Mumbai

If you’re in Maharashtra you cannot possibly miss this city. A lot has been said and written about this city, a lot has been filmed and shown on TV but nothing can ever capture the true effervescence of this city MUMBAI! Named after Goddess ‘Mumbra Devi’ Mumbai is the capital of Maharashtra. I was born here so I am specially attached to this city in some way. Life is on a treadmill that doesn’t seem to stop here. There are more people in Mumbai than there are stars in the sky! Yes that’s what’s I have realized in the years gone by visiting it. And zillions come to Mumbai everyday to fulfill their dreams, be it bollywood or merely earning a little more money! Mumbai has something to offer to everyone.

I really do not have much to say about this magnificent city but “Mumbai is yours once you own it’. People of every walk of life live under one sky here eat almost the same kind of food and lead almost the same life. The first thing I love about Mumbai, formerly Bombay is the life in the city. Its buzzing day in and day out, nothing is lazy and that peps you up to something everyday. No chance of taking a lethargic break even for a moment. It’s amazing how and why people do not get tired here.

The second most amazing thing is the sea. It is priceless! Mumbai especially in the monsoons may be a nuisance to a lot of people but for me its heaven on earth. A city so dispassionate about anything suddenly exudes romance in the monsoon when the sea waves are as high as jack’s beanstalk and hit the facade at Marine drive as if wanting to break free and sweep everybody away with the tremendous heart that it has. The sea anywhere in Mumbai is just amazing. There a actually very few beaches that are secluded and all that there may be are situated in Alibaug, Mumbai’s weekend getaway. The super popular Juhu Beach has innumerable people every evening. It’s a glee to watch people at Juhu beach in the evenings because you get to see such a collage of faces and people at one place. You will often see a standard set of people who comes straight from work to either relax or catch up with some private moments with their beloved whom they haven’t seen for weeks. There is again a set pf people who are always jogging on the beach with their Ipods stuffed into their ears. Then there are the love birds occupying every nook and corner on the beach cuddling up looking at the sun set into the sea. There will be cranky family with cranky kids running around the stretch. And there will be fools like me who come to see them all!

The third enchanting thing would be FOOD! You can fill your bellies within absolutely any amount of money. The poor man’s burger the VADA PAV is the staple diet of most on the streets and contrary would those countless fancy restaurants, cafés and hotels serving food well above a thousand grand per person as well. The sea food at Mahesh lunch home is out of this world. It began as a very conservative hotel where food was served to middle class as lunch! The very famous Jai Hind hotel is known for its good vegetarian delights. The one recommendation would be Ice –cream at Bachelor’s opposite Chowpaty. The man makes ice creams in flavors unheard of. The shop was started by his grandfather and named so because then he was a bachelor and the name stuck on. But it’s weird to think of chilly flavored ice cream. His highest seller undoubtedly has to be Strawberry and cream, litchi ice cream, the evergreen mango and coconut. The sheer variety of food at Juhu Beach can stun you. Galore of fast food stalls and all the hawkers shouting and selling their store to you all at once can leave you perplexed where to eat, unless you can detect great food by smell. A must eat at Juhu Beach is Pav bhaji, Bhelpuri and the other chaat cousins, Gola and the famous Chana Jor Garam. The whole city smells of sea and fish so there is no escaping for vegetarians, unless you decide to ignore it. The fish as fresh as it can get so even home cooked sea food is fantastic.

Mumbai, anything written for this city is less and feeble to describe the charisma of the city. It hosts the magical world of cinema. It is home to all the movie stars and a zillion dreams. Mumbai has ‘mum’ in the name and absolutely makes it mother of all big cities in the world.