Mumbai

Hmm, been wanting to write this since I landed here...but kept postponing the article until I learn better about this place.

When I landed, I had so many mixed feelings about this place. A few things made want to pull my hair off and scream while at few other times I was just awe-struck with my hair standing up on its own :).

Today, I have to admit. The place is lovely. You just have to like this place. Chennai remains my all-time favourite though :D (you see, me still that stupid person who likes a place because he has been there for most part of his life)...go Chennai Super Kings....

I know a lot of people have problems with Chennai...especially from the north, but to a Chennai-ite, the place is definitely one of the best places, if not THE best.

You just need to know Tamizh machan :) and you will love the place.

Enough about Chennai...back to Aamchi Mumbai

The bads first (so that I can leave you all with smile in the end with the goodstuff).

Traffic!!

Imagine a 10 way line (5 on each side). A proper Cement road which would last even the Mumbai rains. And this road has a mile long traffic Jam, on weekdays, weekends, national holidays, and even on my birthday.

And this is everywhere. I cross 3 Jam Points to reach my home. Thanks to the traffic, I reach after 1 hour (on an otherwise 15 minute journey), thoroughly exhausted with all the exposure to the noise pollution, air pollution and the auto/taxiwallas paan exploits.

This deserves a paragraph on its own. I think someone told these autowallas/taxi wallas that it is the paan that makes the road last longer. So they take it upon themselvesto contribute as much as they can. They seem to paint the town "red" alright.

In Mumbai it is the honking of the taxi and the autowallas that starts your day. Me thinks, the people on the road imagine that if they press the horn, the soundwaves that come out of the vehicle is somehow going to push the vehicle in the front with some unseen form of energy. ...honk! honk!

The Crowd

Can't stop asking "I wonder where all these people are going!"

Anywhere you go, there are atleast 50 people within your 20 metre radius.In the road, in the railway station, in the hotel, and yes in the washroom too. You need to wait for anything and everything and there is a queue anywhere and everywhere. The city happens to be the second most populous city in the world with about 1.3 crore people hoping to make a living here.

Picture this,
Saturday night 9.30. I want to go from Dadar to Mulund. Waiting for a fast train. Along comes a heavily loaded train with people spilling all over. Have you seen honeybees sticking to their comb...pretty much looked something like that.

I was waiting with all eagerness in my eyes hoping that some 400 people will get down from the coach in front of me so I could have some space to put one leg inside the train. Only 250 people got down. But with great daring (basically I was quite tired and gave a damn) I pushed everyone and scrambled inside.

And I thought this is the most crowded place on earth, when a college student told his friend "Hey, how come there is no crowd in the train today?", his friend says, "Today is Saturday night yar..thats why it is not crowded"

The Summer

I know that India (atleast most of it) has only 3 seasons. Summer. Hot Summer. Hottest Summer.Mumbai summer is definitely among the hottest summers I have seen. Being next to the ocean only increases the humidity and the sweat levels. By the time I reach the office I am thoroughly dehydrated and scramble for water.

The only place among the major metros where the summer has never been a problem isperhaps Bangalore. But there too it is getting a lot "hotter" these days (in allthe sense of the word).
Chennai comes close to Mumbai in being a horrible place to be during summer. In Hyderabad or Delhi you dont sweat much. You just break into sunstroke and die. Simple.In Chennai or Mumbai you take bath in your sweat every minute that you are out in the sun.

The Rentals

If your salary is not in 5 digits, please forget about renting any place within Mumbai. This is of course understandable as the place has so many people. The land prices are so crazily high, that had my grandpa purchased 1-2 grounds, in say, Powai back in the 70s (which was an undeveloped area during that time) with the money he wasted on Paan, I would not have had to work for a living.

Ok now enough crib about Mumbai.

The good things.

All said and done, Mumbai is perhaps one of those few places in the world, where you can be just about anyone from anywhere and still make a living here. Mumbai is a conglomeration of the world all under one city. (That sounded like I am a reporter. Shit! I need to improve :()

Food!

Basically you have a lot of places to eat here. If you are a non-vegetarian, consider this place a paradise. There is a lot of variety, from the roadside bhelpuri stall to the top class 7 star hotels, the place has just about everything you need.

Apart from this, there are so many things to eat here which are new to me (never been much to this part of India...). There is Vada Paav, Dhokla, Daabel, Misal,Usal...wow so many items to eat...

