I am a born and bred North Indian. So much that I often describe Delhi as the place I belong to, to cut short the details. The first time I visited Bombay ( The old name symbolises some things & I prefer it to the new one) was ten years back. The first impressions of the city have been such that I rank it above any other. One of the few cities (in India) where people queued for buses, where a female could safely take a taxi at 11 pm , place where people have much more civic sense then our national capital, where taxi drivers would not cheat you if you did not know the way (unlike delhi or chennai). A city that was untouched by the fundamentalism & culture police and, had a night life.
For those used to bus travel in Delhi, let me recall an incident which happened 10 years ago.
I was boarding a BEST bus with my travel group (5 people), when the buses conductor said he could take more than two of us on borad. Reason, the standing capacity of the bus was X (I don't remember the number) and he could accomodate only two of us. So either we split or wait for the next bus (15 minutes or something). For us, used to passengers hanging out of Delhi buses and the scant regard of traffic rules generally around the country, this was a welcome surprise.
That was Bombay ten years ago. Things have changed since then. With the mounting population pressures , Mumbai's infrastructure seems to be creaking. But, what has not changed is the spirit of a Mumbaikar (the new term for Bombayites).
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