So right now I’m at the very south of Mumbai which is the most historic part
of the city arguably and I’m about to start the day with a cup of tea or chai
so one of the best things about living in the subcontinent is that a cup of tea or chai costs
like 10 rupees. Anyways let's talk about the history of Mumbai. Originally Mumbai was not
the city that we see today it was an archipelago of about seven islands. people had really lived
here since the stone age. around 1000 bc this region was heavily involved with trade with the
Egyptian and the Persian empires and then in the third century bc this whole region came under the
influence of the Mauryan empire and that's when it really became a center of Hindu-Buddhist religion
and culture and it stayed that way for more than a thousand years after that and the best place to
tell you the story of that time is not here but 10 kilometers off the coast of Mumbai that way
okay so these ferry tickets are far from cheap but I promise that's the
most expensive thing that I’ll be doing today
once you're on the ferry you can play an extra ten rupees to get on top of it and chill with all
these seagulls I guess. I’m seriously worried that one of them is going to [ __ ] on me right now
So I’m finally on Elephanta island which is a UNESCO world heritage site and a historical
place of worship that is 10 kilometers east of Mumbai. I’m actually on the jetty that
leads to the island right now and there are these train tracks here for this toy train
that goes to the island from the place where they dock the boats
there's all these animals on the island. There's like cows roaming everywhere,
there's a goat there's a puppy too and now I’m on these steps that sort of lead
up to the Elephanta caves themselves and in front of me are all these freaking monkeys.
So I hear these monkeys can get really aggressive but this one
seems really chill it's just enjoying its biscuit. Just found a baby monkey
the ticket here costs like 40 rupees and I’m at the main entrance. This place used to actually be
called Gharapuri which means literally the city of caves because it's a bunch of temple caves,
five if I remember right which is primarily dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva who is one
of the main deities of Hinduism. So inside the temple there are a lot of sculptures that are
carved out of rocks that show a lot of Hinduism and Buddhism or Hinduist Buddhist iconography
behind me is the main attraction of Elephanta island which is the three-faced shiva. It's a
20-foot high statue and the three faces of Shiva represent the three essential aspects
of him which is creation on one side protection in the middle and destruction on the other side
So when you go into the main gate you see two more statues on each side of shiva. On one side.
you have the nataraj which shows them as the lord of dance and on the other side you have
one called the yogishvara which shows him as the lord of yoga. Unfortunately a lot of these
statues have been defaced and destroyed over the years so there's not a lot left of them
okay so I’m back in Mumbai and the moment you get off the ferry you're going to see the statue
behind me of this guy called Chachapathi Shivaji. Shivaji was the founder and leader of the Maratha
empire which was an empire that dominated most of the Indian subcontinent back during
the 18th century he was a very successful Hindu ruler in an era when India was mostly dominated
by Muslim Mughal emperors. It's not a surprise that this guy is still very popular to this day
among the Marathi speaking people of Maharashtra. The name the airport of Mumbai after him. They
even renamed the main train station that we're going to see later after him as well. They're
actually trying to make a 700 feet statue of him right off the coast. Yep that's 700 feet
which is supposed to be the biggest statue in the world once it's completed and to put that
into context 700 feet is like a 70-story building it's that high. But interestingly Shivaji never
lived here and Mumbai was far from being the capital of the Maratha empire so you might ask
how did Mumbai become such an important city and the answer is because of colonization. That island
we just came from called Elephanta island, that was actually called Gharapuri if you remember right.
