Mumbai - Tale Of Two Cities

Madhavankutty Pillai suggests that looking at North and South Mumbai as separate cities will make life much easier for the business traveller on a visit to the indian financial capital

Nariman Point, the traditional commercial nerve centre of India

To come to the point - if you are in town (ie. Mumbai) on business, and do not know much about the city, the way to go about it would be to consider the megapolis to be not one but two cities - one called South Mumbai comprising of all areas to the south of the suburb called Mahim and the other being North Mumbai (starting from Bandra). Such an outlook will help you immensely while planning your itinerary and save you much trouble, time and money.

First there was the south
Once upon a time, maybe even up to the ’60s and ’70s, Mumbai was more or less synonymous with south Mumbai. Let us ignore that peripheral features like the museum, the zoo, the aquarium, etc. were all in the south and restrain ourselves to matters strictly concerning the business traveller.

In which case, south Mumbai had Nariman Point which in turn was and is the commercial nerve centre of the commercial capital of India. It had the most renowned hotel brands, viz. Taj and Oberoi. And to stress the point, in the pre-liberalisation days, the celebrated cocktail circuit of Mumbai was yet to throw its doors open northwards and so no prizes for guessing where the partying, playing and nightlife happened, where the movers and shakers moved, where the hottest restaurants were located and which part of town any business traveller would opt for, if given a choice.

And then...
But that was once upon a time, Mumbai has changed since. Let’s take an example how. On January 27, representatives of all major hotels in north Mumbai got together for a ‘round table meeting’ called by the Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) and Express Hotelier & Caterer. The idea, in brief, was to deliberate on making north Mumbai marketable, to make business travellers stay an extra night. Hotels would thus earn more money and MTDC would earn plaudits. Part of MTDC managing director Ashish Kumar Singh’s address was as follows: “The accommodation market in north Mumbai has grown substantially over the last few years and now boasts of inventories that other states in the country can only dream of. Not only that, leading national and international hotel chains have established their presence which gives all the more reason for hoteliers in that part of Mumbai to contribute towards developing it as a potential tourist destination.”

Note the words: “that other states in the country can only dream of”. And Singh was talking about only north Mumbai.

And to reinforce our case we shall take the example of Sanjay Anand, software engineer, Mastek, who has just returned after a stint in Singapore. He lives in Borivali in north Mumbai, was schooled in Borivali (Don Bosco), went to college in Andheri in north Mumbai (Chinai), works in Andheri (Mastek). How many times does he bridge the north-south divide? “Rarely, almost never. Why would I need to go there?” In fact, in circa 2003, he has seen more of another country than the other side of the city he lives in. North Mumbai, in short, has arrived on its own.

Why and how?
“Congestion, prices and transport,” sums up Jitendra Sanghvi, secretary, Indian Merchants’ Chamber. “South Mumbai had developed for trade and industry while the population lived in the north and commuted to the other end for work.”

Bandra Kurla Complex, where a number of corporates are shifting base

Industry therefore started shifting base. In the mid ‘80s, the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA) decided to set up a 370 hectare self-contained commercial complex which it touted would be one of the largest urban planning government exercise in recent times. The Bandra-Kurla Complex today hosts or will play host to an enviable list of corporates which includes the National Stock Exchange, Unit Trust, Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India (ICICI), NABARD, Reliance, Oberoi Group, Citibank, Wockhardt, IDBI, SBI, MTNL, Vysya Bank, Dena Bank, BOI, a diamond bourse, ultra modern schools, an international convention centre, a cultural centre, departmental stores, eating houses and housing. “You name it, all major financial institutions have shifted,” says Sanghvi. Further north we have what is called Andheri-Kurla, the belt which lies between the Andheri-Ghatkopar Link Road and the Andheri-Kurla Main Road. Major corporates who have brought space here are Tata Infotech, BNP Paribas, DSQ Software, CRISIL. Andheri incidentally is also the location for the Santacruz Electronics Export Processing Zone (SEEPZ) and Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) industrial area in Marol. And along with business and population, entertainment followed. There is now in north Mumbai a vibrant nightlife, innumerable shopping and entertainment avenues.

Two in one
We have seen that there are two clear entities within Mumbai but why should the business traveller bear this in mind? Answer: transport in Mumbai is terrible agony despite a slew of flyovers having been constructed from the mid-90s. Consequently, he will waste a substantial part of his time in the city, if he is not cautious while chalking out his itinerary. If his business interests revolve in the south then there are enough hotels to accommodate him in style, like say the Intercontinental Marine Drive which is the latest ultra-plush boutique hotel to hit town, there are enough avenues of entertainment, like say the H2O water sports complex, enough avenues to shop, like say the huge mall called Crossroads and a thriving nightlife (see box).

Now consider a business traveller with commercial interests in North Mumbai, say with a firm in the Bandra Kurla Complex, who disembarks from either the Santacruz domestic airport or the international airport at Sahar (both in the north). Unlike earlier he does not need to take recourse to the south at all. In fact it will be counterproductive considering that to and fro travel between the two ends will take at least two hours by car, time which can be utilised far more productively. Our business traveller’s accommodation is taken care of in the over 20 hotels in the vicinity of the two airports; for nightlife, he has the option of choosing from any number of discotheques, pubs or nightclubs dotting everywhere from Bandra to Borivali (see box); for one-stop entertainment he would have the option of going to a place like the Hakone Entertainment Centre in Hiranandani Complex, Powai which has go carting, virtual reality games, bowling, etc. - all under one roof - and if he wants to shop, the business traveller will be interested to know that Shoppers’ Stop, one of the bigger shopping malls of the city, has three outlets, all of them in the northern suburbs of Bandra, Andheri and Kandivali.

If he is a Hindi movie buff, a short ride from his hotel will bring him to the grounds of the sprawling Film City in Goregaon where he can watch the superstars in flesh and blood amidst the sylvan surroundings of the National Park.

The business traveller thus, done with his business and having had his share of recreation, as he embarks on his flight home, would not need to step into the other city (South Mumbai). And what’s more, he would not have missed much in the bargain.

Faces of South Mumbai	Faces of South Mumbai