A Day During The Mumbai Monsoon- The Highs And The Lows Of The City

Mumbai — the city is a hub of entertainment and is warm and welcoming to everyone. It is a megacity and is also the capital of Maharashtra. When you hear the word Mumbai, you instantly think of it as the city of dreams – the city where all your dreams come to life.

On the other hand, Mumbai monsoon is very opposite of what Mumbai is portrayed as. Mumbai monsoon is very clumsy and difficult don’t get me wrong, I love the monsoons when I enjoy it from the comfort of my home sipping my tea but ask me to step out and it’s a different story altogether. So what are the reasons that make Mumbai monsoon pretty but also not-so-welcoming at the same time?

I am a college student. I have been living in Mumbai for the past 16 years and I travel by trains very frequently. Mumbai, like any other place, has its highs and lows. You might see the beauty of Mumbai in a lot of aspects but this year, the citizens have also seen a little bit of downside to the city. Here are the highs and lows of monsoons in Mumbai through my lenses;

Mumbai is well known for its street food which is very popular amongst the citizens of Mumbai. Vada Pav has is a staple diet of Mumbaikars. When you are in Mumbai, Vada Pav becomes an important part of your life. No matter how much you deny it, you can never get bored of Vada Pav. Eating Vada Pav during the Mumbai monsoon is even more fun because the weather is cold and humid and nothing feels better than a stall with deliciously smelling Vada Pav. It’s not just Vada Pav, other ‘Mumbai original’ dishes like pav bhaji are also very common these days. The weather makes you so lazy, you don’t feel like cooking anything. That is perfect because then you can go and eat some pav bhaji with your friends and family.

Monsoon particularly is a very happy season. You get to see such beautiful scenarios as soon as you walk out of your house. There are little puddles everywhere. You can see little kids, with their little paper boats made out of their school notebooks and play with them in the rain. It is the most peaceful thing to look at because you can see how happy these kids are and they are just living in the moment and not caring about if they get sick or if their clothes get dirty. This always reminds me of how we should not stress too much about our future and only live in the present and what happens in our present.

When I go home from college, I often little school kids playing in water puddles jumping and playing with their little paper boats. Sometimes, I have also seen little stray dogs join them in their little fun activities. It reminds me of the days when I was little and I used to play with my friends in water puddles and make little boats.

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I believe monsoon is the best time to be bonding with your family. sometimes, it is raining so heavily that kids want to skip school and people don’t feel like working and that’s why they often end up taking a leave. At such time, family bonding grows even further. Enjoying some good ‘garam-garam pakoras’ with chai are the best combos during Mumbai monsoon. Having a fun time with family over pakoras/bhajiyas with chai is always a great feeling.

Bhajiya is a common food in my household. My mother always makes bhajiya on Sundays during the monsoon season.  And of course, the Pudina chutney is must with these bhajiyas. People usually eat it with tomato ketchup but I always prefer to eat it with pudina chutney

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Life of a typical Mumbaikar depends on local trains. Almost 80% of the citizens rely on the Mumbai local trains because it is the lifeline of the Mumbaikars. Mumbai streets are easily flooded. Since there is a lot of heavy raining in Mumbai monsoons, water gets clogged very easily and there is a lot of water on the railway tracks as well, due to which the trains are blocked and don’t move any further. Water clogging further leads to power cuts because there are loose wires lying around.

Recently, Vasai-Virar faced the biggest problem of water clogging. It started raining on a Friday night and continued to rain at the same pace on Saturday and then Sunday. It did not look like it was gonna stop anytime soon.

The rains continued even on Sunday night and did not stop and then on Monday morning, the water level started rising and reached up to the ankles. Soon, the electricity was cut-off and so was the water supply. Since it was the first day, it was okay and people had no difficulty spending the day. Tuesday, the water level had reached till the waist, People living on the ground floor had to leave their houses and shift to someone else’s homes or live on the terrace of the building. With continuous power and electricity cut, people found it hard to stay in as the phones and other electronics had no charging. The temperature was not too much because of which there wasn’t a lot of problem sleeping at night. By Wednesday evening, the rain died down a little and that is when the water started draining out and the authorities were called for help.

By Thursday, people were back on track with their work lives and students started attending their colleges and schools. These pictures that I have attatched below are clicked by me and my friends. We lived this horror story.

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Stray animals usually find themselves at a loss of help during this time. People are so busy caring about themselves and their problems, it becomes difficult for the stray animals in Mumbai monsoon. Stray animals don’t usually find food at this time of the year because the food gets washed off because of the water. Mumbai monsoon is tough for stray animals.

When I was stuck in Vasai, I saw numerous stray dogs that were stuck because of the water being flooded. They were hungry stranded for so many days.

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Marine Drive is the hotspot of people in Mumbai as well as tourists but due to Mumbai monsoon, it is not safe for people to visit at Marine Drive because there is a high tide during monsoon in Mumbai. Because of the high tides, people are warned as to not visit places like Marine Drive, Juhu Beaches, or any beaches for that matter, in order to remain safe. After the 2005 floods, people themselves have become very cautious and have started taking precautions so as to maintain safety.

I have visited Marine Drive so many times that I have lost count. My friends and I, also visit Juhu Beach sometimes because it is close to our college. But we avoid visiting such places during monsoon season because it is never safe to visit such places during monsoon.

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This article is contributed by Tanya Sharma. She is a 20-year-old BMM graduate residing in Vasai. With this article, she hopes to convey to everyone the difficulties of travelling in Mumbai especially during monsoons.

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