Few cities in the world blend affluence and poverty, sophistication and earthiness like Mumbai. The world’s most populous city — about 13 million, with 75,000 people packed in per square mile — the city is endlessly vibrant, loud, tactile and (at times) overwhelming.
I recently journeyed the 18 hours by air to Mumbai with Jaguar to inspect the new XJ on the insane streets of the city. There’ll be plenty more on that car and the adventures it revealed to me in India in the coming days. For now, I take a moment away from luxury cars to share a look at the visual menagerie of experiences waiting on the Mumbai streets.
The city is ancient, yet modernizing in segments with the influx of international income thanks to successful corporations like Tata – Jaguar’s owners and my official host for the trip. The extraordinary aspect of that revitalization is how it grows alongside the more disenfranchised sections of the city.
You will find people living and working in crumbling shacks a block or two away from construction cranes and rapidly growing high rises. You’ll see fenced off garbage dumps across the street from corporate headquarters. Mumbai unveils a culture that’s moving into the modern age — with some segments resisting or not benefiting from the evolution.
Also: Travel: Chasing Frank Lloyd Wright to the Imperial Hotel, Tokyo
The caste system is still in effect throughout Indian culture, and that can limit economic and social progression for many people. The castes allow for very little upward ambition as many of Mumbai’s citizens remain in the class they’re born into by name for life. As India becomes more of a global economic force, some Indians are breaking free of the past’s cultural limitations and looking to work in a more technologically advanced corporate economy.
Mumbai still wrestles with the corruption that grew out of its colonial past and continued through India’s independence. For example, while testing out the XJ on the Mumbai streets, I made a slow merge onto a main drag passed a group of local police. It was herd driving, and I could only merge into the grinding, beeping mass of traffic.
Still, we were flagged down — the equivalent of getting pulled over in traffic that can barely move. The officer demanded to see my international driving license and informed me I’d made an illegal left turn on a red light. I hadn’t made a red turn, and there was no red light in sight. But, I was a visitor and simply played along.
The officer informed me the fine was 1,000 Rupee (about $10, give or take). No ticket. No official charge. Just the fine. The 1,000 Rupee note disappeared into the officer’s pocket, and we were waved on again. Suffice to say, Mumbai’s finest saw a 2016 Jag and figured we could afford to get dinged. Welcome to Mumbai.
Loud, hot, stick and constantly moving, Mumbai is a challenge to the sense. With the gallery below, you can get at least an idea of how a day on the ground in the city looks to the uninitiated eye.
Photos by John Scott Lewinski
On the Streets of Mumbai, India
A true visit to Mumbai means getting out of your hotel and journeying through the streets of India's most populated city.
-
On the Streets of Mumbai, India
This sign outside a Mumbai Bollywood studio makes one wonder what's to see if it wasn't there.
-
On the Streets of Mumbai, India
Livestock shares space with pedestrians and cars on the streets of Mumbai
-
On the Streets of Mumbai, India
A look inside a Mumbai apartment complex reveals builds that have been there and left largely unkept for decades.
-
On the Streets of Mumbai, India
The earthiness of a working class Mumbai apartment looks much like a similar space in New York or any blue collar American city.
-
On the Streets of Mumbai, India
A Mumbai housewife prepares lunch for her working husband.
-
On the Streets of Mumbai, India
A prop of an Indian god sets outside a Mumbai Bollywood studio.
-
On the Streets of Mumbai, India
Dancers shoot an ad for a Mumbai health club in one of the city's Bollywood Studios.
-
On the Streets of Mumbai, India
A 2016 Jaguar XJ is a rare sight on the streets of Mumbai.
-
On the Streets of Mumbai, India
An ultra-modern shopping mall rises above poverty on the streets of Mumbai.
-
On the Streets of Mumbai, India
India's signature richly decorated fabrics and clothing fill a Mumbai shop.
-
On the Streets of Mumbai, India
Built on a crescent looking out over the Arabian Sea, Mumbai's seafront stretches for miles.
