The Promise and Contradiction that is Mumbai
The past four weeks i have had residence in the busy, bustling and ever moving Mumbai. Bombay, as the locals call it, is a mix of contradiction, promise, pain and a huge population, which the residents have gotten so used to that nothing, not even the flooding and possible death and displacement of fellow Indians in a neighboring state, fazes them. To them, that is just another Tuesday. The day i arrived, as i exited the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport at 3am in the morning, i was greeted by a huge presence of small house structures with blue rooftops lining both sides from the airport entrance for a long way out. The slums. In the still quiet night light, mixed with the uniformly arranged street lights and a sky so high up, i was filled with awe as I stared at the scene ahead expanding into the city; the tall buildings and bridge silhouettes seen from kilometers away gave a sense of a city seeking to be discovered. 'Its beautiful.' I whispered as a sigh of exci