COLORS OF MUMBAI

I wrote my last post when I was on my way to Mumbai. Well here I am in this city and this post is dedicated to the city itself.

Well this post is somewhat different .. it portrays my Mumbai experience.. and what’s better in exploring Mumbai than a local train of Mumbai. To get the first hand experience on Mumbai I decided to go on a train ride. Well I was not alone… I had a companion. The companion was A MAP of all routes of the trains which made me feel pretty confident. I was travelling on a weekend so it wasn’t as difficult as it usually was. But then, I did not know I’d have my fair share of EXPERIENCES along the way. I hopped the train.. asked a few people for directions.. and then when I got on the train.. I was pretty confident of my math that I would reach the correct destination. Checking on the station from time to time, to see if the map I carried actually was correct, or rather to check ,if the train was working in sync with my equipment :P
Okay so here it was… I was finally “on the train, on my own”… ready to take on the challenges of the darned metro… as vicious as a hungry wolf to leave no holds barred to reach my destination….. ( Well , in a local train ain’t considered a big thing I know, but the place where I come from.. I mean to even go a kilometer away we take a car…. So this was a totally new experience… anyhow unsure of the further developments that were to take place…. I plunged ahead with utmost courage).
So as I entered the train.. I saw a lot of people.. I somehow felt like an alien in that crowd.. I mean u could sense from the dressing sense that I was an alien… they knew it.. I knew it.. but then after a few moments the weirdness was over and people did not seem to bother… It was like they would’ve probably been accustomed to alien sightings once in a while .. anyhow I struggled to find myself a seat.. and then finally I got one. As I sat I noticed that the guy sitting next to me might be around 47-48 was reading a newspaper.. te newspaper was in Marathi and he felt the most urban among the lot. The guy sitting directly in front of me might be in early sixties and he was busy….Busy takin out stuff from his packet one after another and munching away to glory givin a damn about the world. I was amused and for a while kept watching what this guy was doing…he had a small packet but it contained a hell lot of variety… I thought he’d notice me staring… but he did not…probably he might be thinking that I wanted to have a piece or so.. so he played safe.. no eye contact… no acknowledgement.. busy in his world. I kinda liked watching him…. Seemed so carefree. Wish I could be that carefree sometime. Anyhow the guy continued munching and the next station came … and there comes a couple in their early forties.. with two children… meanwhile on a seat of three .. we had 4 ppl adjusting themselves. And though I felt a bit uncomfortable I continued to stay put. So now came the lady who was holding her 3 year old sun in her lap ... seemed like he was sleeping. She came and stood right beside me… okay here was the crunch… I was almost falling off the seat and this lady was on the other side… potentially threatening me not to fall on her and her son in her lap.. on the top of it… the son’s shoes hitting me on my shoulder again and again. Well I prayed for my station to come… and counted the stations.. and finally reached the destination. Not to forget the amazing hot love making scenes I witnessed at the station.. oh yeah! Sorry to break your heart.. DOGS!!
THE RETURN JOURNEY:
Well I reached my destination. Had a lot of fun. Caught a lot of action. Movies.. Booze and what not. Coming back to the topic we are discussing here…the journey… I had to head back…. And so I reached the station.. fully equipped with the map in hand. This time the travel was from Andheri to Chinchpokli… lol funny name … Chinchpokli…lol. Anyhow the journey required me to change stations I mean the whole route had to be changed which was an arduous task along the way. So I hopped on the train .. fully confident relying on my past experience.. that I would make it flawless again.. ( with a few directions of the people around). Well if u know men are hesitant to ask for directions…(Read “men are from mars and women are from venus”).. I proved my mettle… based on a guess that this was the right direction and right train.. I hopped on. This time I decided not to sit since the experience had not been that good the last time. So here I am.. standing alongside the doors…..and then I heard someone singing… usually I don’t pay heed… but it was a small girl singing the song of a Salman Khan movie…and being an ardent fan of salman.. I couldn’t help but notice.. the song was “ teri chunariaaaaaaaaaa dil le gaeeeeeeeeeee”. Sung in a weird fashion… and another girl who might be around 5 or 6 yrs old.. standing… her hands on her waist… and moving up and down...(just like an exercise … supposed to be a dance… weird!! Phew!) then after the little jig was over.. they seemed fully trained to make use of the cuteness factor… making those droopy eyes and asking for money. The locals ignored them and they knew who were the target customers.. they came to me and even I behaved in the same manner as everyone… but she knew if she sticks around for a while she had better chances of makin money. And she succeeded.. she got a buck or two.. just because she had performed on a salman song.. mind it!!! ;)
Next part of the trip constituted a display of my expertise… a guy .. who looked like he’s from Mumbai asked me if we had reached a certain station… I took out the map and like an expert gave my opinion… I told him where to change the stations… and since he was with me.. he could come along.. because we both had to change stations. Counting the stations, I reckoned that the right station had come.. and just to confirm I asked a fellow that the station I had predicted was correct… well the man looked shocked. Why? Because I had surpassed the station I was supposed to get off on long long ago….. I had caught the wrong train. ( I was supposed to catch the slow track train .. but had caught the fast track train instead.)
Anyhow the guy who was with me.. I could not manage to look at him.. Obviously I was embarrassed.. anyhow he shook it off by initiating a conversation.. we both had surpassed our stations and had to go back.. So we were waitin for the train and then the conversation actually took place… he was a waiter at some local restaurant in Lower Parel. His name was “baapi”.. I mean that’s wat I could make out from the conversation.. I told him that I was not from around.. he said that he’ll be late for work today but he could afford it as the restaurant had a late party last night. I wanted to tell him I was doing an MBA.. but somehow I stopped. I don’t know why. I asked the name of his restaurant… he told me a couple of times.. I could not make out of what he said… it was I think named.. “high point” as per wat he was saying… finally he gave up and took out his purse and gave me the card of his restaurant…. The name was “Grapeviine”. At last his station came and he had to get off. He put his hand forward and I shook it… thinkin if I had acted like a total jerk. Finally he got off. I checked the card again.. thinking how would life of this common man work out for him? I mean he was just living in the moment.. no social security.. no permanent job.. no classy parties.. just struggle all the way.. Somehow I felt lucky.. somehow I felt content and at the same time anxious.. that what would happen to this guy a few years from now. He seems happy.. a smile on his face.. not knowing what might come his way.. but still going on.. I guess that’s what is called the spirit of Mumbai.. moving on.. despite all the hurdles u just keep moving.. takin life as it comes.
I thought I’d visit his restaurant and have dinner there.. he had told me that people these days are eating continental.. its very good for health.. I should also try it sometime. I was sure I wanted to visit him.. and leave him a hefty tip.. somehow would make him happy.. but I was in a dilemma.. would he want to act as a waiter to a person whom he was considering as an equal in the train.. whom he thought was just like him.. an ordinary man struggling through the trains. All my way back home I kept thinking what to do … to go or not to go….

