Mumbai｜孟買

[Edit: I wrote this piece after about a month of living in Mumbai. I wrote this while leaving the city after six months: 

Mumbai - the most intense city I have seen. A place where the scope of expression is largely delimited not by abstract notions of tradition or culture but by a severe crunch of space. It's also a good case study of to what extent can people adapt, and navigate their way through a limited amount of resources. Constantly seething with life, it's an attack on your senses. It takes a lot out of you, sucks you into its maelstrom of chaos; and then it grows on you.

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This city has everything that I dislike. It has a few things that I like.

Mumbai is an interesting city. Ironically, it is deemed interesting due to presence of things that shouldn't exist. It has sprawled ruthlessly. The overgrowth of this city has consumed its surroundings like a swarm of locusts. Ironically, movement is severely constrained inside this megasprawl. Gridlocks adorn its pitted roads.

This city makes me yearn for open space. Slums occupy most of the space horizontally whereas tall concrete erections occupy it vertically. It gives me sporadic fits of claustrophobia, much like Hong Kong did.

I live in a gated community and my apartment is located on twelfth story. It overlooks a highway and a flyover which covers a part of it. The sight of headlights moving swiftly on the highway after midnight gives me a feeling of calm. It gives me a perception of unhindered movement.

The best asset of this city is its people. Nowhere in India have I seen such nice people. A sense of camaraderie can be felt when talking to them. People here seem to have cultivated some very non-Indian traits like being helpful without infringing on one's privacy and not staring at anyone.

I have seen a very small section of this city. I will be rightfully told that I need to see a lot before I judge this city. I am told this city grows on you. I don't think so. I believe the extremity of this city brings forth one's skills to adapt in order to survive. You change your preferences in order to like this city.

This city is doing weird things to me. It is making my lifestyle more abstract. It constantly makes me realize all the things I am missing out on.

I can't go for a long run out in the open or hike somewhere in the hills on a regular basis. I would've bought a bike for commuting had I planned to stay here for long term.

Mumbai would've been an interesting experience if I had come here as a backpacker, indulged in its chaos and absorbed the numerous oddities if offers. Mumbai reminds me of a more crowded and bipolar version of Bangkok. It's like a darker version of Alice In Wonderland.

這個城市我不喜歡的什麼東西都有。他也有我喜歡的有些東西。

孟買失衡有趣的城市。具有諷刺意味的是讓他很有趣的事情是不應該的。他非常堅決的擴展了。這個城市的瘋狂生長好像蝗蟲群把周圍環境消耗掉了。哭笑不得的是這裏活動是相當限制的。賽車裝飾這裏的坑坑窪窪的路。

這個城市讓我嚮往開放空間。貧民窟會佔領大部分的水準空間，然後很高的混凝土建築會佔領大部分的垂直空間。這個地方零星地湧起幽閉恐懼，好像香港。

我住在個封閉社區裡，我的房子是在12樓。我的房子俯瞰一條大道和立交橋。半夜後看一看在路上走得很快的前燈讓我覺得很平靜。他們有順利動作的認識。

這裏的最棒的優點是這裡的當地人。在印度的其他的地方我沒有看過那麼好人。跟他們聊天的時候你會感覺到情誼。這裡的人養成了有些在印度難找的習慣，例如幫忙的時候不侵犯人的隱私還有不盯著別人。

我就是看過這個城市的很小的一部分。我知道我需要去比較多地方才可以形成意見。聽說這個地方真真是人喜歡他。我不同意。我覺得在這裡的嚴重情況一下，人會適應到可以活著。你需要改變你的看法喜歡這裡。

這個城市害我覺得很奇怪。他讓我的生活比較抽象。他一直讓我意識每個抓不住的東西。

我不能出門跑還是常常去爬山。我不打算在這住下來，要不然我就買了一個腳踏車。

要是我去旅行的前提下來這裡，再體驗這裏的亂象和珍聞，我可能會喜歡這個城市。孟買使我想起曼谷的更擁擠和雙極版本。孟買是好像「愛麗絲漫遊奇境記」的黑暗的版本。

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