Guardian Cities in Mumbai – day one

http://www.theguardian.com/cities/live/2014/nov/24/guardian-cities-mumbai-india-day-one

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7.25pm GMT19:25

Well Mumbai, it is time to say goodnight. It’s been an action packed day and we hope you enjoyed reading today’s blog as much as we did putting it together.

There are many more events, discussions and stories to come while we are here. As a nightcap here is a link to some of Varun’s signature cocktail recipes, I recommend the Konkan Express.

Until tomorrow, this is Saptarshi signing off. You stay classy Mumbai.

6.34pm GMT18:34

Night school

To balance out the focus so far on recreation we should look at the very important social service some volunteers provide after dark in Mumbai.

We received a nice email from Duncan Tossell, who spent some time in Mumbai researching the night schools mentioned earlier, for working children, in collaboration with the charity Masoom.

He’s sent us part of his dissertation which we reprint here, and we hope to bring you more on education on the city this week.

The night schools are under-resourced and often share regular day school buildings but do not have permission to use all of the facilities like the playground or science labs.

I visited two schools which are among the 30 schools involved with Masoom (according to reports there are over 170 night schools in Maharashtra with the majority in Mumbai). Masoom offers a model to help the night schools improve but the schools are controlled by the government so Masoom cannot interfere with the hiring of teachers or the curriculum.

All the teachers at the two schools were male and worked in day schools as well as night schools. Through interviews with some of these teachers it became apparent that the work in the day schools was the main job and the night school work was more of a social project and a chance for them supplement their income and do their bit for society.

SR

Updated at 7.28pm GMT

5.49pm GMT17:49

Outside influence

Varun Sudhakar, an award winning cocktail maker says he has noticed in the past decade just how much a more global thinking clientele has influenced the nightlife of Mumbai.

“When I started it was all mojitos and screwdrivers or rum and coke, but you can tell when someone’s been on a scotch tour in Scotland or Manhattan bars. And that makes the home market adapt.”

Varun’s point could be a metaphor as a whole for the country, with an increasing outward looking middle class. And Mumbai is very much at the forefront of that.

But of course as with everything in India it is a tale of many divergent factors - Varun’s home state of Kerala has very strict licensing laws. “It is basically like prohibiton, there are about 30 bars in the whole state - for Indians anyway. And yet it has one of the highest consumption rates of alcohol.” This is common in dry states where toxic moonshine made from ingredients like battery acid kills dozens each month.

In Mumbai so much is about style. “There is always a big rush for martinis whenever there is a new Bond film”, says Varun. SR

Updated at 7.27pm GMT

4.49pm GMT16:49

Mumbai’s nightlife tribes

Chris here – I’ve been chatting to the Hive’s hilarious Sharin Bhatti about the after-dark scene in Mumbai. She’s come up with a few typical “tribes” of clubgoer (while pointing out that the majority of Mumbaikars don’t go drinking at night at all, for reasons of cost or inclination). Disclaimer: this list is by no means exclusive, and we’d love to hear any other suggestions from Mumbaikars.

Wannabes of Bollywood and its associated glitz, these aspirants to stardom can often be found dressed head to toe in LV and CC, sitting in cafes or bars in Andheri, doing nothing much except waiting to be noticed. How they fail to sweat under their makeup remains a mystery that many have died trying to unravel. This is the new money northern district of the celebrity gym and of loud, happening clubs like Trinity at Juhu Beach, where you have to catch someone’s eye to get in (hence those brand-name threads) and you have to pay for a table. Top tip: save your bucks. The Struggler knows a week’s pay is well worth the chance to get on to the first rung of this rickety ladder.

2. The Bandra Hipster

Residents of the Williamsburg or possibly Islington of Mumbai don’t exactly conform to the hipster stereotype of many other cities, but the basics apply: colourblocking, a keen sense of nostalgia and a taste for indie music and bars without names that nobody else has heard of. Example: the Den, a Wednesday night “microparty” where the beer is cheap and the invitation is by SMS. Top tip: head to the NH7 weekender – the Indian Coachella, less about the bands than the vibe – to see them in person. See also: indie actor Monica Dogra.

3. The Townie Snob

The old money dwellers of Mumbai’s southern tip include some of the richest socialites in the city, including the Ambanis, owner of the world’s biggest house (a skyscraper that reputedly has 650 for four residents who rarely even live there because the place apparently has bad feng shui). Townies might go to Bluefrog or to Prive in Colaba for some retro tunes and commercial house.

