India is a populated democratic nation, located in Southern Asia, bordering the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal, between Burma and Pakistan. Its size is slightly more than one-third the size of the US. The population is 1,049,700,118 (July 2003 estimate). The official currency is the Indian Rupee, Indian rupees per US dollar - 46.00 approx. Hindi is the national language, whilst English is widely spoken, there are about 14 Regional Languages too. New Delhi is the Capital and Mumbai (Bombay) is the 'commercial, financial and business capital'.
The city of Bombay originally consisted of seven islands, which have since been joined together by a series of reclamations. The principal part of the city is concentrated at the southern claw-shaped end of the island. The southernmost peninsula is known as Colaba and it has a decent range of hotels and restaurants and two of the city's best landmarks, the Gateway of India and the Taj Mahal Hotel. Other place of interest include; Elephanta Caves, Jehangir art gallery, Prince of Wales museum, Rajabai clock tower, Mumbai high court building, Flora fountain, Asiatic library, Nehru science center/ Planetarium , Nariman point, Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus (Victoria Terminus station), The National Center for Performing Arts, Hanging Gardens, Haji Ali Mausoleum, Mount Mary Church(Bandra), Mahalaxmi Temple, SiddhiVinayak Temple, ISKCON Temple, Marine Drive('Queen's Necklace'), Sanjay Gandhi National Park & the Kanhari caves.
Foll. are most of the Consulates and High Commissions, in Mumbai (As Contact Nos, Address change, same available on request):
Afghanistan, Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Czech, Denmark, Dominican Rep, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kuwait, Malaysia, Maldives, Malta, Mauritius, Madagascar, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Norway, Oman, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Qatar, Russian Fed, Saudi Arabia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, Haiti, United Kingdom, USA, Yugoslavia, Zambia.
New Years Day- Jan.01, Guru Govind Singhs Birth Day- Jan.09, Pongal(South India) Jan.14, Republic Day- Jan.26, Idu’z Zuha(BakriId)Feb.12, Shivaji Jayanti- Feb.19, Maha Shivaratri- March 01,Muharram- March 14, Holi- March 19, Gudi Padava - April 02, Ramnavami- April 11, Vaisaki- April 14, Dr.Ambedkars Birthday- April 14, Mahavir Jayanti-April 15, Good Friday-April 18, Easter- April 19,Raksha Bandhan- Aug.12, Independence Day- Aug.15, Janmashtami- Aug.19, Gokulashtami-Aug.20, Parsi New Years Day- Aug.21, Ganesh Chaturthi- Aug.31, Onam-Sept.08,Mahatma Gandhi’s Birthday- Oct.02, Durga Puja- Oct.02, Dussera- Oct.04, Lakshmi Puja- Oct.25, Depavali (Diwali)-Oct.25,Guru Nanak’s Birth Day- 08, Christmas Dec.25.
