We’ll be flying in and out of Mumbai, and resting there at the beginning and end of our travels.

Mumbai, formerly known as Bombay, is the capital of the state of Maharashtra, the most populous city of India, and by some measures the most populous city in the world with an estimated population of about 13 million (as of 2006).

Mumbai is the commercial and entertainment capital of India, and houses important financial institutions, such as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) and the corporate headquarters of many Indian companies. Mumbai has attracted migrants from all over India because of the immense business opportunities, and the relatively high standard of living, making the city a potpourri of various communities and cultures. The city is home to India’s Hindi film and television industry, known as Bollywood. Mumbai is also one of the rare cities to accommodate a national park, the Sanjay Gandhi National Park, within its city limits.

Even though prostitution is illegal in India, Mumbai has a large population of sex workers, estimated to number more than 100,000. High HIV prevalence among the female sex-workers (consistently above 50% since 1993), contributes to the spread of AIDS in the region and the country.

In the month of August, Mumbai receives an average of 26 inches of rain, making it the second wettest month of the year. Most of the rainfall occurs during in late afternoon, evening or night, and rain before noon is infrequent. In Mumbai, the highest rainfall recorded in a single day was 37.16 inches on September 26, 2005.

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