Saturday, August 30, 2008

The Mumbai impression

No more of the "last days/posts".... i thought today i will write about the city Bombay...

I have 2 interactions with this city... at 2 completely different points in time!!

Phase 1 - when i was single (ready to mingle.. couldnt stop myself from saying that :)) and Phase 2 - post marriage.. my run in with Bombay has been completely different on both the occasions.. when i was single, i was quite enamoured of bombay... the pace of life.. the headiness associated with starting to work and actually earning money.. the "star value" attached to the city .. the freedom.. i had what you call pure unadulterated fun!!!! Going to discs every weekend.. if not a disc then party at a friends place.. at that time we were fresh out of the institute.. so the attachment with institute ppl was quite strong.. whenever we used to go to discs, there would be at least 15-20 of us!! Even though we were earning, we used to be stingy with money.. thats how we were at college!! So the habit conitnued.. i still remember, i went to shoppers stop and really liked a top which was for about 400 Rs.. i came back home without buying it and then thought.."I have started earning.. i can afford this luxury".. and i went back to shoppers stop and bought the top (which incidentally i still have)... we used to stay very close to Amitabh Bachchan's house.. right next to prithvi.. and we absolutely delighted by it and always used to plot and plan as to how we could go and meet him!! (Which i did last year.. an absolute gentleman.. will reserve it for next post)
At that time, we were quite enamoured with Bombay.. we were young.. full of energy.. and loved the fact that nobody bothers you.. and in fact we had our own keys at the PG and there were no restrictions.. We were thrilled to bits!!!! We saw ambitions all round us.. so were we, ambitious i.e. ... i also did my first night out in Bombay. (at work)... and was mighty proud of it.. :-).... living on adrenalin.. and loving it!! Bombay we saw through our rose tinted glasses.... everything was always great about Bombay that point in time...we never saw any slums, never felt the space constraint, never found it to be crowded.. selective seeing/ registering it was.. maybe because of the headrush of living alone in a "big bad city" and managing quite well i would say... I missed Bombay so much, that i took me 6 mths to adjust to Delhi, a city i had been in, all my life.

And staying in Bombay now... by the time i got married,i had already been in delhi for 4 yrs!! And coming from delhi, suddenly Bombay seemed to be a different place.. from what i remembered.. maybe it was the exuberance of youth that made it seem so.. maybe now i have mellowed , become less aggressive.. slower.. whatever the reason maybe, i saw a completely different Bombay.. i am staying in a completely different locality compared to the highly upmarket juhu.. bombay seemed suddenly claustrophobic.. thousands and thousands of people everywhere jostling for space... i remember during ganesh chaturthi in 2006 i went downstairs to see the various processions.. and suddenly on the flyover i saw a sea.. a human mass coming towards me.. i was petrified and ran back home.... i stay in a 1BHK.. when i walked in and saw that there is no balcony.. i was devastated... i had a male servant.. and the house was in a bad shape.. and no lift either.. i was close to tears... we roamed about a fair bit in Bombay.. i would never get used to the "no lane changing "rule.. lol.. coming from delhi.. there is a point at fort, a signal, which when i saw for the first time, i burst out laughing.. on the same side of the road, there is traffic coming from both the directions.. and they all converge to go to another road.. and in bombay, people still kept to themselves.. which is a good thing i guess.. the pace of life still remained fast.. but maybe i have grown older :)...

Now that i am leaving bombay.. i feel sad.. i love this house.. i made so many frds here.. who i miss terribly (already).. and now i quite like this place.. can even talk about this place intelligently without sounding dumb...used to odd sounding names of places like chinchpokli, andheri etc... quite love the freedom it gives me as a woman to do what i want.. quite love the freedom it gives us as a couple.. quite love the fact that the cabbies are always there no matter what time of the night how close the distance... quite love the fact you can get a 5 re meal as well as as 2500 rs meal and right next to each other.. quite like it that ppl are actually professional and do not mind if a girl , and that too a young girl handles their account (not me.. i mean anyone).. that there are some or the other stories always to tell ppl everyday about the traffic, rain, trains etc etc etc.. i think in bombay ppl never run out of anything to say not because they are gregarious in nature but because the city offers you that something everyday.. it is a city of dreams.. of achievement perhaps.. of doing.. of activity.. always in motion.

Yes i do like Bombay. But i know Bangalore will also be a unique place in itself.. so was Delhi... But yeah.. i will surely miss Bombay.. a lot i guess.. purely for the life it breathes in, in to all of us!!

2 comments:

Kalyan Karmakar said...

I can so identify with what you have wirtten about the early days. There was a thrill to the first taste of independence. and at the same time it took me a lot of time to get over the thrift of one's college days

burizadokanyon said...

i think i am still in that college plhase and ending of those scare me as to i dunno whether life would still be as fun loving as it is now!! missin you a lot... i mean today was the 1st day. but i think would really miss standing at your desk and tlkin!!