The plane windows steam up almost instantly as it sinks beneath the clouds. A woman behind me, equally unfamiliar with monsoon season Mumbai questions whether it is humidity or rain. I wonder the same. From the air Mumbai is remarkably dark for a city of 13 million people, a few fluorescent lamps and the distinctive single lamps of the tuk-tuks cut through the gloom. I image London in the blackout era would have appear similar.

It isn't raining, just very humid. My passport crinkles up on contact with the air as I remove it to show to a stern customs guard.

My uncle greets me at the airport and leads me to his car and driver. He says he no longer wishes to drive in Mumbai - barely a car is without a scratch. The city is very quiet at night, only the packs of stray dogs and a couple of rats for company. Nonetheless we still achieve a few close shaves with the tuk-tuks. A huge Johnson + Johnson R&D centre lies to the left as we enter Mulund West - "The Prince of Suburbs" - where I will be staying with my uncle and aunt for the next few nights.

I wake late the next morning and perfect my showering technique, which can be described as flooding the bathroom in a polite manner (a drain in the corner is all that collects the water).

My late awakening means I'm met with a combination of breakfast (my uncle's patented fresh ginger tea - very good too) and lunch (Bombay potatoes, rice, and dhal) kindly prepared by my aunt.

Later go to one of the new malls that have recently sprung up across Mumbai. The shops are mainly empty (unsurprising when they are charging Western prices in a country where £5000 is a good wage. We head to "Big Bazaar", the supermarket on the complex. I have experienced lesser security in airports - you cannot enter with a bag, you pass through a metal detector, all bags are checked against a receipt on exit. I suppose it's not surprising when they are selling SIX types of mangoes.

It begins to spit with rain as we leave, but quickly subsides and returns to the overcast humidity that has prevailed since my arrival