Pulling into Dadar station on a 2nd class RAC ticket on a rainy night in June 2004 didn’t really feel like coming home, but flying out of the glittering T-2 in July 2016 sure felt like leaving home. Walking down the concourse, it seemed that a shimmering part of my heart shaped like the island of Bombay had been wrenched from my being. If streets and buildings and lanes and crossings can change the topology of your brain, then I have a large part of Bombay etched inside my cranium.
It wasn’t always like that…Bombay isn’t love at first sight, or rather first stench – there’s nothing “knock you down” stunning; it’s a mature love that grows as you trudge through the milling crowds on the trains, on the streets and in the bus. But slowly and surely, it grows on you – the lines for the elevator, the omnipresent sea, the purposeful wanderings of a collective whole. It’s an unrequited love – billionaire or street squatter – like the universe, Bombay is at best indifferent to you.
The sights of bright lights and determined, listless faces; the sounds of the temple bells, azaan, honks and construction cranes…and the crashing of the waves; the smells of rain, drain stink, biscuits and cutting chai; the touch is rough and the taste…of freedom and endless possibilities. The city struggles, along with its endless masses – never ending struggles in a city that doesn’t sleep.
If you’re blessed, you can find a quiet corner and some time to step back and observe – structures and people welded together in a timeless tick tock. The best way to explore the city is with a lot of leisure and without an agenda. In its heart, throbbing with traffic, you might find a deserted leafy lane that glistens in the rain. Or on a humid morning, runners along a bay full of silvery blue. Horses being led at the racecourse as the morning rays fall in shafts through the trees. On a busy intersection, a little life trying to get by, selling knick knacks. And once in a while, they will offer you a kind smile – yes, they do feel your pain, they do see your dream.
mumbaiscapes 