The title is not an exaggeration!
Arrival 🛬
Arriving here, I was expecting a city a bit busier than Auckland — noisier too. I was expecting the weather to be slightly warm (even though it is winter in Mumbai) and public transport to be easy to manoeuvre. But I was off target on so many levels. The moment I landed here, there was so much to absorb. Cats, dogs, cows, cars, buses, rickshaws — all sharing the same road and at the same time! Not just that, the sun was always glimmering in the sky, giving me the tropical heat every hour of the day. Another surprise was that there are street vendors on every corner, selling everything you can possibly imagine, from pineapples and coconuts to books and fishes.
The Old and the New ☯︎
There is one thing about Mumbai that instantly stood out to me – the stark contrast between what is considered “old Mumbai” and “new Mumbai”. As we are situated in Colaba – the oldest area of Central Mumbai, every time I travelled out anywhere the contrast lay bare. At times they would all mix together – Colonial buildings alongside Indian architecture alongside modern skyscrapers and apartment complexes and as always mixed with a lot of traffic! 🛺.
What’s Next ➼
As I am starting to settle in to this bustling city and learning to navigate its ways like a local, I am really looking forward to my internship. Learning the different ways of work and differences shaped by the culturally rich city Mumbai. I am really excited to witness jugaad (creative efficient workarounds) that my supervisor mentioned that professionals use to complete their daily tasks here. As a foodie, I am also looking forward to try more Mumbai Food Staples like the Pav Bhaji below:
