My dear, every place on this planet will have its positives & negatives. Mumbai is the first city in India which got urbanized. It has witnessed continuous inflow of people coming from every part of India to make a career for more than a century now. Since 2000 the migration to Mumbai started reducing due to the economic boom & development in many other states & cities of India.
Mumbai still serves the uneducated, drop outs & lower class. Aproximately 60% of Mumbai's population live in slums with no running water, electricity and gas. The shelters are made out of, whatever materials that can be sourced for a cheap price. The living standards in slums are very low and rubbish pollutes the area so much that, large pipes are used as footpaths because the actual footpaths are too littered to walk on.
You need to understand due to fast & continuous migration for over a century, it's very difficult to stop the normal life of such a huge population to change the infrastructures, roads, sanitation, water pipes , electric wire & other mess. Mumbai ranks No.1 among the highest populated cities in the world. Roughly 30,000 people is the density per sqKm. It's a torturous & herculean challenge to change even the basic cosmetics of Mumbai.
There is approximately 7,000 metric tonnes of rubbish being disposed of each day by Mumbaians. With no mandatory recycling system in place by the government to date, Mumbai's waste is accumulating each day, and rubbish dumps are already filling up, polluting the area. On top of that, 700,000 cars are travelling on the roads of Mumbai each day. Creating air pollution with the rest of the manufacturing companies adding to it.
Life is very tough in Mumbai, so don’t expect strangers to be good to you. If a Mumbaikar act too nice to a stranger they immediately become suspicious, why is he/she behaving weird. Even continuous eye contact as a stranger is seen as an act of deceit or overt aggression. Yes to known people & friends, everything is fine & you know & experience the real love, especially the always fun filled Mumbaikars is an addiction, you will miss if you move away. Every cab and rickshaw driver makes small talk with you.
You call cops ;kaka’ and they let u go if u show of ur marathi speaking skills. You see men (not gay apparently) holding hands and walking in the street.
You will hear of crimes everyday. But you will hear or have a story like this to tell, I was travelling by bus, and slept off. My bag was open, and I was not aware of who was sitting next to me. Suddenly, the old woman who was seated there, told me very sweetly, that she was getting off now, so I should close the bag, and she did not want to wake me up before, because I was travelling till here. These stories build faith in the goodness of people. Mumbai, has good people. Let that be remembered. That is the best thing about Mumbai.
So take some time out and give a break to all the criticisms. It is easy to point out flaws but very difficult to accommodate near 20 million people and still be awesome! Mumbai is not for a laid back person or a faint heart. Only the toughest & best can survive Mumbai. You cant drive for more than 10 mins without abusing someone. With all the drawbacks & issues, even I have found it hard to keep pace with the pace of Mumbai, It just reminds you, you are nothing when you enter the competitive Mumbaikars. It’s the spirit of Mumbai which I salute. Mumbai has so much to offer, if you see it from the eyes of a Mumbaikar.
Regarding women again, every place will have variety of features, colour, dress & figure. Some may appeal to your eyes, some may not. It’s not right to generalize anybody.
Regarding food too, every place has it's own joints which when you live there you know what suits your taste. You can't expect a visual delight in small & road side restaurants. There is absolutely no time for people in Mumbai, so people's priority is filling their tummy most of time than looking at how the food is presented or how clean the place is.
There are only some cities which leave a bigger impression and influence on your life; they teach you something which you’d never experience anywhere else. Mumbai is definitely one of the top on that list!
Yes, it does look a bit scary when its your first time, but eventually, you get used to it & get addicted to it. Best way to explain Mumbai is – It’s like the locals, the crowd which pushes you into the train and also pushes you out of it as soon as the station arrives at your destination. Your life is exactly the same in Mumbai. These locals definitely teach you the value of every single second (similarly Mumbai), as you can’t manage to miss it in case you want to reach your office/school/college on time or your destiny in life.
After all the stress, struggles you can have an amazing night life or a weekend. Festivals are a treat in Mumbai. The hub of opportunities, the quintessential city of dreams, Mumbai - Salute.
Mumbai has a crime filled underworld, organised crime, smuggling, black markets, and kidnapping the rich for vast ransoms. You can get cheated at various places as tourist or new comer. But If you live there you would definitely feel, it's one of the safest city in India, definitely far safer than Delhi for girls. Anybody will hardly bother even if a girl is wearing tights or 2 piece dress.
In Mumbai, A Mumbaikar man will never stalk you, follow you, stare at you or look back to check you or pass a comment if you are a girl.
