Every morning, I would walk down the little alley by my apartment, past feral cats and men carrying things on their heads, to the garbage pile at the end of the street. This is where I would catch a rickshaw each day. With the simple words “Danda”, the shortened way of saying Khar Danda, I would swing my body into the vehicle, and off we would rumble.
Here then, is a short look at a typical rickshaw ride. In the video below, you will hear the voices of the other girls who volunteered here for a month, and one of them points out a donkey at the end. I only speak once at the end, confirming our arrival at our destination. I took this video nearer the beginning of my stay in Mumbai when all of this was still new and thrilling, and I was entirely unsure if I was ever going the right way or had gone far enough. Thankfully, I got much better at figuring out my surroundings as the days passed!
Believe it or not, this was a relatively quiet day in Khar. Had I taken the video on market day, the rickshaw driver would have just told us to get out and walk the rest of the way. You still get a sense of the busy-ness of the area and what life is like in Mumbai and India. Every day I saw something new and different, and I was never bored. In the video, you only get footage from one side of the street, but rest assured that just as much is happening on the other side.
What do you think after seeing this video?
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