I migrated to Bombay during the monsoon in 1999 and landed in a really-cheap fishing village/colony on the eastern side of Santacruz. I doubted if I had arrived at the wrong Bombay -- where is the Bombay that I expected. Later that day, I felt happy when I saw the ocean for the first time and spent my whole evening at Juhu Beach.
The next day, I spent the day-long along Marine Drive, Chowpatty, Gateway of India, and I saw these buildings mentioned in the articles. Now, they do look -- "Bombay." That was when I knew I had indeed landed in Bombay. In those days, Bombay was there, and that's it. Beyond Bandra (after Juhu, etc.), the flats were matchboxes with little-to-no windows, and no balconies at all -- packed as much as possible in the smallest available spaces.
I sort of know the feeling. I came to Mumbai in 2000 in a long distance train and deboarded it at Mumbai CST. As I was figuring out if this is the Mumbai they talk about, we quickly boarded a suburban train to a suburb where I was gonna stay. It didn't help that adults around me were constantly saying, "we have reached Mumbai", while our train was passing through stations like Wadala and Kurla. This was the first time I was experiencing a suburban train system and previously I had only lived in tier-2 cities. My small mind thought that cities and railway stations are supposed to have a one-to-one mapping.
Upon reaching the destination I was surprised to see our flat in a small building and that further confused me. The 5 year old me thought that Mumbai only had tall buildings. It took me a while to understand how the city is organized and where I was actually living w.r.t. proper Mumbai.
I highly recommend the book Maximum City for a portrayal of Mumbai.
I lived there in 2007-8 and loved the city. Great people. Multiple times rickshaw drivers would chase after me because I didn't get take my change back after passing them some small bills. Very honest and hard-working -- and amazingly resilient. Felt very safe there, even in (especially in?) the slums.
Beautiful international airport and a brand new monorail in bandra.
The next day, I spent the day-long along Marine Drive, Chowpatty, Gateway of India, and I saw these buildings mentioned in the articles. Now, they do look -- "Bombay." That was when I knew I had indeed landed in Bombay. In those days, Bombay was there, and that's it. Beyond Bandra (after Juhu, etc.), the flats were matchboxes with little-to-no windows, and no balconies at all -- packed as much as possible in the smallest available spaces.