Somehow I did not! The card still remains in my wallet!

Standing on you mama’s porch you told me it’d last forever !!!

Hey m back again, and guess what, it’s the end of first semester at our B school. And holidays started like some 11 hours ago at 1 PM , September 27,2008 (This is how we are supposed to write the date as per our Business communication course ;) ). Anyhow as holidays commenced .. I was one of the first ones to leave the campus in (and believe me … its true) 2 hours after the exams ended..hehe!!
Was scheduled to go to Chandigarh, my HOME SWEET HOME.. but had to take a detour for some personal reasons, so I’ll be putting up in Mumbai with dad and mom for a few days and then back to heaven :)
Anyhow , imagine my situation now.. its almost 1 am in the morning of September 28, 2008 (OH YEAH! I know my subjects…atleast one of them ). I am sitting on the bus to Mumbai .. the bus is stranded somewhere in the middle of nowhere because the freako bus guy had to load some stuff on the bus which seems like a 1000 kilos to me and its been a freakin hour waiting for him to move from here… but to no avail.. So I decide that since I cant sleep during travelling.. I’d rather write a post for my blog. And here I am once again to bore you and claim my sadistic share of satisfaction.
About the title…..You’d wonder what it means… well I was listening to Summer of 69 a while ago… and somehow something clicked in my mind…and at that point I was like BINGO!!.... I now have an idea to write upon, But currently the picture has faded a bit…. For that one second I thought I had achieved that perfect clarity… but as a jackpot machine gets the jackpot for fraction of a second and after that its just the periphery points… similar is my situation… but I think I can gather the periphery points in order to match the correct picture….So as I write, I am pretty sure that all this will make sense at the end of this post :)

