Dharavi’s importance to journalism, both local and global, is well understood – it’s a swampy repository of any number of India stories (India shining! India slumming!), having accrued over the years many fable-like qualities, not all of which are necessarily true. It sits on a rich 557 acre land bank abutted by a glamourous business district, and despite being touted as Asia’s largest slum (it’s not) is home to industry worth an annual GDP of $1.5 billion. Its estimated 300,000 residents are frequently bandied about as downtrodden but accurate representatives of a new India that have only managed to claw a stake in the new century despite and in spite of a government determined to raise them up.

What this very adeptly edited collection manages to do then, is show rather than rehash, through stories and people, all real, that the inhabitants of Dharavi live, love, breath, struggle and sink, just as many of India’s poor do. And to be clear, it’s not sympathy or a tut-tutting sense of despair that the book elicits from the reader, but the understanding that its residents are more finely nuanced than what breathless news cycles and pop cultural re-imaginations would have you believe. Not everyone wants to leave Dharavi, but neither is everyone happy to let the vagaries of slum life lead them down the sewage-filled creek. It’s a place that has people like 15-year-old Pinky, aspiring to be a chartered accountant. “Dharavi has us,” she says. “We are educated and we are going to change its image.”

And so they do. In Saumya Roy’s “Home by the Sea”, we encounter fisherman-turned-super singer Francis Kini; in Mansi Choksi’s “Footnotes”, shoemaker to the stars Jameel Shah. In Pinto’s chapters – he has the distinction of authoring three pieces in this compilation – we meet a poet, and a Bollywood “duplicate” who is able to command Rs1,500 for aping the swagger of Rajesh Khanna. We learn about “bisi”, the incredibly complex system of “crowd loaning” in Priyanka Pathak-Narain’s tightly-spun “Of Money and Moneylenders” and about one of Dharavi’s few women recyclers in Sharmila Joshi’s heartbreaking tale “The Women of Wasteland”.

Even non-fiction requires a gripping story arc, one with ludicrous villains tailormade for Bollywood biopics. No one gets this better than Hussain Zaidi, in his first-hand recount of meeting Chhota Rajan’s man Friday D. K. Rao. Speaking of his near God-like rise from death, Rao says: “Raje and Vipin had died on the spot but Jairam, Ramesh and I were still alive when Jairam, unable to bear the pain, called out ‘Amma’. That was it.” It’s the reporting equivalent of the money shot, the kind you couldn’t make up if you tried.

Dharavi The City Within, edited by Joseph Campana, Harper Collings, Rs399. 

Ox7gen aka Aditya Ashok.

Unlike most rock acts, who stick to their boring given names, electronica artists believe that their creativity should not be limited to just their music but should extend to their ability to think up an imaginative alias. Cases in point – the three acts who will perform at Blue Frog from 10pm on Tuesday, May 21. There’s (the password-friendly) Oxy7gen aka Aditya Ashok, who will launch his second release An Ocean For Everyone; Paralights aka Ayan De, who is one of the best-known producers in the Indian indie scene; and Your Chin aka Raxit Tewari, who is best known as the frontman and vocalist of Sky Rabbit. In a little over a year, they’ve each released EPs, won fans, and become mainstays on the city’s gig circuit. And you, dear reader, can catch all three for free, as their triple bill gig also happens to be the next Mumbai Boss night at the club. The first 20 people to email contests@mumbaiboss.com with “Ox7gen at Blue Frog” in the subject line will get to walk in without having to shell out the Rs350 entry fee or the Rs1,000 cover charge. If you’d like a +1, you need to specify that in your email. The free entry will be provided to those who write in before we reach our cap. The winners will be notified directly via email and their names will be left at the gate with the venue’s managers.

“Of course I saw this coming,” says Ashok Datar, chairman of the Mumbai Environmental Social Network (MESN), an NGO that tracks traffic patterns in the city. “It’s not a greatly useful thing in the overall context,” says Datar. “It’s only halfway through, so there’s not much value during peak hours. Because only four out of eight lanes are being used, there’s a bottleneck (at either end). I think they have made wrong assumptions.”

The faultiest assumption is that building more roads will make it easier to get around the city. Until 2011, Mumbai had around 65 flyovers. The boom in flyover construction began in the late 1990s when the Sena-BJP was in power. While the new roads have made it easier to zip up and down and across the city, commuting is still a hassle for most people. That’s because most people use public transport. According to the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA), only 8 per cent of Mumbaikars travel by car. In contrast, 48 per cent take the train and 44 per cent take the bus. Datar calls the state government’s aggressive road building drive a “megalomania” that must be stopped. “You are trying to subsidise private cars and starving public transport,” he says.

