Second day of induction, one of my friends told me I'd take a liking to Mumbai, and eventually start hating every breath I take in the, what he called "foul and demeaning existence" I'll begin to lead in no time. My initial reaction was of shock, but then I laughed it off. As I got to know him better, I attributed the bitterness to his last stint at Mumbai which ended under rather gloomy circumstances for him. He is in Delhi now. I am still in Mumbai.
Sixteen months hence, and probably a couple of days more, I continue with my hectic routine travelling in the local train from Churchgate to Borivali as am scribbling down these notes. Travelers, opportunists, destitute, whoever ends up in this city has his/her own story to tell. Some crib about the endless monsoon, others of the jam-packed local trains. For some the concept of "Marathi Manoos" is too difficult to digest whilst others get indigestion just at the mere mention of panipuri served hot! While one generation revels in the freedom and mesmerising night-life in this city of lights, another seeks solace in the artistic bent of mind underlying the city that launched Usha Uthup and gave air to actors like Naseeruddin Shah. I, personally, love the city. My mom won't be very happy reading this probably, but then again she isn't really a follower of my endless ramblings.
You can either love or hate Mumbai, nothing down the middle. I used to think that it was the fast-paced life here that probably got to people or was one of the reasons why they loved it so much. Seems pretty counter-intuitive considering rush hour usually brings Mumbai to get down on its knees and crawl at snail's pace. To experiment with an idea, I asked a couple of people why they hated Mumbai so much? Yes, you can imagine the depth of answers I got - realty prices, space constraints, endless rains, bomb blasts, food, curry smells, the 'marathi' concept, Shiv Sena, and the list goes on. While having this discussion with someone on the train yesterday evening, I casually passed out a 10er to an elderly woman asking for alms. She carried on forward mumbling some sort of blessing. She had moved just a few paces forward when she turned and said "Log hain. Log hain iss shehar ki sabse badi kamzori saab". She shook her tin bowl again, the clank of coins inside echoing through the compartment as she went about her business again.
Dear Reader, I'll be honest and accept the dilemma I am faced with right now. As enticing as it may seem to end the post here, and trust me when I tell you that I had slid my small pocket notebook in at this moment of time in the train as well, but the Indian desire to give my tuppence on that qualifying statement refuses to die out. We both went quiet after listening to the old lady. Somehow, neither of us could find words, or anything worth discussing. Instead, while he closed his eyes and dozed off, I kept staring out the window at the passing buildings, hedges, drains, wondering, where and when we lost track of what life felt like aside from this daily drag. There was no revelation, no bright moment of realisation, just a brief period of contemplation till I reached Borivali station and set forth on my mission to woo another client to join our Exchange. It is not the fast pace that has sucked out whatever little marrow of compassion that was left in this metro life, but a sense of indifference and apathy people possess. Crowds come gushing in, others rush out. In all the elbowing and knocking each other around just to get your two feet planted firmly on the ground, there seems to be no regard whatsoever on the old guy fighting to even get on with his life. The disconnect is so pronounced that even a discussion over beer never relates to friends bitching about work, nobody cares two hoots about what problems the other guy is facing. To each his own is what personifies the Mumbai life perfectly.
Such apathy has its pros and cons, and am not here to discuss these. What it did do, however, is wake me up to face the fact that probably, just probably, am not as happy as I had initially thought I was in this big city life.
Friday, September 24, 2010
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Dear Reader
The year 2006 was a mixed bag. While some cheered FC Barcelona's victory over long time rivals Arsenal in the UEFA Champion's League, others mourned France's loss to Italy in the FIFA World Cup finals. Honestly, am not much of a football fanatic, I'd love to be one, but the number of clubs, leagues, players, just seems too overwhelming. I knew of the World Cup win coming after penalities 5-3 in favour of Italy, but I had to google up the club Barcelona beat that year to lift the UEFA Champion's League Trophy. Don't worry, am not here to flaunt my googling skills or have myself judged for utter disregard of sports whatsoever. The agenda for today is somewhat different. This same year was the birth of this blog, more out of aspiration to woo than inspiration to be someone.
