Other Side of Mumbai

When a middle aged Indica starts looking like a Big Segment car, you know, you are in a place, what Bollywood calls a “Basti” or “Mohalla”

Urdu signboards with English Fine Print, reads everything from a Wine Shop to a Textile Outlet. Men with hand carts, rush through the narrow lanes. They chart their way though big vehicles and street playing children.

A Temple at sight and prayers from a Mosque at an audible distance. Kalbadevi, (Mumbai) gives me a taste of undivided India.

Kalbadevi, Zaveri Bazar, Bhuleshwar reside adjacent to each other. Concrete shops and roadside stalls, paralelly conduct business here. Abundance of hand Carts, tell a story of labour intensive industries. Absence of mannequins, show, how business is conducted without “show biz”. Textile shop Owners offer seat on the floor bed and treat you with the sound of screeching ceiling fan. No hard selling techniques are applied, no presentation efforts taken. They know, the deal will be done. And it does.

High rise buildings, plush infrastructure do not find an address here. No signs to show you are standing in the Financial Capital of the Country.

Yet, day in and day out, they call this their “City of Dreams”. They “exist” and on their existence, "lives" the Spirit of Mumbai.