Mumbai, one of the popular cities in India is located on the west coast of India with deep natural harbour having a coast line of 36 km. It was officially called as Bombay before being renamed as Mumbai. Not only is Mumbai the capital city of Maharashtra state but also the financial, commercial and the entertainment capital of the country India.
HISTORY: The origin of Mumbai dates back to more than thousand years. Initially, it was seven different islands – Colaba, Parel, Mahim, Mazagaon, Old women’s island, Worli and Bombay island which were a part of The Great Ashoka’s kingdom and were subsequently ruled by many Hindu rulers.
In the year 1543 AD, the Portuguese seized these islands and they were given to The East India Company as a part of dowry when Portugal Royalty Catherine de Braganza married Charles I of England in 1661.
Post that, the seven islands were merged into a single city under the rule of William Hornby. He being the governor of Bombay initialized a project called The Hornby Vellard where Bombay went through a lot of changes like merger of the seven islands, country’s first railway connection between Bombay and Thane, opening of Suez Canal.
The opening of Suez Canal made Bombay one of the major ports as it opened Bombay to the rest of the world. Post, Independence of India this city grew drastically. It was renamed as Mumbai in 1995 based on a local Hindu goddess “Mumbadevi” and now it’s the Business capital of India and also, the fourth popular city in the world.
CULTURE AND CUISINE: Mumbai culture is a blend of multiple cuisines, languages, fine arts, festivals. A resident of Mumbai is popularly known as “Mumbaikar”.
Mumbaikars are very passionate about their local cuisines but have also adopted various different cuisines like Mughlai, European, Chinese, Malvani and many other. Some of the popular dishes from their local cuisine include pav bhaji, vada pav, modak,pani puri, dahi puri. Mumbai is very famous for its street food.
Language: The Official and most popular language in Mumbai is Marathi, however since the city is diverse, you can find people conversing in English, Urdu Hindi, Punjabi and many other Indian languages.
FESTIVALS: Mumbaikars celebrate both Western and Indian festivals. One very popular festival in Mumbai is Ganesha Chaturthi.The elephant headed Hindu God is worshiped during this festival. This festival is celebrated for almost 10 days usually in the month of September. During this time, we can see a different color of this city, it is celebrated with a lot of pomp and show. Colorfully decorated idols of this God are kept in each house and also in different parts of the city.
The main attraction during this period is Lalbaug which is in central Mumbai. The biggest and most beautiful idol of Lord Ganesha is placed in this area for 10 days and people from all over come to pay a visit. Devotional songs, drums, beats, playing with pink color powder are a part of the rituals during this period.
As enthusiastic people are while getting the idols to their homes and worshiping them, even the Visarjan (sending the God back home to his mother) or the immersion of the idols in the sea is carried out with same amount of enthusiasm. Before the visharjan usually the idol is taken on a parade accompanied by loud music, dance, playing with colors signifying the happiness of sending the Lord back home to his mother. Watching thousands of people make their way along the road with colorful idols and also seeing these colorful idols half immersed in water is a very spectacular view.
BOLLYWOOD: Mumbai is not only famous for Ganesh Chaturthi but also for being the Centre of Hindi film industry popularly known as Bollywood. Mumbai is called the city of dreams. It is not shocking to hear that a lot of people left their hometown and moved to Mumbai with a hope of becoming famous. Bollywood is the largest film industry in the world with more than 1000 films being released every year and its situated in Mumbai. Hence, Mumbai has become the home of many famous Bollywood actors, directors, singers, artists and also young talents who have left home to try their luck making it the third most populated city in the world.
Local trains and transport: Also Mumbai has the amazing connectivity when it comes to traveling within the city. Mumbai Suburban railway also popularly known as local train is the busiest communal rail in the world and connects mostly every part of Mumbai. It was the first Railway to be built in India by British making it the oldest railway system in whole of Asia.
INTERESTING FACTS:
Mumbai is the busiest city in India, it is said that Mumbai never sleeps because it works 24/7
Mumbai recently started its first monorail.
Mumbai has the world’s best international airport(as per year 2015) that is Chatrapathi Shivaji International airport.
Juhu Aerodrome, now a small aviation Centre was once a primary airport during the second World War making it the first airport of India.
Mumbai is also the only city in India to have skywalks.
Mumbai has around 52 malls making it the city with most number of malls in India.
The third largest park- Central park is in Khargar, Mumbai.
The city is huge fan of cricket since the most Famous Sachin Tendulkar was born in Mumbai.
The sixth largest cricket stadium in the World-Dr. DY Patil Stadium is also in Navi Mumbai.
India’s first ever five-star hotel, the Taj Mahal Hotel constructed in 1903 is also in Mumbai.
THINGS TO DO:
Visit places like The gateway of India, Girgaum Chowpatty, Haji ali Dargah, Elephant caves, Siddhivinayaka temple and many other.
Drive through Marine drive in the night.
Drive through Worli-Bandra sea link during the day.
Walk through the local markets in Colaba.
Experience adventurous sports like kayaking, sailing, jet ski, banana boat near Chowpatty.
Experience Mumbai’s street food.
Visit Bollywood film city.
Take a tour in the local train.
Visit Pritvi theatre run by the Kapoor family which stages some amazing performances.
Explore the nightlife in Mumbai
If you want to experience a diverse culture, language, food I would suggest do visit Mumbai at least once.
