Mumbai is the city that has launched a million dreams and helped realize them. She is the city for all those who dare to dream. A city for survivors. She throbs with adventure and generates the energy to run the country, then the world. A multi faceted diamond that shines and cuts with a tough exterior, hides a soft heart which lies exposed to all those who breathe in the same love for living it up.
Once upon a time Mumbai was the gateway to India; today she is the gateway to stardom. Though facetiously known as Bollywood -- an imitation of Hollywood, it is a legend by itself and has achieved the status of an industry. There is a 'Filmcity' in the suburbs of Mumbai that caters to a lot of location shootings of movies. Plenty of starry-eyed teenagers come to Mumbai to be a part of the firmament and shine on the billboards but a few succeed and the rest remain as accessories of the great machine that churns out movies by the reels. This city never orphans anyone. She is the surrogate mother to all those who live by her.
Mumbai is a city of contrasts. You will find the complete range in every aspect of life or death, well represented here. Even the environment in Mumbai exhibits its range from the highly polluted to the belt that purports to be the breathing apparatus of this great city, all within a range of just thirty to forty kilometers. Modernity tries to tower over the grandiose history but does not quite succeed as history has a tradition of helping people root themselves in the otherwise fast changing world.
Like a well-meaning mother, she has everything for everybody. She will very rarely refuse anyone, and if she does, she will atone by giving alternatives.
The scents and smells that assail when one lands or enters into Mumbai is something that is unique. One can literally travel blindfolded and identify the location by the scents or smells. The place being a melting pot for people from the length and breadth of the country, it is a showcase for India of how its peoples with different religions and cultures live together harmoniously. This also leads to the stupendous variety of cuisine and aromas that can satisfy the gourmand and the gourmet equally well.
An amazing characteristic of this wondrous happening Mumbai is that she does not believe in middling. She ranges through the whole gamut of -- you name it you have it. This is one of the reasons she is so densely populated. To accommodate all those who arrive, land has been reclaimed from the sea and you have slums cheek by jowl with the skyscrapers that dot the city's horizon. A lot of non-governmental organizations have cropped up to tackle the resultant environmental pollution. But their cries of alarm are like the warnings on cigarette packets -- everybody knows it but no one cares.
Mumbai is a ticking city since every one lives by the clock. The city might seem chaotic to the outsider but there is method in the madness. This is reflected in the queues that you see almost everywhere and the stoic patience of those in the queue. Of course, there is the odd argument and spat that goes on but that proves to be the entertainment for the rest to make the waiting tolerable.
If the tempers are not running high then you can be assured of street entertainers like the circus dropouts or acrobats taking to the streets and helping you 'time-pass'. A living for them is done by performing all through the day preferably in fair weather, which would mean the non-rainy days, temperatures notwithstanding. Rains, ah! Rains are something that occupy everybody during the 'monsoons'. Predicting the date that the monsoons set in is a big game that goes on for almost a month before the monsoons actually set in. And when it rains it pours, upsetting all schedules in the city.
Pictures of flooded streets, houses and railway tracks are a permanent feature during the monsoons that last from June through September. Then there is the October heat when the temperatures really soar higher than the summer, which is scheduled, from April through June. During summer the schools and colleges are closed for the annual summer holidays for almost two months.
This is the time when the Mumbaikars go to their 'native place'. This term is peculiar to Mumbaikars since the bulk of the population comprises of migrants from the outlying villages, towns, cities and states. Hence they use the term 'native place' to indicate the root location from where they or their forefathers came to settle in this El Dorado for dreamers.
Immediately after the October heat, we have the famed three-day winter, well almost. Everybody gears up for this 'winter' when the temperature drops to levels where one can bring out one's woolies. This activity towards gearing up for the winter and the minimal drop in temperature, starts in November and peaks during the transition of one year to the next. This is followed by the feverish activity to gear up for the ensuing summer vacations and the monsoons and the cycle goes on unerringly with only slight aberrations.
By now you must have realized how busy the Mumbaikar is throughout the year coping with life and weather to make the best of everything, all by the clock. Maybe if he loses his clock the world would stand still for a while before he would bounce back with some innovation to keep the city ticking. An example of the innovative Mumbaikar will suffice to demonstrate his ingenuity. Where else in the world would you find people with coal burners on the footpaths to weld and mend damaged rubber footwear? Only in Mumbai.
The beauty of this city is that you can observe the continuum on which the city has evolved. History stands proudly abutting arrogant modernity in every part of the city. This city, a group of seven islands, shaped like a sausage stretches from the South to North. The Central Business District situated in the South is known as Nariman Point.
The real estate prices in this area are known to be the highest in Asia. This has led to most of the residential areas in the south being converted into corporate offices and the residents shifting their bases to the mushrooming residential complexes in the North. Hence north Mumbai had come to be known as the dormitory of Mumbai. However, all this has changed in the recent past with many industrial units being set up in the north as also the development in the suburbs of markets, which were concentrated in the south.
All this has been done in an effort to decongest the south, along with a twin city, Navi Mumbai, being developed in the north. As far as travel from one end to the other is concerned, both these points are joined by two arteries making it seem like a triangle. From Nariman Point in the South via Churchgate to Virar is the Western Corridor and via Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus to Thane is the Eastern Corridor. The links are via rail and road. If Nariman Point is the common point, Thane and Virar are joined by a link road making it the base. The suburbs of Mumbai begin midway -- Bandra on the western and Sion on the eastern sector. There is a link road joining these two too as many other link roads along the route.
Realization that rapid transit systems are of prime importance and the lifeblood for the sustenance of development, frantic construction activity is on for building flyovers across and along both the corridors. As a matter of fact on the Eastern Corridor, the ride along the Eastern Express highway is like going on a roller coaster ride.
Plenty of people traverse these corridors to and from work and spend half of their lives travelling not for pleasure but as a dire necessity. Outside the far-flung railway stations there are kiosks and stalls selling sprouted beans to rotis as also ready made curries for the harried house wife who has to look after the cooking on reaching home at a late hour.
Entertainment at the end of a hard day's work is also not hard to come by. One can spend a quiet evening at home watching television, which, thanks to the satellite revolution, brings the world home on the cable at a very nominal cost or one can party away at the swankiest discotheques in town. For those inclined towards movies, there are multiplexes and movie houses with a wide range of movies to choose from or maybe eat out in restaurants, which range to suit everybody's pocket.
Being a coastal city there are a couple of popular beaches too but the amazing part is that these beaches are more like fairgrounds. There are barely any swimmers. People come to the beach for walks, romance, fast food or maybe guided horse rides but not for swimming.
There is a lot of theatre activity too. Marathi, the state language of Maharashtra, of which Mumbai is the capital, stage is very progressive and there is plenty of Marathi theatre activity with many followers. Hindi, the national language and English theatre does not lag either. They have created their own niche groups and are thriving in their own way. Most of the Broadway successes find their way into Mumbai in the regionalised versions of India.
By the virtue of being a multicultural society, there is a festive atmosphere all year round. The festivals in Mumbai are more a reason to celebrate life rather than holding much of a religious significance. This is evident in the participation of all those who wish to celebrate irrespective of caste, creed or religion.
So if you love life and have a zest to live life the way it should be, do come to Mumbai, she is wonderful to be with. Even if you do not have the time to spend your life with her, you sure will enjoy spending a pleasant evening with her.