Mumbai Tales
I complete 2 and a half years in Mumbai and now I feel like a pro at least of Sub Urban Mumbai. There are numerous tales to tell and many stories to narrate. From a Thane 3 Star Hotel to a small flat in Kanjur to Suburban Andheri to So-Called Backward Jogeshwari to a large house back in Andheri. I have been moving flats all these years primarily because I am a bachelor and a outsider.
I just feel Mumbai keeps growing with time at an exponential rate and takes the people along its growth track. Take me for instance I started off in Mumbai from Kanjur Marg and slowly moved to suburban Andheri and now aiming towards owning a flat in some more hip location. Take the example of many Share Brokers and many Sales Executives. I feel there is a certain charisma about the city and as I have already stated in my previous posts it is very sticky and makes you very picky.
People are somehow weird but when you look at them with a third person's view they are all in sync with what you are. Some complain that in train someone pushed and I broke my Sandal or my Laptop fell. Did you consider yourself about when you pushed someone for a brisk of fresh air from the sliding door of the ubiquitous Mumbai Local. It is al the same Mumbai breathes, eats, sleeps works and partys at the same time.
It is all linked. IPL, Mumbai Terror Attacks, Train Explosions, 26th July, Elections, Siddhivinayak Tuesday, LalbaugchaRaja are all instances when all people think alike at the same time. This gives the strength to stand for some cause, to breathe against pollution, to fight against terror, to protest against reservation, to lead a change.
The Slumdogs feel better after its Millionaire success. Films perform better if Mumbai's mood is better. They imitate the stars and stars try not to imitate someone else, but still want the films to be 'Hatke'.
Words like 'Jhol', 'Galata', WTF', 'Dude', 'As In', 'Cha Ayila' go hand in hand and are uttered according to the need by the youth. You can hardly keep yourself unexposed to a language fondly called Mumbaiyya.
You have a 'Horny Man Circle' here and a Church which has no gate. A place named after Santa Cruz in US. There is even a Andheri which seems to be the brightest place in Bombay. You can pronounce Bandra in 3 ways depending on your descent. Trains wait for none and the 'pilots' are allowed 3 Murders in their careers. Roads are deliberately dug during monsoons and bridges are left half way of their construction to imitate unfinished Aztec temples. Caves now occupied by Drug Peddlers and Beaches famous for Eunuchs also exist here. (You can contact Reshma the Chakka of Silver Beach very easily for any information about the area).
Still Mumbai is good ol' mumbai, you can find peace in having a Vada-Pav on the highly noisy Andheri Station or rather have Gujrati Thali in a Christmas Themed Mall in Malad West. You have it all from roots to fruits, chakkas to fashionistas, from CG to BVLI, from CST TO KYN.
Its an art to live in Bombay and it slowly teaches you to live, fight, love and enjoy a journey called Life!
I just feel Mumbai keeps growing with time at an exponential rate and takes the people along its growth track. Take me for instance I started off in Mumbai from Kanjur Marg and slowly moved to suburban Andheri and now aiming towards owning a flat in some more hip location. Take the example of many Share Brokers and many Sales Executives. I feel there is a certain charisma about the city and as I have already stated in my previous posts it is very sticky and makes you very picky.
People are somehow weird but when you look at them with a third person's view they are all in sync with what you are. Some complain that in train someone pushed and I broke my Sandal or my Laptop fell. Did you consider yourself about when you pushed someone for a brisk of fresh air from the sliding door of the ubiquitous Mumbai Local. It is al the same Mumbai breathes, eats, sleeps works and partys at the same time.
It is all linked. IPL, Mumbai Terror Attacks, Train Explosions, 26th July, Elections, Siddhivinayak Tuesday, LalbaugchaRaja are all instances when all people think alike at the same time. This gives the strength to stand for some cause, to breathe against pollution, to fight against terror, to protest against reservation, to lead a change.
The Slumdogs feel better after its Millionaire success. Films perform better if Mumbai's mood is better. They imitate the stars and stars try not to imitate someone else, but still want the films to be 'Hatke'.
Words like 'Jhol', 'Galata', WTF', 'Dude', 'As In', 'Cha Ayila' go hand in hand and are uttered according to the need by the youth. You can hardly keep yourself unexposed to a language fondly called Mumbaiyya.
You have a 'Horny Man Circle' here and a Church which has no gate. A place named after Santa Cruz in US. There is even a Andheri which seems to be the brightest place in Bombay. You can pronounce Bandra in 3 ways depending on your descent. Trains wait for none and the 'pilots' are allowed 3 Murders in their careers. Roads are deliberately dug during monsoons and bridges are left half way of their construction to imitate unfinished Aztec temples. Caves now occupied by Drug Peddlers and Beaches famous for Eunuchs also exist here. (You can contact Reshma the Chakka of Silver Beach very easily for any information about the area).
Still Mumbai is good ol' mumbai, you can find peace in having a Vada-Pav on the highly noisy Andheri Station or rather have Gujrati Thali in a Christmas Themed Mall in Malad West. You have it all from roots to fruits, chakkas to fashionistas, from CG to BVLI, from CST TO KYN.
Its an art to live in Bombay and it slowly teaches you to live, fight, love and enjoy a journey called Life!
Hi Amrit, I happen stunble on your blog today and I like your writting style thought I will leave a comment albeit for an old post.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you and understand the meaning "..it teaches to live,fight,love and enjoy..."I felt I am reading my story. I am from Chennai and I also used to feel like an outsider. Like you I had moved from distant kalyan,Mulund, Thane and now settled in Malad.
I often tell people you will hate mumbai in the first six month once you start understanding the chaos you will start liking this place. Its been 12 years from me in mumbai and in between I had worked in Bangalore but I always wanted to come back to this city.
Its crowded, filth, chaotic- yet there is an energy which is very unique for this city.
it feels good to know that someone else is there who shares the same feeling about this city.