Colours of India - Mumbai

Mumbai is the most colourful city of the country. We have South Indians, we have Maharashtrians, we have Punjabis and we have Gujaratis and many more. A person from Mumbai is peculiarly from Mumbai.

The Pav Bhaji we get in Mumbai is what we get in Mumbai. The South Indian in Mumbai is the Bambayya South Indian. He flaunts his English - since if he flaunted Tamil, nobody would understand!! The Gujarati of Mumbai is the 'urban Gujarati' - he will wear seven colours, insted of twelve.

Personality Traits: In Mumbai, you have two types of Mumbaikars - the 'recently migrated ones' and the true lovers of Mumbai. Both of them hang out at Bandstand, both of them love shopping at malls, both of them turn their necks as they stand before huge hoardings.

The 'recently migrated ones', however, continue to praise their homelands. They travel by a Mumbai local, read Mumbai Mid-day, wear a shirt from Fashion Street and say, "Haye, mera gaaon bada pyaaraa hai!"

The true lovers of Mumbai sing bhajans in trains. When they get stranded in trains, they don't complain. When the train gets late, they don't complain. When the traffic gets jammed, when the roads are dug up, they don't complain. Mumbaikars are certainly the most resilient persons on Earth.

Language: Mumbai boasts of a language only it can. Owing to the number of people living here, there is a lot of influence of different languages and cultures on the spoken language of Mumbai. "Pak raha hai" does not mean I am getting cooked - it means, I am feeling bored. And there is a long list of "lage raho....", "yeda ho gaya hai kya?"

Dressing: Mumbaikars, being a large volume of people wear a wide variety of clothes. The clearcut influence of Bollywood is seen - Himesh Reshammiya caps and Madhuri Dixit cholis are what fill the shops. Mumbai boasts of a variety of malls and its very own Fashion Street - the hubs of fashion in Mumbai.

Food: Pav Bhaji, Pani puri and the poori puri series (the uncanny resemblence to N series mobile phones can be attributed to my love for cell phones).

Famous celebs: The list is too long. Seriously!

Mumbai is a huge city with a lot of variation - Bandra, Ghatkopar, Mulund, Chembur and Vashi. They are all Mumbai and they are all a part of this throbbing heart of India!