Indeed while the state was busy planting flyovers across the city, comparatively little was done about public transport aside from measures like increasing the number of coaches in local trains. If the government was half as efficient with the building of the metro and the monorail as it is with constructing roads, both would have been up and running by now thereby relieving some of the burden from the western and central railway lines. The first phase of the metro, which joins Versova, Andheri and Ghatkopar, is three years behind schedule. The latest deadline is September 2013 for the Versova-Saki Naka stretch and December for the entire phase. The first phase of the monorail, on the other hand, has crossed its deadline by over a year. The monorail, which will connect Wadala to Chembur via Jacob Circle, should be functional by August.

Last year, the government suddenly revived the intermittently discussed plan to start ferry transport along Mumbai’s east and west coast lines. Some might remember that between 1994 and 1998, a clutch of hovercrafts plied between Navi Mumbai and Nariman Point. But the service failed to take off and the expensive hovercrafts were abandoned to the elements. Since then there have only been half-hearted attempts to pursue the ferry service, which intuitively seems to be a workable means to decongest the railways. Tenders were floated and earlier this year, public hearings were scheduled to ascertain how such a service would affect coastal communities. It remains to be seen whether the plan actually takes off or wastes away like the hovercrafts.

The sea link’s limited success should be a wake-up call to the state. It should prompt them to rethink priorities. For instance, chief minister Prithviraj Chavan might want to reconsider the coastal road plan that he has been so zealously championing. It will require reclaiming land and building a road on stilts from Nariman Point to Kandivali. Again, it could end up being a project that benefits a small percentage of the city’s population which will – if the road fails to meet traffic targets – have to pay expensive toll fares for years so that costs can be recovered. On the other hand, Chavan has rejected the idea of a Bus Rapid Transport System (BRTS) saying that it’s impractical. More impractical than building a road on stilts? Surely with some imagination, the BRTS, which has been implemented in parts of Delhi, Ahmedabad and Surat, could be applied to Mumbai’s roads.

According a survey by MESN, private vehicles take up 85 and 88 per cent of the roads in the suburbs and the island city respectively as opposed to buses that take up 7 and 6 per cent. As of January 2012, Mumbai had 19.79 lakh vehicles or 674 vehicles per kilometre of road. Factor in the amount of pollution generated by cars and you get a sense that we’re heading for an apocalyptic future in which the atmosphere is lethal and cars can’t go faster than 20 kilometres per hour. It might inspire Madhur Bhandarkar, who makes (bad) issue-based films with brief titles, to make a movie called “Road”. Datar says that the government ought to learn from its mistake with the sea link. “Mumbai is already dying according to me,” he says. “We should treat it like a cancer patient.”

Fortunately, they managed to snag a date for the May installment, and they’ve returned with a line-up that’s worth the wait. There’s DayGloCrazie aka Delhi-based singer-songwriter Pratap N Deb, whose set at BOMB Thursday’s Fresh Meat! gig was the stand-out performance of the night; hotly-tipped Chennai indie band The F16’s, who will make their Mumbai live debut; and our personal favourites, Kolkata’s alternative rock stars The Supersonics, who return to our city after almost a year (they last played here at Blue Frog in August 2012), with “lots of new material”. As always, the performances will be preceded by the screening of a rockumentary; this time, it’s Daft Punk The Collaborators, a film about the French dance music duo’s collaborations with genre veterans such as Giorgio Moroder and Nile Rodgers, among others, on their recently-leaked, widely-acclaimed new album Random Access Memories.

Conditions
• This contest is only open to readers in Mumbai.
• The winner will be picked via raffle and notified directly via email.
• The last day to enter is Tuesday, May 21.
• The offer is non-transferable.

Images courtesy Electrolux.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, that old Cannes hand, may be on her way to the festival as we write this, but in the meantime the India contingent continues to do us (mostly) proud. Remember that scene in Gone With The Wind, when Scarlett made a dress out of curtain drapes so she could fool Rhett into thinking she wasn’t totally broke? Well, that’s what we thought of when we saw Sonam Kapoor in this Dolce & Gabbana floral number – we defy you to tell us that hasn’t got living room drape material written all over it. Also, we kinda wish she’d gone whole hog, and come with a little lace parasol in hand. Freida Pinto, meanwhile, chose a shimmery Sanchita gown, with a thigh-high slit and bejewelled insects all over the bodice. With that side swept hair and red lips, Pinto wins this round hands down. Score so far: one all.

