The city of extremes challenges you to rise above your own incompetency into an unseen world full of mysteries and unknown vistas, unimagined richness and unseen dreams.
Some who are able to live up to those dreams for themselves rise above the rest in the ever rising skyscrapers with a majestic view of Arabian sea, the sound of the other mortals get buried somewhere in the honks of the Audis and Mercedes in traffic jams and become just another noise for the city holding millions of cries.
Mumbai holds more treasure than what often meets the eye, city that is hidden in obscure corners of large slums, in the vast expanse of rising skyscrapers and sometimes in the rhythmic movement of local trains that run like blood in the veins of this great metropolis.
It is difficult for an outsider to believe that ‘FAST’ and ‘SLOW’ local trains run at same speeds, by the time one understands it, a vast multitude of people have already pushed him a few yards away on a crowded suburban station.
Mumbai can be a true mirror image of India owing to its economic diversity. To accurately get a picture of Mumbai’s economic unevenness go to the “Bandra” station once on "East" and once on "West", there is a stark difference, thats startling and generates uninspiring awe.
From the magnificent Bandra Worli Sea Link to the nearby Dharavi the largest slum in India, Mumbai has it all. Even south Bombay considered elite and the real Bombay has its share of slums and “Koliwadas”. But, somehow this aspect of the city makes it truly great.
Mumbai has some truly breathtaking views to offer to a raring traveler, walk down the entire stretch of Marine Drive anytime during the day or night, you would find a wonderful synthesis of natural and manmade wonders with a beautiful Arabian Sea curving down on right, to the skyscrapers, Wankhede, Brabourne stadiums, Air India Building, Oberoi hotel on the left.
One can experience the beautiful rise and fall in sea waters sitting on the pavements created for visitors. It’s not hard to spot hard stony masses of rocks making their way out in the middle of the Sea on a low tide, whereas on a high tide the stormy waves of ferocious water would well wash your feet with their exhilarating exuberance.
The serenity that one feels on a typical evening at the Haji Ali with sea link appearing at a distance, Imperial towers and Antilla towering on the other side, as one goes through the slippery pavement into the sea to the holy shrine, one can feel himself entering into a whole new aura of pureness and divinity alike.
Bombay as it was called by the British has retained its soul captured in tiny fragments of life strewn around its entire length. Formed by reclaiming the land from the sea by joining seven islands, the land and the sea though distinct from each come together and become one entity which forms a part of the city’s huge ecosystem. Thus, Mumbai doesn't seem to encompass few hundred miles but stretches its arms as far as the eyes of an avid traveller go out in the vast wild sea, uncontrolled, uninhibited, pulsating with every wave of the sea and dancing with every drop of rain.
