The Spirit Of Bombay

As my thoughts stray to the nine odd years I've spent my life in this city, I can't help but smile. The City which has been more than a home, a city which has taught me how to live life A city in which the united coexistence of the two extreme economic clases of people.The city whose spirit can can get your mood from an extreme low to an extreme high in a fraction of a second. This is Bombay..And this is my city.

A small innocent 10 year old I was when I first lay my footsteps in this city. It was the month of June, the peak time of the monsoon season. The rain has always fascinated me, It was the time of the year I enjoyed the most. Never having seen such fierce rains before, i took an instant liking to the city. As I sat down in the cab i just watched the city as the cab passed the western express highway. Allthough It was pouring outside, I saw some boys playing cricket out in the rain and enjoying it like never before, All the stalls and shopowners working enthusiastically. Office goers in a Benz or an Autorickshaw alike.Nothing seemed to stall the people of Mumbai,whether rich or poor. And I liked it. This I have never seen in any other place in my life of 19 years.That was the spirit of Bombay.

As time passed I grew to like everything in the city. The people, the food, their accent, the life, the local trains everything. The local trains here need a special mention I feel. For travelling in these trains is an experience you cant get elsewhere.And only when you do that you start to know what Bombay is all about.Time.

Let me paint you a mental situation here. The time is 8 pm. You are in Dadar station. The station is full .The train is scheduled to arrive at 13 minutes past 8.Exactly as the twelfth minute dies, The train arrives at the platform. The train is full too and you wonder how the hell you're going to get in. The train stops in the platform and about 50 peope more enter into that very compartment you thought there was no space for two more.And what's more, once you're amidst the crowd you get automatically pushed into the compartment.The train takes off in 30 seconds and attains speed so quick you wonder when it actually stopped for you to get in.At first you will not like it, after that you will be ok with it, after which you will start to love it.

I think Bombay is the only place I visit the beach and not enter the sea. For the scope of entertainment there lies far beyond the beach. As the sea breeze blows in the evening at about 6 I enter the sand. The the density of people is anout 20 people per square metre.I go to the Pav Bhaji store in the corner and get myself a plate of the same..After that I go straight to the Ice gola store and ask for Kaalakhatta. The Brilliant concoction whose taste with ice and masala is beyond heaven. Both Pav Bhaji and Kalakhatta are home to Bombay. All though you can get these elsewhere the taste can never match upto the ones you get here.

The Bombay experience is never complete without an evening walk in the marine drive. As the sun starts to set, the Queen's necklace rises. The lighting as you past the Gateway Of India, is truly a sight to watch.

Now I want to really talk about the 'Spirit'. Bombay is going through a very dangerous and difficult stage, what with the terrorist attacks and the political instability. After not a day passed after the attacks, people were out protesting and not at all fazed and afraid of anything. That for me completes it. A poster near my house says "The Spirit Of Mumbai, or is it going away?" A befitting reply would be NOTHING, nothing can make the spirit of Mumbai go away from any true Mumbaikar. Which is why 10-15 yeas from now, I cannot imagine being in any other place but my very own Mumbai.