Mumbai - Not quite Mumbaiya : Part I

I had always wondered as a child what the big cities were like. Growing up in a small township where everyone knows everyone else generally does that to you. I had promised myself that one day I would visit all the four big metropolitan cities and see what makes them click. I must admit that travelling is my craze and I just love to be on the road.

Well, as luck would have it the first of the metro's that I got a chance to visit was New Delhi. That was kind of strange considering the fact that Calcutta (the former and in my opinion, more posh name of present day Kolkata) was barely 5 hours from my hometown. There is something about New Delhi that hits you the moment you enter that city. Maybe it's the strange feeling of being in the capital state of the country, where the future of the country takes shape day-in and day-out. When you see places like the Rajpath, the India Gate, the Parliament you are just dumbfounded by the amount of history associated with those places. You can only stare at them and imagine what would have been happening the very same place 60 years back.

Then there are places like the Chanakyapuri and the Aurangzeb Road, the Akbar Road and others which are teeming with the residences of present day political honchos and diplomats from all the Big Countries. You cant stop and imagine that these are the very same people who represent millions and millions of people of your country in the Houses of the Parliament.

A little further you go and one gets to see scores and scores of malls, world-class movie theatres and state of the art roads and of-course cars. This all reminds you of two things. First that people in Delhi are filthy rich and they dont hesitate to show off their money. Even people who just barely manage their expenses, just have to shop in the biggest of malls and move around in the costliest and not to forget the longest of cars. Secondly, it shows what a capital of a country like India should and should not be like. There is so much intermixing of good and bad in Delhi that you sometimes wonder that only God must be running this city.

If you are visiting Delhi, you have to visit the North Campus. It was here that many of the great leaders and bureaucrats of today once used to study. Also this has to be one place where you can find the hottest crowd of them all. Trust me, no one is ugly here.

At the end of it all, I would say that being in Delhi is an experience. The pace of life, the energy of the youth there, the exuberance in the culture, the vibrance of the politics and the richness of the heritage there just doesnt stop to deceive you.

So much about (by now you must've realized, considering that this post was to be about Mumbai, my favorite Metro) Delhi. The next metro that I got a chance to visit out of the Big Four was Calcutta. I had visited Calcutta once when I was about 5 months old. I hate to say this, but my memory of that visit is really very hazy. The second time I visited Calcutta was when I had to come to take a flight to a place where my career was about to start.

Let me tell you one thing about Calcutta. Most people say that change is inevitable. Well Calcutta proves that wrong. This place is in a state which makes you think if it was only yesterday that the Britishers left. All the noticeable architecture that is standing in Calcutta was built by the British folks when they reigned over this city. Coming back to the point of inevitability, the only thing that is permanent in Calcutta is Strike (or Bondh, spelt B-A-N-D-H as the Bengali chaps call it). Anyday, anytime and anywhere there will atleast be one dharna, procession or bandh happening somewhere in this city. That's what 35 years of Communist rule does to a place.

Having said it all, I still love that place to the core. What you need to learn from that place is the very fact that change is not always for the good. The people in that town stick to the basics and thrive on it. The poor are happy in their poverty as much as the rich are discontented in their affluence. That place teaches you how not to let go of your roots and still learn and explore the new world that's knocking on the doors of tomorrow. Calcutta is as much about the people that live on the streets, have discussions over a cup of tea everyday in the evening and live the life of a true blue communist as much it is about the super-rich businessmen both from the city and from the nearby sub-urbs living it up in the City of Joy. Calcutta is as much about 24 Parganas as it is about Salt Lake. It is as much about the Dum-Dum airport as it is about the Howrah station.