Mumbai
 Exciting and charismatic, Mumbai (Bombay) is India's past, present and future mixed into one
irrepressibly vibrant whole. Like the slick, kaleidoscopic and crazy Hindi movies the city churns out with machine-gun rapidity, it's a city that, on the face of it, makes little sense but is still enormous fun.
Mumbai is the country's economic powerhouse, producing everything from software to
petrochemicals. It's a multicultural metropolis where everyone shares in and enjoys the packed schedule of festivals. Mumbaikers are in equal turns relaxed and vivacious. You might spend one languid day watching a casual cricket game on the maidans (open grassed areas) or admiring grand colonial and Art Deco architecture; the next you could be overloading your senses in Mumbai's teeming bazaars and dancing the night away beside Bollywood starlets and wannabes.
Mumbai draws you in like no other Indian metropolis.
The seven islands that now form Mumbai were first home to the Koli fisherfolk as far back as the 2nd century BC; Koli shanties still occupy parts of the city shoreline today. It was the Portuguese who named the area Bom Bahai but they did little to develop the islands before they were included in Catherine of Braganza's dowry when she married England's Charles II in 1661. The British government took possession of the islands in 1665, but leased them three years later to the East India Company for the paltry annual
rent.
Then called Bombay, the area soon developed as a trading port and merchants were attracted from other parts of India by the British promise of religious freedom and land grants.
Bombay played a formative role in the struggle for independence, hosting the first Indian National Congress in 1885 and the launch of the Quit India campaign.
In 1996 the city's name was officially changed to Mumbai, the original Marathi name derived from the goddess Mumba who was worshipped by the early Koli residents.
Other Useful Information
- Around Mumbai
- Orientation
- Shopping
- Sights
Around Mumbai
Elephanta Island
Rock-cut temples on Elephanta Island (Indian/foreigner Rs 10/250; caves open 9am-5.30pm Tue-Sun), 9km northeast of the Gateway of India, are Mumbai’s premier tourist attraction. Little is known about their origins, but they are thought to have been created between AD 450 and 750, when the island was known as Gharapuri (Place of Caves). The Portuguese renamed it Elephanta because of a large stone elephant near the shore.
Sanjay Gandhi National Park
This 104 sq km protected area (adult/child Rs 5/2; opens 7.30am-7pm Tue-Sun) of forested hills, on the city’s northern fringe, has some interesting flora,
birdlife and butterflies, a small population of wild leopards and a fenced area with captive tigers, including
white tigers. It’s a great asset to have within the city limits – the only national park in India with a city postcode.
Orientation
Mumbai is an island connected by bridges to the mainland. The principal part of the city is concentrated at the southern, claw-shaped end of the island known as South Mumbai. The southernmost peninsula is Colaba, traditionally the travellers’ nerve centre, and directly north of Colaba is the busy commercial area known as the Fort, where the old British fort once stood.
The island’s eastern seaboard is dominated by the city’s naval docks, which are off limits. Further north, across Mahim Creek are the suburbs of Greater Mumbai and the international and domestic airports. Many of Mumbai’s best restaurants and night spots can be found here, particularly in the upmarket suburbs of Bandra and Juhu.
Shopping
Mumbai is India's great marketplace, with some of the best shopping in the country. Colaba Causeway is lined with hawkers' stalls and shops selling better-quality garments, including genuine sporting apparel. Electronic gear,
CDs and DVDs, leather goods and mass-produced gizmos can be found at stalls on Dr Dadabhai Naoroji
Road between CST and Flora Fountain, and along MG Road from Flora Fountain to Kala Ghoda.
Small antique and curio shops line Merewether Road behind the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower Prices aren't cheap, but the quality is definitely a step up from government emporiums.
If you prefer Raj-era bric-a-brac, head to Chor Bazaar the main area of activity is Mutton St where you'll find a row of shops specialising in antiques (many ingenious reproductions, so beware) and miscellaneous junk.
Sights
The following are highlights of South Mumbai's tourist attractions and some places in North Mumbai, most notably Juhu Beach, an alternative accommodation base and home to several trendy bars and restaurants.
Colaba
Occupying the city's southernmost peninsula, Colaba is undoubtedly Mumbai's travellers centre as well as one of the city's most happening districts. Colaba Causeway (Shahid Bhagat Singh Marg) is the busy commercial thoroughfare that runs the length of much of the promontory.
