Mumbai Unplugged

                     

Mumbai is sleepless yet it is the city of dreams. 

It is touted as the next Shanghai but I think Mumbai is Manhattan, LA, Paris, London, Ahmedabad, Maharashtra, Punjab, Kolkata, UP and Bihar all on one tiny island. It is a concrete jungle to 20 million people and also the only city in the country to have a national park. At one end we have the glamorous Bollywood and at other there is world’s largest slum. Its rough exterior gives way to something rich and pure, complex and unabashed, but only to those who care to look. Life itself is a big adventure here and it requires a certain strength to live here, appreciate the city for what it is, and fall into its groove.

I am not sure if someone would fall in love with this place at first sight. Its contrasts and extremities are off-putting- the traffic, honking, crowd, pollution, heat, lack of space and privacy and finally the tormenting monsoon. Perhaps, you have every reason to hate it. But then, as the city draws close one couldn’t stop admiring what the city has to offer.

Everyone and everything exists side by side in Mumbai. Big malls with all sort of brands versus the local markets at the best price and street food vendors right outside fine-dine establishments. Take a rickshaw to the premises of a five star hotel, it doesn’t matters. If the Monsoons are hated to crumble the city down but that’s the best time when the city looks most beautiful. (Visit the Marine drive). Sachin and Amitabh both stay here, perhaps Shahrukh and Salman on same street.

The meritocracy, the mania, the delusion, the complete lack of perspective, the world’s largest film industry, the Corporates, the sea, the Band Stand, the Hajiali, the Sidhi Vinayak, the sea link, the fashion street, the CST station, the Gateway of India, the Taj Hotel, the Vadapav, the Chowpatty, the Mannat, the local train, the Double Decker, the Shivaji Park, the BMC. There is an organized chaos and a mad energy to Mumbai. The city sinks fangs into you and tries to make you its own and you can’t help it to fall in love with it.

Mumbai makes all dreams come true and that’s why the city never sleeps.