Earning a living in Mumbai

The contrasts in Mumbai are huge. There is a number of obscenely wealthy people and there are many, many very poor people.

What is clear though, is that everyone is trying to earn a living, one way or another. And believe me, there are many ways. Some very specific and -for us westerners- unusual or even unknown jobs, services and businesses.

Here are some examples of what people do for a living:

You can transport things,

like cans:

Or big sacs; empty:

Or big sacs with cargo:

Or metal pots with…? Milk?

You can transport stuff on ur head:

You can work high up:

Like so:

Or even worse:…

You can sell stuff on the street:

You can go in the food business:

Like so:

…sell figs and sweets…

…prepare bambooshoots for sap and drinks….

…or make and sell lemonade:

…sell neon colored cotton candy:

You can sell clothes or fabrics:

You can be a hairdresser without a proper salon:

Ofcourse you can also deliver other services, like laundry.

Not far from our hotel there is the famous Dhobi Ghat, an enormous open air laundromat since ages.

Laundry from all over town, from hotels and hospitals, is handled here and it seems about nothing ever gets lost. Which is amazing if you see the amount of laundry and the primitive circumstances. Most of the work is done manually by 5000 men, the Dhobi’s. There are however also some (old) washing machines, dryers and hot water is being boiled over a fire.

One piece of laundry costs 5 rupees which is about 1 eurocent.

The wash is picked up up at home and delivered back, clean and folded.

An overview picture of the area of Dhobi Ghat:

In the middle we see the washing basins, where the men wash and where they beat the laundry against the stone to loosen the dirt.

Whites by whites, yellow by yellows, etc.:

There are men that wash, that hang, that fold, etc.:

For 100 rupees you can visit the grounds. The ‘entry-money’ is used by the workers association to improve the circumstances in the ‘laundromat’.

As you can see part of the work is done by some machines. These are not in plain sight, because Dhobi Ghat is a tourist attraction (as well) and we tourists want to see the authentic hand work;-). Which is the main part, truthfully.