No narrative today, just quick notes from Hannah, tour guide, member of Jewish community (wow, awesome and vivacious, sharp as a tack)
There are 4800 Jews total in India, 4500 in Mumbai, and 9 synagogues. There is one rabbi in India, the man we met in Delhi. Services here are conducted by Hazans, members of the community who read the text and conduct services.
Just saw oldest synagogue on Samuel St. named after Samuel De Vickers (not 100% sure on name), interesting story about how he was saved from execution by the mother of the sultan of Mysore, who had come across mention of Jews in the Koran. De Vickers, who was from Mumbai, resolved to build synagogue if he returned to Mumbai alive. Synagogue completed in 1796. No regular services, bc population much smaller. He was from the largest Jewish group, the B'nai Israel.
Second group of Jews were the Baghdadi, much smaller, from Iran, Iraq, etc. Most famous was Sassoons (the Rothschilds of India), who made money first in cotton (11 cotton mills employed 15000 people who then received special bus fares/tickets for Jews who aren't supposed to touch money on Shabbat), then in opium (legal at the time). Only 50 of this group of Jews left, no Sassoons left. Unhappy with some B'nai Israel practices, so set up own synagogue. Mingled with British, spoke English and Arabic. Style of dress was Arab, books in Arabic or English. When English fell, Baghdadis felt less comfortable bc didn't mingle with locals, didn't speak Marathi. They moved to Hong Kong, US, Israel. Remaining Jews blended a bit more, bc numbers so few, they need a minyan group of 10 people to conduct prayers. The Sassoon Trust funds much of synagogue and (Jewish) community operation today in Mumbai.
Today is the Fast of Av', marking destruction of the 1st and 2nd temple in 70 A.D. (and later, I presume, though my history here is sketchy). Channukah is another of high holidays in which prayers are conducted at each synagogue.
Work week in India is 6 days, so tough to keep shabbat. Rituals maintained on individual basis, keeping kosher, praying, etc.
Few Jews here know about Holocaust bc books in school deal with Indian history. Some poor Jews are paid to come to temple, given food, etc. funded largely by Sassoon Trust. This allows some synagogues to have daily prayers (minyan).
JJ Hospital funded in part by Sassoons, so one wing remains dedicated to treating Jews (maybe not technically reserved, as in no others can get care there. The point is, this small community takes care of its own as it does larger public good.)
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| Returning to hotel in Mumbai from our midday sightseeing and Parsi lunch, monsoon strikes hard! |
No matzo sold in stores, so each year they build their own clay oven to make matzo. No matzo ball soup, gefilte fish, etc. "Masala, masala, masala!" says Hannah. Chicken curry with masala and coconut milk is a more common Passover meal, she explains.
Jewish weddings have incorporated several components of Hindu practices: bride wears white sari or white gown. 3 day ceremony, 1st day is with henna, singing Bollywood songs, etc. Bride and groom will fast. 2nd day is wedding. Groom sings song praising beauty of bride. Break glass in handkerchief by hitting it with something, not by stepping on it. Have marriage contract read by bride's brother. Wedding ring is inside keddush cup, wear ring on first finger of right hand. Dancing after ceremony begins with Bollywood songs, ends with Hora, Hava Nagila. Hannah had 900 people at her wedding. 3rd day is when bride and groom leave to begin their lives (or bride joins groom's family).
Now going to see dhobi walla, or common laundry, men washing clothes. Cheaper hotels send out to common laundry, whereas big hotels use in-house machines.
Water issues here, so most households have water for just a few hours a day, poor maybe have for just one hour/day. Laundry service for households provides employment for about 5,000 and provides valuable service (wash, dry, iron, deliver back to your home). Dhobi Ghat...23 acres to dry. During the monsoon they make a bonfire to drive the clothes. Very well organized. Charcoal irons, heated over coal. Men do the clothes washing, 8 a.m.-6 p.m., 7 days/week. Make own soap so clothes are "sparkling clean". At end of dhobi walla visit, we saw an NBA player managed by "handlers" and followed by a horde of cameras. None of us knew who he was--Cece, where are you when we need you?
Just saw a traffic cop in the middle of an intersection with clear plastic pants covering his khakis. Our bus just pulled a U-turn in the middle of a street. That is astonishing...literally no room for error, and lots of cars ceding way (does not happen easily!)