In 16th century a bunch of European merchants actually landed there and then they saw this
huge elephant statue then they decided to call that whole island Elephanta island because
that's the first thing they saw. Colonizers in India and you're probably thinking I’m
talking about the Brits. I’m actually not. I’m talking about the people who colonized
Mumbai before the British. I’m talking about the Portuguese and I think we should move to
west Mumbai right now because that's a better spot to continue the story
so I just got a train ticket for going like 10 kilometers and it cost me 10 rupees
right now I’m in an autorickshaw which is the classic cheap
private transport to get not just in Mumbai but all across the subcontinent I want to say
okay so I’m finally on the west side I’m right next to this fort called
Bandra fort that was built by the Portuguese So the Portuguese like I said were the first
Europeans to come here Portuguese explorer came across this bay in 1508 and called it bom baim
which literally means good bay in Portuguese and then in 1535 they had this peace and commerce
agreement with the sultan of Gujarat where they were handed over all the seven islands of Mumbai
and the surrounding areas. This fort that's closed right now in front of me was built in 1640 by the
Portuguese as a sort of outpost in the Arabian sea and to watch over this bay and the island
that they owned and if you're thinking why this is called the Arabian sea I was surprised to find two
that Mumbai is actually closer to some Arab countries than it is to other parts of India
which is crazy to me. So this fort is like 80 feet high and has several levels from the seaside
all the way to the top but unfortunately I can't go in right now because it's closed
inside because of Covid so I can only show it to you from the outside from the bottom
now let's talk about how England come into this picture. So in 1661 Catherine of Portugal from
the royal family got married to Charles II of England and the Portuguese decided to give away
the seven islands and a lot of other things as part of the dowry to England for that marriage
and at the time they thought this was very insignificant at least the seven islands part of
the deal. But it turned out to be probably the most important thing given away in a dowry ever because
after this came under England this place was basically put under the ownership of the British
east India company which essentially became a managing agency for the British government
and just like other cities in India that came under their ownership like Kolkata, they started
investing heavily into infrastructures and other things that they needed to make this an important
seaport so in the mid 18th century there was the Hornby Vellard project which reclaimed all the
land or all the sea between these islands and turned Bombay into the land mass that we see
today. That project along with a lot of other construction projects of roads and railways
in the city transformed Mumbai into one of the most important port cities on the Arabian sea
British history is all fun and great but I am starving right now
and I feel like I need some street food from mike
okay so this is panipuri which is very similar
to fuchka in Bangladesh and six of these together cost like 30 rupees
it's delicious. it's definitely got a lot less spices than I’m used to in Bangladesh
so the amount of influence that the British had in building Mumbai in the early stages of
the city is very evident from the architecture that you see in southern Mumbai. You can see it
in the police station here which is one of the fanciest police stations I’ve seen in my life.
You can see it in the university of Mumbai. You can see it in the Bombay court but most evidently
you can see it in the Chattrapati Shivaji terminus which is one of the busiest train
stations in India and the headquarters of the Indian central railway. This place was
actually called Victoria terminus at first but was renamed more recently to it’s current name
and it's a UNESCO world heritage site and it's definitely a gorgeous gorgeous train station
i can't talk about British monuments in Mumbai without mentioning the most famous British one
in India, the gateway of India, which is kind of where we started the vlog. Rising at 85 ft
this thing was built in 1913 to commemorate the visit of King George V who was the British emperor
that came to India in 1911 becoming the first ever British emperor to visit India which was
a big deal at the time. This place was used as sort of like a ceremonial entrance for a lot of
important colonial people that came to India over the years ironically after the British left and
India gained independence the very last British troops actually left through the gateway of India
one last time and today this place is without a doubt one of the most iconic spots in all of India
okay for a bonus section in this video I’m going to finish the vlog today in front of the residence
of Shah Rukh Khan who's not a politician but probably one of the most influential people
in the world and definitely one of the biggest actors of Bollywood. This guy
is as famous as it gets in this country and honestly I’m just here because I was a huge
fan of this guy. I was idolizing him growing up when I was a little kid I had cassettes not
of his movies but of the songs in his movies and me and my sister used to listen to them
and have a damn good time when I was a kid. So I just had to come and see this place. There's a
lot more security here than I expected. All right that's gonna be it for this video if you like the
video don't forget to like it if you want to see more videos from me feel free to subscribe to my
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Instagram. I’ll catch you guys in the next video probably from somewhere else in India in the north