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Mumbai, India’s melting pot

But for the estimated 18 million people who live in the sprawling western city formerly known as Bombay, being in a place where anything goes is all part of the attraction. “I love Bombay and I love the city,” said Nergish Sunawala, who works for Time Out Mumbai magazine. “I feel connected to it. All the confusion and so on, it just makes sense to me. “I feel at home and I feel very safe here. I wouldn’t live anywhere else.” Sunawala’s attitude is a common one, although others readily admit that the problems of rapid urbanisation in India’s “Maximum City” see them veer from love to hate and back again.

“I don’t like my city,” admitted Jerry Pinto, who co-edited the 2003 book “Bombay Meri Jaan” (My Dear Bombay), an anthology of writings on India’s financial and entertainment capital. “It’s like a bad marriage. But I can’t live anywhere else,” the writer said. Books, films, paintings and songs have all tried to capture the essence of Mumbai — its optimism and industriousness or its triumph over adversity, be it poverty, severe flooding or terror attacks.

For Pinto, perspective matters when trying to work out why people come to Mumbai — or any city. Too often, he says, observers fall into the trap of seeing a place as simply “good” or “bad”. “In this sense Mumbai is a bad city, a dysfunctional one because a Western tourist sees only a traffic jam that takes him two hours to cross three kilometres,” he said. “If you judge Mumbai by that standard, why, then, only a fool would come here.”

But people do come to Mumbai — and in their droves. For some it’s out of economic necessity; for others it’s to enjoy India’s most cosmopolitan, culturally diverse city or for opportunities in a rapidly developing country. Many still come to make it in Bollywood, the hugely-popular Hindi-language cinema industry, which is based in the city. A vast mix of people, all trying to improve their lives, makes Mumbai a one-off among Indian cities, said Sita Wadhwani, the city editor of the travel web site CNNGo.com.

“It’s unique in India. It’s a lot more relaxed. There’s a sense of getting on with things here,” she said. “I personally feel that it’s really a city where you can be yourself. In other places in India, you feel that cultural pressure, especially as a woman. “Men and women are just busy becoming something of themselves. That’s really the draw. You can come here without the pressure of family, society or caste.”

Unlike New Delhi, where crime against women is a growing problem, the relative safety of Mumbai is liberating, said Wadhwani, who was educated in the capital, Germany and Canada. “Safety and ease of movement equals freedom,” she added.

Increasingly, Mumbai is home to foreign nationals, many of them drawn to the possibilities of modern India. “From a business perspective, it’s the promised land,” said Briton Danny Carroll, who came to India 16 years ago from west London and never left. “In our working lifetime, I don’t think we are going to find an economy that’s going to grow or has as many great things happening to it as India.” In-your-face Mumbai can be a shock to the system for some foreigners, particularly those used to a more structured way of life, said Carroll, who works for an Australian business consultancy firm.“But if you like that sense of freedom bordering on anarchy, and the ability to be creative and do things differently, it’s a fun challenge. You’ll love it,” he added. —