On the Road, Part III: Mumbai (Bombay)

Our time in MUMBAI (BOMBAY) has been short but has certainly made a very lasting impression! An intense experience that has made me think a lot and will continue to do so for a long time after I leave no doubt.

From the moment you step out of the airport you are thrown into an intense environment (even for a Londoner!) as you make your first contact with the streets of Mumbai. Taxis, rickshaws, motorcycles, cyclists and people fire out from every direction competing for every millimeter of space on permanently overcrowded roads. The chaos that entails is enough to turn any non-believer! Buckle up, ‘nough said.

Well, do the math: Greater London’s official land area is 1,579 km squared, Greater Mumbai’s 437 – ONE THIRD roughly. But the population of Mumbai is more than DOUBLE that of London, at around 17 million people. These numbers really hit home when you then consider that 55% of Mumbai’s population lives in slums…that’s the population of London, essentially, living in one sixth of the area. So understandably everywhere is crowded, roads, streets, public places, and the living conditions are pretty brutal, as the existing system is very visibly, not coping.


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The Lonely Planet guide describes Mumbai as a “beautiful mess”. And when you look from your heart you will find the beauty that surrounds you in this bustling city. People build and live their lives, they prove incredible resilience and spirit to overcome difficult conditions (on the other end of the spectrum though, there are some extremely wealthy people in Mumbai too it should be added, but the discrepancy between the rich and the poor is shocking). For the majority of the people in Mumbai though, joy seems to exist in what is accessible to them, community and a visit to the beach at sunset. Very humbling. For visitors, the city has a great many historic sites and buildings to see – the Gateway of India, Elephant Island, Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Chowpatty Beach, Haji Ali’s mosque, and the Global Pagoda, to name just a few. And amidst all the concrete, Mumbai is a real urban jungle, containing the largest tropical forest in an urban zone with lush green vegetation!

Mumbai is undoubtedly a tough city to visit. It confronts you with a brutal reality known to many of us only through television. Witnessing it first hand gives rise to a completely different sense of immediacy and urgency. Scrap western standards and notions of wealth and progress, it is the most basic necessities – clean water, sanitation, shelter, food – to which the majority of people living in one of the most populated cities in the world are lacking access…

How do we even begin to put it right? What about poverty back at home, is it less urgent, less devastating? How can individuals contribute toward change? What about support in areas of political unrest, does it require even more immediate attention, or areas struck by natural disasters?How do you decide who needs help the most?


Thinking about all of this has also informed my photography whilst here. For example, I started becoming really conscious about ‘exoticising‘ ordinary events and reinforcing already existing stereotypes. Photography is a powerful medium, because you can isolate a moment and represent it out of context and give it a completely new meaning. So it requires consideration for the subject and should aim to be empowering!

The highlight of my time in Mumbai was when I got our of the car to get a quick shot in of the temple at sunset, and a little boy ran up to me to come look at my photos! I was really excited about his interest and flicked through some of the ones I had just taken to show him. As I was leaving to get back in the car, a man came up to me and invited me to take a photo of him and his family. How rewarding that photography can bring people closer together, not just puts a lens between them!

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Coming soon: On the Road, Part IV: Bangkok

PEACE ALL x

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All images © 2012 NICKI DRAB PHOTOGRAPHY