In a country where millions of people are trying to subsist, I didn’t expect to see much focus on environmental issues. India is at least nominally trying to clean up their environmental act. For example, a large number of taxis within Mumbai’s giant fleet operate on compressed natural gas. It’s an obvious first step since CNG is affordable and already widely distributed in India.
More surprisingly, there are ads about environmental issues including a movie trailer discussing the progressive work of some Indian companies to make the country’s industry greener.
With the second-largest population on Earth, India’s environmental decisions affect us all. It’s wonderful to see India begin to raise consciousness of the environment.
Mumbai is one of the wealthiest places in India with an average income of just under $1100 per year. However, that doesn’t strike me as the income level at which people will take to recycle bins, open up farmers’ markets and focus on organic food consumption. The bio-degradable laundry detergent and environmentally safe cleaning products won’t be hitting, let alone jumping off the shelf anytime soon
Apparently, the appeal is primarily to India’s wealthy and powerful. After all, the people at movie theaters in the mall who are enjoying Baskin Robbins waiter service aren’t your $1100 wage earners, or they would have blown just over one percent of their annual income per ticket. For a family of four, that would have to be one heck of a movie…. Emily likes to notice the expensive saris the women wear to the movies which cost at least $150 each – and are therefore 14 percent of the average Mumbai income.
For the people who snap for their heated Nutella brownies, perhaps environment is an issue they’ll consider. Perhaps some of them are captains of industry who might like the positive domestic and international publicity and would consider the necessary adjustments to their factories and operations.
To my amazement, we have even seen billboards around town announcing a lecture by a noted Indian scientist on global warming. I’m guessing they’re aimed at the people driving by in their BMWs, Mercedes and Jaguars. The people pushing carts filled with propane canisters or plywood probably won’t be thinking about clearing their calendars to attend an academic lecture.
Still, someone in Mumbai – a city where the sun sets through the thick smog over a toxic bay – is dealing with global warming.
Mumbai is not the only one cleaning up its act. Emily too is making a strong effort to move away from consuming diseased, toxic water. Her bout with dysentery when she lived in Nepal stemmed from contamination of the seasoned water in her favorite snack, Pani Puri – which she bought from a street cart.
Naturally, the quality of water used in a street cart was questionable to say the least. Nonetheless, Emily’s love on Pani Puri had her pining away every time she saw a Pani Puri cart in Nepal. I am sure that my pleading for her to give up the street cart life was the only thing holding her back.
The thing is that Pani Puri consists of hard, fried, ball-shaped shells partly filled with spiced potato, chickpeas and sometimes corn or other legumes and then filled to the top with a cold, sour, spicy liquid. Puri refers to the shell puffs – into which the Pani Puri maker typically creates a hole with his or her finger – and Pani means water – aka the spicy liquid.
In Nepal, we found one actual restaurant of high cleanliness standards that served Pani Puri. Emily went there several times, but seemed a little bitter and frustrated to be restricted to just one locale. But bad Pani can mean big problems.
Here in Mumbai, thanks to the advent of the mall food court – clean Pani Puri options abound. We have visited several malls and I am pleased to report that Emily has been sampling some of the city’s finest – or at least the cleanest.
Emily has cleaned up her environmental act, gotten off the polluted water and supported the clean Pani-Puri movement. Emily and Mumbai can be proud.
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