Mumbai the city of dreams that never sleeps

Temples, Crime, Wealth, Neon Lights, a fast moving city that defines ‘Amchi Mumbai’. People land up in the city full of dreams but never sleep to realise those dreams. It’s a journey that never stops, never ends. It just means that you deliver, nothing else

Mumbai, the city of Sri Mahalakshmi, siddhivinayak, the wealth in abundance writ large over it. Where the goddess of fortune and abundance resides and grants favours, worshipped by countless devotees who have made Mumbai their home. Little boxes, people upon people, concrete humanity. A city that works against every odd The only city where it all works, against all odds. A city where people strive for excellence or how would they stand the pace of desperate living here.

A city of crime

Crime visible or not: you look at it then you may see the crime. But still you feel safe, where and when you are. It’s a city in India where a policeman will help you push your car if it stalls, but a city albeit where cars do not stall. A city that respects money…where to be a ‘mota seth’ is not an insult, but a title that replaces any that the old aristocracy might have had on offer.
Neon signs, fast cars, bright lights, beautiful people, the city that never sleeps. Mumbai, the commercial capital of India, the home of Bollywood that churns fantasies and dreams and unreality. The locals are the lifeline of the city. It belch people out into the underbelly of the city. The street of the city are so smarts that while you attain your adulthood it makes you smile. The dirt and the squalor, its also a city of slums. And within it, each individual respects the personal space of another. Truly cosmopolitan, there are no divisions, no differences, no advantages, no qualifications : only your ability to deliver.
Throbbing with the vitality of dreams and the will to realise them, of reaching for the stars, it is a city of instant changes, constant changes, a city of opportunities, a city of fortune. It is where tomorrow stands today. If you have the guts and the gall to live in Mumbai, survive it, and enjoy it, you have arrived. Welcome to the real world. No-one has time for anyone here. And yet, at times of crisis, no city responds with greater solidarity.
Mumbai is where the intrepid traveller sees yet another face of India…the catterpillar during chrysalis…the strange transition from the nineteenth century to the twenty-first.
My colleague at Aaj Tak, Vidya who made Mumbai her home eighteen years back told me ‘it was in 2000 that I had stepped into Mumbai for the first time ever. Still remember the day. It had been pouring in my hometown and it was pouring here. Varanasi was water logged and so was Mumbai. But it was seeing the financial capital of country, the megapolise come to knee jerk halt that really shocked me that day. I have been to many well planned cities and coming from Mumbai, they always come across as pleasant surprises. Unfortunately Mumbai never really saw much planning.’
She adds ‘over the years Mumbai has grown taller. In 2000 most of the high-rises were in Nariman point, the southern tip of Mumbai or some parts of working area where the rich stayed but soon the high rises spread to suburbs too. When I came here as a college student, I had never given a single thought to buying a property here. It was always “when I earn good, will buy a big place” kind of notion. But just like everything else, the city became costlier. The rate at which my salary rose, it could never match with property prices around and so even after 18 years in the city, am still paying rent for a 1BHK of 400 something sq feet that I share with my family and hope that someday I will have a comfortable house for four people.’
Mumbai is almost going in for an overhaul. Metro rails that were long due are being made now. Trains have always been crowded and in spite of growing infrastructure they continue to be crowded. The farther suburbs like those in the districts of thane and palghar are being recognised and better transportation facilities are being built up so that those who cannot afford to live in the city can travel easily. This is something that should have been done earlier keeping in mind the migrant population growth. But better late
then never.
When I first visited Mumbai I thought it was the one city in India I would avoid living in. but I still love the city and don’t mind frequenting it for a week or so. The city has always been kind to me. There is a perceptible difference living in Mumbai and Delhi.
Delhi is home for me and I was always surprised to hear people talking so soulfully about Mumbai’s greatness when all I see is the stench, congestion and horrible climate. I might not be able to fall in love with the city in this lifetime but I found some interesting facts about the most populous city in India. Here are ten things you might not know about Mumbai.

Facts You must Know

Bombay was actually named by Portuguese explorer Francis Almeida from Bom Bahia, literally meaning ‘the Good Bay’. The present day Mumbai is named after goddess Mumba devi of the Koli community. The erstwhile ‘Bombay’, which is actually a set of seven islands, was not part of the British Empire but was given as dowry by the Portugese when Princess Braganza married Charles II of England.
The famous ‘dabbawallah system’ is more than hundred years old and the lunchboxes are still delivered without any computerised system. Magazines like Forbes and The Harvard Business Review have given it the ‘six sigma Â’ rating, which implies that there is less than one error in a million transactions!
Bhendi Bazaar area has nothing to do with bhindis (okra)! The British referred to this area, which was situated in the northern part of the famous Crawford Market, as ‘behind the bazaar’. The local people mistook that for ‘bhendi bazaar’ and thus the unique name.
Mumbai initiated the first of many amenities we enjoy today including the Juhu Aerodrome which was the first airport of India, the Taj Mahal Hotel, founded in 1903, which is India’s first five star hotel and the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) railway station, which was the first railway station in India. Even today, Mumbai is the only city to have skywalks!
Mumbai doesn’t just have the largest slum in Asia, but probably the most expensive one also. Building a house in Dharavi could cost more than 3 lakhs! The number of skyscrapers in Mumbai is equal to the number of slums there. Navi Mumbai is the largest planned township on the planet in recent times which was especially planned by the government as a result of all the congestion.
The Churchgate railway station in Mumbai neither has a church nor a gate. Several other places have ironic names; Victoria Terminus (where Queen Victoria never resided), Mahalaxmi Temple (which is at Haji Ali and not Mahalaxmi), Breach Candy (where there is a hospital, no candies), Lohaar Chawl (which has no ironsmiths) and several others. The ‘B’ in Bollywood is derived from the city’s older
name: Bombay.