Ye hai Bambai-II

Nigdi is a nice little place in the outskirts of Pune on Mumbai-Pune highway, with low decibel, hilly terrain n continuous rains. This is where the training center (read holiday home ) of my new company was situated. This was the fateful place from where my second journey to Mumbai started. It was almost an year since last one in the same season : monsoons.

Journey from pune to mumbai is a pleasant experience, specially during rains. We were in no hurry and had ample time to spare. We halted at Lonavala and Khandala, the two famous spots on the way. But i loved the whole journey more than the halt. The hills, clouds and lush greenery............ I never wanted this journey to be over.

“We are in Mumbai now” said the taxi driver, while we were crossing Vashi. The weather here was in contrast with the highway. It was hot and humid. With scorching sun, the thermometer was about to spill and there was no sign of any rainfall. It was a Saturday afternoon but the traffic wasn't in a mood to rest a while. After a long and tiring journey from Dadar to Chembur we landed at the company guest house. Welcome to Mumbai !!!

Next thing in my mind was to find an accommodation. I went to a broker and when asked about the budget, I told an amount considered to be decent in Delhi. He tried to convince us that if we could raise it a little he could find a nice chawl for me!
Well this wasn't the end. I tried hard to find a nice little flat that I could afford but only to be disillusioned later. I wasn't possible. At least within 1 hour run from my company. I was close to bankrupt, paying the hotel room charges for last two weeks. The food wasn't any cheaper. “My god how do people sustain in this city !!! ”

This food thing reminds me of something strange to say the least. On the first day of my stay in a hotel near Chembur station, I was searching for a restaurant for dinner. But all of them were 'Bar & Restaurant's. It wasn't a problem of being a teetotaler. But the ambiance of such places is sick. The smell of whiskey in a closed room mixed with smoke makes feel me sick. Plus the food here isn't the one I'd like for my dinner. So the fact is that I was trying to skip them. But after a long stroll when I could not find anything different, I entered one. The scene was beyond my imagination. There was a well lit stage with 2-3 girls dancing on a song from a Ram Gopal Verma movie. There was a lady in her late 30's trying to seduce a man on a table on my right side. “It's a dance bar” Suneel told me as we swiftly walked out. I do not remember where we had dinner that night.

Well after all the failed trials we settled in the company's colony. Here I was saved of all the horrors of living in mumbai. One of them is travel on a local train. The first time I planned to travel by train was a journey form chembur to siwri. There is specific reason why I am calling it a plan. Bcoz it could not materialize. I tried to board four trains one after another and then stopped trying, went out, and took a taxi........

None of the features of this city gave me a reason to stay. I could not understand why people live in this city and more than that, why more and more are pouring in everyday...... Its damn costly. You can't afford to live even in a house that you wouldn't have considered worth living before coming to this city. Rent takes a much bigger part of your pay than you could think of. Next comes the biggest horror : travel. Just because you can't afford a house near your workplace, you decide to travel everyday. And when you are on roads in the office hours, you realize how crowded this city is. It takes you two hours to travel 20 kilometers by road and if you can board a local train in this hour, you should be awarded with nothing less than an Olympic gold. This city is bulging at the seams. What are all the people here, waiting for ?? A big bang ??? huh.........

The people here are always running around. Running to catch the '7:39' in the morning or wrestling their way out of a train on their way back home. Probably the whole week passes waiting for the weekend, when you can actually live........ It's then that you come to know that your mother had a knee pain, that your daughter failed in her maths paper, that Mr. Shinde's daughter ran away with that fussy guy with long hair......
And one does it religiously; every week !!! All this to earn some extra bucks which always fall short of growing needs and inflating prices. “You can live like a king in Nainital with this money” one of my friends commented. Yeah, sure.... Cheers to the kings of Nainital who come to Bambai oops.. Mumbai in search of work, in search of a king size life.........

The monsoons are no more romantic. The bad roads add to the trouble. The traffic always gets on your nerves. But you see people, going through all that and still not disillusioned with life. All you see is a herd, moving at a brisk pace in random directions. If you get closer you see Mr Gorpade who lost his left leg to the same local last year; Mr Patel who is looking for a flat in a decent chawl for he is getting married next month; Meenakshi who broke off with her boyfriend last week for her career.... They are all chasing their dreams. It's not a glamorus path they are moving on. They have all made difficult decisions. I think that's this city is all about, about choices. This city is too harsh and spares no one. Yet it accepts, with open arms, the people who have made the difficult choices.

Salam Bombay....

Ye hai bambai meri jaan- Part I

My first encounter with this city was like a teenage crush, a love at first sight. It was a two day visit at the break of monsoon. The first place that I wanted to visit was a sea shore. Though Mumbai is not known for its beaches, I had never seen one before and mere thought of watching the waves was exciting. And it did not disappoint me at all. The place I visited first was the gate way of India. It came with the twin benefits of The TAJ and the Arabian Sea. I was taken over by her majesty.
Standing in front of a sea is very different from standing in front of a river or a lake. There you can see its boundaries. You can see beyond it. But the sight of a sea is mysterious, even frightening. The fear of unknown, unseen power: overwhelming human psyche with its grandeur. The first deities worshiped by humans were basically forces of nature. I guess the image of goddess of water in coastal regions would have been quite different from the image of serene faced ‘Ganga’ in the plains.
The first evening was spent roaming around the area that included marine drive and fort. I liked every bit of it- the stroll across marine drive, the Paav-Bhaji at chaupati, the gothic architecture and even the bustle of Fashion Street. The first day ended with this as I readied for next day’s event.
The destination for next day was Trombay. I undertook my first journey on a BEST bus. Number 21, I still remember. It was a cloudy morning and the sun wasn’t visible. The hills painted with bright green all over, had clouds surrounding them like diamond crown over the head of beauty queen……………. Soon it started pouring…… Now this was romantic!
The rains for the two days seemed all sweet and beautiful to me; may be because they never troubled me. Most of the times, shower came when I was in no hurry. I could wait and watch and even drench myself at times, without being worried about getting late. Sometimes it seems that the journey is more pleasant when you don’t have to reach anywhere.
But the evening came with the same old rush to catch my train at CST, the new name for the grand old VT. It was the most beautiful railway station building I had ever seen. It was quite old and graceful. The tombs, the carvings and even the tinted glass on the arch shaped windows gave it a look of a bride. The architecture was mixed and I being a novice could not judge where the influences came from. But I loved it. For not doing so you need to be too much of purist or perhaps a member of a right wing; like one of those who renamed it.
This was coming to an end. The train caught speed as I gazed the platform passing away. Little did I know then, that I’ll return after a year to settle down to watch Mumbai with a completely new perspective.