Mumbai

Despite whiling away a large quota of the trip seated in either a plane or a taxi, last week's visit to Mumbai (Bombay) was an awesome experience. Petrol had been invited to pitch for a big channel-branding job over there so I accompanied David to help with the presentation which was very successful. Quotes were constructed and contracts were being drawn up the next day while their marketing agency briefed us with some Indian culture to explain the channel's targeted demographic. (Apparently, in the context of the economic revolution the country has witnessed over the last decade or so, "Indian man cannot keep pace with Indian woman.") In the wake of such industry, there wasn't a lot of time to experience Mumbai in the recommended manner of "getting your hands and feet dirty" and inhaling the unique smell of Bombay, to quote from Gregory David Roberts in 'Shantaram', "the smell of gods, demons, empires, and civilisations in resurrection and decay". The client provided an extended list of books and Bollywood movies to watch, Mumbai being home to India's Hindi film and television industry.(Our favourite is the beautiful 'Dola Re Dola' from the movie 'Devdas'.)
The glamour of Bollywood feels like a bit of a sick joke when you first see Mumbai's encroaching slums but for the millions who have flocked from the countryside, pouring into the beaten up shanty dwellings and providing much needed skilled labour to the metropolis, this is the City of Dreams. The peculiarity of this nexus is the total absence of guilt or apologetic embarrassment that I think we're so accustomed to in the West when confronted with such extreme poverty. Mumbai has suffered serious urbanisation problems, bomb attacks and catastrophic floods but its resilience, its ability to settle back into routine and survive is quite astounding.