"Security"

Ryan Donovan

While walking through the streets of Mumbai I came across a particular shop where their security appeared much greater than others. I thought I would share this as it really does reflect the level of security in many parts of India. At the front of the shops were a few steps that led to the front door. Beside these stood a 'security guard' who was facing completely the wrong direction and on the phone. A walk through style metal detector was located covering half the steps. It was completely wooden with two wires that came out of the wood which ran 2 meters towards the shop and then stopped, not being plugged into anything, leaving the wooden structure completely disconnected. There were many shoppers who wisely decided to walk up the other side of the stairs where there was no metal detector. What a secure shop. A secure shop that got me thinking. This small, rather amusing experience made me realise this shop is very much like a lot of India. On the surface it appears to be working but when you dig a little deeper you find something very different.

This idea was evident during our bus tour around Mumbai. Our tour guide showed us the house of the owner of a very successful company 'Reliance'. This is the most expensive house in the world with a price tag of 1 Billion USD. This gave me the idea that Mumbai has extreme wealth in areas. After all it is home to 28 billionaires. This was completely contrasted when we walked through some of the homes of the Magicians (an organisation we have been working with for the last few days). On a number of occasions, 5 or 6 people live in an area only 3x3 meters. It became very obvious very fast that there is a huge imbalance of wealth. A place that on the surface looks like it works well but when you look deeper it does not. This led on to me thinking, how will this change? To be honest, I don't know the answer. This is a conclusion I have come to very often in India.