18 Signs You Were Born and Raised in Mumbai

4. You’ve called a traffic cop “mama.”

5. The Queen’s Necklace is your special place.

That marine drive, perched on the bay, is where you go to watch lovers, dreamers and the sky.

6. You have faced the wrath of the Mumbai monsoon.

Come June, the cherished monsoons arrive bringing with them extreme water-logging and floods.

7. The local train is your lifeline.

You depend on Mumbai’s large rail network to get you everywhere from Bhayandar to Church Gate.

8. You know how to spend hours in traffic, just waiting.

Listening to the radio might get you a little ways, but most of your time is just spent slowly dying behind the wheel.

9. The vada pao has saved you from many hunger pangs.

The deep fried vada between the delicate pao and spicy chutney is always your flavour of the day. And you’ll always stand by Mithibial Collge as the best vada pao stall in Mumbai.

10. Your taste buds can handle the Chinese dosa and Jain chicken with ease.

The fusion of Chinese and South India — the dosa, delicately filled with schwezwan toppings and savoured with the flavour of coconut chutney.

11. You have savored pav bhaji and sev puri at chow patty.

12. You know that as long as you’re in Mumbai, you’ll always meet people from all over India.

Because your Mumbai is a potpourri of people from myriad backgrounds, you’ve even come across biharis and gujaraitis here.

13. Living in Mumbai has taught you Marathi, despite it coming from the opposite part of the country.

Aila!

14. You have brushed past a Bollywood star.

“Tera dhyaan kidhar hai, tera hero Idhar hai.”

15. You know that Amitabh Bachan’s house ‘Jalsa’ will always be a landmark.

16. You’ve experienced the magic of the Ganesh Chaturthi Festival.

1 day. 2 days. 5 days. 7 days, or 11 days. “Aagla varshi lokar YA.”

17. Your morning tradition is to read the Bombay Times before browsing through Times of India.

18. Every three months, you look at the street below, and wonder: “Why are they digging up the road again?”