Amchi Mumbai

The heading tells a lot about the article I guess, Amchi Mumbai means “Our Mumbai”. After being there I found the reason for this phase. People are in love with the city so much that they are actually bound to claim the phrase and trust me you will feel the same because the city has its own charms to make you fall in love with it.

They say Mumbai is a name but Bombay is an emotion. Mumbai is the capital of Maharastra also the business capital of India as well as it is called the Hollywood of India because of the Film Industry it has. Bollywood industry releases more than 300 cinemas every year. Mumbai is the dream city to the Indian for this Bollywood industry and obviously for its appealing lavish lifestyle. People come here with dreams to become actors, directors, singers, dancers and be a part of that tempting Bollywood silver screen. Some taste the success and some fail but every dreamer wants to come here for once to try out their luck.

Though I’m from Bangladesh, Bollywood is as popular in Bangladesh as it is in India and worldwide. We grew up watching Bollywood films and listening to songs. The love towards Bollywood, in fact, grew from that point. From our childhood, we cherished visiting Bombay for some certain reasons. So I could not but miss the opportunity to pay a visit to my dream city. And finally, it happened. We booked our tickets from Bangalore to Mumbai and hopped in the train on 5thAugust 2017. It was quite a long journey of 23 hours and we reached Mumbai at Lokmanyatilak train station. The weather of Mumbai was quite hot and highly humid. Before reaching Mumbai we were told to look for hotels near Md Ali Road, Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus. The cab took us there and after some struggle, we managed a place for our head. We really did not have time to waste so after a quick shower we left for Hard Rock Café, Mumbai which was located at Worli. Hard Rock Café is an international café having 70+ outlets around the world. It’s famous for the musical events, various collections of artist’s pieces of stuff and delicious food being served. So as a rock/metal musician I did not want to miss the place and see the collections out there. We had a very good time and had some food there. At around 8 o’clock we came out from there and decided to go to The Marine Drive, the most fascinating destination for the Mumbaikars to spend their evenings. We booked a cab and reached there. It’s heard that Mumbai has some places where if you even want, you can’t be sad. We were sitting on the rock frames of Marine Drive facing towards the Arabian Sea, with an immense wind blowing across our heads. I was pretty tired before coming here but the wind and the magical ambience revitalized me instantly. The place has its own charm and magic. It is for everyone. From infants to olds everyone was present there, spending their time and they seemed very relaxed and happy. As if nothing could stop them from being happy and let life be cruel but take a halt and enjoy the moment. I did not feel like leaving this place but we had to return to our den before it was late. With the help of Google maps, we found our place was 6km from Marine Drive so we decided to have a walk the whole path to enjoy the Mumbai nightlife. As we were walking down the streets we came across The Mumbai High Court, The Oval Maidan(ground), The Rajabai Clock Tower and other places around. During the night Mumbai seems to wake up again with so many activities around. And yes, I must mention the roads are really clean and spacious, the people follow the traffic signals so there is less traffic and you will love to walk because of the ambience Mumbai offers you.

The next morning we woke up, freshen up ourselves and finished our breakfast with the famous Mumbai Vada Pav and tea. Our destination was The Mumbai Gateway and The Taj Hotel. Those places are cliches but must go places for anyone who visits Mumbai. The Mumbai city is filled with a huge amount of old day British architecture and also the modern day skyscrapers. Mumbai has the highest number of skyscrapers in India. I found the streets of Mumbai are wide, clean and well maintained and decorated with greenery all over. On the way, we stopped and visited the Jahangir Art Gallery and on the opposite, it was The David Sassoon Library. The library was only open for the members still, we somehow managed to get in and take a look inside. The Gateway of India was crowded as anticipated. People from different corners of India come to visit the place and also The Taj Hotel. I had seen those places in Bollywood films so many times but finally, I witnessed those places with my eyes. The Taj hotel is considered to be one of the most promising architectures in India and its worth. It’s no less a palace or royal residence for its design and the interior at the same time and an exotic hotel with the sea in front of. It is a very popular place among the richest. I was tempted to get inside it but it was ironic (but someday I will surely). There is an Elephanta Cave on the Arab sea which is near the gateway. It’s basically an island and there were ferries which charged around 200rs to reach us there. So we got the tickets and our ferry whistled. It was a long ferry ride of 1.5hr. We were sailing on the Arab sea and enjoying the amazing view of Mumbai from there. We reached The Elephanta Cave and roamed around the island. It’s a lovely place with nature wrapping you from every side. The Elephant cave was also good. From there we got back on the Mumbai land at around 5.30 and decided to go to Juhu beach, another beautiful place to spend the evening and enjoy the sunset. We booked a cab and started. But the famous Mumbai’s traffic got us completely. Our driver told us it would take us around 2 hours to reach Juhu because of the heavy traffic and eventually we would miss the sunset so we had to change our plan. We were accompanied by two other passengers in the cabs who were from Mumbai. So we had a conversation with them regarding Mumbai. Our Driver was a man with pure Bombaiyya accent (Bombaiyya is the language spoken by the Mumbai people) and full of enthusiasm who was cracking jokes in every sentence he spoke. As per him, he came to Mumbai 35 years back. He was sharing his experience with us and trying to recollect those early days of his life. All the three including the driver were complaining about the Mumbai traffic and I was literally laughing from inside because as I’m living in Bangalore I know the Bangalore’s traffic. So I told them, “Sir, visit Bangalore someday. You will get to know about the traffic out there and surely you will never complain about the Mumbai traffic again.” Hearing that, everyone laughed and the driver said, “Apun idharich accha hain re baba”. (Means we are happy being here). On the way, we crossed the most expensive privet residence owned by Mr. Mukesh Ambani. A 27 storied building having the world’s most expensive facilities inside. We stopped there for a while and witnessed the Antilia (The building is named Antilia) an extraordinary house where everyone would cherish to reside. On our way, we found ourselves in a traffic jam and I was really pissed off so I was just looking outside and amazingly I saw a Rolls Royce showroom on my left. That’s the car I have been cherishing to see once and I was there. Three cars were on display and I was thinking that I could own one of them someday. My concentration from my wish broke as the signal turned green and our cab started moving again. Our cab dropped us at the Mount Marry Bassillica Church and we went inside, said our prayers. The Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s“Mannat” bungalow was nearby. Everyone who comes to Mumbai it’s a must go place. As I’m a Shah Rukh Khan’s fan I had to visit that too. We went there and there was a crowd. It’s an usually crowded place as his fans from different parts of India come and visit and wish to see him at least once. We took photos there and were there for a while. I also wished that Shah Rukh might come and see him but it did not happen. Mannat was located in Bandra and most of the Bollywood stars reside there. We were walking down Bandra’s lanes and we came across Salman Khan, Anil Kapoor, John Abraham, Farhan Akhtar, and many other stars’ bungalows and apartments. Before coming back from Bandra we sat on the Bandstand enjoying the Sea and the wind blowing pretty madly on the shore. The night was getting late and we had to come back to our place. We had some delicious street food and went to sleep.

