MUMBAI CULTURE 

A resident of Mumbai is called a Mumbaikar. People prefer to stay close to a railway station for easy access to the metropolis. Many city-dwellers lead a fast-paced life with very little time for other activities owing to a significant amount of time spent on daily commuting.

LANGUAGE

The official language of the city, Marathi, is the mother-tongue of the majority of the population. The influence of Marathi in the city had slowed down for a few years but has grown again tremendously in the last 5-10 years. However, due to a large number of immigrants coming to the city, Mumbai has become a melting pot of various parts of India. The Marathi and Bollywood movie industries are quite popular.

FOOD

The metropolis has a roadside fast food consisting of vada pavs, Dabeli, Panipuri, Bhelpuri, etc. South Indian and Chinese food is also popular in the city. Other cuisines in the city are Lebanese, Korean, Thai, Italian and Mexican. Other than Chinese and South Indian cuisines, Mughalai, Punjabi, Mālvani and Continental are also popular.

Mumbai being the financial capital has a large number of migrant population. Members of the migrating families are working with no other family support, hence ordering food from close by restaurants or calling for pre-packaged meal (dabba as called locally) is an accepted thing. Owing to these recent trends there have been some online food ordering services that have cropped.

Tea is the most popular beverage followed by coffee. There are tea stalls in almost all roads and corners. Other drinks include fruit juices and coconut water. Irani cafés are a part of Mumbai's cosmopolitan heritage.

FESTIVALS

Mumbai residents celebrate Western and Indian celebrations and festivals. Festivals and celebrations are observed by residents of all communities and religions. Diwali, Holi, Christmas, Navratri, Good Friday, Id, Dussera, Moharram, Ganesh Chaturthi, Durga Puja and Maha Shivratri are some of the festivals in the city.

Ganesh Chaturthi is one of the most major festivals, celebrated in the city with great fervour. This festival involves the placing of an idol of Lord Ganesha in the house for either 1½, 3,5,7 or 11 days after which it is immersed in the ocean after a colourful and noisy parade. This festival was started by Bal Gangadhar Tilak as a means of unifying all the people. This is primarily celebrated by Maharashtrians but almost all Mumbaikars participate in one way or another.

ARCHITECTURE

In 2004, Mumbai received two heritage conservation awards from the UNESCO. The Marine Drive is home to some of the finest buildings of the art deco style, which flourished in the 1920s and 1930s. During the British era, the Indo-Saracenic architecture was the official architecture of the city. Many Indo-Gothic monuments also line South Mumbai — Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus; BMC building, Gateway of India are some of this style.

Mumbai has housing structures known as Chawl ('chaali' in Marathi). These are the remnants of the once booming cotton mills which provided job opportunities and led to migration of people to Mumbai. Chawls still occupy a large portion of the Mumbai residential area.