The saddest was the Website of Bombay
First (Bombayfirst.org)
which was formed by some eminent Mumbai citizens whose initiative
it was "to make the city a better place to live, work and
invest in." We were impressed, but when we saw that its
"current newsletter" has a news update relating to 1999,
we explored no longer.Dead as the Indian cheetah is Yellowpagesbombay, with none of its links functiioning. A site which we had once foretold a good future for in these columns was Heresmumbai. However, in that review we had said: "The site does hold promise, but with lack of support, read: advertising, it could well dwindle into being as dead as the many other sites which have been hoisted on this city." That's what seems to have happened, for, the 'latest' news here pertaines to the plastic bags ban, which is at least two months old, and the Sensex is still above the 4000 mark!
Mumbaijankari, launched just a few months back, has its site map chalked out along the three railway lines of Mumbai: Western, Central and Central Harbour. You click on an area and then go about finding what you want there. But how can we trust a site when, after clicking on Kandivili and ambulance services we got the names and addresses of two crockery stores? Also, we found no records for Kandivli day-and-night chemists, taxi services, MTNL services and fire brigade which we know do exist in Kandivili. So out goes this site.
But let's bury the dead and ignore the useless. So what would constitute a living, useful city site? On the top of my list is currency of information. I want up-to-the-hour (at least) info on weather, traffic, the Sensex and city-related news. I would want to know the various entertainment avenues open to me today and for the week ahead. I would like info on restaurants in particular areas, the kind of fare they offer and a sample look at their menus. It would be great if one could make bookings online at these places. Other online services I'd like from the site are ticket bookings (for movies, plays, etc); area-specific info on services like ambulance, courier, hospitals, specialist doctors etc; avenues for online shopping and ordering a pizza; and, if I were a person who had to relocate, I'd like as much information about the nitty-gritty of living in a metro like Mumbai which can be quite a formidable task for a new-comer. Then, I'd like to meet interesting Mumbaites... and maybe have a date? Here, now, are some sites which I have found could provide my wish list in varying degrees.
This is quite a swanky site. It offers a
variety of services mainly due to its tie-up with other online
companies. Like the food comes from Hungrysurfer.com, utility
bill payments are through BillJunction.com, movie and theatre
tickets are from Clicktickets.com and a good selection of flowers
can be sent from Phooltime.com. The relocation section is very
informative and covers, among others, getting gas and telephone
connections, applying for school admissions and acquiring
domestic help. This is the only site we found where you can zoom
into maps to get more details. Traffic info is regularly updated
as is the city news. 
This is the new, spanked-up avatar of the
Mid-Day (a popular Mumbai evening paper) site. The feature we are
most fond of here is the Good Food Guide, with foodie diva Rashmi
Uday Sing lording the restaurant beat. Where ChaloMumbai really
scores is its update of news and events -- this is not surprising
as it has its parent brick-and-mortar newspaper to source info
from. The site promises a megamall for online shopping which is
"coming soon." In the meanwhile, you can check out
names and addresses of various stores and the offers available
from them. Also in the offing are maps and walk-abouts in Mumbai.
The site also offers e-mail and chat facilities. 
Events and news are regularly updated.
The 'New to Mumbai' section features a useful hotel finder, where
you enter the name of the hotel (if you have it), the area,
distance from airport and rating, to get the hotel of your choice.
Its helpline service is particularly good with utility services
all over the city well represented. You can do a restaurant
search by the cost of food, type of food or location. The site
also offers discounts at certain featured restaurants. here you
can find the latest taxi and auto fares and get a regular traffic
update.
A particularly good section here is the
Good Food Finder which lets you find a place to have a buffet
lunch at a 5-star restaurant or simply a mouthful of spicy pani
puri from a database of over 500 restaurants. The map here is not
worthwhile. Other features include shopping (not online, but only
addresses of stores) info on utilities, a link to MTNL's online
telephone directory and flight schedules. The Mumbai User Manual
generally orients you with Mumbai.
This highly focussed Mumbai site is the
official one of the Mumbai Traffic Police and the info is all
traffic related. Yes, there is the weather too, but don't heavy
rains disrupt traffic? This site provides current information on
traffic of all major roads in the city, as well as suburban rail
traffic. Besides, there are route finders and maps. There are
three of the last: western suburbs, central suburbs and city. The
maps would have been much more useful if one could zoom into
specific areas. To find a route, you just select the starting and
destination places (from a roll-down menu) and you are given the
main landmarks which you will drive through. 
As the name suggests, this is a site
dedicated to dating in Mumbai. Of course, you can go beyond
dating and friendship and even end in matrimony. When registering,
you enter all your details and also those for the kind of person
you're looking for. The moment someone responds, an intimation is
sent you through e-mail. Besides, you get an http link which will
take you to the profile of the person who has sent you the
message. The site has its own e-mail service too and also a chat
facility.