Mumbai—My Favorite Big City In India

I do mean BIG! Twenty Two million people live in Mumbai. One view is of modern skyscrapers, high rise condos and a ton of construction cranes:

Turn the corner and you can find tree lined streets with lovely blocks of attractive buildings and private homes. If I didn’t know better I might think I was in a city in Europe. Victoria Station is beautiful and charming. A great entry point:

There is traffic but it seems a lot more civilized than in Delhi with red lights and police directing the flow and a lot less of the crazy horn blowing that seems to occur all over this amazing country. This city even has greenery in the middle with the Hanging Garden (everything in India looks like it needs a coat of paint). These terraced gardens provide a great view of Mumbai and the Arabian Sea:

When you turn another corner you are reminded that you are still in India with the small stall shops, street food stands and tiny houses everywhere.

There is an amazing washing laundry: Dhobi Ghat. This is an open air laundromat that has operated since 1890. The washers work here to clean and dry clothes and linens for Mumbai’s hotels and hospitals (I can’t even think about it raining):

We visited Mahatma Gandhi’s house and learned a lot of history about this wonderful man:

Mahatma Gandhi fought for India’s freedom from under British rule and began a nonviolent moral protest when he returned from living and working in South Africa in 1915.

Independence was achieved in 1947 after almost a century of British control. The flag adopted has deep meaning for India’s people. The top strip represents courage and sacrifice. The white strip represents peace and truth. The wheel in the middle, or Chakra stands for energy and spiritual center. The green strip represents faith and chivalry:

Another stop we made was to Shantaram Slum. One million people live in this micro-city with organised public services– this has been a part of this city since its’ founding as Bombay