Himanshu Suri.

MUSIC & NIGHTLIFE
• Sway to the sounds of Bay Beat Collective, DJ Reji, and TripShot Crew at this month’s edition of Smash Up! at Lower Parel sports and entertainment centre Smaaash on Friday, May 17, from 9pm. The entry fee is Rs500 per person for the club night, which will feature a guest slot by Heems aka American hip hop star and former Das Racist member Himanshu Suri. See here for details.

• Move to the tunes of EDM composer, producer and DJ Akshai Sarin when he performs an “interactive” concert at Cheval on Friday, May 17, from 9pm onwards. There is an entry fee of Rs300 per person for the gig, which is part of an ongoing country-wide tour to promote his new album Connected and will see him creating a track using audience members’ voices, bottles, and cutlery. Cheval, above Khyber, 145 Mahatma Gandhi Road, Kala Ghoda. Tel: 022 4039 6632.

• Dance to the beats of Ankytrixx aka Nepali electronica exponent Ankit Kochar at Aurus on Friday, May 17, from 10pm. Entry, which is restricted to couples, is free. Aurus, Ground Floor, Nichani Kutir, Juhu Tara Road, Juhu. Tel: 022 6710 6666.

• Attend the penultimate gig of this year’s Bandstand Revival series of concerts at Dadar Chowpatty on Saturday, May 18, from 5.30pm. There is no entry fee for the event, the line-up for which features singer-songwriter Alisha Pais; 12-member jazz ensemble Live Cycle; and funk-fusion duo Far Out Funk. The show at Horniman Circle Garden that was scheduled to take place on the same day has been cancelled. See here for further details. Dadar Chowpatty, behind the Mayor’s Bungalow, same lane as the HP Petrol Pump, near Shivaji Park, Dadar (West).

• Choose between Delhi DJs and Mumbai metal (or don’t and go for both gigs) at Blue Frog this weekend. Kohra aka fast-rising EDM star Madhav Shorey and BLOT! aka the Delhi-based “audio-visual” duo of electronic music producer Gaurav Malekar and visual jockey Avinash Kumar represent the capital on Saturday, May 18, from 10.30pm, when women can enter for free but men have to pay an entry fee of Rs600 or cover charge of Rs1,500 per head. On Sunday, May 19, Mumbai mosh pit-inciters Reptilian Death, Solar Deity and Albatross, who specialise respectively in the death, traditional and black sub-genres of heavy metal, perform from 9pm, when there is an entry fee of Rs250 or cover charge of Rs500 per head at the venue. Blue Frog, Mathuradas Mill Compound, Senapati Bapat Marg, Lower Parel. Tel: 022 6158 6158.

• Party at Colaba restaurant The Pier, which is the venue for the May edition of the Balagan series of monthly brunches/parties on Sunday, May 19. Brunch will be served from noon to 4pm, after which the event will transition into a sundowner that will be soundtracked by DJs Mihir Ganatra and Aaron James. The brunch is priced at Rs1,800 per person (including unlimited select alcohol but excluding taxes); see here for the menu. Email rsvp@networkprive.com to book a table or get on the guest list for the post-brunch party. The Pier, 41/42 Minoo Desai Marg, behind Radio Club, Colaba. Tel: 022 6066 0036.

ART
• Drop by Gallery Beyond from Friday, May 17 to Tuesday, May 21 when a new show RESIST will address “gender-based violence and injustice” through works by musicians, artists and fashion designers. Among those participating are singer Monica Dogra, who will perform at the gallery on Friday, starting at 9.30pm, plus artists like Raqs Media Collective, Gigi Scaria and Mithu Sen and designers like Manish Arora and Gauri and Nainika. Open Monday to Saturday, from 11am to 6.30pm; Sunday, closed. Gallery Beyond, 130/132, Great Western Building, First Floor, Shahid Bhagat Singh Marg, Fort. Tel: 022 2283 7345.

• Swing by the Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum on Saturday, May 18, when in celebration of World Museum Day, the city museum will scrap entry fees for everyone. While there, don’t forget to see the British Council-organised group show Homelands featuring 28 prominent artists from around the world. Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum, 91A Rani Baug, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar Marg, Byculla (East). Tel: 022 2373 1234.