This is just a taster, of course: a few hip-hop nights can be found here and there (check out our SlumGods video here) and of course the Hive itself was started partly to break these old stereotypes, and provide a venue for screenings, discussions and exhibitions after dark.

I also asked Sharin about drugs. “This is Bombay, man. Cocaine is king here.” I heard a rumour from a few different people that a strain is named after a particular Bollywood star’s wife. We’ll leave it at that. CM

Updated at 7.23am GMT

3.45pm GMT15:45

Something of the night

A very good evening to you in Mumbai, Saptarshi here to begin our section of this city’s offerings after dark. Mumbai is famous throughout India and the world for its restaurants and bars but also for literary events, cultural functions and talks.

We will be talking to Varun Sudhakar, who has won the Diageo Word Class award as India’s best cocktail maker two years running, about the clientele in the swankier places such as the Aer Bar in Worli’s Four Seasons hotel, which offers one of the greatest views of the city.

And of course, the night is not just about recreation - we will hear a bit about Mumbai’s night schools for working children, and people who work after dark. Plus we want to hear your tips on places to relax gratis, such as Marine Drive or any of the many beaches.

Here’s a great gallery of Mumbai after dark to feast your eyes on in the meantime.

Updated at 3.49pm GMT

2.22pm GMT14:22

We’ve just been watching the first of this week’s NDTV-Guardian Cities debates - thanks so much to all who took part. For those who saw the short film at the start and want more, check out panelist Aditi Mittal’s personal take on how the city is for women.

We’ll be back to the Hive tomorrow for a special, extended discussion on the future of Indian cinema, featuring actors Abhishek Bachchan and Imran Khan, plus Ship of Theseus director Anand Gandhi and the film’s producer, Sohum Shah. You can watch it here again tomorrow from 1.30pm GMT (7pm IST).

Updated at 3.03pm GMT

12.44pm GMT12:44

Just time for an update on our week-long quest to spot two of Mumbai’s most legendary inhabitants - Sachin Tendulkar, and the leopards of Sanjay Gandhi National Park ...

After a recount, the score so far is: Sachin Sirs 0, Leopards 0. And no, I’m afraid this doesn’t count, Saptarshi:

Updated at 12.46pm GMT

11.58am GMT11:58

This latest Guardian graphic shows that - even though the city’s rate of population growth has fallen since the 1950s, 60s and 70s - the Maximum City is still on track to become the world’s fourth biggest metropolis by 2030 (behind Tokyo, Delhi and Shanghai).

This prediction comes from the UN’s World Urbanisation Prospects 2014, which ranks Mumbai as the sixth largest city in the world at present.

This post from Indiaspend illustrates how little space there is in Mumbai. Their data shows the average Mumbaikar has just 48 square feet of living space, compared with 111.5sq ft for someone in Shanghai, or 1,124sq ft for a New Yorker.

NM

Updated at 12.38pm GMT

11.52am GMT11:52

Less than two hours to go until the first of this week’s NDTV-Guardian Cities debates (#NDTVguardianmumbai).

When we discussed the idea of gathering an all-woman audience for this debate, the inspiring activist Sheela Patel - from the Nobel-nominated women’s rights group Sparc - said that we must also organise a “shadow” discussion for women from Mumbai’s slum settlements - women whose voices are too rarely heard in the national media.

So that is what we did, with the help of renowned journalist and columnist Kalpana Sharma. Here’s what some of the women present said:

If the prime minister Narendra Modi was standing in front of me today, I would tell him, ‘You have given us a vote. Why don’t you give us a house?’

We lost our jobs, had to take our children out of schools. What were we to do? Can we break the walls and eat them?

What we want to tell the government is that if you want to clean Mumbai, give us women the responsibility.

10.31am GMT10:31

This week's live events at the Hive

Monday What life is like for Mumbai’s women - a discussion featuring Aditi Mittal, Bachi Karkaria and Paromita Vohra (from 6.45pm - all women audience).

Tuesday The future of Indian cinema - discussion with Ship of Theseus director Anand Ghandi and the film’s producer, Sohum Shah plus special guests (from 6.45pm). Followed by a screening of the film from 8.30pm.

Thursday Tall Tales live storytelling event, featuring five fascinating stories of Mumbaikars’ lives (from 7.30pm - entrance fee).

All events may be filmed. Audience numbers are restricted - get in touch soon to reserve a place.

Updated at 10.32am GMT

10.17am GMT10:17

Mumbaikar and reader Jahangir M Shafi has pitched in with a photo of a girl begging in the midday heat at Haji Ali Dargah.

