With few open spaces, eateries are the popular choice in Mumbai

For Shardul Bist, a resident of Lower Parel, the definition of hanging out has changed since he came to the city nine months ago. “Back home in South Delhi, I would hang out under a peepal tree with my friends,” says Shardul Bist.

The 25-year-old is used to going for long drives, or hanging out in open spaces such as colony playgrounds and parks. In Mumbai, he usually meets friends at a coffee shop or at a restaurant.
Mumbai, with its traffic chaos, always-in-a-rush crowd, lack of enough open spaces, can be a bit of a culture shock for people traditionally used to natural environs, open spaces to spend time with friends.

“Still, Mumbai is full of life, at any time of the day or night,” says Ravi Kiran, who hails from the coastal region of Andhra Pradesh and prior to this, spent two years working in Hyderabad. For him, the chance to meet his friends after work, sometimes even late at night, is a new and exciting change. Back home, roads would sport a deserted look by 9pm. “In Mumbai, the first time a friend made a plan to meet up at 10pm, my reaction was ‘it’s so late!’”
Kiran loves playing outdoor sports, a passion he hasn’t been able to pursue and nurture in Mumbai, thanks to his work timings. Bist too, is into sports and regrets the fact that he cannot play outdoor sports in Mumbai. At least, not in the way he could play it in his home town.

Sure, there’s Shivaji Park and Oval Maidan, but an anecdote from Bist sums up the nightmare of choosing your cricket pitch in the city: “I went to play cricket once and the stumps of two simultaneous games were right next to each other. There were ten different matches going on, in the same ground, making it very cramped.”

For those used to spontaneous meetings, Mumbai offers its own share of challenges. Would you navigate traffic, crowds, pot-holes and urban chaos to travel from one part of the city to another without being certain of your meeting? Probably not.

Twenty four-year-old Nilima Haldonkar, who began working in the city some months back, finds it funny.

“To meet friends, I have to take a prior appointment! I’m required to fix up a time and date before hand, so that one can plan accordingly,” she says. “Besides, there are so many other factors to keep in mind: how long would it take to reach there, the peak hours of travelling, whether the trains will be crowded, etc.”

Haldonkar, who belongs to a relatively quiet and sussegad town in Goa, found this as a bit of a setback. “So a single phone call is not enough. Sometimes, one has to queue up outside restaurants and cafes too. In the process, you end up spending a lot more if you are going out, as catching up with friends usually happens at some eatery, coffee shop, mall or a theatre,” she says.

Although hanging out has become rather expensive, with high dispensable incomes becoming common, people have adapted. “Now that I’ve started earning, I don’t mind spending more money when I go out with my friends,” says Bist.