Oh well, it has been 19 days since I came to Mumbai. And I don’t know whether to be happy or sad about what I am feeling at the moment. I won’t say I have turned a complete Mumbaikar, but I can say that I am not scared of the crowd or the local trains or the life here anymore. The whole ‘Oh Mumbai!’ emotion has gone numb.
Having said that, I still am completely mesmerized by the city. Let me use my metaphorical skills. I see Mumbai as a pretty teenage girl. She has myriad moods, countless emotions and unbelievably good sense of her own lethal beauty.
When I open the windows of my tenth floor apartment at night and look out, I see the buildings all lit up with numerous lights. A thought that immediately strikes is that there are so many different kinds of people living, living with various dreams and expressions. Imagining all these coloured lights as their dreams, fulfilled and unfulfilled, big and small, useless and important, they seem to be oozing life every second. I see down from my window and the city appears calm and serene at night, but in my mind, I know that she is like a sleeping tigress. Unbelievably in slumbers but equally vigilant and fidgety about her surroundings!
I am now no more scared of the crowd or of the hectic life. I wanted to test this when I was living a relatively slow life back home. I know I shall adapt to it. With time, I will become one of those countless demeanors that pass me daily, with countless dreams. But a question that arises while I think of this is if I really, honestly want to become one of those faces? I know I shall adapt to Mumbai, but do I really want to? I don’t know.
Moving on, in this mad run and rut of life, there are some teeny-weeny things that quite like a good breeze during a hot day bring relief to a tired being. Let me quote one such example of my day yesterday.
I had had a very hectic day and while on my way back, I was famished. As I got down at Malad station, I bought a vada paav. As I reached the steps for the over-bridge, I saw a little girl, of about 8-9 years of age. She had another kid, a child of about 1-2 years old with her. She was standing near a food stall and looking quite intently at the foods kept inside the glass cases. On an impulse, I handed the packet of vada paav to her. She was taken aback since her eyes had two seconds long curious look in them. I smiled at her and she smiled back.
That brought about an amazing change in my bearing. It taught me how a small incident can actually work wonders and help you forget your bad moments. It taught me the value of that little drop of water on a hot day, of a good handshake during a hectic schedule, of a friend’s ‘hi’ or ‘good night’ message at night, of little moments in life that make it worth living!
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