Unlike for many people, my childhood vacation spot was Mumbai ( Bombay then, and that’s how I like calling it!). My mom is from Bombay, hence a lot of summer holidays were spent hopping from one uncle’s house to other. One of my mom’s best friends lived in Churchgate which was like the other end of the city from where my uncle lived. None the less, traveling in the local trains, sighting the city from the top front seat of the double decker bus, bargained and cheap shopping at Colaba and fashion street were just one of the few incentives that I had. And they were so invaluable.
A lot of those days in Mumbai have left an impression in me. Somewhere got me thinking, it left a spark in my life that made me just want to go to Mumbai again and again. More so, I just kept telling my self that I will be there, making my living & most importantly, making my dreams come true.
This was the time when internet was not even introduced. Multiple TV channels where just booming. Then came in the era of ‘brain drain’. Going to America was something I was blindly fixed to. It was not just ‘dollar dream’ that lured me to it, but it a lot to do with some kind of charm and some sort of independence that one would achieve on leaving there. And yes, I was mesmerized by it.
Soon, all of this changed. My career and life that I was living buried thought of leaving to America, instead revived the lost spark of getting a life in Mumbai.
My post graduation in St Xaviers got me in the best part of the city, south Bombay & my job for the following period, exposed me to the corporate & professional side of the busiest city. Though I stayed in a room that was a size of pigeon hole, hardly every cooked home cooked food, push-and-pull drama in local trains during peak hours, getting stranded in taxi everywhere we go & the most dangerous season, the monsoon. There was something about the city that kept me going and excited about everything. Buzz that this city has, just kept me wanting to be there. Looking back at the life I ha there has convinced me that it probably has everything which will help one grow out of his comfort zone and achieve what they are set to.
All this just makes me wonder how strange our lives are. And even stranger is coincidence. I was a kid who dreamt about it & life just turned around to get me there!
I left the city after living there for good period of time. But as I look back now, life there would always be close to my heart. Every little thing about it still amazes me. And yes, even after years pass by, I would say “ a part of me is in Mumbai”
