Having been in and out of the news recently for everything from the extraordinary screenplay of Mumbai-based movie Slumdog Millionaire to a series of vicious terrorist attacks on its train stations and its most impressive hotels, in many ways Mumbai is the very heart of modern India. The city might not be the capital, but it is the financial centre, and doubtless (alongside Bangalore) the most forward thinking of India’s major cities. In amongst the stone-aged fairground rides that adorn the beaches you’ll find jazz bars, world-class hotels and gardens that look like they’ve been transported straight from the centre of London.
At its heart, though, Mumbai couldn’t be much more quintessentially Indian. The traditional Ganesh Festival – where locals worship statues of the elephant God before depositing them by the thousands off the local beaches – is awe inspiring, though the every day is more about buzzing markets, big financial deals and India’s other religion: cricket.
The draws of Mumbai, which is a truly colossal city, are huge, and include everything from the seaside slums to a unique, local faith that involves hanging the dead from a tower, where they have a ‘natural funeral’, being eaten by the local population of vultures. If you’re not such a fan of the gruesome, head out on the city’s train network, which takes you through the rougher parts of the city (women, don’t forget to take advantage of the less crowded ‘female only’ carriages) for a taste of the real Mumbai. The main station, Victoria, is a piece of colonial architecture that’s worth the trip alone.
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