Mumbai - the city of dreams when you are awake and the nightmare when you are asleep.
Quick fact: Being the country's financial capital, Mumbai has the biggest slums in the world.
Once you survive here, you survive anywhere and everywhere. Why so? The world lives here. People of different cultures, castes, regions, qualifications, and nations, come here and network. A lazy man is a dead man here. Life is tough and struggle is intolerable. Practicality is the basic necessity for a human to do good here. It’s humid, polluted and unsympathetic. Why do even people come here then? Dreams. Mumbai is somewhere a part of dreams people watch and wish to live. Entertainment, healthcare, hospitality, food, education, and a wide range of occupations. There’s nothing that Mumbai lacks.
Beyond Vadapav and Misal Pav, Mumbai offers an immense variety of food. Local to international, people of different budgets and cravings are all well-fed. The Dabbawalas (tiffin providers) here are no less than gods for the corporate hustlers and struggling artists. The local bars provide you with cheap beverages and alcohol, while the street food is incomparably delicious, hygienic, and not so unhealthy. Beaches have their sweetcorn stalls and Chai Tapris (tea stalls) while the islands like Elephanta have giant glasses of sugarcane juices and local fruits. Chaupatis like Juhu and Marine are overrated yet classics. But the peaceful breeze on the seashores of Gorai and Versova will give you breathing space from your hectic city life.
You match the pace of the local trains here and it will drop you at your destiny. Shopping, concerts, dance reels, and educational mini-workshops, local trains hold a show within that never lets your journey be boring or unworthy. The ‘go with the flow’ crowd there will remind you of ‘YOLO’ quote. Auto rikshaws here are underrated. No other autowalas in India drop and charge you as per the meter. The frequency and 24/7 availability make transportation in Mumbai special and Mumbaikar’s life easier.
Why is Mumbai expensive despite its cheaper food and transport? The accommodation. You need to have a decently loaded wallet to spend nights in Mumbai. (If your POA excludes exploring the nightlife). You can go for hostels as that’s an affordable yet worth experiencing option. But I would have never slept if I had come to Mumbai for a few days. Rather, would explore the twinkling lights from Carter Road and street shopping in the lanes of Churchgate.
Rappers are crawling in Dharavi and farmers are earning in Dadar. Actors are auditioning in Andheri and designers are scratching their heads in Bandra. Sportspersons are hitting sixes at Vankhede and standup comedians? They are taking their final exams sitting in their middle-class 1 BHKs. But businessmen! You will be one once you land here.
Mumbai is rich and has a lot to offer. How big is your hat? How big is your hunger?