Mumbai earlier known as Bombay, is the largest city in India and the capital of Maharashtra state. Mumbai was originally a conglomeration of 7 islands on the Konkan coastline which over time were joined to form the island city of Bombay. The island was in turn joined with the neighbouring island of Salsette to form Greater Bombay. The city has an estimated metropolitan population of 17 million (2005), making it one of the largest cities in the world. Mumbai is the only major city in India which has the largest slum population. Mumbai is also one of India's largest port cities and looms large as the commercial capital of India. Mumbai's nature as the most eclectic and cosmopolitan Indian city is symbolised in the presence of Bollywood within the city, the centre of the globally-influential Hindi film and TV industries.
There's plenty to see in Bombay, but not generally in the form of stationary monuments like those in London, Paris, or even Delhi. The art of experiencing Bombay lies in eating, shopping, and wandering through strikingly different neighborhoods and markets. The best way to see Bombay is to immerse yourself in the city's pulsing life and soak up the aspects that blend and clash to make the city utterly unique. Bombay is essentially a 30-mi-long open-air bazaar.
Churchgate and Nariman Point are the business and hotel centers. Major bank and airline headquarters are clustered in skyscrapers on Nariman Point. The district referred to as Fort -- which includes Bombay's hub, Flora Fountain, in a square now called Hutatma Chowk -- is the city's commercial heart, its narrow, bustling streets lined with small shops and office buildings, as well as a number of colleges and other educational facilities. Farther north, Kemps Corner is a trendy area with expensive boutiques, exclusive restaurants, and high-priced homes. Another upscale residential neighborhood, Malabar Hill, is older -- leafy, breezy, and lovely, with fine, old stone mansions housing wealthy industrialists and government ministers.
Shopping and people-watching are most colorfully combined in Bombay's chaotic bazaar areas, such as Chor Bazaar, Zaveri (Jewelry) Bazaar, and Mahatma Jyotiba Phule (Crawford) Market. More recently, Bombay's suburbs have seen explosive business and residential development, as more and more people move out of Bombay center to escape its soaring real-estate prices and simple lack of space. Many of the city's newest and trendiest shops and restaurants are out here. A number of travelers opt to stay in Juhu Beach, a popular coastal suburb between Bombay and the airports (about 20 km/12 mi north of the city center).
Alas, Juhu's beaches are polluted and unsafe for swimming, and the general look of the place is scruffy and honky-tonk, but staying out here is a nice way to observe everyday Indian life outside the shadow of Bombay's skyline. Sunday nights bring families down to the beach for an old-fashioned carnival, complete with small, hand-powered Ferris wheels, and lantern-lit snack stalls hawking sugar cane. |
