The skyline of south Mumbai is dominated by imposing neo-gothic buildings, with ornate turrets and grinning gargoyles that might look more at home in Manchester or London than the financial capital of modern India. These incongruous edifices at first seem to be the likely result of simple colonial ambition (some might say of excess). But the impetus behind their construction actually came from a more unlikely commercial source: the global cotton trade.
放眼望去，一幢幢莊嚴的新哥特風格建筑勾勒出孟買南部的天際線。這些建筑擁有裝飾華麗的塔樓，形狀怪異的噴水嘴，跟曼徹斯特或倫敦可能更搭，與這個現代印度的金融首都有些不協調。乍一看，這些與周圍環境格格不入的建筑大概不過是殖民者雄心的產物（有人或許會說是奢華無度的產物）。但事實上，這些建筑的出現緣于一個頗令人意外的商業動機：全球棉花貿易。
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