Une Visite A Mumbai - mon expérience

A month back I was very excited to go to Mumbai for a long nice trip. The city of dreams, where everyone dream of living. People say that god doesn’t shower water here, money is being poured. But my point of view towards this city is little different from what the conventional stories have made an image of this city. I came to this city after hearing lot of stuff about the place and how amazing it is to be in Mumbai. One said me “If you are in India and haven’t seen Mumbai, you have missed a life time opportunity.” After hearing so much I gave a shot and came to this city. After living here for more than a month, something started itching me deep inside. So I dig inside the city to find what is all the fuss about I didn’t find a single thing that make me fall in love with this city. The question was what was missing here? Did I overestimated the place or it is actually underestimated? So I started with the birth of the place.

History

It all started with the seven islands (isle of Bombay, Parel, Mazagaon, Mahim, Colaba, Worli, and Old Woman's Island, also known as Little Colaba) in a corner of the huge country which were first spotted by Portuguese somewhere in 16 century. Till this time the city has been passed on to every kind of ruler including Mughal Empire, Ashoka, Shivaji Maharaj and many many prominent rulers which gives this place such a rich blend of cultures. After the invation of Portuguese to these islands they started developing this place as a major hub of trade due to the geographic advantage. But the british was not far away and due to same reasons they tried every means to take control of this place and they were successful in 17 century and then they made this place as their presidency capital. The increasing trade and population forced Britishers to take a huge civil project to unite all the seven island into one. Thus a project called Hornby Vellard was initiated, forming the shape of India’s future financial capital.

Original seven island of Mumbai (Bombay)

Landmarks

In the history of Mumbai everyday has been a landmark in itself, but the major milestone in the pages of history can be listed as:

1. The union of seven islands: the reclamation of the seven islands was the first big step in the development of the city.

2. Connecting island of Bombay with the island of Salsett.

3. The development of the deep harbours through reclamation.

4. Reclamation of marine drive and Colaba

5. The visit of king George V and Queen Mary to Bombay at Gateway of India.

5. The major cotton manufacturer and traders shifting to the city and multiplying there money in manifolds.

The Bombay Dyeing Mill

The Phoenix Mill

6. The rise and fall of mafia and the Don.

7. The evolution of Bombay Stock Exchange: A special thanks to Harshad Mehta Scam.

Culture

The culture in Mumbai is not too different from what is rest of the country. But still the city has its own touch and variation of different cultures and religions. If I go to Bandra I’ll find that majority of the people residing in the area are muslims, will the next door area is parses dominated area and christians on other end. Still the city lives in such a harmony and peace where I can see a shoe cobblers standing rubbing shoulders with a diamond merchant. This kind of integrity of culture is a very rare to find in a country like India.

Food

Apart from what we all know as Marathi cuisine, pav bhaji bada pav, there is a long list of food items in their menu like kothimbir vadi, thalipeeth and the best sweet dish kharwas. There is a whole alphabetic list that can be listed down but these are the dishes that I just loved to have there anytime.

After all these days I want to know only 1 thing, who was the person who had this vision of making these small Islands to form such a big metro city where 40% of India’s money is rotated?