.. In Bombay

Lunch with the locals, a lounge-worthy library, and a killer sunset

Like millions of others who grew up in the city during the 80s, I’ll never be able to call it Mumbai.

The name Mumbai smacks of parochialism and insularity. It’s a reminder of the regional chauvinism that has begun creeping into every facet of life in the city — from street signs scrubbed clean of their colonial origins and replaced with the names of Hindu nationalist heroes; to bans on cow slaughter; to crackdowns on Valentine’s Day celebrations.

But it also speaks of a city playing furious catch-up in a globalized world. As India’s nascent free-market economy booms and the country reaches for super-power status, Bombay becomes the primary vehicle for its aspirations.