Mumbai is the commercial capital of India situated sandwiched between the western Ghats and the Arabian sea leaving very less scope for expansion, Mumbai is probably today India’s most densely populated city. Being sandwiched between the Western Ghats and the Arabian Sea the city of Mumbai is the first city of India to take the vertical path it can also be called as the city of hi rise buildings almost every other building in Mumbai is a tall skyscraper. The modern ones now rise upwards of 50 floors. The tallest building of India is also situated in Mumbai, there are more than 4000 hi sky scrapers in Mumbai city.
Why Mumbai film industry is called Bollywood : - Lahore was once the cinema capital of India but after partition the entire industry shifted to Mumbai, the Hindi cinema industry is one of the largest in the world, being situated in Bombay it is popularly called as Bollywood. Mumbai has the residence of all the popular super stars of Bollywood, Here every day thousands of fans gather to get a glimpse of their favorite super star, These super stars also don’t forget to appease their fans and they do make an appearance for their beloved fans.
Mumbai the Commercial capital
Mumbai is also the commercial capital of India. Mumbai stock exchange popularly known as the BSE is hub of the stock exchange activity in India. Mumbai houses almost every who’s who in terms of business as almost all major business entities of India sure have their major office in Mumbai.
Mumbai has second largest airport of the country with more than thousand flights landing and taking off from its busy Chattrapati Shivaji Maharaj international airport in a day.
There are two large operating ports in Mumbai. The old Mumbai port in south Mumbai is an old harbor. JNPT the Jawahar Lal Nehru port trust or the Nava sheva port is probably India’s largest port and it handles more than 60 % of India’s total container freight. This port is ranked 24th worldwide. Mumbai basically was developed as a harbor city by the British east India Company.
Mumbai the political capital of Maharashtra
Mumbai is the capital of state of Maharashtra the Vidhan Sabha and the day to day political activities make it a city to watch. All the major politicians of Maharashtra reside in Mumbai. The political mood of the Mumbai city decides the future course of the politics in rest of Maharashtra.
Mumbai Railway an overview
Mumbai is large Centre of the Indian railways with trains leaving for all destinations off Mumbai. The first train in India was operated in Mumbai itself in year 1853 between the Mori Bandar and Thane railway stations. The British built extravagant railways stations in Mumbai the one known as Chattarpati Shivaji Terminal originally was originally called as Bombay VT (Victoria terminus) it is a UNESCO world heritage site and one of the most busy railway station of India. The building is more than 120 years old, constructed in Indo Saracenic style of architecture. The station has separate platforms for local trains and interstate trains originating from Mumbai CST. It bore the Brunt of the worst terror attack in year2008 when the terrorists attacked its very busy passenger terminals.
The Mumbai suburban railway popularly called as Mumbai local is the life line of the Mumbai city with more than 2342 trains and 7.5 million users; it is probably the busiest suburban rail network in India.
The Mumbai local network has three different railway lines, the harbor line, The Central line and The Western line. If you are new to Mumbai it won’t take too many days for you to understand the intricacies of the Mumbai local and soon you will get used to the Mumbai local and its services.
Mumbai and Tourism
Mumbai is a very hot tourism destination with more than 6 million tourist arrivals to the city and a very healthy growth rate the tourism industry in Mumbai seems to have a very promising future.
Mumbai has a plethora of tourist attractions, UNESCO world heritage sites, Beaches which are pristine and sun kissed, the western Ghats are also at proximity which are a rich treasures trove of exotic flora and fauna, Culture is another attraction as Mumbai has a rich and ingenious culture of its own which is based on immigration from all parts of India, Mumbai has a wide choice of hotel availability. The tourist can choose epitome of luxury The Taj Mahal hotel, stated and rated as one of the best heritage luxury hotel in India or a budget hotel amongst so many available. Mumbai being a commercial hub has a lot of business travelers, being a port city the city has easy availability of hostels for the back packers where an air conditioned bed can be hired for a mere 5 USD for a day. There are many hotels in the vicinity of CST and the south Mumbai downtown areas.
Mumbai Culture
Mumbai has a true cosmopolitan culture while in the nineteenth century Bombay was a sleepy hamlet of fisherman but in last 100 odd years people from all areas of India came and cherished their dreams whether it be late Mr. Dhirubhai Ambani or the superstars of film industry like late Rajesh Khanna, or Late Mr. Dilip kumar, Mumbai sure supports and upholds those who dream big. While the majority population in Mumbai hails from Maharashtra and they speak Marathi but there are considerable number of people who speak Gujarati, Hindi, Tamil languages. In the old textile mills the most of the workers were Marathis and the chawl culture originated from these spinning mills and their workers but the people of Gujarat introduced the entrepreneurship ethos in Mumbai and these Gujaratis were primarily the traders and entrepreneurs of Mumbai who later spear headed and formed the famed corporate capital of India.
Multiple languages are spoken in the city; Hindi is very well understood by almost every one though in pockets the Gujarati and Tamil are also spoken. Marathi is the most spoken local language of Mumbai city, the majority workers speak Marathi and Marathi is the backbone of the Mumbai culture. The high industrial activity invited hordes of workers from all parts of India, mainly from Maharashtra these workers inhabited the sprawling and dense slums of Mumbai. The low availability of space initiated the development of slums in Mumbai. Dharavi is one such slum which is probably the largest slum of Asia. An area of just 21 square kilometer and a population of one million it’s certainly the highest density of human population on the planet. It was also the theme for the famous movie “Slum dog millionaire”.
Mumbai has a unique culture whether it be the Ganesh Festival or the Mumbai Vada pao it is unique and it can’t be replicated anywhere else. The fast paced lifestyle of Mumbai gave birth to the fastest selling food of Mumbai the “Vada pao”, The Portuguese introduced bread to India the Mumbai Kars made the Vada and thus the legacy of Vada Pao was born which is the favorite snack of Mumbai city.
Major Festivals of Mumbai
For 10 days in the month of August and September every year the Mumbai celebrates the Ganesh Utsav starting with the installation of Ganesha idols in respective homes or the community Pandals, the entire Mumbai goes in to the festive mood, nothing else is important for these 10 auspicious days, The deity is offered “Modak” the favorite food of the God Ganesha. The festival culminates on the Visarjan when more than 1,50,000 idols of lord Ganesha are immersed after miles long processions accompanied by singing and dancing devotees who diligently tried to appease the lord in last 10 days. This festival was started in 1892 by a freedom stalwart Lok Manya Tilak. There are many famous Pandals where every day thousands of devotees stand in long serpentine queue to seek the blessings of the lord Ganesha. The idol of Lord Ganesha at Lal Bagh Pandal (Lal bagh cha Raja) is unique and it takes more than 24 hours for Lal Bagh Cha Raja to reach the immersion site on the day of final immersion. Now the festivity can be seen in other parts of India .But nothing beats Mumbai and its spirit. The Visarjan in Mumbai is such a festival which sure can’t be paralleled in India or elsewhere.