The next day was a busy day because we had to leave Mumbai for Pune that night. So we got up early and reached The Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminal and got on the Mumbai local train. Mumbai’s local train is considered as the busiest transportation because more than 2 million people use local trains to travel around Mumbai. We saw the Mumbai Dabbawalas carrying the tiffin carriers to reach them to their destinations. (The Dabbawalas pick the dabbas or tiffin carriers from different corners of Mumbai city and reach them to their respective ones. These dabbawalas are famous worldwide for their time management.) It took us only 15 minutes and 10rs to travel from CST to Mahim and it was around 10–12 km. Our destination was Dharavi which is the third largest slum in the world having a population of 1 million in just 216 hectares of land. In the first two days we enjoyed the richest parts of Mumbai and now we are at Dharavi. We walked along the lanes of Dharavi and saw how life can be difficult and stressful. In a single room it will be challenging to accommodate two persons but 7–8 people have to be settled there. The tiny lanes were dirty, the sunshine could hardly be reached but people were seen living their lives happily there. It took us more than 40 minutes to find the way to the main roads that were lost in the Dharavi riddle. I honestly never have seen people struggling with their lives so much and imagined the living can be so drastic. This experience reminds me how contrastive Mumbai’s life is. People are living in the sky-scrapers in a city and on the other hand how handy it is to survive in a room with 7 other people. Huh, life is really very cruel sometimes. From Dharavi, we went to The Band Stand fort and from there we went to Andherianother posh place of Mumbai city. We were walking down the streets of Andheri and enjoying the calm quiet Mumbai city. We went across the bungalow of the famous Bollywood actor Mr. Amitabh Bacchan which is located near Juhubeach. We spent our whole evening at the Juhu beach and enjoying the evening life of Mumbai. The dusk was approaching and the Juhu beach turned into a crowded place. People come here for jogging, exercise, and enjoying the beautiful sunset. Some were seen playing cricket with the sea around them, some were seen rehearsing their dance moves, some were seen present with their families spending some moments. Most interestingly I saw some guys in casuals. They removed their shoes and made a circle and did some yoga or something. I reckon they had done with office hours and came here for some fresh air and to enjoy the evening. In a word, the Juhu beach was full of life and happenings. The sun was setting to return home behind the endless sea and we were sitting on the shore and talking about life and other gossip. I always love the sight of the sunset. I saw it in different places but the sunset Juhu beach offered us was one of the specials and I don’t know why. We took off our shoes and got our feet wet on the sea and walked till the end of the Juhu beach. We decided to take the local train from the Andheri station and approached it. On the way, the Mumbai Isckon Temple was noticed and we went there and said our prayers. Finally, we came back to our hotel room and checked out as we had to leave for Pune and eventually Bangalore.

Some specialties of Mumbai I must mention, the people are very helpful, public transportations is cheap compared to Bangalore, street food is delicious, people are really relaxed and chilled with dreams within them, it has lots of places to chill and enjoy. And most importantly the dressing sense of Mumbai people is amazing with some Bollywood influence on them.

From the street food of Mumbai to the architecture, the wide streets, the sea, the people, the struggle of life, highly contrastive lifestyles I loved every single thing about Mumbai. A city with so many histories. It has seen so many successes, so many heartbreaks, so many dreams, and confronted the most difficult times it faced. The city has an answer to all, from the poorest to India’s richest person. It has provided every single person as they want to live here. The city has everything to say, to endure, to celebrate, to even cry. It’s the Mumbai city, the dream city of everyone that still stands solemnly with pride and dignity and welcomes you with its warm heart and wide safe hands.

See you soon Mumbai

“Apun ayega wapas jaldi” (I will come around again soon).

Shubhro Sinha

Bangalore | 2017.