A tale of two cities: the zest of Shanghai and Mumbai

Khyati Shah in Shanghai[photo provided to China Daily website]

Official statistics peg Shanghai’s population as exceeding 24.15 million while Mumbai’s population has surpassed 22 million. High populations influence and impinge on the cities' infrastructure.

While Shanghai’s infrastructure with its futuristic skyline is impressive, Mumbai’s creaking infrastructure leaves you asking for more. Be it roads, garbage management, transport or water logging in rains, Mumbai has a lot to work upon. Shanghai’s infrastructure with its multi-level flyovers, 6 lane, 4 lane, parallel flyovers, tunnels, highways with its wide roads, and eye-soothing flower arrangements at pedestrian crossings in myriad and vivid colors coupled with clean pathways everywhere is laudable.

When cars do not honk on roads and people do not collide on streets, quality of life certainly scores better. Transport is another essential essence of an urban city and Shanghai has raced ahead with its Maglev speed trains clocking up to 431 km/hr, covering distances of 30 km in only 8 minutes. The urban metro trains comfortably cover the entire city’s length and breadth with 14 lines and counting.

The Chinese expertise with rail road infrastructure could certainly come in handy for Mumbai with its bustling local trains not providing as sophisticated an experience, and the metro with its solitary line at present only having come recently into existence. Deservingly, the metro rails in Mumbai were shipped from Shanghai with a Chinese company being awarded the contracts. For road transport, Shanghai also has a bike culture worthy of emulation. Separate lanes for cyclists on roads make it another fit (no pun intended!) option for commuting.

The elusive thing that makes both Mumbai and Shanghai their country’s respective economic capitals is their entrepreneurial spirit. Business speaks in the cities and how. Both cities house SEZs and financial conglomerates, institutions, powerhouses, stock exchanges which fuel their skylines.

Not just the mighty, these cities are abounding with a plethora of small businesses, shops, even street food carts, nondescript vendors plying their wares, and that in my opinion, outlines the integral bloodline of the cities. These lands have opportunity infused in their very air and that is precisely what draws people to them.

Both cities are proud proponents of Indian and Chinese cultures, yet also have a cosmopolitan character. While Mumbai draws people from all over India to make their money, Shanghai draws people from all over China as well as a large number from diverse countries which adds a truly global feel to the city. These foreign expats numbering over 255,000 lend an indelible pigment to the city’s piquant mosaic.

Take a step in Mumbai and you can feel the vibrancy and buzz in the air and that bestows on the city its audacious character. I put the adage Maximum City: Mumbai down to the magnetic lure of Mumbai which is conspicuously camouflaged in its ‘can-do’ spirit that every Mumbaikar worth his salt will vouch for.

Shanghai has already created magic with its world-class living environs built at galloping breakneck speed in barely one and half decades. Now by breeding corporate unicorns (start-ups with valuations exceeding $1 billion), Shanghai is creating an investment climate which reinforces it dynamic nature with further gusto.

Seen through my kaleidoscope, Mumbai and Shanghai sparkle with opportune advances and this is why their kindred spirit uplifts and celebrates bonhomie, camaraderie and zest of human life!

With a dynamic go-getter personality and a twinkle in her eyes, Khyati Shah comes from Mumbai and is a writer now in Shanghai.