“What’s Mumbai like?”, a friend asked me. Mumbai is a difficult place to describe because there is so, so much going on and a cliché fest of “melting pot”, “assault on the senses” and “urban jungle” suggests Mumbai is familiar or ordinary. It is most definitely not an ordinary city and is one which absorbs you into its frenetic and sometimes overwhelming goings on.
As I further contemplated that simple question, long after an appropriate time to answer had elapsed, I realised I was picturing walks I’d taken and a series of memory snapshots. I have listed two morning walks to give a tame, more believable introduction to Mumbai.
However, day time, evenings and, for example, the Sassoon Dock fish market are experiences worthy of their own posts. But there is something a bit special about walking around a massive city like Mumbai when fewer people are around.
Tuesday, 20th February 2018, 7.20am – 7.45am The Oberoi (Nariman Point) to Yazdani Bakery (Fort)
Streets significantly quieter than, say, London at that time on a weekday, both in terms of pedestrians and traffic.
Tens of people still sleeping on the pavements and/or slowly getting up.
Smell of food frying.
Food stalls being set up for the day.
People starting to eat breakfast and chatting at roadside stalls.
Lot of activity around public shower and toilet blocks, including partial but not inappropriate male nudity.
Dogs happily playing on a roundabout, running round and round with dust swirling around them.
Massive, noisy construction works on Metro with muddy water needing to be stepped around.
Slowly getting hotter (NB February and it was in the early 30s during the day).
Informal cricket being played on the Oval and that distinctive sound of a ball being hit, followed by a slight concern as to the current airborne whereabouts of the ball.
Unusual sight of daytime/evening-busy streets with shutters down and few people, all of whom were going about their business slowly and without the rush of the financial and legal district being full of businessmen, lawyers, typists, photocopiers and all round busy people.
Wednesday, 21st February 2018, 7.15-7.40
The Oberoi (Nariman Point) to Sassoon Dock (fish market) Clock Tower
Fairly quiet, tree-lined streets with few cars, making it easier to cross the road than during the day and evening.
Metro construction work and associated noise.
Occasional person asleep under a blanket across the width of the pavement.
Significant change of locale on turning onto a main road.
Traffic noise, horns beeping, dusty.
Dogs and goats wandering around.
Blue tarpaulin denoting a slum area.
Dark alleyways through roadside slums with light at the end from the sea on the other side.
Men making and repairing things (connected to fishing?), sitting at makeshift roadside workshops.
Old boats kind of stacked up.
Lots of people standing, sitting and walking around slums.
People carrying heavy loads on their heads.
Colourful clothes hanging out in the morning sun.
Mopeds with one adult and up to three children on board.
More horns, traffic noise and traffic smells.
Visual contrast of colourful, makeshift slum housing at low level with tower blocks of banks and hotels around Marine Drive beyond.
Young children walking to school.
School boys trying to kick cats with a few disgusted adults looking on from their doorways.
Uneven, dirty pavements.
Busy street corners, people chatting and eating.
Banyan tree roots and warli street art.
More cats.
Increasing smell of fish and confirmation of heading in the right direction.
Sassoon Dock gateway and clock tower, a moment of comparative calm at the entrance to a whole other world within the docks and fish market.