Mumbai, the busiest city in India, is the place where the trade centers are busy keeping pace with the rest of the world in terms of business. The country's dream factory, Bollywood is situated in this very land, and attracts the attention of youth from all over the country. These youths come to Mumbai to pursue their dreams of becoming superstars, and their aspirations, sometimes, make wonderful stories.

Earlier, the place, which was given as a dowry by the Portuguese to CharlesII of England on his marriage to Catherine, was later leased to the East India Company. Commonly called the group of seven Island, Mumbai had the Gujrati's and the Parsis as their first settlers in 17th century. Due to migrants from all over India, the place has become a multilingual and multi cultural.


Location
Mumbai is located halfway up the east coast of India, and is the capital of the most industrialised state of Maharashtra.

Climate
The winter months from November to February are the best time to visit Mumbai, when temperatures range between 23°C and 30°C. The spring and summer months are uncomfortably hot with humidity and temperatures often reaching 40°C.


Major Attractions
Gateway of India - The Gujrati style 26meters high stone archway is the landmark of Mumbai city seen clearly from the docks. The Gateway was designed by Writtet in the 16th century, and was built to commemorate the visit of King George V and Queen Mary in 1911. The crypto moresque archway had seen several visitors through its gate including the viceroys, governors and officials who landed in this city from their steamers. Also stands in honour is an equastrain statue of Chatrapati Shivaji as well as a statue of Swami Vivekananda.

Chowpatti Beach - It is a popular place to stroll around in the evening as well as in the Saturday nights with the beloved ones, taking the pleasure of the nearby kiosks and satisfying the hunger with special snacks like the Pav bhaji, cholle, Bhel puri, different flavours of Kulfi or ice cream etc. For entertainment gun shooting galleries, cartoonists, balloons, flowers to gift to the loved ones, horse riding and even professional masseurs are at the command. Festivals like the Coconut Day and the Ganesh Chatturthi are held in the beach with great pomp. The flowing Arabian sea lies ahead in front of the beach which is captivated by the statues of freedom fighters like the Lokmanya Tilak, Vallabbhai Patel and the likes. It was the meeting place of the political strugglers in pre independence era.

Jain Temple - The marble shrine built completely of marbles is dedicated to the first Trithankara, Adinath. The temple comes with colourful paintings depicting various incidents in the lives of the 24 Trithankaras worshipped among the Jains. The shrine created in the year 1904 has a special one dedicated to Parsvanath carved in black marbles and ceiling showing the different planets according to Hindu mythology.

Pherozshah Mehta Garden - The beautiful Hanging Garden was laid in the year 1881 on top of the reservoir that supplies water to the whole of the city. Renamed as Pheroz Shah garden after the well known advocate Pherozshah Mehta, its special feature are the hedges cut in to animal shapes. The early hours of the morning sees the garden filled with peoples doing yoga, exercises and talking walks. It gives a stunning view of the harbour in the dusk.

Malabar Hills - Counted as the best posh area in Mumbai, Malabar hill is the sought after residential place in the city. It houses the Bollywood star studded actors as well as the bureaucrats. The Chief Minister's house and top dignitaries are among its great neighbours. The ruins of the Walkeshwar temple built in around 1000 AD can be found here. It is believed that Lord Rama, on his way to Lanka, stopped here and made a lingum of Lord Shiva.