Moving to India with IntlMOVE and Daily Life in Mumbai

IntlMOVE will ship your household goods to Mumbai, India when you are ready to move overseas.

There is a lot to learn about India, so IntlMOVE has put together a guide to get you better acclimated.

Housing

Mumbai is home to more than 20 million people, so needless to say, space is limited.

Prices for apartments can be very expensive. 

For the working class people, housing is very small.

Families live in apartment-like unites called chawls.

Chawls are single rooms, which usually accommodate an entire family.

This closeness facilitates the need to stay close and work together. 

Middle class families live in apartments that range from about 450 square feet to 1,400 square feet.

Again, these apartments are home to entire family units including grandparents.

When families are large, family members will sleep in the living room and sometimes even the kitchen. 

The feeling of camaraderie among families and neighbors is strong because of the life they live in such close quarters

A lot of the newer apartments are providing amenities to make city living more appealing.

In a lot of housing unites there are gyms, club houses and playgrounds.

If you move to India with IntlMOVE with children and decide to live in an apartment, your children will have an endless amount of playmates.

Neighbors celebrate festivals together, plan activities together and help each other out in times of need. 

Daily Religion

Most of the major world religions are represented in Mumbai and there is a large population of Hindu practitioners.

Surya Puja is the daily worship of the Sun God, which you will see take place in the mornings in Mumbai.

Followers of the Hindu religion will offer flowers to Lord Surya as part of this ritual.

For this reason, you will find that many shops will be selling flowers and garlands for this purpose. 

There is also a Hindu form of worship that takes place in the evening, which is called Lakshmi Puja.

This form of puja invites the goddess of wealth and prosperity into the house.

Lights are turned on inside the house and incense it lit to welcome to the goddess. 

Transportation

If you would like to ship your car to India, IntlMOVE can help you.

Most Mumbai locals do not have a car and rely on public transportation, bikes or their own two feet.

When you need to get where you are going, the Mumbai trams can take you there.

The trains can be extremely overcrowded with over 8 million commuters per day, so be prepared to get close to your neighbors.

Also, the trams are the perfect place for pickpockets so find a safe place to keep your personal belongings.

When you take the trams, there are separate tram cars for women and disabled passengers.

You can also buy first-class tram tickets, which will provide you more space on your travels to and from work. 

Work Week in Mumbai

People who live in Mumbai work very hard.

Your mornings will start later than they do in the United States and many people don’t show up to work until 10 a.m.

Many people work 12-hour days and this is very normal.

There are six day workweeks, but Saturdays are often half days.

Sundays are the only day off for a lot of people in the business world. 

When you get hungry in the middle of a workday, you might want to eat food delivered by a dabbawalla

A dabbawalla is a person who delivers freshly cooked food in a container to office workers during lunchtime.

Sometimes wives will prepare the food and dabbawalla will deliver the food to her husband, or there are other companies who cook meals that are delivered.

The meals are delivered in metal containers called tiffins and the dabbawalla returns the tiffins to the people who prepared the food when lunch is over.   

Shopping in Mumbai

Recently shopping has become a much more pleasant experience in the Indian city.

Some of the best shopping malls in the world are located here along with hypermarkets and discount department stores.

Most malls are open from 10 a.m. until 10 p.m., but try to avoid going to the malls on Sundays.

Sundays are the one day everybody has off of work, so this is when they travel to the malls. 

There are supermarkets, but you can also buy fresh foods at local stores.

The local stores are small in natural and sell fresh live meat, vegetables and other groceries.

These smaller stores are open in the mornings, closed for lunch and open again in the evenings. 

Life will be very different in Mumbai, but you will learn the love the culture and the people.

When you are in the need of international movers for your relocation to Mumbai, contact IntlMOVE.