Mumbai has been my home for more than a decade! This is the city I feel I belong but having grown up in a small town, I was at first overwhelmed with a hundred things. There were skyscrapers, ever intersecting flyovers and the uber chic crowd on one end and a sea of middle-class people, busy local trains and dwindling 4 story textiles mill area buildings on the other end of the spectrum.
But what will strike you most about this very cosmopolitan city is the attitude of the people here! The Mumbaikars! More honest than an average individual, more punctual and more down-to-earth! Traffic signals working at 1 am is not unusual. You may see steady traffic even at that hour on the main highways, you may even find a cutting-chai wala awake and serving tea, for this city never really sleeps!
Travelling from one location to another can be particularly tiring, as the city is really spread over 60+ km. So the key is to plan your day such that you are moving in the direction opposite to the usual traffic. So it’s a bad idea to plan a visit to the Gateway of India in the early morning hours if you are staying in the suburbs! Likewise, it may be a nightmare to reach Juhu or FilmCity in the evening, if you are staying in the “City” area! For you will all along be traveling in the direction of the main city-clogging office-goers traffic!
And yes, there can be celebrity spotting particularly in cafes in Bandra, High Street Phoenix, Prithvi Theatre, NCPA theatre, Infinity mall, airport etc! Watching a play at NCPA or Prithvi can be quite an experience for that matter! The international airport building has taken the architectural design to a different level here!
Word of caution for first timers, jaywalking is not particularly appreciated here and throwing rubbish on the roads is frowned upon. People prefer to not break the queue typically, however, the same folks may not be at their best etiquette at the local train stations.
Things to do-see is coming soon…
This article was first posted here
An Urban Nomadic 
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