New Girl in the City

With crime rates against women being lower than most of the other metropolitan cities in India, Mumbai is a great city to live in if you’re a young single and independent girl. You might be moving to the city because you’ve joined a college or a job here. Whatever the reason may be here are a few tips to help you get a fair idea about what you’re getting into:

Accommodation:

You can choose between taking a flat or a PG (paying guest). Let me warn you. It is super expensive to live in Bombay. Most landlords demand a hefty security deposit or a year’s rent in advance. Besides this, you have the brokerage to pay and the society membership fees which can run up to thousands. There are areas to suit everyone’s budget. The farther you move from town the cheaper it gets.  In case, you’re a student, colleges provide lists of PG accommodations.

Transport:

You can’t compare the Delhi Metro but Mumbai is well connected by way of the local trains, buses, taxis, auto rickshaws and radio taxis. The Mumbai local train is divided into three routes – Central, Western and Harbor Line. You then proceed to auto-rickshaws if you’re in the suburbs or taxis if you’re in the town area.  Buses go everywhere. Ask around for the route numbers from your friends and neighbours.

Food:

You can survive if your ceiling is leaking. You can survive if you get shoved, pushed or tugged in the local train but you cannot survive if you’re unable to adjust to the food here. This is true for any place. Mumbai offers a variety of foods to suite your palate. There’s the regular north Indian food that you’re used to, south Indian, Continental, Marathi etc. Mumbai is paradise for street food lovers but everything you get here has potato or the beloved batata. And pau (bun/bread). They love the batata and pau. So you have the vada pau, cutlet pau, samosa pau and so on. And the best part is that it’s cheap. You can have all this for under thirty rupees.

Language:

Along with Marathi and Gujrati, English and Hindi are freely spoken in Mumbai. You might have to learn to sprinkle your conversations with a little Marathi here and there just to win the favour of the locals. E.g. Potato is not aloo, its batata; onion is not pyaaz but kaandha. I suggest you pick these up and use them in your day to day activities be it while talking to your rickshaw driver or the aunty sitting next to you in the train. It establishes a sense of familiarity and you’re more likely to have new experiences and learn more things every time you go out.

Entertainment/Leisure:

A quite walk down the Versova Beach or a wild girls night out to Firangi Pani, bonding over drinks at Sunlight or having a double espresso to cure a hangover the next morning at Chai Coffi, Mumbai has beaches, restaurants, bars and nightclubs to suit everyone’s leisure interest.

Advice:

When you move to any city, the key is a positive attitude. Be open to people and respect the culture you’re moving into. Take it as an opportunity to broaden your horizon. You’ll find there’s something new to learn every day.