Salaam Bombay

Its a strange city, this Bombay. Its strange because its impossible to try and comprehend how many alter egos this city has. It changes its character, its colour, its people, its smells and its sounds so many times a day, its easy to lose track. Its like living alongside a schizophreniac, and having it mock you in the face, like Rushdie's Tai, an enigma which makes you delve deeper into its brain with you getting more lost with every inch you inch.

Many a times I've heard people say "Amchi Mumbai", which translates to "My Mumbai" and wondered why it is that only in this city people celebrate life the way they do. Why do these folks come down on the streets and celebrate their festivals outdoors. Why do people relate to the city as an extension of their own being. Or why after a deluge in which thousands die, the city wakes up the next morning like nothing happened. Why the Parsis who own prime portions of real estate in town run cafes that barely make a few grand a week when they could lease them out for a few lakhs. Why the security guard, Agarwal, makes only 4000 rupess a month but is one of the jolliest people you'd ever meet. Why Leopold's and Monde's brim with youth culture in the evenings. Why poverty stares you in the face while you look away at Marine drive. Why people smile back at you if you smile at them at Fort. And why Shobha De is a popular writer (?) Questions, there are really no answers to...

Compare this to say Delhi, which many claim is every bit a metro as Mumbai is. Why has it taken more than 5 decades for someone to say "My Delhi"?... The Commonwealth Games? An afluent yet responsible middle class? A little misplaced patriotism post the Rang De Basanti effect? Ahem...

Try as I may, I cannot ever realistically claim that I have found a complex behavioral matrix which explains this strange phenomenon, or why people here enjoy their miserable difficult lives as much as they do. Take my boss for example... but lets save that for another day. However, there is no denying that if there is any place I have seen where people 'live' their lives, its here.

And then there is this repertoire of nuances this city has, which I will follow up later. For now an interesting fact. Recently, I found out that the suburban railway system of Mumbai ferries 2.2 billion passengers every year. A reference point in perspective? The world's population is just over 6 billion.

There are just so many exclusivities attached to this city that it would be unfair to try and put them anywhere except in a book. Hell, Suketu Mehta and Gregory David Roberts couldn't do it justice, I'm just another intern :)