Amchi Mumbai!!!!

Born and brought up in the city of Cochin i will still swear my alligeance to this city so aptly called 'the queen of the Arabian sea'. But there is another city up the coast upon which the salt white foams of the Arabian sea unleashes its charm.....a city which with its five islands in unision has captured my fondness......The city of Mumbai.
This fondness has surprised me in quite a few ways.Firstly because I have lived here only for a very brief period of seven months (and a few 3 day visits).Secondly because of the preconcieved notion I carried about Mumbai being an over polluted and overpopulated city which was proved right to a very great extent.But the city has a charismatic charm which eventually won my heart.

Being in the profession i am in, I had the rare privilage of living in Mumbai and not get involved and observe the city from an outsiders view and also participate when i felt like doing so by just letting go and immersing myself in the wave of motion that this city is.That is true...Mumbai is in 'constant motion' and it is this 'constant motion' that defines its existence....you stop and you will be left behind.To live in this city one must be prepared to switch over to a high energy state which this city demands.To witness this 'high energy' one just has to step into the local rail terminal at churchgate...
The high concentration of activity one gets to witness here is a sight to behold.The people here look possessed....looks as if they are in a race...a race with time where everyone knows exactly what his role is and carries it out with such mechanical precision that you just look in wonder.A train stops.....an avalanche of people unleashed onto the platform and then diffusing into the sea of people already there.....some stop to have their routine frankie n munch it on their way to a taxi...some need their coffee...while some others cannot afford these luxuries so just breeze past....across the road....down a lane and eventually to their small shop at fashion street.Life here goes on....'life' doesn't have much of a choice....In Mumbai everyone is a 'Mumbaikar',doesn't matter where your origin is or what the language your tounge speaks,because unless u don't belong u wont be.

Another aspect of Mumbai is its capability to provide you an environment which gives you ample opportunity to unwind and come to ground zero after a hard day......environment available
: so many......marine drive, chowpati, causeway, carter's road, juhu, n so on......too many to list...n too few i have visited to mention here....and of course if you are the party going type then you have tavern, totos, polyester, enigma, leopold, escape, rockbottom, hawaian shack, not to mention the after party lounge zaffran and so on....again...too many to mention.....and that too....one thing or the other available 24 hours of the day...so it doesn't matter if you are the 'work hard during the day' or the 'work hard during the night' types....you have places available at all times to cater for your needs.....
Yet another thing admirable about the clan of 'Mumbaikars' is their attitude of 'i am busy so i don't have time for anything else'.This lets people live their life the way they want without bothering much about what the society thinks because of the fact that the society is too busy earning their living to poke their nose into how you live your life.....nowhere else in our country have i found a place where girls can travel at 2 at night without feeling too threatened....

It has been only a short while since i have been away from Mumbai but i already miss it badly....miss the malls...the crowded trains....the yellow black taxis....the midnight dhabhas....the egg burjis....the pav bhajis.....and foremost...the twilight at marine drive....it feels like i have left a part of me behind and then burdened the other part of me to carry so fond memories of this enchanted city that it begs to return.......what can i say but....

amchi mumbai!!!