He writes:

I passed on my way to the Dargah (shrine). On my way back an hour later, she was sitting in the exact same spot and in the same position.

We’ll continue to feature your photos and stories of Mumbai throughout the week. Email cities@theguardian.com or tweet to @guardiancities, making sure to use the hashtag #guardianmumbai

CM

9.57am GMT09:57

The first in our nightly series of Guardian Cities-NDTV discussions is only a few hours away. We’ve got an esteemed line-up of panelists: standup comedian Aditi Mittal, journalist Bachi Karkaria and filmmaker Paromita Vohra - plus a leading representative of the city’s Right To Pee campaign.

Check out the film Aditi made about her experiences - then we’d love to hear your own views of life as a woman in Mumbai.

And before, during and after the show, get involved @guardiancities using the hashtag #NDTVguardianmumbai

9.49am GMT09:49

My colleague Nick Mead (@nickvanmead) has been busy working with the Guardian graphics team. He and interactives developer Daan Louter (@ddaan) have come up with this nifty piece of work about the remarkable rate of urbanisation in this already crowded city.

The UN’s latest edition of World Urbanisation Prospects estimates that an average of 909 people are moving to Mumbai every day. That is 38 people an hour. Or a couple every three minutes. And that’s not even the fastest-growing city on Earth.

It is certainly one of the densest. The LSE’s Urban Age project compared Mumbai with other global cities; although Mumbai didn’t rank No 1, the differences with metropolises like London and New York is astonishing.

The peak density for Mumbai in the bottom right of the graphic shows the LSE’s estimate that more than 120,000 people live in the most densely populated square kilometre of Mumbai. CM, NM

Updated at 10.15am GMT

9.00am GMT09:00

Time for some more tweets from the #guardianmumbai timeline, Yasir is now in Powai with Urban Spaces, scrawling his way to artistic bliss.

Here at Powai with Urban spaces project being taught graffiti!#guardianmumbai @guardiancities pic.twitter.com/mxFGw4Rk8a

See above Tim, rest assured we will try and get about as much as we can. Yasir was in Rivali Park before. SR

I hope this isn't all going to be from Bandra... #GuardianMumbai

Aditi Nargundkar Pathak volunteering at Powai urban spaces.#guardianmumbai @guardiancities pic.twitter.com/CboMbEuWXX

Updated at 9.00am GMT

8.18am GMT08:18

Everyday Mumbai takes over Guardian Cities on Instagram

The guardiancities account is being guest edited. Curated by photojournalist Chirag Wakaskar, Everyday Mumbai is a blog and Instagram feed that aims to chronicle the social landscape of Mumbai – and the daily lives of its citizens. “The idea behind @everydaymumbai was to showcase all the moments that make up Mumbai that may not be necessarily be covered by mainstream media,” Chirag explains. “And since it’s completely crowdsourced, several viewpoints of the city are covered - be it visiting photojournalists or amateur photographers.” FP

Updated at 9.05am GMT

7.48am GMT07:48

How to get involved

For those of you just tuning in, Guardian Cities are in Mumbai for a week of reporting, live TV debates, urban interventions and the odd game of keepy-uppy. Mumbaikars, we want you (and everyone else) to get involved! Here’s how to follow our events and join in the fun. It’s your city: don’t be shy, tell us what you think really needs to be talked about.

We’re spending a lot of time while we’re here at the Hive, an arts and community space in Bandra - read more about it here and feel free to drop in at any time to say hi. We don’t bite. Unlike leopards ... CM

Updated at 8.08am GMT

7.24am GMT07:24

Rivali park makeover

Right, it’s time to check in with our roving reporter Yasir Mirza, who is currently in Rivali Park, Borivali East, with Prathima Manohar, founder of the Urban Vision, and her merry band of volunteers.

Urban spaces volunteers graffiti at Rivali park. #GuardianMumbai @guardiancities pic.twitter.com/v4sdawI5D7

This morning they’ve begun transforming an unused, unloved space into a communal spot where locals can relax and converse. Designed with the help of neighbourhood artists, it’s all about making the city more liveable, and we’re glad to be a part of it. Read more about this project, and another that started today over in Powai, here.