Four years hence, the blog still stands tall, having weathered through mood swings, rampant enough to have necessitated a new branch of study for hormonal imbalance. While humour was always the prerogative, it oft became my medium to spew hatred and disgust against people, situations. At the end of it all, however, hopefully this blog remains funny in its entirety, unfortunately being so at my expense more often than not. I won't reminisce on the good and bad memories over the past 4 years and outline how the blog meandered through dry patches and months of avid writing. This post is for you, dear Reader, to thank you for your unwavering support and endurance to toil through the tiresome ramblings on this blog; to thank those who chose to comment and share their valuable, at times rather frivolous, suggestions.
Frankly, I had been keeping this thank you note in reserve for my 100th post on the blog, but that is something what most bloggers do anyway, and since this blog aims to be an anti-thesis to such corny bull-crap, let it be this 97th post, whereby I proclaim to have been honoured by your presence and devoted reading which has egged me on almost every time to ramble on for a few more lines. Not to blame you entirely for the fiasco that is this collection of random scribblings, I also want to express my gratitude to the countless faces and people wobbling, weakly, in my memories, from whose insolence or sheer stupidity flowed a never-ending string of words, inter-woven in a net of phrases - phrases I have almost egoistically admired every now and again. Had it not been for your nuisance, and utter pointless existence on this Earth, there would not have been that undertone of dark cynicism in what I write that makes me gush and chuckle with evil every time I log in to my blog.
While the amount I travel has reduced, and a lull of boredom surrounds my increasingly decaying existence, there appears every few moments a flicker of frivolity, which I pounce upon to suck out whatever little marrow of sarcasm I can and splash it all over this blog. Life seems to have taken a turn towards still waters, happiness is elusive, intent has gone amiss. Yet through all this negativity that surrounds us right now, I promise thee, O Ye Faithful Reader, it shall come to pass that there would be a rejuvenation of this blog and a liveliness about it soon. For what its worth, I can now say, with utmost pride and arrogance, what started out based on aspiration has now transformed into inspiration, and that, my friend is how we do it around here now! ;-)
The End
Four years hence, the blog still stands tall, having weathered through mood swings, rampant enough to have necessitated a new branch of study for hormonal imbalance. While humour was always the prerogative, it oft became my medium to spew hatred and disgust against people, situations. At the end of it all, however, hopefully this blog remains funny in its entirety, unfortunately being so at my expense more often than not. I won't reminisce on the good and bad memories over the past 4 years and outline how the blog meandered through dry patches and months of avid writing. This post is for you, dear Reader, to thank you for your unwavering support and endurance to toil through the tiresome ramblings on this blog; to thank those who chose to comment and share their valuable, at times rather frivolous, suggestions.
Frankly, I had been keeping this thank you note in reserve for my 100th post on the blog, but that is something what most bloggers do anyway, and since this blog aims to be an anti-thesis to such corny bull-crap, let it be this 97th post, whereby I proclaim to have been honoured by your presence and devoted reading which has egged me on almost every time to ramble on for a few more lines. Not to blame you entirely for the fiasco that is this collection of random scribblings, I also want to express my gratitude to the countless faces and people wobbling, weakly, in my memories, from whose insolence or sheer stupidity flowed a never-ending string of words, inter-woven in a net of phrases - phrases I have almost egoistically admired every now and again. Had it not been for your nuisance, and utter pointless existence on this Earth, there would not have been that undertone of dark cynicism in what I write that makes me gush and chuckle with evil every time I log in to my blog.
While the amount I travel has reduced, and a lull of boredom surrounds my increasingly decaying existence, there appears every few moments a flicker of frivolity, which I pounce upon to suck out whatever little marrow of sarcasm I can and splash it all over this blog. Life seems to have taken a turn towards still waters, happiness is elusive, intent has gone amiss. Yet through all this negativity that surrounds us right now, I promise thee, O Ye Faithful Reader, it shall come to pass that there would be a rejuvenation of this blog and a liveliness about it soon. For what its worth, I can now say, with utmost pride and arrogance, what started out based on aspiration has now transformed into inspiration, and that, my friend is how we do it around here now! ;-)
The End
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