Why I Love Mumbai: Incredible Facts About Mumbai

The city of dreams, Mumbai nagariya (Mumbai Town), is one of the most populous cities in the world. Also, the glitz and glamor of the place are hard to ignore. Some people love the city, for the virtue of being born here. Others worship it as their “karma bhumi’ (place of work). But the following interesting facts sum up why I love the place:-(Proud Mumbaikar)

1. Mumbai, earlier known as Bombay, was originally an archipelago of 7 islands – Bombay Island, Colaba, Little Colaba, Mahim, Mazagoan, Parel and Worli.

2. Further, in 1661, Mumbai was given away as dowry to King Charles II of England. A Portuguese did this at the occasion of his marriage with Princess Catherine.

3. The name Mumbai is derived from the name the Koli Goddess worshipped in Maharashtra- Mumbadevi suffixed with ‘ai’ from the word ‘Aai’ meaning mother.

4. Mumbai is the center of the biggest film industry in the country – Bollywood, which makes the most number of films in a calendar year in the entire world.

5. It is the financial and the commercial capital of the country and has been honored with the name “Alpha World City” owing to its significance in the economic system of the world.

6. Mumbai alone handles about 40% of the International Air Cargo traffic of the country. It also handles 38% of the International Passenger traffic.

7. The world-famous Mumbai railways, carry almost 2.2 billion passengers a year. Also, compare it with the statistics of the world population being 6 billion. The traffic is hugeeeee!

8. The prestigious Forbes magazine recognizes the world-famous dabbawallas. Moreover, they’ve given a 6-sigma rating to the dabbawallas, which indicates that the ratio of error in their transactions be 1 in 6 million.

9. Mumbai is probably the only city having a full-fledged national park, within the city. Moreover, the Sanjay Gandhi National Park has a wide variety of dangerous carnivorous animal species living within, and the park stands almost in the center of Mumbai.

10. On the occasion of Ganesh Chathurthi, the streets of Mumbai turn into mayhem. Millions of enthusiastic devotees carry their Ganesha idols for immersion. Also, it is probably the largest crowd gathering anywhere.