Mumbai, India's skyscraper city

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Here is the next city of my India series taken last year.

We arrived Mumbai in the morning after spending the night on the train. As we sped through the northern suburbs, we started crossing suburban trains, which on top of serving the greater city, are also the main transportation mode within the inner city. There are two parallel lines and the trains are very crowded pretty much all the time. Surprisingly, Mumbai doesn’t yet have a proper functioning metro, apart from one line in the suburbs. Thankfully, they are currently building an underground line that will serve much of the inner city neighborhoods and the airport. Some welcome change that is due to open at the end of this year, unless further delayed.

Located on a peninsula acting as a choke point, Mumbai is one of those large cities that require an impressive amount of stamina to get in or out by public transport. For that reason we didn’t plan to visit the city on this trip, but while arranging for transport from our previous location, Jodhpur, to the southern beaches, no direct option were available. The best option was changing trains at Mumbai, including 2 different arrival/departure stations. We were put off by the idea of a stressful connection in a city that is notoriously crowded and at the same time were willing to do the whole trip overland. So if we were to do the connection, we thought we might as well check the city for a few days. We ended up liking the city a lot. It is very urban, vibrant, has varied neighborhoods, and gorgeous architecture! It is the mythical city of Bollywood and feels pretty cosmopolitan.

Mumbai is unlike any other city in India in the sense that is mixes traditional neighborhoods and very tall skyscrapers. It is indeed the only Indian skyscraper city.

The photos were taken between Colaba, Fort, Kalbadevi, Chowpatty beach and Lower Parel.

Passing through a suburban train station on our way into the city




















The Mumbai CST Terminus railway station, one of the most impressive colonial building in India




Just opposite is the Mumbai municipal corporation building


The area around the station is the Fort area, which is very leafy and pleasant




Stock exchange tower


Gateway to India, a very popular tourist attraction




















The under-construction Metro line 3 has construction sites across the entire city


























Chowpatty beach










Arriving in Lower Parel, a very modern area with the tallest buildings in the country. Some parts felt like Miami, even though I’ve never been there!






The contrasts between two adjacent neighborhoods in this city are impressive!






One more of the CST










And I close this thread with a shot from the suburban train we took to a suburban junction town to catch our next train to Goa!


Thanks for watching!

[bilbao58]

Looks like a pretty cool place. Thanks for sharing the photos.

[JMKeynes]

Great photos of a fabulous city!

[Murphy de la Sucre]

I don't like the looks when they are looking at you while you're taking street pictures...not a tourism city? never saw tourists taking sight-seeing pictures? or just being hostile?

[xzmattzx]

Nice pictures! That Fort neighborhood looks pretty nice.

[hkskyline]

CST's architecture is quite stunning on the outside and riding their trains with the doors open is quite an interesting experience!

[IMBY]

Thanks for the tour, the older parts seem unchanged since my last visit in Feb. 1991!

[sopas ej]

Really nice pictures! So interesting! Really looks like a great place to explore!

[begratto]

I spent 5 days in Mumbai, I find that you captured the city's spirit very well. Hectic is the first word that comes to mind when I think about that city. And very, very contrasted. Rich people, shiny buildings, expensive stores right beside extremely poor neighbourhoods. Sometimes even on the same street!

Very nice photothread.

Originally Posted by Murphy de la Sucre

I don't like the looks when they are looking at you while you're taking street pictures...not a tourism city? never saw tourists taking sight-seeing pictures? or just being hostile?

It's not the most touristic city, but people were generally quite friendly when I visited with mrs begratto and our 3 kids.

One thing that we found funny while in Mumbai: one of my kids has blond hair, so that attracted a lot of attention, and often people wanted to take pictures with us. Often communication was limited as they did not really speak English. We wondered what they did with the pictures afterwards : do they show them to their friends and tell them "look, we met some Canadian tourists today!" We didn't mind, but it surprised us the first few times. Made us feel like movie stars!

And every time someone or a group or people asked us to pose for a picture, we asked them to stay a few more seconds so we could also take pictures with them. That made them smile!

[Urban Zombie]

Bloody fantastic set!

[phillyskyline]

Nice job!

[edale]

Very interesting. I like the looks of Mumbai better than Delhi, though I think visiting either would take me well outside of my comfort zone. I love seeing the foliage interspersed with the old buildings, like your photo of the Fort area. Thanks for sharing!

[Kilgore Trout]

Fantastic set!

Originally Posted by edale

Very interesting. I like the looks of Mumbai better than Delhi, though I think visiting either would take me well outside of my comfort zone. I love seeing the foliage interspersed with the old buildings, like your photo of the Fort area. Thanks for sharing!

I actually had the same thought. I spent a couple of days in Delhi on business and while it was an interesting experience, it's not a very nice city. Mumbai looks a lot more inviting.

[-AX-]

Thanks everyone!

Originally Posted by Murphy de la Sucre

I don't like the looks when they are looking at you while you're taking street pictures...not a tourism city? never saw tourists taking sight-seeing pictures? or just being hostile?

Absolutely not hostile. Might be wondering why on earth a tourist would take a photograph of that random street instead of more "beautiful" sights. People are just curious whenever they see a white person. Less so in big cities but still. That man may have said to himself something like "oh, a white man. We are not in Khau Galli though are we?"

Originally Posted by edale

Very interesting. I like the looks of Mumbai better than Delhi, though I think visiting either would take me well outside of my comfort zone.

Most people think Delhi is oppressive. It surely is. It is a pretty conservative city, too. But it is also pretty lively and an experience in itself.

On a very personal note, Delhi will always have a special place in my heart, as it was the starting and end point of all of my three trips in India. On my very first day back in 2013, I was walking the tiny alleys of Pahar Ganj behind two young girls holding hands when a speeding motorbike turned the corner and came straight towards us. As my heart stopped awaiting the crash, the girls just parted on opposite sides of the alley to let the moto pass, avoiding getting hit before joining hands again as if nothing happened. I was stunned. It was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. Perfect harmony. Functional chaos. Or perhaps I was a little too emotional and jetlagged

I had always anticipated Mumbai, thinking it was one of those superficial, soul-less modern cities without much history. How wrong was I! It kinda grew on me and I can definitely imagine prefering it to Delhi had it been the other way around!

[bobdreamz]

Very interesting pics! Why did the Lower Parel area remind you of Miami though?

[DetroitSky]

Amazing!

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Originally Posted by bobdreamz

Very interesting pics! Why did the Lower Parel area remind you of Miami though?

Tall shiny skrscrapers, palm trees, modern shopping malls and big cars. But as I said I've never been to Miami

[Cirrus]

Fascinating. Thank you!

[muppet]

Well done, you've captured it all so wonderfully. India looks amazing, the 'city' in every sense of the word - and the country the world's most multicultural place outside Papua New Guinea. You can literally feel the diversity and pluralism. I really have to visit now.

[LSyd]

awesome. thanks for posting.

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