City Guide:
Mumbai
Mumbai is a sprawling metropolis. A contrast
between rich and poor, where tall skyscrapers stand menacingly over
shantytowns. Mumbai was once called Bombay and is the capital of the state
of Maharashtra, it south of Ulhas river. Parts of Mumbai are quite a hilly
with up to 400 metres, especially in the north where skyscrapers are
surrounded by a jungle in areas like Lake Powai and Hiriandani. It has
a highly dense population, estimated at around 13 million people - figures
are difficult to actually obtain due to the high influx of people moving
from the countryside in to the city to find work. Mumbai is the main centre
for the movie industry of India, Bollywood and is a magnet for thousands of
hopefuls to become famous.
The modern Mumbai has historically been
established from a trading port. Yet Mumbai has links going back to the
stone-age, a aware of the islands were inhabited and provided natural
protection from threats. In the 1500’s the Portuguese and later the English
colonized and established parts of Mumbai for their own ends. During the
1800’s many engineering projects and modernised the City. Mumbai has now
built a large number of call centre operations in the north-west of the
city. These have provided welcomed employment for young graduates working
for typically offshore financial institution operations such as banks and
telecoms companies.
Traffic jams in Mumbai are notoriously bad
with never ending roads being repaired, and built and rebuilt following the
annual monsoons. The city's infrastructure has quite literally out grown the
population demands for commuting. The most common form of transportation is
that bus or rickshaw. Religious segregation is still quite common between
Muslim, Christian and Hindu communities.
Most accommodation ranges from corrugated
iron slum dwellings to apartment blocks, up to luxurious apartments in
downtown Mumbai for the super-rich. The main newspaper is the Times of India
and their Indian Express which provide a mixture of local and international
news both in Hindi and English.
Despite their economic disadvantages some
parts of Mumbai has (relative to Western cities), the people of Mumbai
remained enthusiastic, energetic and a hard-working and generally accepting
what other people and religions. The Chatrapati Shivaji International
Airport his Mumbai has main airport and provides links to international
destinations so - rounding this are a large number of international
five-star hotels and other similar accommodation these include the Hilton,
the Sheridan and a the JW Marriott.
On this page you will find details of
property for sale, rental accommodation, shared housing in mumbai.