Saturday, July 31, 2010
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Mumbai LAST WEEK
March 17
Padre nuestro que estas en el cielo
Santificado sea tu nombre
Venga a nosotros tu reino.....
A prayer in Spanish, A song in Polish, a Christian Church inside a Muslim Neighborhood in India are probably the 30 minutes of the month that I will remember the most.
March 18
An invitation to a ceremony to put the name to child, In Muslim tradition when a child born they sacrifice a goat. Amina spent the entire day preparing the food and in the night we had the only home made food that we had during the time we were there. The same goat we saw alive in the morning. (I am taking Ari’s photos to publish).
Marzo 19
We went to visit all the mosques in Muslim Negar. We also visit some altars that are located in the courtyards. What called our attention was that those altars were devoted no to one single religion but to different religions and people said that Wveryone who wants to pray can do it there.
March 20
An action with the people and an intervention in the space: Who want to draw, we wanted to draw with everyone, although in five minutes we were surrounded by around 100 children, so they were the ones who draw for us. Crayons and papers, and a question is the only thing we needed to create a big congestion inside the Negar. With the results of the drawings we made the intervention, creating a path from the main avenues to inside the Negar. People collaborate with us a lot and even if the results were not what we expected we indeed learned a lot from that action.
March 21
It was almost the last day: presentation in the morning, last visit to Muslim Negar to say goodbye, dinner in the night, Happy holy with our Indian Friends and to see the fire. For me a no picture day, just to live it as it was.
March 22 and 23 Saturday, last day last time to go to buy things and souvenirs, dinner for one euro, too much food and the flight was cancelled. It was snowing in Netherlands when we arrive.
Padre nuestro que estas en el cielo
Santificado sea tu nombre
Venga a nosotros tu reino.....
A prayer in Spanish, A song in Polish, a Christian Church inside a Muslim Neighborhood in India are probably the 30 minutes of the month that I will remember the most.
March 18
An invitation to a ceremony to put the name to child, In Muslim tradition when a child born they sacrifice a goat. Amina spent the entire day preparing the food and in the night we had the only home made food that we had during the time we were there. The same goat we saw alive in the morning. (I am taking Ari’s photos to publish).
Marzo 19
We went to visit all the mosques in Muslim Negar. We also visit some altars that are located in the courtyards. What called our attention was that those altars were devoted no to one single religion but to different religions and people said that Wveryone who wants to pray can do it there.
March 20
An action with the people and an intervention in the space: Who want to draw, we wanted to draw with everyone, although in five minutes we were surrounded by around 100 children, so they were the ones who draw for us. Crayons and papers, and a question is the only thing we needed to create a big congestion inside the Negar. With the results of the drawings we made the intervention, creating a path from the main avenues to inside the Negar. People collaborate with us a lot and even if the results were not what we expected we indeed learned a lot from that action.
March 21
It was almost the last day: presentation in the morning, last visit to Muslim Negar to say goodbye, dinner in the night, Happy holy with our Indian Friends and to see the fire. For me a no picture day, just to live it as it was.
March 22 and 23 Saturday, last day last time to go to buy things and souvenirs, dinner for one euro, too much food and the flight was cancelled. It was snowing in Netherlands when we arrive.
Mumbai Second Weekend
March 15 and 16
A trip to Arangabad (I will never know how to spell it)
A strange bus, a friend next to me who moves a lot when he sleep, thanks for the flu that I catch for your fault. 10 hours of traveling, we arrived really tired, there was bugs in the mattresses of the bus and also in the mattresses of the hotel (of course the cheapest we get). I would like to do it again sometime.
Ellora Caves, it was simply amazing, I don’t have any other word to describe them.The fort, a trip in bikes and a Dance competition of Dayo made a great weekend.
A trip to Arangabad (I will never know how to spell it)
A strange bus, a friend next to me who moves a lot when he sleep, thanks for the flu that I catch for your fault. 10 hours of traveling, we arrived really tired, there was bugs in the mattresses of the bus and also in the mattresses of the hotel (of course the cheapest we get). I would like to do it again sometime.
Ellora Caves, it was simply amazing, I don’t have any other word to describe them.The fort, a trip in bikes and a Dance competition of Dayo made a great weekend.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Mumbai: Second Week
March 10: Mapping Dharavi Main road
How can you take a picture without looking at the camera, knowing that you are being measured by the people who walk next to you?
March 11:
An open Discussion with the teachers about what we were doing.
March 12:
Tour through the city, we drive around in the bus the thing that called my attention was the fishermen village. A small place in the middle of the city which I imagine was completely swallowed by Mumbai and now it can be consider as a slum. We ended in a movie theater to see Bollywood. Of course I felt sleep.
March 13:
A day without a camera by myself and without the opportunity to draw anything.
We had to find Amina Khan, social worker in Muslim Negar. Amina lives there since 1947 and everybody knows her and she also knows everybody. Amina is an incredible woman a complete matriarch. The presence this woman has inside the Negar is huge, almost scary to tell the truth. Even when she live in Dharavi, I have the impression that that woman is everything but poor. She was very helpful for us and she helped us to understand the culture and the History of Muslim Negar.
