Cultural and Societal Reflections from my First Day in Bombay

Bombay is a lot like New York City.  It's the financial capital of India, home to big business, big money and Bollywood.  There are plenty of skyscrapers, luxury car dealerships, country clubs, etc. But with all this extreme wealth comes extreme poverty, just like in NYC.

The 27 story, billion dollar Ambani building, which is the exorbitant family home I referenced in "My Breaking Point."  For those following my blog that have read that post, you should know that there is hope!  Along the streets even in the posh parts of Bombay, I saw buildings dedicated to the "Care of Street Children," as was written on the buildings.  In spite of that positive note, my aunt from Bombay tells me there are makeshift huts pitched at the base of the Ambani building, which are home to the poor.  We couldn't see them, or any real sign of poverty as we drove by.

During our first day in Bombay, we've mostly been immersed in the wealth of the city.  We're staying at one of the top hotels at Nariman Point, the wealthy business district of the city.  And never in my life have I experienced such luxury.  We would never stay in a hotel of equivalent luxury in the US-- it would be too expensive and we honestly wouldn't fit in.  But here, me wearing an old $20 maxi dress, sneakers and no makeup still constitutes the mark of a wealthy tourist (with respect to currency), and I could walk into any luxury hotel with no questions asked.  If I tried walking into the Plaza in NYC while wearing the same outfit, I would definitely get dirty looks and they might ask me to leave.  Converting the US dollar to Indian rupees gives you x10 the spending power that you would have in the US.  So the pricing of our fancy rooms at this Indian hotel in US dollars is more like price of an average, but pleasant hotel in the states.

Luxury hotel #1

Luxury hotel #2

Northern India is known for its historic sites, which are hundreds of years old.  Bombay is much newer, having more influence from the British than the ancient Mughal emperors.  So one of the perks is that visiting the tourist attractions tends to be free here (visiting palaces and such up north costs a few hundred rupees a person for foreigners)!  However, there are fewer tourist sites and the ones you can find are much less elaborate than those of the north. Visiting the India Gate was nice, but even more interestingly for me, the surrounding area doesn't even look like India-- It looks like Paris!  (I would know, because I used to live there and my brother was born there)  The European atmosphere makes sense, because the India gate was designed by the British and the surrounding area had a lot of British influence.  Check out these buildings!

My favorite part of our stay in Bombay so far was visiting the Hanging Gardens, which is the equivalent of Central Park in NYC.  There are beautiful flowers of many varieties, tropical trees, green grass, and tasteful artistic installments.  We spotted colorful, decorated birds in the shrubbery and were surrounded by butterflies drinking nectar from the blooms.  We saw wild blue, green, brown, orange and white butterflies everywhere.  Check out these photos!

Yes, I took this picture of a wild, living, moving butterfly!

This cute, fat and happy stray dog lounging in the garden!

Locals, albeit more affluent ones, come here with their families, friends and significant others.  That's right, people date here!  And for America, of course this sounds like no big deal. But in India, this is HUGE.  Get this: At the university in Manipal, public displays of affection are prohibited.  That's right, PDA is against the rules.  At this park, couples were holding hands, putting there arms around each other, leaning against each other, and had their faces so close together they were practically kissing! (But no kissing took place)  I was actually surprised when my dad, who is hesitant to me dating to some degree, bluntly said: "People date here, thank God!"

Part of my dad's theory for why north India is so backwards in terms of the way men treat women is largely attributed to sexual repression.  The relative openness of dating culture in Bombay might be part of the reason I can walk down the street in a tighter-fitting maxi dress that shows a good amount of skin by Indian standards, and not have men ogling at me.  In the North, even while I wore my dad's oversized jacket and jeans and layers and scarves, mens eyes were still glued to me and other covered women as if we were pieces of meat.  I was even groped by a stranger while I was in line at a train station, with my dad standing next to me!  In Bombay, men keep a respectful distance and don't gape at women who walk by while wearing skin tight clothing and shorts. And American clothes are very common here, even amongst locals.  The only thing that outright infuriated me was when a vendor persistently tried to sell me a copy of the Kama Sutra while we took a stroll around the same park.  If you don't know what the Kama Sutra is, you can look it up on Wikipedia or something.  Once I angrily stormed off, we weren't bothered by anyone else.  He was the only vendor we encountered, and he seemed to be keeping his sales on the down-low because selling items may have been banned in the garden.

Walking about the garden, undisturbed, while wearing modern American clothing and chilling with a giraffe:)

Also worth noting, Bombay previously had a female doctor as mayor.  That's right, a highly educated woman led the city! Perhaps this contributed to Bombay's liberalness, or was a manifestation of it. Either way, Bombay is progressive, and I love that.

I look forward to visiting my family here tonight, and in the coming few days!

We attempted to visit temples, but the lines just to get in extended down the streets for a solid block or two, packed with people wanting to pray for the new year.  May you all have a wonderful year ahead :) Happy New Years, and thanks for reading!

PS: Stay tuned for another post or two recapping my time Manipal.  I have most of it written out, but I'm trying to tell an intricate story tastefully and succinctly, which requires a fair amount of planning and revision. Between the family meals, outings and explorations, I didn't have enough to write a post of this magnitude during my stay in Manipal. It's on its way, and I hope you love it half as much as I love Manipal!