After our Indian navigation experience to Schindler, there were bets going on how long it is really going to take us to reach Mumbai, or like the Indians still say Bombay. After arriving at our hotel the delegation was free to explore the city or just to enjoy a stunning sunset and the skyline of Mumbai.
Thursday
On our first full day, we went to visit BBDO India, an advertisement company that links its campaigns with issues which the Indian population is currently facing. The CEO himself, Mr Ajai Jhala, gave us the honour and explained to us their 7 principles. One of them is “Content is king but context is King Kong”. That means that they focus on the emotional message they want the audience to feel through the advertisement. The spots were truly inspiring for many of us and touched our hearts. You can watch some of their videos here: Share The Load, Things Don’t Judge, #ReleaseThePressure.
For the rest of the day the delegates were off to discover the vibrant city, its smells and its markets.
Friday
On the second and already officially last day of the on-site seminar a full outdoor program under the burning sun and humidity of the state Maharashtra was awaiting the delegates. We went to visit “Magic Bus”. Magic Bus is an NGO that works with children and volunteers from marginalised communities in India. Through sporting activities with parents and kids Magic Bus attempts to alter actions in the areas of education, health, gender and livelihood. The current topic was health. The mentors transfer their knowledge with the help of games. For instance this time a ball represented germs. The kids had to avoid to get touched by the ball in order to simultaneously not to get in touch with germs. At the end, the kids had to discuss how else they can prevent to get infected by germs.
In Mumbai more than 2000 slums exist. The very last point of the program was Dharavi, one of the biggest Slums of Asia. Imagine that over 1 million people are living on an area which correspond to the seize of 500 soccer pitches. We were divided and guided in four different groups through the labyrinth of small businesses and panel houses. Within Dharavi different communities exist. There is a commercial area, where workers are transforming plastic trash into small pellets that can be reused to produce for instance sunglasses. In another part, men formed loam pots, burned them and women decorated them carefully afterwards. Other parts of the slum are residential areas split into Muslim, Hindu and Christian areas. It was truly fascinating how the habitants of this ordered chaos have organised their lives. After a very active, impressive but also sweaty day the Focus India delegation went to have dinner together for the last time in India. Everybody could enjoy themselves a lot, sharing their experiences of the day or throughout the whole on-site seminar.
Saturday
On Saturday we had almost a full day off before we had to get to the airport. Some were desperately looking for nice scarves, spices or other souvenirs for their friends and families. Others were chasing the last rays of sun, as we knew that we will miss the Indian summer faster than we would think. The sun was down in the twinkling of an eye and we found ourselves at the Mumbai Airport ready to fly back to Switzerland. On Sunday morning the complete delegation safely arrived in Zürich. India we will miss you!
At this point we would like to thank all our partners, delegates and every single human being who contributed to this exceptional learning experience! We will never forget it! THANK YOU VERY MUCH!