Monsoons, Amitabh, Traffic & Nightlife - This is Mumbai

After spending much of the week without the Internet, I'm back online!  Week 2 of the Hindi Lauder track has been packed with exciting stories.  It feels like I could write a post for each day but don't have the time for it so I'll have to make do with the abridged version.

Last Saturday, I landed in Mumbai and it was pouring rain.  Just like how I remembered the monsoons from my childhood - stuck in traffic, roads flooded with water and having to roll my pants up to wade through the water in order to get home.  As horrifying as it was, it's part of the charm of Mumbai.  Since then, it hasn't failed to rain a single day.

During the work week, we had a lineup of corporate visits.  Meetings with CEOs, executives and the occasional Bollywood star.  Kishore Biyani (The Future Group / Big Bazaar), Saroj Datta (Jet Airways), Sanjoy Chatterjee & Himanshu Bahuguna (Goldman Sachs), D. Kurane & Amit Shah (Yes Bank) and Amitabh Bachchan.  Yes, that's worth saying again - we had a meeting with AMITABH BACHCHAN!  In Hollywood terms, that's like combining the superstar power of Elvis Presley, Denzel Washington, Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt and any other favorite celebrity.  If that wasn't enough, Amitabh spent 2 hours talking to us (instead of being on set with his celebrity son, Abhishek) and even blogged about us!  Check it out at: BigB - Day 1154.

Aside from the corporate visits, I spent an endless number of hours stuck in traffic.  The traffic in Mumbai sucks!  On one occasion it took over 2.5 hours to make a trip of approximately 20 kilometers.  For everything Mumbai has become, the traffic issue is a major setback.  I can't imagine the hours of lost productivity or lost family time wasted away on the roads of Mumbai.  Mumbai severely lags in infrastructure and I just don't see it catching up to the ever-increasing population.

Finally, a trip to Mumbai would not be complete without the food (Paneer Tikka Masala, Butter Chicken, Vada Pau, Pau Bhaji, Indo-Chinese, Chicken McSpicy's, more Butter Chicken, an upscale meal at the Taj) and nightlife (Mondegars, Leo's, Jazz by the Bay, Topaz, Olive, Zaffron, and crashing a wedding at the Taj).  It was only a week but we managed to cram in as much of Mumbai as we could - it will be memorable forever!