People, people, and more people. This was one of the key differences I first noticed when entering the ‘City of Dreams.’ Coming to a place where the population of the city alone is 4 times more than the population of the entire country, seeing the rush compared to New Zealand was definitely eye-opening. Viewing Mumbai while on the evening walking tour with Naveen and the cohort emphasised how it really was the ‘city that never sleeps,’ with vehicles, animals, and people all sharing the busy road lit up with flashing lights and amplified with the background music of never-ending horns. This was home, for the next 6 weeks, and I couldn’t be more excited.
Catching the local trains of Mumbai was an experience I didn’t think I’d ever have – and neither did my family. Before beginning this trip, I was set on having Uber as my form of transport for commuting to and from work each day. Before the end of the first week, I had a monthly pass for the local train in my hand. Although we were able to avoid the real madness by always travelling in the opposite direction of peak traffic, this felt like the beginning of becoming a Mumbaikar.
I still find it difficult to wrap my head around the fact that I have commenced work in another country – and that too, one which involves marketing for Bollywood films, which I couldn’t be more passionate about. I am eager to get more involved in projects in the coming weeks, but as of now, the work culture and my colleagues are lovely – one even continued to wait until my Zomato order arrived before going to the lunchroom to have her own lunch, which I found so wholesome as we hadn’t even conversed much given it was my first day there.
Experiencing Mumbai and its landmarks has been exhilarating to say the least, and being able to do this with a group of exceptional people makes me feel very grateful. So far, it all still feels like a fever dream. Living, exploring, and working in a completely new city in a country 12 thousand kilometres away from home is something that is so surreal, and I think it’s yet to hit me. I feel both new and used to the Mumbai lifestyle at the same time, with me being confident in my haggling skills on one end and still not being able to efficiently jaywalk on the other. I regularly have ‘is this even real right now’ moments, and I am sure there are more to come – so I’ll look forward to those, and so should you. Catch you at the next post 🚏
