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By Root 2055 0

of greedy slumlords and placing the city, which already has a human density four times greater than New York City’s, on target for a population of 22 million by 2015. As India’s economy booms, Mumbai’s real estate prices have soared through the roof as investors continue to scour every acre for viable new projects, rapidly transforming the city into an incredible futurescape of remarkable high-rises. And in the midst of it all sprawls Asia’s largest slum, a relatively flat and sodden terrain that is home to a million poor—yet extremely industrious—souls. In a bid to show the world how Mumbai’s vivacious spirit exists in even the most trying circumstances, there are now a few riveting tours that take you under the belly of the city, into the vast shantytown that shook the world with vivid scenes in Slumdog Millionaire and Shantaram. A city with a dual identity, Mumbai is as flamboyantly materialistic as it is downright choked by squalor and social drudgery. The citizens of Mumbai pay almost 40% of India’s taxes, yet half of its 18 million people are slum dwellers. While the moneyed groovers and label-conscious shakers retire in luxury behind the security gates of their million-dollar Malabar Hill apartments, emaciated survivors stumble home to cardboard shacks in congested shantytowns or onto tiny patches of open pavement. At every intersection these destitute hopefuls stand, framed against a backdrop of Bollywood vanity boards and massive billboards selling supersexy underwear and sleek mobile-phone technology. Feeding into this social schizophrenia are the one-dollar whores, half-naked fakirs, underworld gunmen, bearded sadhus, globe-trotting DJs, and, of course, movie moguls and wannabe starlets.

Many believe that is the city’s unputdownable prosperity that has made it a target for such tragic incidents as the 2008 attacks in which the main train terminus as well as two of the city’s finest hotels—the Taj Mahal Palace and The Oberoi—were besieged by terrorists. True to its spirit, however, following this and other violent assaults, Mumbaikers have always bounced back with spectacular vigor. The city is once again pumping with energy, and while there’s a noticeable security presence, spirits are definitely on the up. Even as the world recoils in economically uncertain times—and some of Mumbai’s myriad building projects did seem to pause for a while—there seems to be no stopping the pace of development. Touch down here and you’ll discover a metropolis that’s comfortably on the move.

It’s not just the economic disparities that are bewildering: Looking down from the Hanging Gardens on Malabar Hill, you see the assertively modern metropolis of Nariman Point—but just a little farther south, on Malabar Hill, is the Banganga Tank, one of the city’s holiest sites, where apartment blocks overlook pilgrims who come to cleanse their souls by bathing in its mossy waters. Twenty-first-century Mumbai is brassy and vital, yet it can also transport you to another epoch. It is, in this sense, a quintessentially Indian city, encapsulating the raw paradoxes of the entire subcontinent.

Your plane will almost certainly touch down in Mumbai—it’s the most common point of arrival for visitors, and well connected to the rest of the country (including the magnificent Ajanta and Ellora Caves, located in northern Maharashtra, and described later in this chapter). If you’re looking for peace and quiet in meditative surroundings, you should definitely consider heading to the nearby city of Pune where the Osho International Meditation Resort (also discussed in this chapter) is a major draw for global citizens on the search for New Age enlightenment packaged in its most upmarket avatar. If Mumbai is to be purely a transit hub, there are more than enough connections—by plane, train or road—for you to move on as fast as jet lag and arrival times dictate. But if you want to experience modern India at its vibrant best, and dine at what are arguably some of the finest restaurants in the country, tarry for at least 2 days. You may arrive appalled by the