March 14:
Another day without a camera by myself and without the opportunity to draw anything.
We met Azif, another social worker in Muslim Negar. As Amina, he gave the impression of being quite wealthy, if not wealthy, not poor. His presence is not a strong as Amina’s but it is obvious that he also knows a lot of the Negar. It is a shame that we did not have any other opportunity to talk with him.
 |
| Mapping Dharavi Main Road |
How can you take a picture without looking at the camera, knowing that you are being measured by the people who walk next to you?
March 11:
An open Discussion with the teachers about what we were doing.
March 12:
Tour through the city, we drive around in the bus the thing that called my attention was the fishermen village. A small place in the middle of the city which I imagine was completely swallowed by Mumbai and now it can be consider as a slum. We ended in a movie theater to see Bollywood. Of course I felt sleep.
March 13:
A day without a camera by myself and without the opportunity to draw anything.
We had to find Amina Khan, social worker in Muslim Negar. Amina lives there since 1947 and everybody knows her and she also knows everybody. Amina is an incredible woman a complete matriarch. The presence this woman has inside the Negar is huge, almost scary to tell the truth. Even when she live in Dharavi, I have the impression that that woman is everything but poor. She was very helpful for us and she helped us to understand the culture and the History of Muslim Negar.
March 14:
Another day without a camera by myself and without the opportunity to draw anything.
We met Azif, another social worker in Muslim Negar. As Amina, he gave the impression of being quite wealthy, if not wealthy, not poor. His presence is not a strong as Amina’s but it is obvious that he also knows a lot of the Negar. It is a shame that we did not have any other opportunity to talk with him.
Mumbai first Weekend
March 8
We went to visit the temples but I think what I enjoyed the most was the attempt to fly after the sunset.
March 9
We were free, so we went to Elephanta Island.
We went to visit the temples but I think what I enjoyed the most was the attempt to fly after the sunset.
March 9
We were free, so we went to Elephanta Island.
Mumbai: First Week
March 3: Mapping the Border
The street: Hundreds of colors, women dressed in white, red, blue, green, purple, red hairs in henna. People are walking all at the same time in the same space in between the cars.
March 4: Mapping the section
A curious child is looking at me. He is standing half of his body behind the door in which in front there is some kind of food drying in the sun.
March 5
Reality Tour, no cameras allowed, quick, very quick drawings:
At first I thought that is a way to make the slum a touristic theme. I still think that, however it indeed showed very interesting things, some of them is how organized is Dharavi. It is divided in zones with a clear division of the use of space, establishing zones for industry and living. I found amazing the thing that there is a School where half of the plot is occupied by it and the other half is a garbage deposit.
March 6: Map production
First day of production of the maps, everyone is busy; the hotel became a workshop where all of us are trying to create the maps. Also we had an invitation to a religious celebration where people offer small sacrifices in forms of flowers in the presence of the priest who is singing and praying.
March 7: JJ School
We went to JJ School to a conference in the morning, during the afternoon we worked on the maps with the Indian students in the workshops of the Faculty. There was something missing in our map and it was a drawing made by Ved (our Indian group mate). After the work was done I started to enjoy the light that can only be achieved with a camera in a tropic country. To do this i counted with the help of my groupmate who acceded to be the objective of my shoots.
The street: Hundreds of colors, women dressed in white, red, blue, green, purple, red hairs in henna. People are walking all at the same time in the same space in between the cars.
March 4: Mapping the section
A curious child is looking at me. He is standing half of his body behind the door in which in front there is some kind of food drying in the sun.
March 5
Reality Tour, no cameras allowed, quick, very quick drawings:
At first I thought that is a way to make the slum a touristic theme. I still think that, however it indeed showed very interesting things, some of them is how organized is Dharavi. It is divided in zones with a clear division of the use of space, establishing zones for industry and living. I found amazing the thing that there is a School where half of the plot is occupied by it and the other half is a garbage deposit.
March 6: Map production
First day of production of the maps, everyone is busy; the hotel became a workshop where all of us are trying to create the maps. Also we had an invitation to a religious celebration where people offer small sacrifices in forms of flowers in the presence of the priest who is singing and praying.
March 7: JJ School
We went to JJ School to a conference in the morning, during the afternoon we worked on the maps with the Indian students in the workshops of the Faculty. There was something missing in our map and it was a drawing made by Ved (our Indian group mate). After the work was done I started to enjoy the light that can only be achieved with a camera in a tropic country. To do this i counted with the help of my groupmate who acceded to be the objective of my shoots.
Mumbai, first experiences
March 1st
I just realized what we are doing or what I am doing, it is quite amazing. At this moment we are in our way to our next destination. The words “grazie” and “prego” are in the back. In front a strange language is spoken by a couple, I imagine is the same language we will hear for the next three weeks. At my left that language again and at my right an open international newspaper with a headline about Israel. Soon we will see a boring movie and I won’t be able to sleep for the noise of the engines that keep us in the air.
March 2nd
We are at the University of Mumbai. We already passed our first experience, taking the train in Sion Station. We were divided in men and women, so my three partners were separated from me. The train arrived; I went in, one hundred people fighting each other to get inside a wagon very small.
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