Mumbai Street Cred by Jini Reddy

As I plunge into Mumbai’s Bhuleshwar Bazaar, a narrow warren of lanes known to locals as Mirchi Market, I hang on to my guide for dear life. I’ve arrived just before Diwali, the Hindu Festival of Lights, and the crowds are even thicker than usual. The vendors, rubbing their hands in glee, have swapped their usual condiments and aromatic spices for puja (prayer) paraphernalia – garlands of flowers, tiny lamps, incense, and sticky sweets, known as mithi, arranged in exquisite, mouthwatering displays.

‘Although a traditional housewife may make her own sweets for the family, it is also the custom to give mithi to your work colleagues, in which case you’d buy an elaborate box,’ says Sandhya, pointing to a giant lotus-shaped sweet trussed up in cellophane and ribbons, as more shoppers pour in around us.

Too often the heat, dust, jostling crowds of Mumbai, a cosmopolitan city on the Arabian sea, with a 20 million strong population, can defeat even the most determined of tourists. And whereas first-timers might head to the Gateway of India, Elephanta Island or go bar-hopping in the hope of glimpsing a film star or two, there’s a way of getting behind the scenes and seeing the city as a local would.

Thanks to a new tour operator, Mumbai Magic, you might find yourself learning how to cook a meal in the home of an Indian family, watching a cricket match, taking an art walk, or if you’re there in season, attending a lavish wedding. Prices aren’t cheap for the subcontinent – they range from £15 to around £120 for a full day, depending on whether you are doing a private tour or a small group one, but they are good value. Meals, drinks and snacks are included, you travel in spacious air-conditioned cars or on foot (unless you opt for the brand new local transport tour, where you’ll brave the jam-packed red buses and trains.)

Leaving Mirchi Market, Sandhya and I pass the Jama Masjid Mosque, built over a water tank, and duck into the colourful, frenetic Mangal Das fabric market, popular with the city’s fashion designers. Feeling like Alice in Wonderland, I allow myself to be led, blinking into the glare of Zhaveri Bazaar, a street filled with jewellery shops, the first stop for any bride-to-be.

The bling leaves me reeling, so we take refuge in the Mumba Devi Temple, from where the city gets its name. Here, amidst the devotees, sit rows of astrologers, old men surrounded by ancient astrological tomes. ‘In India, when you’re born you have your horoscope read, to see what life holds for you, and before marriage, both prospective bride and groom will have their charts read and checked for compatibility,’says Sandhya, who tells me that a consultation, with English interpretation, can be arranged with a bit of advance notice.

Apart from Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Jews, Christians, the city is home to a host of fascinating communities, which I get to grips with on the Peoples of Mumbai tour. Take the Parsis – they view burial and cremation as polluting to the environment, and so allow vultures to consume the bodies of their deceased in the Towers of Silence, near the Hanging Gardens park. So sacrosanct is the site that planes aren’t even allowed to fly overhead.

Then there are the Jains, strict vegetarians who view all life as sacred and who worship in a stunning temple in Posh Malabar Hill, the dome of which is adorned with mysterious astrological symbols. The Kolis, meanwhile are the earliest inhabitants of Mumbai, and a tough, and deeply religious fisher folk, who live in self-contained villages smack in the middle of town.

Perhaps the most useful of Mumbai’s communities are the Dhobi Wallahs, men who work in the world’s largest outdoor laundry, and the Dhaba Wallahs, who with phenomenal speed and efficiency, ferry lunches cooked by millions of mums and wives in the suburbs to their office-strapped offspring and spouses in the city.

It is an exhilarating tour – and not as exhausting as it sounds, as we travel to and fro in the car. At the end of it, we head to trendy Colaba for a meal at Leopold’s, a cafe which has a starring role in the upcoming Johnny Depp film Shantaram. My guide today, Freni recommends the Chicken Tikka Masala. I shudder, thinking of the day-glo version we get in the UK, but she assures me this bears no relation to it. She’s right – sopped up with a roti, it is divinely moorish.

There is just time for one more slice of local life, before I head back to my boutique hotel ( the hip Feng-shui designed Intercontinental on Marine Drive) and that’s an evening on Chowpatty Beach, with the bouncy Neeta, who happens to be a cousin of Mumbai’s reigning Bollywood Queen, Aishwarya Rai. The beach is popular with locals who come here to watch the fiery sunset and unwind after the heat of the day.

There’s a festive atmosphere, with fairground rides, meal stalls, and roving vendors serving popular street foods – samosas, pani puri (fried puri filled with masala water and potatoes) and bhel puri (puffed rice, crispy sev made from chickpea flour and ground nuts). Sipping chai and nibbling on snacks as Neeta gets me up to speed on the latest Bollywood gossip, I can’t think of a better way to end a glorious visit to Mumbai – magic indeed.