Another interesting thing to note is that a lot of these items I just mentioned are fast food items...I guess the fast paced life of Mumbai has helped evolve these food items...grab them and run...run...run fast or you will miss the "local" ("local" is the word they use for their suburban electric train)

True Professionals!

The people here are very professional. Believe me, this is the single most important thing that makes Mumbai what it is. Some of the hardest working people in the planet are in Mumbai. It is a "fighter" city in all the sense of the word. What I mean when I say this is that the Autowalla will return to you 1 rupee if the meter reads 99 and you give him a 100 (its actually 2 rupees, Mumbai meters have this strange ruleof "meter value - 1" as actual value). Thats professionalism! You go to any other city the autowallawould perhaps say "Sir, it is 17 rupees no, please round off to Rs. 20"

There is a sense of duty and urgency in everybodys faces. This is evident in the pace of their walk and the look on their faces. It speaks a lot about their hardwork and dedication to their work/career. The local trains only make them stronger, and stand the test of time better.

Tourism!

There are a lot of nearby places like Matheran, Mahabhaleshwar etc all within drive-able distance which offer excellent weekend relaxation points. Being next to the beach does seem to have a lot advantages.

Had a chance to go to Elephanta caves. I was stumped. It is a cave that was carved out in 2 century BC (ya when they had no electricity). Life size (even bigger) statues of Gods are carved out from the stones in the caves. The greatest thing about the place is the precision with which these idols have been carved out. Keep in your mind that they cannot afford to make a mistake while doing the carving (because they are not making a statue somewhere else and getting it here, but are making it then and there. Imagine, the sculptor is making a statue, a nose breaks :)...oops...the king is not going to be pleased is he! )

Bill Gates' software developers could take a leaf or two from these "bug-free" "developers"

The greatest tragedy is that some stupid rulers who captured these caves in between seem to have destroyed a lot of these statues. However, some of the structures are still in one piece. The place deserves a visit for sure.

Visit any of Alibaug, Manori beach etc and you will see the typical Konkan idyllic villages. The beaches here are quite different to the ones in the east coast. The sand is quite thick here and the waves seem to be a bit milder. This helps make nice sand castles and a perfect outing with your family.

The temples here are again quite different to the ones in Tamilnadu. Back in TN you would see huge temple complexes that spawn acres, and will be made of black stone (unpolished granite) and the vigrahas (statues) will be huge. There will also be easily 10-15 deities within a single temple complex. Here the temples seem to be mostly made of marble, and there is mostly just one main deity. I had a chance to go to Mahalakshmi temple and Sidhivinayak temple. Both were very nice temples.

I have one qualm about the Sidhivinayak temple. Fundamentally the concept of taking money to beat the queue seems to me to be a wrong practice. However, people like the Prime minister or VIPs who need more security/or have very less time, may be allowed to bypass the queue (again a highly subjective topic...but this is not my qualm). My qualm is that, no matter what practice you follow with respect to the queue, you should allow EVERYONE to see the deity from the same DISTANCE. In Sidhivinayak temple I had to see the deity from like 100 feet away while those who paid money got to get up close. This I felt was a bit unfair. I dont mind the queue, but let me see the deity closer.

Anyways, there are some very good temples in and around Mumbai and you definitely have to see them. I especially liked the Birla Mandir (both in Mumbai and the one in Alibaug).

The people!

The people here (though there are too many of them), seem to be extremely friendly and helpful (agressive and passionate about life too). There is a lot to be learned from them.Being here for a month or two would help you learn a lot (especially if you travel in a local train).

The business!

"Mumbai is the commercial and entertainment center of India, generating 5% of India's GDP[3] and accounting for 25 per cent of industrial output, forty per cent of maritime trade, and seventy per cent of capital transactions to India's economy (says wiki)

Mumbai is India's largest city. Mumbai serves as an important economic hub of the country, contributing 10% of all factory employment, 40% of all income tax collections, 60% of all customs duty collections, 20% of all central excise tax collections, 40% of India's foreign trade and 40 billion Rupees (US$ 1 billion) in corporate taxes."

I just sounded like Captain Vijayakanth thanks to wikipedia.

Sachin Tendulkar!

My idol was born and lives here.

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All in all, I have started to like this place a lot. I am sure that it takes a lot to convince a person coming from a very different culture, to make you like a place within such short span of time. Mumbai has definitely managed to do that. An excellent cosmopolitan and a must visit if I may say so.

After Chennai Super Kings, it is definitely Mumbai Indians who get my support!!!