Mumbai

The monsoon came in full swing when we arrived in Mumbai. The gradual change in climate was quite disheartening, from sunny and mild Karnataka province to rainy and humid Maharashtra province. From the fourth floor lobby of our seafront hotel we could see a swarm of black clouds approaching from the sea. Our whole stay in Mumbai was disrupted many times by the torrential monsoon which meant many hours lost to waiting for the rain to subside, walking through puddles, water holes and overflowing sewage.

This is an image of Mumbai that is often lost in Bollywood and its international reputation. It's not just slums and vulgar riches, Mumbai is a vast architectural heritage.

Don't you just love this place?

From UM to another UM! University of Mumbai.

The dhobi ghats! It's really beautiful and practical. Maybe even greener than our energy inefficient laundrettes.

But the rain was easy to forget. Mumbai is a fabulously good city. It's nowhere near perfect but I thought it has all the necessary ingredients to become a major metropolis of the world. Staying in the older part of the city added further value to our stay, the Victorian and Art Deco buildings, though in a state of dilapidation, make such an atmospheric district. I was taken by Mumbai since we got on the taxi from the train station. As a lover of cities, this melting pot of human desires and dreams rank as one the best cities I've been to (and that is to include its many but correctable flaws). Spires of minaret and temples pierces the sky among closely-packed add-on buildings and narrowly snaking between them are roaring streets and bazaars of all kinds.

Managed this poorly composed picture, in the few minutes that it didn't rain.

This mosque near Crawford Market is stunning but it was deeply suspicious of foreigners and people of different ethnicity.

I secretly took photos of the mosque, many seem to still hold antiquated views against photography so we had to be extremely discreet!

The city is a treasure trove of architectural ideas and creative ways to think about cities. This megalopolis is also mega-dense and have forced out many creative responses driven wonderfully by necessities rather than stale theories of architecture. Regretfully I spent very little time sitting down to think about these preliminary questions in my mind. I have a feeling it's a city that I will always come back to, not just to study its inner workings but just to relish on its urban energy.

It is this energy that makes the city ticks. On every street, its veins and arteries, you are carried by the pulse of every person's dreams and trepidations. The beating hearts of the city are the suburban rail stations that feeds the city its oxygen - the boisterous Mumbaikars. Taking in this energy, we stood still in the middle of the suburban rail station (in Churchgate) and watched throngs of people flowing, criss-crossing like huge waves of fluid particles.

Mumbai's street food was not the reason I broke my fast in Ramadan! It was the rain. Yeap. Plus, I'm travelling and I was tired walking in the rain, there were millions of people and I was..... #excuses,excuses,excuses

Mumbai has one of the most picturesque  old town. Swathes of Victorian buildings dwarfs that of Manchester or Liverpool, and lends it a sense of grandeur. Many were built by the British, but in line with the Victorian sensibilities it was slightly "Indianised". But what made Mumbai's colonial quarter really interesting is the prominent presence of Jewish and Parsee establishments, which I found highly intriguing. That said, a lot of these are in a state of dilapidation and disrepair, which may add beautiful texture to our photography but certainly is not the right way to sustain and preserve this world heritage.

For someone who had been a staunch advocate of street rules, this lawlessness is beautiful and peaceful - no road rage or Malaysian-style swearing ("Oi babi pukimak!", remember that one?).

In my earliest post I have mentioned about getting one or two pairs of shalwaar kameez or kurtas to go to work in. Mumbai I was told by many is the best place to shop for it. This was much harder than to find than I thought it'd be. We went on a wild goosechase all over Mumbai and into the innermost bazaars that don't even appear on travel maps or guidebook. And still I didn't find what I want. Feeling defeated I finally relented and decided to venture into the high street chain Fabindia where I finally found what I wanted albeit at a price comparable to that of Pavillion KL.

Two billion elbows ready to pounce! The suburban rail station at downtown Mumbai.

Pomegranate shopping.

Shopping aside, we also enjoyed Mumbai's waterfront. It's obviously not a tropical paradise beach but the sea breeze and view of horizon is a welcome change in a city so dense (it could be difficult to breathe sometimes looking at the density). The Marine Drive and Girgaum beach (or Chowpatty beach) is a favourite hang out place for lovers and friends alike. The ice cream parlours and pani puri stalls next to the beach open to late hours so we spent our final night watching the horizon and with some music on. As is natural when one sits meditatively staring at nothingness, in my thoughts are the people that I love across the seas.

Eid mubarak. Selamat Hari Raya.

p/s: Do I have to say how insane the gap between the have and have-nots here? Close to a 27-storey mansion of a rich family are the world's poorest people.

Fruits of all shades. Crawford Market.

Holy cow!

The Haji Ali Dargah, a shrine off the coast of Mumbai which attracts people of all religions and walks of life. A different Islamic culture to what I'm used to, I'm like a puritan Salafist compared to the practices here! It's an eclectic mix of Islam and possibly other religious traditions which offends the usual bigot but much is lost if one take that kind of position.