With more than twenty million people Mumbai is India's largest and most cosmopolitan city as well as its financial center. Founded as a Portuguese fort at the tip of a peninsula between the Indian Ocean and Mumbai Harbor, Mumbai sprawls mostly northward and seemed even larger as we approached from that direction and encountered continuous urban sprawl starting about 50 kms outside the city.

Fortunately, our hotel in Mumbai was in the Colaba neighborhood within walking distance of the city's heart, including the Gateway of India, historic buildings and museums, central cricket ovals, Marine Drive and seaside Art Deco neighborhood . One full day and two nights in Mumbai, were a little insufficient to more than scratch the city's surface.

One of the highlights of Mumbai was a tour of Dharavi, the massive slum of over one million people where the movie Slumdog Millionaire was set. For obvious reasons it makes sense to visit such a place with people who know the lay of the land rather than to try do it independently, and we went on a ttip organized by Reality Tours and Travel, an outfit that prides itself on "responsible tourism" which includes not allowing photos while on the slum tour. Thus, I don't have any pictures from the fascinating neighborhood, but there are a few on their website at this link.
 
 http://www.realitytoursandtravel.com/dharavi-long-tour.html

After getting picked up by their drivers from our hotel the trip included a drive through Mumbai's red light district and a stop overlooking Dhobi Ghat where much of Mumbai's laundry from hopitals and hotels and other institutions is hand washed and dried outdoors, We ventured into Dharavi on foot over a bridge over a rail line, first visiting the industrial area with workshops doing all kinds of dirty work involving recycling garbage and smelting down metal, then a roof top visit for a better vista of the slum, on through residential neighborhoods of the different ethnic groups and religions (separate quarters for Maharathi Hindus ad Muslims, Gujaratis, and Tamils) - mazes of dark narrow alleyways often no much broader than my shoulders, past the parked Mercedes of a wealthy slum dweller (there are apparently many of those who still reside in the slum to hide their income from the tax man), a community center, stops in residences, home-based businesses like pappadam-making, and shopping for snacks in one of the commercial areas. Dharavi was thoroughly fascinating!