COMEDY
• Attend The Improv, a performance of improvisational comedy by a group of comics from Bangalore at Canvas Laugh Factory on Friday, May 17, from 10.30pm. Directed and hosted by Saad Khan, the show will have Siddharth K. S., Vibhinta Verma, Sundeep Rao, Kenneth Sebastian, Danish Sait and Sal Yusuf. Tickets are priced at Rs500 and Rs900 per head (gets you one drink, pizza and dessert). Canvas Laugh Factory, Third Floor, Palladium Mall, Phoenix Mills, Lower Parel. Tel: 022 4248 5000.

TALKS & WORKSHOPS
• Attend a workshop on design writing called “Create change—Capturing inspirational design stories” at the British Council on Friday, May 17, from 10am to 5pm. Organised by the British Council and the design firm Kyoorius, the workshop will be conducted by British writer William Shaw, who will coach participants in writing stories about how design has impacted society. To apply, send your details and a sample of your writing or design to aanchal.sodhani@in.britishcouncil.org with “KDY Design Writing” in the subject line. Those who are selected will be informed by email and will have to make a payment of Rs1,000 at the Kyoorius office (Kohinoor Estate, Second Floor, 165 Tulsi Pipe Road, Lower Parel. Tel: 022 4236 3600). British Council, 901, Tower 1, Indiabulls Centre, Senapati Bapat Marg, Elphinstone Road (West). Tel: 022 6748 6748.

• Hear Godrej & Boyce’s executive director Vijay Crishna recount the extraordinary true story of an Antarctic expedition led by Irish explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton in the early 19th century, at Godrej Culture Lab’s Friday Fundas on Friday, May 17, from 5pm. There is no entry fee; RSVP by emailing indiaculturelab@godrejinds.com. Godrej Culture Lab, Auditorium (above Canteen), Gate 2, Godrej Industries, Vikhroli (East). Visit Indiaculturelab.org for a map to the venue.

• Pick up a tip or two at the latest edition of the Last Lecture series at The Big Bang Bar and Cafe on Sunday, May 19, from 4.30pm to 7.30pm, when photographers Amit Ashar and Amit Madheshiya will talk about their respective fields of specialisation, commercial photography and photo journalism. There is no entry fee. For details, see the Facebook page. The Big Bang Bar and Cafe, Kenilworth Building, Third Floor, above KFC, Linking Road, Bandra (West). Tel: 022 2600 8833.

THEATRE
• Watch Anupam Kher in the 300th show of his hit play Kuchh Bhi Ho Sakta Hai at the National Centre for the Performing Arts on Saturday, May 18 or Sunday, May 19, from 7pm on both days. Directed by Feroz Abbas Khan, the solo performance is based on the actor’s life. Tickets are priced at Rs260, Rs500, Rs760, Rs1,000 and Rs1,200 per head. Tata Theatre, National Centre for the Performing Arts, NCPA Marg, Nariman Point. Tel: 022 2282 4567.

Photo courtesy of Star World.

Sanjay Dutt might deserve to go to jail for his idiotic mistake before the 1993 blasts—there’s a reason the 53-year-old actor is still called Sanju baba—but he also deserves a break on the day he’s supposed to surrender. Mumbai Mirror’s front page, schadenfreude-loaded piece on Dutt’s D-day, which is today, Thursday, May 16, is nasty even by its own standards. Comparing Dutt’s life to his films, writers Vickey Lalwani and Lata Mishra write, “Unlike several of his movies, there has never been a dull moment in Sanjay Dutt’s life.” It’s bad enough that it’s Dutt’s first day of jail. The actor had to deal with the knowledge that Arthur Road Jail authorities received a letter claiming that there’s a threat to his life (even though he’s being sent to Pune’s Yerwada prison). He was also treated to the spectacle of a little-known group called the Hindu Rashtra Sena that suddenly showed up outside his home to demand that he be hanged for anti-national activities. Mumbai Mirror writes that their “sloganeering turned out to be as jarring but mercifully shorter than the over-loud background music in most of the star’s recent movies”. With evident delight, the tabloid quotes an unnamed source who says that Dutt has been downing a bottle of vodka a day, and weeping and worrying about how he would manage without fans, pillows and mosquito repellent.

Emotion, action, drama [Mumbai Mirror]

Photo of Freida Pinto courtesy of Gucci; photo of Sonam Kapoor via Twitter.

