If some of you recall I promised you that I would write something about our country on the 26thof January. Ignoring that I said next post :) I finally found something I want to write about …….I know I’ve delayed it but I wanted to make sure that I gave my best. I asked for your writings on anything and everything that makes the country wonderful for you.
I also said that I would end up embarrassed……
So I bring to you my trail of 3 completely different cities of India- Mumbai, Calcutta and Delhi .I will cover each city one after the other so you might have to wait a bit for the others.. Im going to start without wasting much time …….but before that I would like to request my readers with all my heart to write something about their feelings for the country ….. good or bad, I don’t care. Yes, I’m still waiting and I’ll be very glad to post your writings.
MUMBAI
Aka Bombay
I recently visited Mumbai and decided i had to write something about the city.We had been invited by family friends.
To most Non Indians, Mumbai is India and India is Mumbai. A non-proportional mix of , crisp Indian intellect, spicy food, street violence, dirt and garbage, slums and slum dogs, Audi’s and Auto’s, Five stars and Dhobi Ghats, Mumbai truly captures that spirit of the Indian city where extreme poverty and extreme richness come together to play audience to growth at mind-boggling speed for which all of them have worked in some way or the other.
Most of my Delhiite friends would hate to agree that Mumbai is THE city of India………frankly Delhi is a much better city to live in. As my dear friends keep reminding me of the fact that I am not a Delhiite (because I live in a suburban town a WHOLE Km away), you can depend on my view being unbiased.
May God forbid that you land on the Mumbai airport during low tide, what will hit you (after a view of slums and high rises) will be solid, humid air with the stench of rotten fish, and if you had the pleasure to stand there and observe the faces of fellow travelers (who were mostly delhiite’s) you’d collapse laughing, they look like they’ve been dropped at a garbage dump and this is not where they intended to be. By the time you reach the car you will not know what to ignore – the dirt, the smell or the layer of humidity settling on your body and leaving you wet (or if you are me, the sound coming from your hair because its frizzing). Thank god for the Sea and the sea breeze! Because if Mumbai was missing the coast it would be missing a lot. I'm sure its the view of the sea that makes them ignore the other parts.
What first impression will a city leave on you when it chooses to stink the day you land, has roads as broad as your average driveway, and is full of these tiny little apartments where you wouldn’t even dream to live (and then you get to know there prices and are unable to close your mouth which has dropped open because of shock)? Not a good one.
Mumbai at first sight is a disappointment, not only because it has poor infrastructure, but also because as a tourist you expect A LOT (For eg – A fucking reason why all rock stars end up here ???).You expect sleek roads, sleek cars, sleek people, and paparazzi? All these things are present in Mumbai (yes heart broken person they are there !!!) but only in a few areas. If you have the eye for pretty and cool things you will not miss the Portuguese style streets and homes with old cafes and black and yellow auto rickshaws. However you cannot stay indifferent to the slums which fill up spaces in the city, the massive number of people and cars on the road and the poorly maintained buildings, which eat up whatever beauty the city has to offer.
Marine Drive is a must visit, in contrast to the other parts of the city the modern, sharp buildings and view at this point in the city will most definitely make you fall in love with it (ignoring the fact that it will be the first area to drown in case of ocean levels rising due to global warming).
If you are wondering why i couldn't greet you with a better picture, its because all I was carrying was a smuggled iPhone :P
However, all the bad points put apart, there is this energy which flows in the air of the city (and its not the stench). Its unexplainable but its contagious. It fills the spirit with positivity. The people are amazing, almost like the best crowds of all the places coming together. They are chilled, creative and dedicated. The individuality of the people and freshness of new company is completely unlike the expected crowd of Delhi and the conversations are much less random and more intellectual and deeper than that of Delhi. Some places have a ‘rock and roll’ feel to them, others have the sleek feel of modern and multicultural cities (you know the feel of the Burberry trench with Starbucks). Some places have the Bollywood glamour and others the old school feeling. As you may have heard the city never sleeps.
People say that once you settle in Mumbai, its hard to settle for another place (probably why people are willing to pay such high property prices). Seems like we will have to find out for ourselves.You can hate it. you can love it, but you cannot ignore Mumbai, The city brimming with creativity and talent will reach heights never seen before.
Extra-Listen to Bambai Nagariya from the movie Taxi no 9211.I heard it after ages and couldn't stop dancing.I LOVE IT !!
I was staying at the Novotel on Juhu. It turned out that the Miss India contestants were also staying there. Sorry i dint ask for pictures.
Why cant Delhi Maps be this cool ?????
We had lunch one day at the Sahara Star. It had a very Avatar feel to it, no it was not completely jungle, but strange mix of smooth architecture, a lot of greenery, a marine aquarium and the restaurants were decorated in the typical cultural way of the country ( as per the cuisine)
Terrible picture I know!! but i had to give you a glance of the private dining room surrounded by the marine aquarium where on special request they also call 'mermaids'............french and german apparently.
If you strain your eyes you'll see the skyline and the standard colors of the mumbai taxi.
The new Sea Link.
Thanks for reading.
Mee
