The Shalimar Hotel, Kemps Corner, Mumbai

Mumbai has a reputation that precedes herself. Everything you have heard may be true! Well just about! The British took a long thin sparsely inhabited strip of pristine island paradise on the west coast of India, leveraged its excellent harbour for a port and connected it with some superb railway networking to the rest of India. Lo and behold ! Bombay was born! Cut to today; the image that comes to mind is that of a huge 'wok' in the midst of a zestful stirfry. That's the picture; a 'work in progress', in a heady, colourful, aromatic and promisingly tasty presentation. The finest ingredients: A generous pick of people from every corner of India in a spectrum of cultural hues too many to count. They play an enormous part in lending Mumbai its carefree character.
Mumbai will always seem different to different folks. To the uninitiated, she may seem a mass of chaos. Too much to take in, all at once. But be patient and she will willingly open up to you, layer by layer, experience by experience, to finally bare her very soul. You will learn to look beyond and see with a third eye. That's when you begin to appreciate and truly enjoy the city. So whether you've read 'Shantaram' or 'Sacred Games', or seen 'Slumdog Millionaire', they're all different versions of the great Mumbai experience. All true to the metaphor! As for you, you will write your own! We can merely point the way! But with firm guarantees that you'd thoroughly enjoy your visit here!