The subcontinent’s two most hyped fashionistas showed us exactly why they’re also our most globally recognisable sartorial superstars among their generation. Both Sonam Kapoor and Freida Pinto went bling and big on the first night of Cannes, and the results were all kinds of fabulous. Kapoor’s gold and white lace and brocade Anamika Khanna sari and jacket is Indian high fashion as it should be, elegant enough to stand should-to-shoulder with the best of its Western counterparts without sagging under its embroidered and embellished heritage. Pinto, meanwhile, in a red Gucci dress with an elaborate gold and coral bead belt, looked happy and spry as one generally does when nailing a red carpet look. But for rocking a nose ring and taking a gamble with something that looks like it weighs a ton, we say this round goes to Kapoor.

Your Chin.

Our guide to helping you decide where to head this Thursday, May 16:

Your Chin and Sickflip
What: If you missed his gig at Kino 108 in April, you can catch Your Chin aka Sky Rabbit vocalist Raxit Tewari’s solo electro-pop project at this week’s edition of Andheri restaurant and bar Chez Moi’s experimental electronica night, Boiler Bar Thursdays. Also on the bill is Sickflip aka Sarvesh Srivastava, who you might have heard at last month’s installment of Smash Up!, NH7′s new monthly night at Smaaash. Srivastava, who is a member of Mumbai-based bass heavy music-spinning trio Mental Martians, is expected to play a glitch hop-dominated set.
Where: Chez Moi, Shop No.25, Link Plaza Mall, Oshiwara, Andheri (West) Tel: 77383 82407/022 6708 2788.
When: From 10pm.
How much: Free.

Space featuring Tritha and The Chudail & Demons
What: BOMB Thursdays, the otherwise-fortnightly gig series organised by ennui.BOMB at Kino 108, is back at the venue after only a week for a special “Girl Power” edition featuring female-fronted acts. The music of Delhi-based trio Space, comprising singers-guitarists Tritha Sinha and Ritika Singh and drummer Paul Schneiter, can be best described as multi-lingual electro-fusion. Mumbai-based pop-rock band The Chudail & Demons, meanwhile, performs songs in Hindi and English written by lead vocalist Amanda Sodhi.
Where: Kino 108, J. P. Road, opposite Apna Bazar, near the Indian Oil signal, Dhake Colony, Andheri (West). Tel: 95945 22228.
When: From 9.30pm.
How much: Rs200 per head.

Leapfrog to Coke Studio
What: The second of a month-long series of weekly Thursday night gigs at Blue Frog, where a set of three acts auditions for a spot on the third season of Coke Studio@MTV. This week, two Mumbai-based solo artists, Urdu singer-songwriter Winit Tikoo and Rajasthani folk vocalist Rajnigandha Shekhawat, and a group from Nashik, Hindi rock band Veda, perform.
Where: Blue Frog, Mathuradas Mill Compound, Senapati Bapat Marg, Lower Parel. Tel: 022 6158 6158.
When: From 10pm.
How much: Free.

To start with, Khan’s role in TheClosetLabel.com is a bit vague – the About Us/Our Story pages say The Closet Label is a “fashion apparel label directed by Malaika Arora Khan” and that “Malaika will handpick collections that are affordable but without sacrificing quality”. She also told DNA that she would “style complete looks for women to dress effortlessly chic every day”. From what we gathered, this means that someone makes clothes, Khan chooses what she likes, and they get uploaded to the site with words of encouragement like “Here’s my little secret – I live in leggings” and “Skirts are my favourite way of adding unmistakable feminine charm to outfits”.

Ours too Malaika! Linguistic inanities aside, The Closet Label isn’t half bad, especially if you want to look like Mrs. Khan. Most of the clothes, the v-neck tight tees, the plethora of viscose items, the teensy shorts, the palazzo pants and one-shouldered dress, we’ve seen Khan wear before. Others like the champagne-hued satin PJ set require a mild exercise of the imagination. The clothes are listed by category – tops, dresses, skirts, etc – and moods – lounge, sleep, swim, play and essentials (for when you’re feeling essentialist?) – but it’s just a very cursory re-organisation of the limited number of clothes on offer.