Urban spaces volunteers recruiting public to take part in Rivali park project.#guardianMumbai@guardaincities pic.twitter.com/kGN5T5HM7E

So far, Yasir has been fulfilling a lifelong ambition by helping to graffiti the “wish wall” - and you can help, too, by sharing your wish for a dream city using the hashtag #ReMakeBBY @TheUrbanVision. MH

Updated at 9.01am GMT

7.13am GMT07:13

The Gateway to India, Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Marine Drive, the buzz of Bandra and Andheri, Chowpatty beach and Elephanta Island - yes, yes, yes, we’ve heard of these wonders to behold. But we are looking for something proper Mumbai.

We will settle for either a glimpse of Sachin Tendulkar. Or a leopard.

You must help us to do this, oh fine people of this fine city. You must help us to spot one of your all-time favourite sons or a species that is no respecter of human urbanisation. We are aware that the Little Master may well be out of town on a book tour, and that leopards have big teeth and are rare and stuff. But we will not be caged in our quest.

I have been reading Playing It My Way, Tendulkar’s autobiography, and it’s a pleasure to see how refreshingly down to earth and candid it is. Seek ye not here the beasts of scandal and sleaze.

Sachin is as in love with his sport as he was when he picked up a bat as an infant. His stories - which consist of punishing training regimes, unbridled dedication to family and friends and pride in representing his district, city, state and country - form the antithesis to the usual “tell-all” sporting auto-bios (mentioning no recent names like Roy Keane or Kevin Pietersen, not mentioning them at all). The prose is so open in its depictions of joy and despair throughout his career, it’s almost childlike.

He talks a lot about his home city. A son of Bandra East, he went to Shardashram Vidyamandir school, played at the foundry that forges so many of India’s best cricketers, Shivaji Park, and had to cross the flyover between East and West Bandra twice a day to wash his whites.

Breaking: I think I just spotted Sachin! Oh, wait ...

So anyway, leopards ...

SR

Updated at 7.22am GMT

6.33am GMT06:33

Selfie challenge accepted

We have a Mumbai selfie challenge winner!

@guardiancities #guardianmumbai A typical working day in my basement cubicle in Nariman Point. Started at 08:15... pic.twitter.com/UAMufFo1nK

Ravi will have a seat reserved for him at tomorrow night’s live discussion at the Hive in Bandra West, about the future of Indian cinema.

Guests for the show, which will go out live on NDTV from 7pm, are scheduled to be the Bollywood actor and major football fan Abhishek Bachchan, fellow actor Imran Khan, Ship of Theseus director Anand Ghandi and the film’s producer, Sohum Shah.

The discussion will be followed by a screening of Ship of Theseus - which the critic Derek Malcolm selected as the “film that changed his life”. To register your interest in this brilliant event, go here. CM

Updated at 7.29am GMT

6.02am GMT06:02

Reclaiming Mumbai’s roads

Yesterday we rocked down to Equal Streets, an amazing temporary pedestrianisation of the busy thoroughfare, Linking Road, described by our friend Carlin Carr, a journalist who lives here, as the best thing to happen to Mumbai in years.

Capoeira, yoga, chess, cycling and an even-handed police presence made the morning a lot of fun. Everyone was out, from children to older residents, to a group of hijra (a transgender community) engaged in mock spats.

Kicking it @EqualStreets #guardianmumbai pic.twitter.com/XEfDnHOFZx

One of the people we met was Hardik Shah, an actor/director with the theatre group Five Senses, who was fetchingly dressed in a sari, dark curly hair peeking out from his chest. “I’m here dressed as a woman to raise awareness about HIV,” he told us. “1 December is World Aids Day.” Consider our awareness raised.

Aparna Joshi writes in the Guardian that “widening lanes for cars and making way for new housing has meant that footpaths in Mumbai have been shrinking every year. New business districts in the city in fact have no footpaths factored into their planning at all.”

“The culture of pedestrianisation has always existed in [Mumbai],” said Binoy Mascarenhas, Embarq India’s manager for urban transport. “It’s always been an invisible mode of transport, we just need to bring it back to the mainstream.”

Having almost been run over several times in the last couple of days, I agree wholeheartedly. CM