Train compartments have 9 cars, including 1 ladies car, 1 first class. Trains with capacity of 2000 often carry 5000 people. Once a day there is a ladies only train. 4 of leading banks in Mumbai are headed by women, but the sector is still dominated by men. Former mayor of Mumbai was a woman. This is part of the reason for a ladies train, runs a bit early so women can get home and get started on dinner (!!)
Dabba walla: lunch box system (check out www.dabbawalla.com)
120 year old system, 200,000 lunches served daily. No names, just coded with colors, symbols. Employs 5,000. Always wear cap, Gandhi topi, though this cap was never worn by Gandhi but by Nehru.
You leave your three-tiered tiffin outside your door in the late morning, gives women time to cool fresh in morning. Picked up by one person, taken to train station. Another crew picks up, puts onto train. Lunch boxes go to appropriate station, then another crew picks up with bicycle or handcart. Then delivered to office, 1:00 outside your door. Then the workers come back to your office, pick up your tiffin and return it to your home before you arrive. Unreal. Cost depends on distance, typically 10-12 dollars/month for all 25 working days. Saves time/money. Wendy S. told me early on that FedEx and UPS have been here to study this system, as it has a 0% error rating. Astonishing.
The last of "the 3 wallas": Kansavwalla, ear cleaner. He's the ear cleaner. Wears a red turban, carries a pouch and a stick. Some of our group saw one in Old Delhi.
A word about cows. A cow wandering around on the streets without owner gets picked up and taken away to municipal holding area. Owner has to pay to get cow back. At some temples, old women sit with cows and let you buy food for the cows, so as Hannah says, everybody wins. The woman gets money, the cow gets food, and you get the feeling of doing something good.
40% of total tax for India comes from Mumbai. (Wow!) This includes corporate and individual. Another note of fine generation: we're driving by Marine Drive...if couples are caught kissing they are fined 200 rupees. (!!) Hannah says the couples sit facing the sea, with their backs to the traffic so no one can say "I saw your daughter sitting out there with a guy." Water here is very contaminated, as Wendy and I saw when we did our early morning jaunt here.
Seeing a lot of Nanos on the road. This is the $2200 Tata Nano...world's cheapest car. Like a Honda Fit with a pug nose. Looks like a comma, in my opinion. Google it and see if you agree.
Parsi Lunch at Johnny Boy restaurant, voted #1 Parsi food in Mumbai by multiple local/international food bodies: (note here...I was expecting 5 or 6 courses, so I had small portions of each dish. They were served one by one with baskets of fresh chapatis. This is the first time I haven't overeaten for lunch. Getting a clue??)
Round 1: fish slathered in thick green chutney (coconut, coriander), wrapped in banana leaf, served with sweet red pepper hot chutney
Round 2: chicken legs and pieces in deep brown/sweet red curry sauce (onion, peppers...yummy!), sprinkled with toothpick-sized crispy fried potato pieces.
Round 3: chicken and rice with mild spice, fresh cilantro, half a boiled egg, then thick dal poured on it. Yum!
Round 4: ice cream in a centimeter thick round slab (Dolores says it tastes like butter pecan). It's made from boiled milk that gets reduced, thickens, and then is put in molds and frozen. YUM.
Answer to question about Parsis and marriage: they ARE allowed to marry outside the faith, but this reveals a gendered divide that goes back to 1920 (and beyond). There was a decision of the Mumbai High Court in 1920 that said if a Parsi man marries a non-Parsi woman, the children will be Parsi. However, if a Parsi woman marries outside the faith, the children cannot be Parsi. This has its roots in early-century practices in the border territories where Parsi men would take local women as mistresses. Their offspring were brought in to expand the Parsi community. The same was not practiced by Parsi women (duh).
Shopped with Lou, Melinda and Wendy on Colaba Causeway after lunch. Bought a few items for the girls (being obtuse here). Taxi back to hotel and chill evening. We check out at 6:00, on the bus at 6:30 to airport.
Finished writing out guidelines for Group Reflection project that we have to submit to USIEF at the end of our time. Took several drafts, and I got really valuable feedback (to promote clarity) from Melinda and Mary at the bar. Thanks to Wendy S. as well for full endorsement of original--now that's empowerment. We'll be putting together a booklet of our overall reflections on the experience here, so we want to have a coherent point of departure. Guess this makes me editor of an anthology, doesn't it?
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