The Maximum City

Mumbai: The city that never sleeps. While I am writing this, parts of the city are still visible when I look down the aircraft. It is a place totally different from any other city in India. Be it the metros, or the other tier I cities, there is no match.

The city is like this because of the people. There is a decently high level of discipline in every individual. It is evident all the time, the traffic move in a much disciplined way than Delhi or Bangalore, while waiting for a shared cab, People get into queues on their own. Same goes at the bus stops and the ticket windows at the stations. Had it been Delhi it would have been a mad rush. The auto rickshaw-walas always returned a rupee back every time I had the minimum fare. Again a contrast, you get cheated very often in other parts of the country.

Travelling in Mumbai, many call it a pain, yet the entire city moves in the suburban trains or locals. Be it the top level executives or the lower middle class or the fisherman and the dabbawalas, the only difference is the first class and the ordinary. When most of the india hasn’t yet had the morning tea, Mumbai is on the move from Virar to Churchgate. When the entire country is sleeping, there are people strolling on the marine drive.

I bet, if anyone takes a cam on the marine drive, walks long enough, the video will represent a perfect snapshot of entire demographics of the country, all religions and social classes, rich and poor, young and old at one single place.

South Bombay, where I fortunately got to spend the two months, has a different charm of its own. The Victorian architecture in itself is worth looking at and admiring in the poetic language. Strolling down the lines, with building having huge arches in the Fort area in the backdrop, tall old buildings which have a different glam factor, the street market at Causeway, the Taj, the Gateway of India, the Fountain, the Oberoi, the marine drive, the black Premier Padmini Taxis with yellow top, the BEST busses, the Victoria Terminus the road side market all make South Bombay so special.

The city could be “Maximum” in dimensions, population but, above all, there are “Minimum” resources. Nobody has time, everyone is running. In the first few days, I never rushed to catch a local, never bothered whether it is a slow or a fast local, for it didn’t make more than 5-7 minutes difference. Within a week or ten days, I was actually running on the road to catch a bus, got a train pass made to save “time” in queues and was desperately looking for the fast trains only.

100 rupees in Mumbai seem to be worth nothing. And money is something that probably people care for a lot in Mumbai. People, don’t mind sweating and the AC buses run empty. Most of the executives in major companies, most of them highly paid, travel by local trains, which is undoubtedly the fastest way to travel in Mumbai. Again in contrast with Delhi where everyone travels by a personal car.

It is definitely a place where you learn to adjust, you learn to sacrifice your comfort for the sake of time, you skip the snacks and grab a Vada Pav while on the move, it’s a place where you should have an empty stomach and full pocket, it teaches you how to literally “run” your life, it’s a place that teaches you how to survive.

Even with all the hardships and so less comfort, it is said that anyone who comes to Mumbai doesn’t want to leave and it is possibly the reason why the city is growing beyond limits. It accepts everyone who comes in and has opportunities for all too. May be that’s why it is the Maximum City.