Updated at 6.54am GMT

5.26am GMT05:26

What we’re doing

No sign of a winner yet in our picture challenge - in case you missed it, the first person to tweet a “Mumbai selfie” to @guardiancities using the hashtag #guardianmumbai will, honestly, get to hang out with a Bollywood star tomorrow evening, should they so wish. Clue: this star was all over the television at the Mumbai City FC match last night (small consolation for Chennai’s 3-0 walloping of our Mumbai boys in blue). As mentioned, Guardian Cities has collaborated with NDTV and NDTV.com to create all manner of exciting events for our week in Mumbai. Every evening, starting tonight, you’ll be able to watch the results live on a special Mumbai-themed week of NDTV’s 7pm show Agenda. Regular host Sunetra Choudhury will be joined by Mumbai bureau chief Tejas Mehta for a stimulating and varied series of shows. On tonight’s show, we will be discussing how life is changing for women in Mumbai. The city has traditionally been known as among the safest in India for women – but is that changing? And if so, why? One of the panelists on tonight’s show is the renowned journalist, author and Times of India columnist Bachi Karkaria. Given that Bachi specialises in urban flux, we thought we’d kick our week off by asking her to write a personal piece about her city, and where it’s headed. Headlined “Mumbai is on the verge of imploding”, it’s a characteristically uncompromising read and fascinating account of the city’s recent, controversial history:

Consider these statistics. Rubbish could be its Mount Vesuvius. Some 7,000 metric tonnes of refuse is spewed out each day. Dumping grounds are choked, yet there is no government­mandated separation or recycling. Around 7.5 million commuters cram themselves into local trains every day and the fledgeling metro and monorail are unlikely to make a perceptible difference in the near future.

There are 700,000 cars on the road and the authorities indirectly encourage private vehicle ownership by adding flyovers and expressways, instead of building or speeding up mass rapid transit systems. Private vehicle numbers have grown by 57% in the past eight years, compared to a 23% increase in public buses.

No one said tackling the problems of Mumbai was going to be easy. MH

Updated at 6.55am GMT

5.04am GMT05:04

What’s on

Good morning, Mumbai. Housekeeping can indeed wait - we want to know what is happening in this illustrious city today.

Here are some events that have caught our eye today - but please let us know about any others via Twitter at @guardiancities and #guardianmumbai.

First up: the open-data journalism group IndiaSpend is doing a special week focusing on Mumbai. Hey I like that idea, do you think we could …? More on what they’re doing later.

We’ve got some exciting events planned this week, but if you’re making plans for today, how about the QTP text reading at Seven Bungalows, where people come together to read a play they have not got round to reading.

Or there’s a talk on The Nuclear Question: Development, Security and Sedition at the Tata Institute of Science.

And just where does an oligarch or tycoon go to buy their latest Siamese fighting fish in this town? Why, naturally, the Exotic Fish Fair at Inorbit Malad. [Please note oligarchs/tycoons - I have no idea if Siamese fighting fish are for sale there. We operate a no refund policy on our recommendations.]

And some stories that have also caught our attention include:

A story on property development in south Mumbai in the Indian Express.

And one in the Times of India on sterilisation in the city and the gender balance.

And something a bit more fun: another one by that paper on the chef demo explosion in the city. Back soon. SR

Updated at 6.55am GMT

4.28am GMT04:28

Good morning!

Guardian Cities is here in Mumbai / Bombay / Kakamuchee / Galajunkja / Manbai / Bombaim / Mombayn / Bombaym / Bambaye / Boon Bay / Bon Bahia – and we’ve got the footballs to prove it.

We’re here

on one long jolly

to get under the skin of this extraordinary city; to analyse the fabric of its urban existence; and to find out what the future holds for an already rather crowded place that is going to get a whole lot more crowded by the end of this decade.

According to World Population Review: “By 2020, Mumbai will host an estimated 24 million people, with the highest population density in the world. While Greater Mumbai now has a density of 27,348 people per square kilometre, this will reach a peak of 101,066 per square mile, which will be the highest on earth.”

In short, what more fascinating, challenging, confusing and downright addictive city could a website obsessed with urban issues visit for its first ever live “week on the road”? So, thanks for having us – and very special thanks to our friends at NDTV.com, in whose Mumbai office we are currently residing (in the boardroom, no less!). More news about our exciting nightly series of live NDTV-Guardian Cities debates coming up.

Good morning Mumbai - from the NDTV office, @guardiancities home for our live week. #NDTVguardianmumbai pic.twitter.com/sIyonKmatq

But first (and this is important): we’re only going to learn, share ideas and have fun this week if we can hear from you, the great people of Mumbai. So let’s start right now. The first person to tweet a “Mumbai selfie” to @guardiancities using the hashtag #guardianmumbai will earn the chance to hang out with some genuine Bollywood stars tomorrow night. Get to it!

(Alternatively, for a full and frank guide to how to interact and, perish the thought, even meet some of the Guardian Cities team this week, have a look at this article.)

Enough of the housekeeping, I hear you cry. It’s time to find out what’s going on in Mumbai ...

Updated at 6.55am GMT