Mumbai - Not quite Mumbaiya : Part II

Finally, coming back to City of Dreams as I would like to call it. Mention Mumbai to a common man on the streets of India and what you get in response is this "Sapno ki nagri hai....Wahan ek rupiya ek raat main ek crore ban jaata hai" (It's a city of dreams....There, a rupee can turn into a crore overnight !). That city has been glorified to such an extent in the eyes of the common man that you just expect something out-of-the-ordinary when you visit that place. I would like to admit that I too was debilitated by the same syndrome.

A little bit of flashback first. I tried to visit Mumbai an innumerable number of times. All the while I was in awe of the city. I just had to experience the experience that was Mumbai. I just wanted to know what was about this city that had inspired so many personalitites over such a long period of time. First time I contemplated going, Mumbai was hit by the worst floods ever. The second time I thought of going it was via Goa. I had a blast in Goa for 2 days and the day before I was about to leave for Mumbai, the absolute villian in my life (read the HOD of Computer Science) calls me a million times and my parents a gazillion times looking for me. The whole point was he wanted me to pursue my internship in a place of his choice and not a place of my choice. That much for dictatorship. He even went to the extent of saying that I was not to leave town (Note : it was the semester break) without informing him. I wished I had died then and there. I had to rush back to B'lore to Meet and Greet Him and my attempt at Mumbai was ruined yet again.

So then, I was third time lucky. This time the purpose of the visit was two friends getting engaged (to each other obviously) and I could not thank them enough for choosing Mumbai as the place of that ceremony. After many ordeals, I finally landed in Mumbai (Chembur to be precise, since some people dont consider it as Mumbai). Remember that initial vibrance that I felt when I entered Delhi for the first time. Well, there was nothing of that sort happening to me this time round. I said to myself "Maybe I am tired with all the travelling, let's see how it goes".

Two things you notice about Mumbai as soon as you hit the city. First everyone seems to be in a hurry. Everyone, for some wierd reason is running and trying to overtake everyone else on the road just to meet the same person again at the next signal. Then, just as if the mad rush was not enough, they do it all over again. Second, you cant help but wait for some turns or curves in the road. All the roads are just dead straight. They just keep on going on and on and on for eternity. It's like they built one road that went right upto the sea and then they thought to themselves "Wont it be nice, if we had other roads as well....It would be easier for us to reach our homes then".

I must admit Chembur impressed me at the first glance. There was a shop available for every damn brand name that you could imagine of. The roads were nice and people although a little hurried, were helpful. We managed to find a hotel with much difficulty and just when we thought that we got ourselves a place to crash we get another shocker. The hotel seemed to be pretty much empty, but instead of letting out the room straight away the owner started inquiring about our whereabouts, just like we had entered into a police station to surrender ourselves after a gruesome crime. Finally, after much effort, we managed to convince him that we were no criminals and he let us in.

I had planned my Mumbai visit for years and years together. We had more than a day to spare and I wanted to cover almost everything that I knew of about the city. I wanted to go to the Chowpatties, the Band Stand, the Local train, the Marine Drive, the VT station and so much more. The journey to Mumbai was so tiring though that I allowed my battered spirit one night's rest and promised myself that I would do a whole lot more the next day.

Remember this about Mumbai whenever you visit that place "You will sweat no matter what". In case you are someone who sweats even in the B'lore climate then while in Mumbai, it will be a downpour, a thunderstorm. So better be prepared for the muggy and sultry conditions there. Dont get irritated by the fact that you are the only one sweating there. There are others too out there suffering the same plight as you are. Just that you wont be able to find them since they would be running all the time. And yes, that is the only cure to this problem. It's only when you are stationary that you sweat, you will NOT sweat when you are running in Mumbai. That explains one wierd behaviour of the Mumbaikars. Also if you see someone who is born and brought up in Mumbai, remember the axiom that true Mumbaikars (just like true Chennai-ites and true Kolkatans, for some God-forsaken reason) do no sweat.