I cut through an alley in the slum to get to the health centre where i work.

It's the sketchiest place ever... 2 feet wide, and on either side of the "path" are shacks holding families (ie. husband, wife, two children, husband's brother and wife and their four children, random aunt, mother and father in law, and some friend who is just visiting). One room. tarp roof. Corrugated metal walls.

Life happens on the sidewalk. It is kitchen, gossip area, garbage, bar, hangout, kids' playground, and everyone's toilet.

The sight and smell of it is completely overwhelming. I think i've blocked out the sight... i just walk fast and look down (which is a neccessity, given the multipurpose nature of the path).

But you just can't get away from the smell. At first, I just held my breath. Then i realized that it was possible break it down into its components...

Imagine a combination of:
rotting fruit
urine
sulphur
an old polluted pond covered in green slime
burning rubber
engine exhaust
tanning animal hide (dharavi is the leather centre of mumbai)
smog
that cloying smell of a really infected piercing

Multiply it by ten.

num.

now that i've figured it all out, i'm back to holding my breath.

9:09 p.m. - 2003-09-15