“Are you crazy???” This was the most frequent reaction when I started telling people that I was moving to Delhi to work in a slum in March 2018. Visions of a lawless land where criminals roamed and assailants waited for you in dark corners filled many people’s minds. Delhi already has a bad-enough reputation as it is. I was going to work in a slum there??? I would simply smile, shrug my shoulders and say “Yep!” with as much confidence as I could muster.
A few days before my flight to Delhi from New York, I started getting scared. Like, really, really scared. What was I thinking? Was this the right move? Is it going to be safe enough to leave my apartment or will I be under house arrest? Despite all my fears, I got on that plane anyways thinking that if I didn’t like it, I could always leave.
Flash forward to a few days ago when I was at dinner with friends in Mumbai. Rather than talking about how terrible it was to work in a slum, instead I was telling them what an amazing experience it was. I was showing them photos of my favorite stray dogs and of the neighborhood kids who would make me laugh every single day. I was telling them about the cows who roamed the streets with more confidence than a supermodel walks a runway and about the goats that would impress me every single day with their ridiculousness. I was telling them about my team there and how proud I am of them, how much they inspire me. I was also telling my friends about how much I miss it every single day. This was never what I expected. It was better than I ever could have expected.
Since most people can’t even begin to imagine what daily life is like, here is a snapshot of my daily life.
6:30 am – wake up
7 am – 8:30 am – gym
- The gym was always full of tall, muscular and HOOOOOOTTTTTT men. Side note – Delhi is well-known for its array of good looking men.
8:30 – 9 am – commute to “work” (aka the slum…..)
- My commute included a 20 minute walk to the metro, 10 minute metro ride and then a 10 minute walk to get to my office. This 10-minute walk included stops to take photos of cute goats, shake the hands of little kids, pet one of my favorite stray dogs, and say hello to the women working in clothing recycling.
9 – 5 pm – My 9-5 job as CEO of Reality Tours and Travel
- My job consisted of managing a team, attempting to be a mentor for the young women on my team, managing our distribution partners, tracking sales, talking to guests, etc.
- My office had western toilets, high-speed internet and air-conditioning. Every once in a while, we would have power cuts. Rather than being an annoyance, this turned into team-building!
5 – 6:30 pm – Slowly meander my way home.
- On the way home from work, the fruit and vegetable market would be in full-swing. I would watch goats try and steal vegetables while the cart-owners would chase them off with brooms. I even once watched a goat climb into the back of a tuk tuk!
- I would often get street food near the metro stop and eat it in a park on the way home. I would watch people play with their kids, old men and women gossiping.
- Sometimes, I would at the tiny shop near my apartment and chat with the perpetually smiley shop owner. He once told me that my roommate was making chana masala. I had no idea that he even knew where I lived.
7 pm – Miscellaneous activities including movies, dinner or drinks with friends, etc.
As you can see, my life was relatively boring. Yet, it included everything that I love most about India. I laughed every single day at the absurdity of life. I had a team that I loved working with and a never ending array of cute animals and adorable kids to play with. I was treated like I was part of the community.
So why did I leave? Women’s safety is definitely an issue but even more than that, I wanted to have a chance to live in Bombay – India’s second city. As some of you may know, I currently work as the CEO of Reality Tours and Travel, the original “slum tour” operators in Dharavi (the 2nd largest slum in Asia) and moved from Delhil to Mumbai one month ago. I traded the spic-and-span Delhi Metro for the Mumbai local-commuter trains, the posh neighorhood of Greater Kailash 1 for the expat epicenter of Bandra, and the tiny slum of Sanjay Colony to the beheamouth of Dharavi. This transition has been interesting and has really re-enforced how much I love Sanjay Colony.
