asialife HCMC 1 - AsiaLIFE Magazine

The City That
Never Sleeps
Whether you call it Mumbai or Bombay, the spirit
of the city rises above and beyond its name, writes
Ramya Sarma. Photos by David Berkowitz.
The average denizen of the
big bad city that is Mumbai
will usually be found walking
briskly along on any working
day, busy trying to get from
here to there without losing too
much time. He or she will be
headed purposefully to a destination
without really bothering
too much about obstacles in the
way, crossing streets without
watching the lights but nimbly
dodging traffic, hopping over
dividers and fences, swerving
around other pedestrians and
occasionally muttering what
could be a curse, a prayer or
even just that age-old question
that will never find a satisfying
answer: Is it Mumbai or do we
still say Bombay
For the native of the city,
Mumbai comes naturally,
since the founding deity of the
settlement is Mumba Devi, after
whom it was named. Her temple
is still seen in the middle of
a very densely populated area
where streets are small, narrow,
winding and full of adventure,
called Kalbadevi. A visit to her
shrine is a must for travellers
and those coming back to the
city alike—in fact, whenever
I return to Mumbai after an
extended stay elsewhere, I go
see the goddess and pay my
respects, as if to assure myself
that I am indeed home.
The Portuguese named
the city Bom Bahia, or good
harbour, after an exclamation
by a soldier who sailed to its
shore in 1508. When the British
took over, getting the land as
a dowry from the Portuguese
princess Catherine de Braganza
when she married Charles II in
1661, they had a little difficulty
being authentic in their pronunciation
and called it Bombay
instead. That name stuck for
many years, going back to the
more vernacular version only in
1995, when the local government
decided that it was time to
truly throw off all vestige of the
Raj. Though nothing could be
done with the British legacy of
the spectacular Indo-Saracenic
architectural styles of so many
significant buildings, from the
main railway station, Chhatrapati
Shivaji Maharaj Terminus,
or Victoria Terminus, to the
Prince of Wales museum (now
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