Two sides of the same rupee... in Mumbai

Last Wednesday we arrived in the unofficial capital of India: Mumbai. A sunny city that sits on the western coast of India. Formerly known as Bombay, India’s most populous city is a modern, cosmopolitan hub where palm trees sway in tune to the city’s racial harmony. Life is somehow simpler when you can see the sea.

Hindus believe that guests are like gods, and staying with family in various parts of Mumbai meant we were able to experience this first-hand. We finally washed all of our clothes and were fed so much that we can (seriously) no longer fit into them. For further evidence of our over-eating disorder, ask Isma what he has learned to say in Hindi, and he will reel off what could be the entire menu of an Indian restaurant.

But what about Mumbai being “home” to so many of India’s homeless? Well, after a couple of days we felt the closest we had got to the “real India” was when watching a Bollywood action movie, which rather bizarrely tried to address the country’s social problems. Seeing such hardship whilst slurping soft drinks on huge, reclining leather sofas admittedly felt a bit wrong (yes, you get to sit on a La-Z-Boy at the cinema if you pay about an extra 100 rupees for your ticket)! It wasn’t until we stayed in West Mumbai that we were able to see the other side of the coin. There was a slum on, literally, the same street as enormous mansions belonging to Bollywood’s most rich and famous. At first the couples canoodling along the beachfront on Carter Road under lush palm trees, whilst panting joggers bounced past them, almost made us forget what country we were in. But as we continued to walk along the promenade, away from the mansions, our nostrils filled with the pungent smell coming from the nearby fish market…before gradually combining itself with a stronger stench of something else that could only be what your eyes confirmed it was when you looked at the rockier seafront in the distance.

Yes, Mumbai has a deficit of public toilets, so when there’s nowhere else for the slum dwellers to go, their “business” becomes your business. Seeing a slum was only a tiny glimpse into how over 50% of Mumbai’s population live, but we felt it was just as important as eating a toasted corn on the cob whilst strolling along Bandra’s Bandstand (Bollywood’s walk of fame) or seeing the fiery sunset on Juhu Beach, because not only did we start to appreciate the fact that we had access to an Indian toilet (i.e. a hole in the ground), but we also counted ourselves lucky for being able to use a public toilet, in private, for the cost of just a few rupees.

Guess what I found out in Mumbai?

1. Mumbai’s Sealink, the bridge that can be seen in the image cost $260 (yes, 260 US dollars). It connects Bandra to Worli, so that a journey takes around 45 minutes less than it used to by car.

2. A very basic 2 bedroom flat on the famous Carter Road can't be bought for any less than 2 Crore INR, which is currently about €240,000. House ads state whether or not there are "slum views" - we're not sure if it's suppposed to be a bonus or whether estate agents from Mumbai are just really honest!

3. If you’re in Mumbai between October and March you can see a flamboyance of flamingos on the eastern edge of the coast. Apparently they began appearing in the 1990s. Oh, and I'm not just going overboard with the alliteration, the word "flamboyance" is actually the colletive term for them, which is something else I found out in Mumbai!