For instance, there are only two skirts and only two pairs of shorts. Which is not to say you won’t find something even within this small selection – the one-shouldered white dress for Rs1,100; the tuxedo night shirt for Rs1,300; and the navy and tan satchel for Rs1,700 are what we have our eye on. The site’s biggest draw is its price point (most items are well below the Rs2,000 mark), which it’s able to do probably by keeping the clothes free of embellishments like sequins and beading. Mostly though, the site could do with smarter styling tips from Khan, whom we can only hope had most of the atrocious copy ghost-written.

LING LING NIGHT

WORKSHOPS
• On Saturday, May 18, , from 3pm onwards, the Ghatkopar outpost of Pico Express will host an eggless dessert making workshop. The menu includes chocolate cake, apple pie, peanut butter cookies, and mango mousse. The class is priced at Rs500 per person. Pico Express, Ground Floor, R-City Mall Phase 2, LBS Marg, Ghatkopar (West). To reserve a seat, call 91697 74761.

• Attend a free coffee brewing workshop at the Khar outpost of Deliciae Patisserie on Saturday, May 18, from 4pm to 7pm. The workshop, which has been jointly organised with online coffee retailer The Indian Bean, will cover basic brewing techniques as well as types of coffees from Coorg and Kodaikanal. Deliciae will serve all participants a complimentary coffee-flavoured cupcake. You can also purchase cups of coffee priced at Rs50 per glass. Deliciae Patisserie, Out of the Blue, Le Sutra Hotel, 14 Union Park, off Carter Road, Khar. Tel: 022 2600 3002.

DEALS
• The Malad outlet of California Pizza Kitchen is offering women a 50 per cent discount on their tab every Thursday. The discount applies to both food and beverages. California Pizza Kitchen, Third Floor, Infiniti Mall, Malad (West). Tel: 022 6584 8888.

OPENINGS
• Pronto, the chain of quick service restaurants, has launched a new outpost at Kamala Mills in Lower Parel. The menu, which is the same as at the Bandra, Tardeo, and Churchgate branches of the restaurant, features Greek salad; tandoori paneer pizza; BBQ chicken pizza; roast beef and rocket sandwich; tuna roll; Balinese curry; pasta with pesto sauce; chocolate mousse; chocolate brownie; and tiramisu. Open daily, from 10.30am to 10.30pm. Pronto, Trade World B, Kamala Mills, Lower Parel. Tel: 022 2491 4991.

• Versova has a new all-day restaurant called Sizzle Cafe that serves soups, sandwiches, and milkshakes. Open daily, from 11am to 11pm. Sizzle Cafe, Shop No.6, New Neelam Apartments, J. P. Road, Versova, Andheri (West). Tel: 75060 30995.

• Opa, the Mediterranean restaurant at Hotel Royal Garden in Juhu, has been replaced by Trifecta, a multi-cuisine restaurant that serves Indian, Continental, and South-East Asian fare. The menu includes artichoke bruschetta; chicken wings with blue cheese aioli; braised baby lamb chops with harissa cream; paneer Koliwada; palak dal kebab; murgh ka salan; Vietnamese noodle soup; steamed ginger, soya, and wine chicken; and Shepherd’s Pie. Open daily, from noon to 3pm and from 7pm to midnight. Trifecta, Hotel Royal Garden, Ground Floor, Juhu Tara Road, Juhu. Tel: 022 6769 9999.

Karthik Krishnan: The ideal logo should feature ticket stubs of a local train, BEST bus & a drinking permit along with a pothole, with the Sealink overarching the aforementioned and “Aamchi Mumbai” scrawled across.

Bhaskar: It shows the concept of eating awesome bhelpuri, pav-bhaji etc at chowpati and then happily rolling your hand over your tummy. Oh and yea, it shows everyone is welcome to mumbai, be it the blue faced AVATARS from outer space!

Anthony: The ‘child’ looks like an Adidas originals logo.

James George: The symbol in the logo looks more like a pot bellied BMC bureaucrat holding leaves (not leaves of cash lol) rather than a mother holding a child. Even a 5 year old can come up with a better design.

@india_review: Is it just me or #MumbaiLogo really shows a builder grabbing all the land for cheap saying “majhi mumbai”.

@hankypanty: The #MumbaiLogo is so bad, even Pune doesn’t want it.

@Indiekidhit: T’So nice that the #MumbaiLogo has a person tightly hugging a weed symbol.

@Riddhiculous: If you stare at the #MumbaiLogo long enough, it transforms into a rickshaw driver with a trollface.

@sidin: Nice new logo for Mumbai. Man lying in a pool of blood. Apt.