Ye hai bambai meri jaan

There is a small section, a minority one, of already very-much divided Indian society which read my posts. Those people have been shouting on me since the day 1(rather say day 10) of my blogging that I scribble very rarely. Well, so here I’m with another edition for all of them and believe me this time they would be shouting on me for just the opposite reason because I’m gonna make it just as frequent as my diary-writing. Now, this is what I call Reliance-effect which has made me aim big. Let me get back to ground and rephrase my sentence saying that I aspire to get as regular as possible(now this was the b-school effect). So, this time let me start with something which I experienced in last 1 month or so.

Mumbai or Amchi mumbai (as the mumbaikars prefer to call it) may be a symbol of crowd for some people or may be even a symbol of distances or may be even a symbol of mechanized life but for me, it is the city of dreams. It is for the first time that I’m here (except for a small stint at IIT-B) and I’ve just fallen in love with the city for some unknown reason. There is something here which makes you believe that everything in this world is possible; this place makes you believe that you have got ‘the power of universe’(he-man fame).

Many-a-times I use to think that I’m an unlucky chap and missed out at many occasions by just very small margin however at many other times, I consider myself to be very lucky as wherever I go, I find such a great reception to my persona and overall, an opportunity to develop myself. Well, this has been true from school to engineering to IIM and is true even in context of Mumbai. It’s not very long since I landed here but have already got acquainted with some really nice chaps around. All these things have not only instilled hope in my heart but have also enhanced my confidence. I’m actually getting positive vibes out of this place despite all the evils which we talk about Mumbai all the time.

Yesterday night, I was surfing through news channels when I found a hue and cry by some “activists” about the growing obscenity (in context of more couples hanging around hand-in-hand) in Mumbai. Well, I do agree that people tend to go overboard with their loved ones and should take care of surroundings but seriously, tell me where else can they go? In local trains where it would take an age to reach your partner’s hand, which are so jam packed that you would be lucky if u can wipe sweat on your forehead. Or in the Best buses which make you realize that the population of India has crossed a billion mark (I tell you, you’ll get a bus per minute for at least 10 hours each day and still they are crowded to more than maximum) Or on the polluted streets where hawkers and venders take any nook or corner available. I bet you 100 bucks to walk on any footpaths of Mumbai for a stretch of 1 KM. People walk on roads like zombies returning from their office while autos n buses keep on honking their horns for sides. There is a limit to what a city can absorb and there is a word called 'planning' in dictionary. Hope our Mumbai administrators realize it some-day and people can have 'decent' living with 'breathable’ air, 'walkable' roads and 'commutable' rails n buses. Seriously when other day somebody told me that Mumbai is dead as far as any further development is concerned, I wondered and will have to accept that he had lot of merit in his argument. So, when somebody sang some 50 years back, "Ae dil hai mushqil jeena yahan, zara hatke zara bachke- ye hai bambai meri jaan" He has been very relevant since then and at least till now :)

Anyways despite all that, Mumbai is Mumbai, and I would love it any day any time........