City Of Bombay example essay topic

"Bombay to Mumbai" Ancient yet modern, fabulously rich yet achingly poor. That is my home, the city I call Mumbai, and the city the rest of the world calls Bombay. The city of Bombay originally consisted of seven islands. They formed a part of the kingdom of the great Indian Emperor, Ashoka.

After his death, the islands passed into the hands of various Hindu rulers till 1343, when the Mohammedans from neighbouring Gujarat fought and took over. They had control of the islands for the next two centuries. In 1534, the Portuguese needed another trading centre on the west coast of India. So they fought a battle with the Mohammedans and took over the city. They named their new port "Bom Baia", which in Portuguese is "Good Bay". In 1622, the Portuguese king gave the islands as dowry to he English king Charles II on the marriage to his daughter, Princess Catherine of Braganza.

In 1668, the islands were acquired by the English East India Company on lease from the crown at 10 pounds per year. The company found that the islands were much better as deep water ports than their current headquarters and hence started development. The British corrupted the name "Bom Baia" to "Bombay". From 1835 onwards, there was a lot of advancement.

Reclamation work was done to connect the islands to make it easier to work in. A large network of roads was constructed in 1838 to make travelling easier. Bombay grew as a centre of trade and commerce. The East India Company developed it mainly as a port city. The city was perfect as a deep water port and huge shipyards began to spring up. The first railway in India was built in Bombay in 1853 by the Company.

In 1857, there was a huge mutiny in India against British rule. Actually, most of India was ruled by the British East India Company. The uprising started in the north of India and many people from Bombay joined the revolution. The British government, seeing the wealth of India and the opportunity to be dominant in Asia, helped the East India Company by sending troops. Once the uprising had been suppressed, the government accused the Company of mismanagement and took over the ruling of the country.

The government started developing Bombay even more. They built better sewage systems, water supply systems and better transportation services. After 1857, an entire network of railway was developed all over India, all of which is still in use today. With the rise of the industrial revolution in the 1850's, Bombay became even more important. All raw cotton was brought to Bombay and exported. The British found that if they opened cotton mills to process the raw cotton, they could make a lot more money.

They also realised that if cotton mills were opened in Bombay, they would save a lot of money on transportation. The opening of several cotton mills around 1859 saw the population of Bombay shoot up. With the Civil War in progress, the cotton industry made a lot of money and several personal fortunes were made. The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 brought the west closer to Bombay. Trade with the west increased and Bombay became an important port for stopovers. The British encouraged more people to come to Bombay and work in the mills so that productivity would increase.

At the turn of the century, there were several more manufacturing industries that people flocked to work in. Bombay earned the reputation of the place where dreams were made. It was true; most men who worked hard there were well rewarded. Many of the industrial families who are still prominent today started off as poor workers in Bombay mills and worked their way upward to earn millions. When India gained independence from the British after a long and hard struggle in 1947, the colonists took all her money and assets with them.

Over the past 200 years, since the British East India Company had control over the entire country, they had plundered India leaving her virtually penniless. Many of the British families today that are household names got their money originally by looting Indian treasures. The biggest proof of the pilfering is in the crown. The central jewel in the actual crown that the monarch of Britain wears is a huge diamond called the Kohinoor Diamond.

Kohinoor is the Indian word for diamond. It is one of the most expensive and one of the biggest diamonds in existence. It was found in north India and cut in Bombay. Many British officials came to India as middle class clerks and went back millionaires. In compensation, the British government agreed to give India 30 million pounds to start her off. As that was very little money to start a country, we started relying a lot on our exports.

Bombay once again became an important centre. It was developed as one of the four main cities of India. More services were introduced and more people were encouraged to work in Bombay. Though farming was, and still is, the main occupation, modern farming technology was introduced which resulted in many farmers needing lesser hands for work.

Many of the jobless people were educated by the government enough to work in the major cities. Since Bombay was slowly becoming the commercial hub of India, most of them went there. As time went by, the demands for jobs became lesser. The number of people going into Bombay, however, kept increasing. Finally, there was a situation where the local and central governments could not provide jobs for these people. Some of them went back home.

Most of them, however, could not afford to go back home, as they had sold their houses and belongings to pay for the journey. It was these unemployed, uneducated people who first started making houses out of scrap material. There were thousands of them and since they all wanted to help each other, they built their houses in the same location. This was the beginning of the slum Dharavi.

By the 80's, it had grown to a huge area, around 175 acres. Considering the fact that Bombay is a small island, that is a large part of the city. Dharavi is now the largest slum in the world. The slum is dirty, unhygienic and incredibly poor.

Most people who live here don't have the basic necessities. There is no water, electricity or sewage system. On many days, most people go without food. Hundreds die everyday. The slum came into existence because of negligence. If the government had taken notice of all the unemployed people and rehabilitated them at that time, there would not have been such a massive problem today.

The filth of the slum is spreading to the city. If the land used by the slum can be cleared, there would be a lot more productivity in the city. Steps are being taken now to improve the situation. Housing complexes are being built and being given to these people. Basic services like water supply and electricity are also being provided. More jobs are being induced to give these people a fair chance.

There are many stories of people from Dharavi making a lot of money through hard work and determination. A man from a poor neighbourhood, just outside Dharavi, worked hard, self-educated himself and went on to form the biggest private company in India. At his death, in 2002, Dhirubhai Am bani, of Reliance Industries, was worth at least USD 6 billion. Not many make it that far, but from "rags to riches" is common in Bombay. The city has an undocumented rule: those who fight survive.

In 1997, to honour the original inhabitants of the Bombay islands, the Kolis, Indian for the fisher folk who lived there long before anybody else, the city was renamed Mumbai. That is after the goddess Mumba devi, the deity the Kolis worship. Mumbai is a charming city with a deep history. It has been under the rule of several kings and countries, which is evident from the architecture in the city. The people have changed with the times. Be it fishing, running cotton mills, ship building, manufacturing or running a nuclear power plant, the people of Mumbai have always been responsive to change.

It has been fought over many times, like the war between the Portuguese and Mohammedans, and more recently communal riots, but somehow has always come out on top. I am very proud to be a part of my beloved city. Its charm and beauty is beyond our comprehension. I know it will live beyond us. "For men may come and men may go, but I go on forever.".