Before arriving in Mumbai, I had some preconceptions about what India is like. This was influenced by how the country is portrayed online through social media, the dense population, the pollution, and potentially being an unsafe country. Getting ready to gear up for 15+ hours of flying and being away for 6 weeks wasn’t easy. Saying goodbye to my whānau was the hardest part. It was also a time to reflect on how I got to where I am today, and I owe many of my accomplishments thus far to my whānau. This was another one of those opportunities where I got to go and make them proud.
Fast forward to after the long and exhausting flights, we finally landed in Mumbai. We grabbed our bags and went to exit the airport. As soon as we stepped outside, I instantly noticed the heat, humidity and the constant movement of people. Mumbai, in comparison to New Zealand, was super fast-paced, and it was definitely overwhelming at the start. Once we all hopped in the vans to drive to our hotel, I got the first glimpse of traffic in India. It was nothing like I had seen before, hectic and busy. Another shock while driving to the hostel was the first drive past the slums, a poor and underdeveloped residential area in Mumbai, right by the highway. We have poverty issues in New Zealand, but I have never seen anything this bad before. We got a snapshot of an issue we, as New Zealanders, are sheltered from. The drive started off going past the slums, and then we started to enter the city part of southern Mumbai, where we saw tall skyscrapers and fewer people living in poverty, which was such a transition. We then got to see where the richest man in India lived, which was only a 5-minute drive after seeing the slums. Having all of this exposure to what India is really like within a span of 30 minutes was definitely me experiencing culture shock for the first time.
We then got to the hostel, settled in and spent the next few days doing our orientation and exploring around Mumbai before starting our internships. I was fortunate enough to be placed as a public health intern for an organisation called Aastha Parivaar, where we work with marginalised communities to help manage the spread of HIV/AIDS. I completed my first day at the One International Centre and attended a corporate-based funding proposal meeting. However, the next day, I was based at Aastha Parivaar’s office, which was located in the slums, which displayed the further reality of poverty. Working in these two drastically different locations exposed me to the spectrum of working conditions in India, and I ultimately experienced another level of culture shock for the first time.
