joecichjr wrote:

Excellent "survival" shots 💯💯🌀💯💯

That's an interesting way to put it. Thank you.

MosheR Loc: New York City

srg wrote:

Your posts are always interesting and reflect a clear and powerful mind as well as soul

WOW!! Thank you for that. I read this one aloud to my wife.

MosheR Loc: New York City

Horseart wrote:

Your pictures continue to show that it truly is th... (show quote)

So if/when I post something really awful, don't blame the messenger. Thank you for those very nice comments, Jo. One of these days I'll write you privately to tell you a time when I really, truly was a messenger for good, and purely by a lucky accident.