Well, finally I am going home .. the first term ended… my grades screwed bigtime.. lets just chuck the grades thingy for a while… coz that’s what the trading of my campus takes as the term for something which has a monetary value.. In short if u have no grades , u r nothing.

Anyhow , trying to keep a check on the frequency of my getting distracted every ten seconds, I’d rather not waste time and get to work..
Recently I’d been through the first ever HOSTEL LIFE experience in my life.. Everyone told me that for once hostel life should be experienced.. because its fun… and I thought that I’d somehow figure it out for myself as time passes by. In the process what I discovered was a bigger truth to life… and that truth was NOSTALGIA. So you’d wonder why of all the things am I talking about nostalgia… well because nostalgia is something that made me realize importance of certain things in my life. The things, which at some point of time I did not even notice… the things at some point of time which I thought were irrelevant… and believe this… things which at some point of time I really hated.. they all came back to me … and I ACTUALLY MISSED THEM!!
Looking back I realize that a day wasted… sitting in front of my PC .. which was one of the usual days of my routine .. one of the most boring kinds of days I spent back at my place… had a value which was equal to the good days spent at this new place. And you know when I really came to realize this.. I was shaken... I mean its no big deal ..all common sense bla blahh.. but then I’d say that you don’t actually discover it unless u really discover it yourself. I look back and wonder if the time passed would ever return in my life… ?? The answer…Yes , No , Maybe
Well according to me its NO. I barely remember the incidents of what all I did… I mean I can recall some… but the thing that really strikes hard is that deep down inside me I am still a sucker for those feelings. .. well I guess that everyone has a weak point in terms of nostalgia… some accept it..some don’t.. which triggers a part of you which absolutely replicates the old feeling for a moment and in that moment you feel the importance of being blessed with an emotion such as feelings.

Some of the instances that trigger my feelings have been :
1. The trunk of the mango tree in my school where we used to play cricket with tiffin boxes and a foil.
2. The time when I had like 6 ice creams in a row with my best friend
One of my birthdays when we were 9 people in my car and we went out for the treat, in navratras and Tuesday just because two assholes didn’t care… the rest 6 assholes also ordered it…(and if you are wondering where did that last asshole go…. Well he was not an asshole…just a perverted vegetarian…)and ouch! We had chicken! ( Sorry GOD!)
3. That one time when we were drunk.. at 1 PM in the middle of road.. sector 17, we stopped in the middle of the road.. opened the doors… music full volume.. my friend dancing with a firang in the middle of the road.. m making a video… 2 guys puking… one guy goes wandering,destination=nowhere and is lost and another one is enjoying and doing YO YO! Lol.
I can name a lot of them.. the list wouldn’t end.. but then it’s a blog..not a newspaper.. so I’d cut it short.
Lastly, the touch of my sweetest mother.. which I always took for granted…has made a special sense to me lately. Believe me no amount of parties can beat the effect which that one touch has on you… the feeling which follows can never be put to words… can just be felt…
I sometimes wonder if getting nostalgic is like sticking to the past ? Is it the sign that person is not able to move on?
I’ve lived … lived in a way I’d never live again I know.. may be better.. may be worse… but never the same. And nostalgia… well it savours the taste in me… it makes all that happened worth it… it gives us a feeling which we relate to as experience.. and experience in its richest forms constitutes the best of our memories. Memories that we’l cherish for a lifetime.. Memories that make your life worth living!!