Our next
stop in India was Mumbai, to which the British often still refer to with its
colonial name; Bombay. It’s India’s largest city with over 12 million
inhabitants within the city limits and just like Delhi it is a city of many
contradictions and paradoxes, from the grandeur of prestigious hotels and
temples to the misery of the downtrodden and the poor in their slums.
Nevertheless, Mumbai is like a magnet to those in search of a higher living
standard and it’s a melting pot of cultures, ethnicities and many other aspects
form around India and the globe.
Another
interesting fact is that Mumbai houses the core India’s film industry, also
known as ‘Bollywood’ or Hindi movies to westerners. These movies are often
stereotyped by non-Indians as being weird and full of singing and dancing which
gives these movies a high Disney-factor, so to speak. But there is a lot more
to them than just singing and dancing, just like in other countries they do
shoot comedies and action movies covering a variety of themes. However most of
them don’t attain the ‘quality’ of Hollywood. A good example is the movie ‘Singham’,
an action/comedy that likes to defy all logic and laws of physics and bundles
various action stereotypes in the style of Schwarzenegger’s movies of the
eighties and early nineties. But that’s just my opinion, and I kind of like
movies like that!
Getting
around the city is not a problem by the way, it’s easy to get a taxi which are
old-timer like and black and white in colour. They are relatively safe, if you
are willing to pay for the right service. After all, there’s no use in being
tight if you want to get around safely. I do discourage taking trains in Mumbai
and India in general because they are very, very crowded, just like the ones
you often see on TV.
Thomas
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