Mumbai... The place to be...!
An old line from a Javed Jaffery song... Mum-bhai!
Mumbai has long since been the city of dreams in India... a city that has been the epicenter of all 'happening'... A city which has been described with such passion that few other cities have managed to gather... a city - where the denizens are passionate in their cry of 'Amchi Mumbai'...
Friends from Mumbai are passionate about their city... this seems to be a common thread amongst all of them... I always wondered what it was that the city had that set it off from other cities... what was the sprit of Mumbai...?
I have lived in Hyderabad and Bangalore and consider myself to be part Bangalorean and part Hyderabadi... these cities are close to my heart... but a few days ago - when I set foot in Mumbai, I think I realized what it was that made Mumbai...
Mumbai is organic... it is a mixture of extremes... everything in Mumbai is '0' or '1'... there is no in-between... it is the mixture of these 0s and 1s that gives the illusion of flavors...
Let me explain...
The extremes... people are caring... people don't give a Damn... There is a slum right next to a set of 5 star hotels... people in Audis try to squeeze past the auto rickshaws... regardless of your CTC - the trains are a good way to travel... It is Hot... it is Cold... It is crowded... it has open spaces... It is cunning... it is innocent... It is gross... it is beautiful... it is busy... it is relaxed... it has finance... it has dreams...
In Mumbai you have to micro-belong... you HAVE to have an affiliation... you have to belong either to the audi club or the rickshaw club.. you have to belong to the vada-pau club or the Hyaat club... but you have to belong to these clubs... it is the permutations and combinations that provides the flavor...
It is these permutations and combinations that makes each Mumbai-ite unique yet similar in spirit to each other... each of them is a different set of characteristics... but because of the complexities.. they are bound together in the complexities... Bound together by the sprit of being Mumbai-ites...
Life is living in Mumbai...
Mumbai is organic... You cannot afford to ignore Mumbai while in Mumbai... You are 'wakif' with the city as long as you are there... It demands that of you...
In Bangalore... you can live in Jayanagar and work at ITPL travel 30-40 Kms on a daily basis and never be affected by what happens in... say, R.T Nagar... Hell you might never even know where the hell R.T Nagar is...!
In Hyderabad... well it is a little more complex there... you are familiar with areas there... the area where you grew up... the area where you went to college... the area where you haunt the food joints... you know the pulse of these areas... the rest of it disappears off the map... they don't much exist for you... and sometimes when you visit a new area - it is a very foreign experience.
Mumbai I felt the urge to belong... and yet to stand aloof...
Baz Luhrmann in his 'Sunscreen' urges "... Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard; live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft..."
Mumbai is both... live in Mumbai... but keep a watch out for your soul... if it flies free in the diversity of its experiences... stay... else you will never leave...
Love
-A
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7 comments:
Hey,
This is exactly what I have felt about Mumbai. From what I understood of Mumbai in my stay of 2 years, I feel it is a city of contradictions.
You understood it in a day's visit.
Cheers !!!
Mauli
I feel some kind of fear when I hear this word "Mumbai"...I still cant forget that day...November 26th 2008...when I woke up to the shocking news of Mumbai and indeed the whole of India being held to ransom by a bunch of audacious young men...I was shocked..heartbroken, helpless and angry...!!!! Mumbai has long been India's dream capital...but are those dreams secured? When will these attacks and this violence stop...I remember my friend's comment on that day..."If the passion these brain washed youth possessed was directed towards humanitarian causes the world would definitely be a much better place...alas...if only they knew.. !!!"
Nice... I liked the city too but I agree that there are extremes. Its a place you learn to like. I've known people to either love the city or hate it entirely!
Mumbai, I have fallen in love with it THE VERY FIRST SIGHT...
My plane was landing onto a sea of BLUE BLUE plastic roofs spread across so brilliantly, such CHEAP beauty I thought.
Some of the blue coloured plastic roofs were taking support right of the airport. NO where else can this be seen.
I took a train to go to Thane from mazagao dock... The bunk had 6 people sitting where as it could accomodate 4 max... I was standing... a lady (one of the 6 smiling faces) moved and made place for me...
THATS MUMBAI for you !!!
That place brings such mixed emtions to me...
I like city profiles. I love Mumbai and hate Hyderabad. Having stayed in Mumbai for two years, my views are a little different from yours, but nevertheless I find your assessment fairly accurate.
Hyderabad: Check the description on my blog. You seem to love the city but I hate it.
very well written, Abhinava...
Found you thru the ID community links.
I have been a Mumbai-ite for a large part of my life. I may be irritated by the chaos of Mumbai occasionally, but simply love the buzz and the madness which personifies the city!
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