Last Saturday, Nokia India teamed up 3 tech bloggers – Aditya Singhvi, Kunal Gangar, and Nikhil Pai – and 3 non-tech bloggers – Deepak , Tarun  Chandel and yours truly – and let us loose in Mumbai with the Nokia N8 – inbuilt with a 12 MP camera, a digital zoom and photo editing features – with the purpose of test driving the phone. The theme was the Spirit of Mumbai …  I was teamed with Nikhil Pai who suffered my chatter and darting thoughts with composure, and who also helped me get used to the phone…. 🙂

When I think of the spirit of Mumbai – at a very fundamental level – it is the city of dreams. A place where anyone can make money – even if they come here with nothing. The success stories are numerous. Be it the paan wallah or the channa walla, the chai wallah or the bangle seller – Mumbai gives you that wee bit of space for you to achieve. Maybe, it is the anonymity in the crowd that frees you up from caste, creed or family expectations; maybe the city propels you along; maybe it is that every bit of the city old and new inspires you … I really don’t know the reason why … but, the city allows you the freedom to be and the freedom to do … And, that for me, is the spirit of Mumbai

Bunch of new arrivals at Dadar Station, waiting for transportation

I wonder where they came from, and what their dreams are in this great – sometimes terrifying – metropolis.

Soon they will join the millions using the transportation artery of Mumbai – the local train. Since we were shooting on a Saturday Afternoon, the platforms were fairly empty. On a working day – you will be lucky to find a blank spot anywhere. No, i don’t have the courage to visit Dadar station on a working day at peak hour to show you what i mean … i really don’t

Any Mumbaikar will tell you that this is a unbelievable scene – a Dadar station platform that is near empty at 5 in the evening.

Anyway, I digress – by spending too much time on the Local train system. I have just, began using it again. Not very frequently. But, for journeys from office to town or even home to town. Too much traffic on the road to drive …

Crawford Market is one of the busiest markets in Mumbai. It has footfalls that an AC Mall in Malad will give its right lung, kidney and half its brain for… The thing to remember here is that Crawford Market is not for pretty shopping. It is not somewhere you go to hang out with friends, sip a cup of Latte and catch the world on your cell … Crawford market requires you to be alert, focused and resolute in your desire for a bargain. The roads are perpetually jammed here – because in addition to a place where you and I shop, it is also a whole sale market.
I often think that Crawford Market would be more comfortable in Gotham City

Crawford Market

It is not just those jostling in Crawford market to sell their wares that make money, but those who occupy just that little wee bit of pavement space – providing shoppers with a quick bite or a quick buy…

Or look at this one, where the intrepid salesman has left his wares out and popped out of the store for a second – the traffic just moves around the mobile shop

It is also the city that you will see contrasts – Here is the Taj Mahal Hotel (legend has it that the architect committed suicide after the contractor flipped the design – so what is the main entrance today, is supposedly the rear part of the building)

And, here is the channawallah just outside the Taj Mahal Hotel – afterall Mumbai is about live and let live …

And, finally nothing to do with the spirit of Mumbai but simply because I like the picture – The Gateway of India…. surely that should have been the Gateway to India

I had fun with the phone N8 , and its various camera functions – zoom (which is such a useful feature to have on a mobile phone. I guess one of the reasons i don’t shoot too much on a cell phone is because it gives me only the wide option), panaroma, portrait, playing with exposure, shutting down the flash – which is something that i do even on normal cameras – putting little borders on the pics and the like. I felt like a kid with a toy. And, I am supposed to be testing it out for the next few weeks – i have been using it to shoot stuff i would never otherwise have and uploading it instantly. I dread my next month’s phone bill 🙂

more pics on flickr here