Down to Earth :)

Hello gain. I thought I will share with you some thoughts on the city Mumbai, the place I now call home. I know after reading my previous post you might think that I am biased against Mumbai or worse that I hate the city. But the truth is that I am neither but in trying to gauge the pulse of the city I may have been carried away a bit too far in one direction and lost my objectivity as people often tell me that I do.

Indeed there is competition and there is scarcity of resources here as there is everywhere else. And the dream that we came here looking for may not seem all that rosy all the time but it was only a dream and this time in Mumbai you must face reality. Mumbai always puts you face to face with realty the way life is and may be always was. And yes you will have to struggle just like everyone else, and wait your turn for the auto ride or the seat on the train. All the time you are uncomfortable you are joined together with the rest of humanity who are similarly discomforted or worse. So you would like a cushy living and trust me so would everyone else. Nobody promised you that achieving your dream would be simple but alas it is the possibility that the city offers and not the promise. And, as the faces wait for the train every morning there is a cheerfulness of a shared dream or at least of shared hope. So remember when you come to the city do not expect a red carpet welcome but you might still expect a sympathetic smile, a helping hand and a warm hug even if you are lucky.

So go for it baby the world is your oyster, so what if you are not able to solve all the problems be happy if you are able to solve some of your own problems both the significant and the insignificant ones. Remember you cant carry the weight of the world in your solder but just carry your own weight and if possible lend a helping hand to make Mumbai a better place to live in. and not to forget when in Roam do as the Romans so take a chill pill or go for a snack preferably a varapao that ought to lift you up after a tiring day.

Paradise Lost

It's been a year now since I have shifted my base to Mumbai. Mumbai the land of dreams as many would say and the financial capital of the world, yet many have been disillusioned by this very city as has many been disillusioned by their dreams. This huge city works like a gigantic machine and it will just suck you in even before you know it, your are a part of this mass crowd in trains the crowd that must catch the overcrowded local train to work to fulfill their dreams and endure life in the city of dreams. Very soon your life becomes a struggle for a seat in the train, a piece of bread and a whiff of fresh air while competing for the same with millions like yourself. Mumbai humbles you as it does humble your dreams as you must wait your turn, as you do at the ticket counter so too for your dreams. Yours dreams do not take flight as you had wished it would but slogs to work every day with you and so with the country. Mumbai alas also the city of the largest slums in Asia and you just cannot avoid the filth, the rot of the city which glares at you from the from every corner. On your way to work and everything you step into the city station, the filth is everywhere. The poor, the helpless and the needy and all those who have been left behind stare at you though the open window of the local, all ready to take your place. People who are now looked upon by all as less than people and the scum of the earth which we have learned to willfully ignore like the stench of the overcrowded train or at most to endure like the treacherous monsoon. The middle class running their lives along predictable paths much as the locals in which they commute to work everyday. Too hassled by the ever increasing cost of living in the city and too afraid too loose the imaginary race which they have already lost even before the race started. Wait now, was there a race at all? So was it dreams that we were talking about? So where does this dream fit in now? We feel it will now rise out of its ashes much as the phoenix and much as the city itself. So we wait for the auspicious day while we take our 9'0 clock local to work. There is hope as we forget about the dream eventually much as we forget our nights dreams in the moment of wakefulness, only a show remains to haunt us on those rare monsoon nights when ours thoughts pour in on our souls much as the rains pores upon the city streets, a discomfort. We wake the next morning forgetting the night before, but ever wakeful of the chase. And in this ever elusive chase as we continue to trample on the sacred earth, a paradise is lost maybe forever.