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| Stunning architecture of CST station |
Yesterday we completed ten years since me and my family shifted to Bombay. I remember friends warning me before I left from Ahmedabad, "if you live in that city for more than two years, you will fall in love with it and you would never wish to come back." I remember laughing at the remark and replying "no chance!" And here I am! After spending a decade in this stunningly beautiful city of Bombay, I admit, the prophecy of our friends has turned out to be completely true!
For many people living outside Bombay, this city is about Bollywood, a place for never-ending dreams, a land of endless opportunities. There is more to Bombay than Bollywood, overgrown slums, the dabbawalas, premier padmini taxis, vada pavs, the cutting chai, stock market, BEST buses and fishermen.
How does one define Bombay? It is a city of powerful contradictions! There are layers and layers to many invisible, different worlds, swirling into myriad patterns of juxtaposing and coexisting in this effervescent city that exudes such aura of power and wealth!
I remember the first macabre sight on the day of my arrival in Bombay which still haunts my mind; seeing a frail vagrant struggling to find food from a stinking garbage dump along with a dog, cow, a crow and the biggest rat I had ever seen in my life! That soul stirring sight was a great moment of epiphany for me!
Bombay is like kaleidoscope! It magnificently alters the scene every second before you, as bits and pieces of life are reflected that shift and change, depending on where your focus is. Being a keen observer of life, I rarely miss stirring beautiful forms/images of everyday life. Even the routine life on a mundane fast paced day in this metropolis is immensely inspiring! The inhumanly crowded trains and the helpless travelers who almost appear immune to noise, smells and hardship, completely surrendering to their destiny makes one appreciate little things in life much better.
A tiny house tumbling off a precipice, falling into a dark, unending abyss flaunting beautiful plants and pictures of Bollywood is reflection of quintessential Bombay sight. Amidst the blaring sounds, loud colours, the mass of faceless, stifling crowds, navigating through blurs of daily challenges of survival and amidst all the chaos sneaks divine fragrance of freshly bloomed flowers that signify hope/ new beginnings. From chic urbane locales, cultural places to secret, ancient hidden pockets/villages, Bombay has a lot to offer if you are willing, open and accepting of it. There is sharp contrast if you explore the city and see the less shiny innards beneath Bombay's shiny exterior and that is something I find very endearing.
It has been exactly a decade since we shifted to Bombay and there has never been a single day when I have not been awestruck by the spirit, energy and glaring contrasts of this amazing city! When I walk around the streets, the photographer in me searches for angles, and perspectives, the writer in me searches for the stories and the student of life in me searches for meaning in all that unfolds and the city always offers itself with
open arms, as the ultimate Muse.
Bombay has given me so much! It has brought me closer to myself. I am fortunate to have a very blessed life but this city has made me realize my blessings and appreciate life more. It is impossible to escape ceaseless struggle of life around even from well cushioned comfort of luxury. It is unsettling to watch sea of people buzzing in and out of local trains, look at children as young as one beg on the traffic signals, come across a middle aged person who continues to struggle for that ultimate role in Bollywood even after decades or listen to the stirring tales of eunuchs if you have a moment and humanity to stop and notice their existence. It is fascinating to listen to so many rags to riches stories at almost every corner!
It takes time to understand Bombay. There are immense pressures of rampant mayhem of urban living. We often admire realistic depiction of life in this metropolis that is romanticized in movies. But when one observes reality with such proximity, it is a different experience all together! To many, Bombay is a sardonic pastiche, a vicious cauldron of urban destitution where thousands of people migrate chasing an elusive dream of better opportunities, smitten by the swanky silhouettes.
Despite all the challenges, Bombay grows on you. There is something incredibly old and yet vibrantly alive about this city that is difficult to define. If you just stop for a moment you become part of the chaotic cacophony and can feel the pulse of the city. The nonchalant way people go about their struggle everyday and the way they take chaos around them in their stride is truly inspirational!
The eternal nomad in me keeps warning me that it is not right to be attached to any one place and that I should be as happy living anywhere under the Sun but I know deep down, I have completely surrendered to the seduction Bombay has so subtly cast upon me.
I have no shame in admitting, I am truly, deeply and madly in love with this fascinating city of Bombay, my muse, meri jaan!
