The City Where the Streets Are Paved In Gold

We have been in Mumbai (Bombay) for the last couple of days and let me tell you, it is not like anything I have seen in India yet. It doesn't even feel like India to me. It is so modern, so Western in many senses, so sheik, and so... not India!

I made a joke about Mumbai to my fellow EAP friends about how this is a city where the streets are paved in gold and while that may be an exaggeration, it really does feel like that in many senses. We went on a boat to go to Elephanta Island (a place with really cool cave carvings) and on the ride back I was able to see Mumbai from the sea. I counted on one side of the coast how many tall buildings were in construction and within maybe a 1/2 square mile I counted 10. It seems like this city is growing and become a true world-class city (if it isn't already). Everything is also just so expensive. While one can find the Indian comforts of thalis and roti, etc., it still is just more expensive. Going to the more upscale places is comparable to the United States which is not fun for our pocketbooks. I know that I am seeing only the nice side of Mumbai, Mumbai also contains Asia's largest slum, but Mumbai has a different air to it then the rest of India. It seems excited and full of life. The city, the people seem like they know they are the shinning example of India and that they are on the verge of becoming a huge world city that has everything to offer. It feels like the people know the potential their city has to offer and are only to eager to show it off. What a place...

Last night, we went to the Taj Mahal hotel, a world class hotel on the bay. It was amazing to see it if only for one reason. Stepping into the hotel I felt like i could be anywhere in the world. There were Germans, Indians, Japanese, French, Englishmen, and others all from the upper classes of their society. It made me realize how interconnected the world is but at the same time how far apart we are. If I was to come to India and just see Mumbai and this hotel (or even the nice hotels in Delhi although I feel Delhi has a lot more of 'India' in it then Mumbai) then I don't feel like I would get a good representation of India at all. It is too posh, too clean, too Western to give an accurate representation of India. But I could see how one could come here and think, 'Ahh, of course India is on the rise as a global power.' And it is, but it is also so much more! India is just to diverse to classify in simple stereotypes. As one person put it and I fully agree with them, you can say anything about India and it will be true. You can say it is poor and it is true. But you can also say that it is a rising economic power and it will also be true. You can say that the IT boom is changing India into a high-tech, rich country. That is true in some parts while other parts still don't have basic education covered. But I guess that is what you get when you try to define a place with a billion people in it!

Nonetheless, I like Mumbai. It is so cool and so irresistibly fashionable and attractive. It is like being in New York. You just feel the energy on the streets and want to be a part of it.