Gateway of India
This bold basalt arch of colonial triumph, derived from the Islamic styles of 16th-century Gujarat, is Mumbai's icon. Facing out to Mumbai Harbour at the tip of Apollo Bunder it was officially opened in 1924, but was redundant just 24 years later when the last British regiment ceremoniously departed India through its archway.
Taj Mahal Palace & Tower
Another Mumbai institution is this majestic hotel facing the harbour, it was built in 1903 by the Parsi industrialist JN Tata, supposedly after he was refused entry to one of the European hotels on account of being 'a native'. Particularly beautiful is the Palace side, where the grand central stairway is well worth a peek.
This hotel also features various dining options so even if yuou are not
staing here it is surely worth a trip for a fabulous meal.
Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (Prince of Wales Museum)
There's no denying that Mumbai's premier museum (K Dubash Marg; Indian/foreigner Rs 10/300, camera/video Rs 30/200; opens 10.15am-6pm Tue-Sun) contains some wonderful pieces. The huge domed building was built to commemorate King George V's first visit to India in 1905
National Gallery of Modern Art
This gallery (MG Road; admission Rs 5; oopens 11am-6pm Tue-Sun) in the Sir Cowasji Jehangir Public Hall is a bright, spacious and modern exhibition space showcasing a range of changing exhibitions by Indian and international artists. There's a small permanent collection of contemporary Indian art in the top-floor Dome Gallery.
Jehangir Art Gallery
One of Mumbai's principal commercial galleries, Jehangir (161B MG Road; admission free; opens 11am-7pm) hosts interesting weekly shows by Indian artists in a variety of spaces. Most of the works on display are for sale.
Knesseth Eliyahod Synagogue
There's something poignant about this still functioning synagogue (1502; Dr VB Gandhi Marg), one of two built in the city by the Sassoon family (the other is in Byculla) and dating from 1884. Its pale blue painted exterior is peeling but the interior, with light shafting through gorgeous stained-glass windows, is beautifully maintained for the few families who now make up Mumbai's centuries-old Jewish community.
St Thomas' Cathedral
This charming church (Veer Nariman Road) is the oldest English building standing in Mumbai. Construction began in 1672, but remained unfinished until 1718. The church has recently been restored (winning a Unesco World Heritage
award in the process) and its airy, whitewashed interior is full of colonial memorials and ornately carved gravestones.
Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (Victoria Terminus)
The city's most exuberant Gothic building looks more like a lavishly decorated palace or cathedral than something as mundane as a transport depot. Designed by Frederick Stevens, it was completed in 1887, 34 years after the first train in India left this site on its way to nearby Thana. Carvings of peacocks, gargoyles, monkeys and lions are mixed up among the buttresses, domes, turrets, spires and stained-glass windows.
Marine Drive & Chowpatty Beach
Built on land reclaimed from Back Bay in 1920, Marine Drive running into Chowpatty Seaface and Walkeshwar Marg, sweeps along the shore of the Arabian Sea from Nariman Point past Chowpatty Beach to the foot of Malabar Hill. Lined with flaking Art Deco apartments and a series of gymkhanas where grand Hindu weddings are often held, this is one of Mumbai's most popular promenades and sunset-watching spots. The lights that twinkle along the promenade at night give it its nickname, 'the Queen's Necklace'.
Mani Bhavan
The building in which Mahatma Gandhi stayed during his visits to Bombay from 1917 to 1934 is now a small but engrossing museum (19 Laburnum
Road; admission free; opens 10am-6pm) that shouldn't be missed. Gandhi's simple room remains untouched and there's a wonderful photographic
record of his life, along with dioramas and original documents such as letters he wrote to Adolf Hitler and US president Franklin D Roosevelt.
Mahalaxmi Temple
This popular Hindu temple, one of Mumbai's busiest and most colourful, is dedicated to Mahalaxmi, the goddess of wealth. It's perched on a headland reached by the alleyways just off Bhulabhai Desai Marg
(Warden Road),
Haji Ali's Mosque
A short walk north from the Mahalaxmi Temple, at the end of a long causeway snaking into the Arabian Sea, is a whitewashed mosque. Best viewed from afar, the mosque contains the tomb of the Muslim saint Haji Ali and was built by devotees in the early 19th century.
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