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This young woman was portrayed a late afternoon on the street of Shahid Bhagat Singh Marg in Mumbai, India. The street is located in the Colaba area of Mumbai, where you will find many street vendors. Mumbai is the city which encapsulates the dynamics and chaos of modern India better than any other city.



As Mumbai's tourist scene, Colaba and the street of Shahid Bhagat Singh Marg sprawls down the city's southernmost peninsula, Kristian Bertel takes you to this bustling district packed with street stalls and begging women and children in the streets.

Situated in the Colaba area of Mumbai, India
Mumbai is a city of extremes, where slum housing residents only serve some small pennies a day while Bollywood stars and industrial billionaires making huge sums of summer. It is a city that never sleeps and which is filled with some of the best street food in the world, as well as fine restaurants by famous chefs. It is a cosmopolitan city of people from all over India, but unfortunately it is also the city which is home to have a great sightedness. It is a city of dreams for millions of Indians, but at the same time, gives so few of them the comfort that they have dreamed of. The picture that you can see above in this blog post is taken in he Colaba area of Mumbai, India. The name 'Colaba', comes from Kolabhat, a word in the language of Kolis, the indigenous inhabitants of the islands, before the arrival of Portuguese. The area that is now Colaba was originally a region consisting of two islands: Colaba and Little Colaba.



The many traffic jams are also a memorable experience, where you can often stopping in the middle of a symphony of honking vehicles where barefoot children who often hold infants in their embrace and tragically disfigured men and women begging for change while knocking on the window. This is a photo of the Colaba area in Mumbai, India.



Roadside shopping in Mumbai's Colaba district
Colaba is quite close to the happening places in Mumbai, walking distance from the Gateway of India. A market for the daily needs or the elite articles. Full of lovely restaurants and shops. A must for all visitors also as a photographer. Colaba is a pretty bustling place, as is Mumbai in general, and so there are flocks of market stalls, vendors, and generally annoying people, trying to sell your water, food, their mother-in-law, and anything else they have to hand. A must visit area for people visiting Mumbai, as well as an area that Mumbaikars have fond memories of and keep coming back to. You want theatres, restaurants, bars, cafes, delis, late night eateries and roadside shopping.



The image of the begging man in India, as you can see in the picture above, taken in the fashionable Colaba district where beggars and women with children under the arm begging for rupees to milk powder along branded shops and souvenir stalls. This is one of the photographer's many portraits of life from India.



A compelling rendering of the human condition in India
Kristian Bertel is a photographer dedicated to documenting the social and environmental issues that define our times. He specializes in telling the life stories of people, living in close contact with cities and he has chosen to take life portraits for long periods. He also has a strong commitment to street children and environmental issues, with a particular interest in the interactions between people and city life. While Mumbai as a city can be chaotic and hectic, it need not be overwhelming. It has just its own rhythm, as it just takes some time to get use to. And if one takes the time to explore this contrasting city and its many neighborhoods, you will get some memorable experiences that you will never forget.



Mumbai is the city which encapsulates the dynamics and chaos of modern India better than any other city. In this sprawling city by the sea, will both find everything from succulent street food to haute cuisine and colorful bazaars to haute couture, humiliating poverty of staggering wealth. Along the road of Shahid Bhagat Singh Marg you can find street food stalls like this one.



Street food at the Shahid Bhagat Singh Marg
When walking in this area you can find the many street food stalls which are vending meals and fruits. Street food is like here in India found around the world, but has variations within both regions and cultures. Street food is ready-to-eat food or drink sold in a street or other public place, such as a market or fair by a vendor, often from a portable food booth, food cart or food truck. While some street foods are regional, many are not, having spread beyond their region of origin. Most street foods are also classed as both finger food and fast food, and are cheaper on average than restaurant meals. Today in India, people may purchase street food for a number of reasons, such as to obtain reasonably priced and flavorful food in a sociable setting, to experience ethnic cuisines and also for nostalgia.



One can easily become emotionally overwhelmed to visit Mumbai, formerly known as 'Bombay'. The first thing you see when you arrive at the airport is the characteristic spicy scent, which is often not entirely pleasant to smell. Next, try to stay calm when it comes to the crazed taxi-ride through the seemingly lawless streets, where drivers running a red light or just as likely driving on the wrong side of the road. An old woman is looking into the photographer's lens in Mumbai, India.



A sensitive eye with his portraits
A sensitive eye and an intimate relationship to his subjects are signatures of his work. Kristian's images have been published on the Internet worldwide and his editorial assignments and personal projects have generated twelve slideshows, which all can be seen on the photographs wesbite. He has also been immersed in photography from another perspective, where he served as Your Shot photographer on National Geographic. Travels across five different states in India exposed him to an extraordinary diversity of cultures, from the Ganges River in Varanasi to the street life in Mumbai to the city of Aarhus in Denmark, the area Kristian calls home. He works as a photographer and available for editorial assisgnments in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. For further information please:
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More photographs from India
If you are interested to see more of the photographer's pictures from India, you can see one of his slideshows which also appears on the photographer's website.
See the slideshow | press here