From Bom Baim to Mumbai

From Bom Baim — the good little bay, to Mumbai — the abode of Mumba devi — the patron goddess of the local Koli community, the name of the city has undergone as much change as the city itself.

The city, seated on seven different islands on the shore of the Arabian Sea, has been a major centre of power, wealth and industry over the last century, perhaps best representing the aspirations of a growing nation.

Mumbai! The city of the stars! Known as much for its financial kingpins as its film stars, the city can either pull you in with its everlasting zest and vibe or put you off with its fast pace and constant need for movement to find a toehold.

I have been to Mumbai a few times in the past. Quick short trips — just like this one was. But somehow this trip was different — very different from the trips in the past! This time I came to Mumbai as a tourist, with the sole purpose of enjoying the city as extensively as I could. No meetings, no deadlines! That would make everything far more enjoyable!

The landing at the airport was smooth, with the stunning views of the Arabian Sea and the Mumbai skyline serving the standard visual delight, the colourful vista of the chawls — existing cheek in jowl with some of the priciest real estate in India.

The ride out in the Uber was a smooth experience, the cab, the driver and the process a lot smoother than what I regularly experience in Bangalore — special enough that I have been raving about it for weeks and months after the trip!

The trip was supposed to be a tourist extravaganza — a weekend spent exploring the joys of Mumbai! The modern and the old. Centuries of history and the daily changing landscape of the city that never sleeps!

A few hours spent in peaceful repose meant maximum freshness and enthusiasm to step out and enjoy the evening!

Forgetfulness led to missing out on the first choice, a highly reviewed and extremely instagram-worthy eatery in Powai.

Second choice?

Chimichurri in Marol, Andheri. Located in Times Square Building, an office building on the main Andheri Kurla Road, this was one of many restaurants on the ground floor. Global Fusion, Barbecue Nation, Tap, British Brewing Company and a bunch of other eateries sharing the ground floor of the commercial space and doing a roaring business with the weekend crowd!

Spending a few hours in a half hearted attempt at aping a sports bar on a busy Saturday evening isn’t the best way to experience Mumbai for sure! But it is a small microcosm of the giant vibrant being which is Bombay!

Stepping out for a smoke — pacing the unending drought beer the best you can — I saw the Saturday night crowd. Young couples, younger friends, middle aged families and everything in between — people yapping away in pure Urdu, to the simplified Hindi, smattering of Bengali, Punjabi, Gujarati and everything in the middle — all garbled together in a coating of Marathi. That’s the language of Mumbai. Where only money speaks!

Late night in Mumbai is very different from the late nights I am normally used to in Bangalore. After all, this is the city that never sleeps! Normally getting out of a bar at 11 in Bangalore, you would be headed home. At most, you will congregate at a friend’s house slash apartment to drink a bit more. You don’t have a bunch of more options. Your Mumbaikar hosts — natural or transplanted — will want to take you for a drive. And what better ride can Mumbai offer to a noob other than the Worli Sea Link?

The Bandra Worli Sea Link, or officially the Rajiv Gandhi Sea Link is a nearly 6 kilometre long bridge which links Bandra in West Mumbai with Worli in South Mumbai. The bridge over the Mahim Bay is a decade or so old and serves as a backdrop at the very least or often an important story point in most movies based on the city! A pride of the residents and meant to be a show of civic and engineering achievement of the maximum city, is it really worth gushing over though?

It’s a bridge which supports less than a third of the traffic which was projected. It’s a badly tarred road offering a bumpy ride! I have read of high speed accidents where rich kids take their latest fast paced toy for a thrill ride — never ending well, either for themselves, or those less fortunate — simply stuck in the wrong place at the wrong time!

Crossing the bridge, the next landmark you pass is the Haji Ali Dargah!

