Spending a weekend in Mumbai
Mumbai, as they call is a city of dreams in India.
People flock in everyday in numbers from all parts of the country to make their dreams come true. They come here to make money, and find a home. Some do realise their dreams, and make a fortune, while others get lost in the hustle and bustle of the ever growing mammoth of urbanised concrete jungle, that the city is becoming. People arrive from all possible regions, states, religion, ethnicities, and their own cultural and historical background. So the city in general does not look very original. It has been an amalgamation and reflection of multiple ideologies over the eras.
That is what Mumbai is for visitors. A historically rich city that boasts of, beautifully constructed colonial buildings. Mumbai being ruled by Britishers and French, the Marathas and a few others. Influenced by architectural styles from Victorian to Portuguese, from Kings to Mughals, the monuments reflect individualistic taste of each who built them.
Having said that, major influences for the few landmark buildings were from the British during the colonial rule.
I lived in Mumbai for about 5 years at a stretch. But never saw it as a visitor. In my recent visit, I was in Mumbai along with some of my Thai and Chinese colleagues. They wanted to explore Mumbai. And I agreed to be the tourist guide.
Taking them from our hotel Lalit ( near airport) to south Mumbai, I started the day with a religious site. We had a morning darshan at the famous Siddhivinayak temple, paying our respects and seeing blessings from Ganesha, the Elephant God. Then we moved south to the Dhobi Ghat at Mahalaxmi, then the Municipal Corporation Building in Colaba. There, we stopped by to take a closer look at the another World heritage site, the famous Victoria Terminus (VT) train building, or as its renamed as the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminal ( CST). The details of glass work, to columns and flying buttresses are all enchantingly beautiful. Even I couldn't stop taking photos along with my friends.
Then we moved from VT / CST, to the famous Gateway of India. More info can be found in the link here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gateway_of_India
From Gateway's scorching heat, we have ourselves a respite in the First floor restaurant of The Taj Mahal Heritage Hotel, which is just opposite the gateway. The building is as beautiful as it was, even after the terrorist attacks on it on November 26th, 2008.
Post lunch, we moved to get a glimpse of The mumbai coast as seen from the Nariman Point.
That marked the end of the day 1.
Next day, I wasn't there in town. My colleagues found their way to visit various places including the Gandhi house, amongst others.
