The Indian coastal city of Mumbai, formerly Bombay, is home to
India’s vibrant film industry (“Bollywood”) and probably boasts more
cell phones per capita than any other city on the subcontinent. But it is
also home to one of Asia’s largest slums. Half of Mumbai’s population
lacks running water or electricity, and the smoke from hundreds of
thousands of open cooking fires joins with the sooty smoke from two-
stroke auto rickshaws, belching taxis, diesel buses, and coal-fired
CHAPTERFIVE
Asia: Clouds Got in the Way
Jim Motavalli
79Fig 5: AP Photo/Nick Ut