10.20 am Mood swings

Anupam Srivastava, 32, an Associate Executive producer with a news channel based in Mumbai. On the day election results were announced Anupam arrived at work at 5am in the morning. The first few hours as the results started coming in, the atmosphere in the news pit was tense. Coordinating correspondents and television crews in tandem with other producers, Anupam tries to stay calm. News is today very competitive with each channel trying to outdo the other with the most sensational ‘breaking news’ and exclusive stories’. Higher TRP’s ensure good business.
11:15 am / 12.34pm Pet-ty issue
Natasha Hemrajani, 31, photographer with her dog, Ego. After working with a national daily for a few years she decided to work independently. She is currently building her own studio with a friend. In the future she hopes to start an animal shelter for stray dogs. Nikhil Hemrajani, 26, and Natasha's brother, is a tech freak and reviews new electronic gear for a magazine. Also a musician, he plans to record an album of his compositions soon.
3:40 pm Higher and taller

A man works on a rooftop in the distance. The urban landscape is changing. Real estate in Mumbai is the most expensive in India as land is scarce. Old buildings, mills and chawls in Mumbai are now being replaced by taller and very often glass and steel structures.
Vidura Jang Bahadur

As I returned to shoot ‘professionals’ in a city where I first started to work, I pondered on the irony even as I attempted to capture people at work in Mumbai between 9am to 5pm in a city that truly never sleeps. The photo essay is in no way a definitive account of working professionals in Mumbai.

 I felt a little disconcerted, both by the change in people and at times alienated by the rapid transformation. Chawls do not have a space in a new Mumbai that aspires to be ‘Shanghai’. Malls and apartment complexes, homogenous glass and steel structures now reach further into the skies.

Much has been made of the ‘Mumbaiya spirit’ over the last few years. Walking through Mumbai, the city seems fragmented, divided by a fragile imaginary line between community, the North and South, religion and class. What holds people together are their little dreams that they set out to achieve in Mumbai.