Built in the 1400’s as the resting place of Sufi Saint Syed Haji Ali Shah Bukhari, the mosque and mausoleum located on an island nearly a kilometre in the Worli Bay. Accessible through a pedestrian causeway only during low tide, the Dargah is an architectural marvel attracting visitors of all religious creeds for its sheer beauty and solemn sense of peace. The Dargah welcomes visitors running into six figures almost daily and now even at midnight, the entrance is crowded with the pious peace seekers, the mainly curious visitors and the hundreds of street vendors hawking their wares with as much volume and flair as they could muster.

We keep the half a millenia old dargah on our left while headed to a much more modern landmark of Mumbai — Antilia.

For the uninitiated, it’s the single most expensive and one of the largest private residences in India if not the world. Home to the billionaire Ambani family — the building is as controversial as it is famous. Criticised for the approximate billion dollar spent on the construction, the low price paid for the land in Mumbai’s Billionaires Row, for being a symbol of excesses of the rich amidst the widespread poverty in the city, Antilia has been in the spotlight for much of the decade of its existence.

But Antilia is also a landmark. A landmark of human ambition. A monument to success — albeit material and not spiritual. For all those who come to Mumbai in search of fame and fortune and money and power, Antilia is a beacon — telling you that no glass ceiling exists for ambition and for potential.

Similar landmarks exist in Mumbai. With larger crowds flocking to the gates of these mansions everyday in the hopes of a single glimpse of their favourite superstar. Mannat. Galaxy Apartments. Jalsa. All landmarks of today’s Mumbai and a must see for hundreds of thousands of visitors who flock to the city hoping to catch a glimpse of these stars of tinsel town. And none of these landmarks are as famous as the one belonging to the last superstar of Bollywood — Shahrukh Khan. On a hot weekday afternoon, in the middle of summer, with the tropical heat and typical humidity of Mumbai both at their peaks, you will still find a few thousand thronging outside the gates of Mannat, taking selfies against the black gates or the eponymous nameplate, hoping against hope for a glimpse of the superstar.

Now to many, visiting the locked out mansion of a cine star may seem clichéd to the extreme. The crowd thronging the gates, spread out over Band Stand and climbing trees out front may seem naive and ignorant and starstruck. But once you take a pause, really take a pause to soak in the crowd, the wave of emotions, the hero worship, the adoration and the adulation which this man has managed to garner, while being a complete outsider in an industry known to favour only the ones bound by semi-incestuous nepotism, you cannot help the overwhelming respect and awe at the achievement.

From the gilded aristocracy of the blue bloods of Bandra and Pali Hill, the centre of commerce in Mumbai has slowly shifted towards Powai! Considered by many of the original old Mumbaikars to not even be a true part of the city, not a part of grand old Bombay so to speak, Powai nevertheless is THE location for the younger generation of Mumbaikars and the location to be in for outsiders looking to come to the city. The new age technology startups which call the city home have found their home in the niche locality with its swanky offices and modern vibe and feel.

Perhaps nothing epitomises Powai more than the Hiranandani Gardens — a 250 acre township developed in the 90s. For people who live there or who have lived there, Powai is the epitome of cosmopolitan Mumbai. Crowded mostly by a Yuppie population, with the trendiest bars, instagram worthy roads and an overall well maintained township, you can see at a glance why it is attractive. It also is overpriced, overpopulated and perhaps overhyped. But that doesn’t really bother a tourist in the few hours spent there.

Mumbai, perhaps just like the rest of India, is a study of contrasts. From the billion dollar homes of the rich list toppers, to the chawls of Dharavi. The young nouveau rich party hoppers to the young panhandlers hoping for a change thrown at them in disdain to be able to afford a square meal. You have the Bollywood superstars with the hero worship hogging the limelight while the financial movers and shakers of the market stay in the shadows abhorrent of the limelight.

Mumbai makes you appreciate the clean Uber’s while crinkling your nose at the smell when you pass garbage dumped in the middle of the pavements and walkways.

Mumbai is where you will find couples — old and young — slowly strolling along the beaches, while the city runs at full pace to catch its destiny.

Mumbai is mystical. Mumbai is impossible to define. At least in a few short sentences. But Mumbai is also forever!