An Affair To Remember

My sweet short romance with the island city of Mumbai started just after a year of living there. It began in secret (as most affairs do). It crept into my life slowly, took over my very existence and now heart racing I recall my rendezvous, in the tree lined Altamont Road; in gorgeous buildings of Ballard pier and Fort; in grand Neo-Gothic buildings of Victoria Terminus; Mumbai High Court and University; in the easily accessible vintage Fiat cabs  with drivers ranging from amicable, crude to boorish;  the breath-taking view from the flyover at Marine Drive at twilight; the crowded and energetic Kalbadevi and Bhulleshwar; the turning from Babulnath temple towards Walkeshwar (takes my breath away each time); the view  from Kamla Nehru Park; racing downhill  towards Kemps corner from Malabar Hill; the crashing waves at Priyadarshani Park; the silhouette of lovers at sunset in Girgaun Chowpatti slowly working  its magic into me.

Victoria Terminus

Some of the simple reasons why I fell in love: The Mumbaikar- Functional, hardworking, unpretentious and practical- here is where I learned to appreciate life. The high energy outside local stations, the hardships and the struggles of the working classes, their long commuting hours, their lack of space and privacy inspires you to live life to the fullest. People let you be what you want to be.

Sunset At Marine Drive

Then it is the extremities of this city- Five star housing apartments with chawls for company, vada pau selling next to fine dining restaurants, MNC CEOs travelling next to the neighbourhood plumber! The list is endless and i have never experienced this anywhere in India.The other reason why I love Mumbai is for its weather- when it rains, it’s the most amorous thing I have ever experienced, the waves in the Arabian Sea swell up in the high tide and crash into the shores (near Haji Ali) and transfix you with their mystery and majesty! You don’t need layers in winter and the summers are tolerable.

Haji Ali

Mumbai has to be experienced during festivals to get a feel of the exuberance that brings out the spirit of the city (culminating in the mad frenzy of Ganpati Visarjan witnessed from the Kennedy Bridge)!

Flora Fountain

I love Mumbai because I feel safe here, it is the only city in India where a woman can safely take a cab at midnight and take the BEST buses without being pinched or gawked at; Can walk at marine drive at 1am and my teenage daughter has the freedom to take public transport and reach her college without feeling intimidated! How many cities in India can boost of this?

Ballard Estate

In Mumbai I feel free, free to go where I please, do what I want, wear what I want, with nobody judging me on my social class, gender or where I come from.

Read the following in a book on Mumbai, “The city is like a mistress- mysterious and engulfing. You can never understand her, and perhaps that is why you may never want to leave her side”

But I did have to leave- With hope that someday, one day, we shall meet again. Au Revoir.

Priyadarshini Park

(Photo Credits: My trusty Samsung phone)

When In Rome

Our first posting was in New Delhi in 1994 we lived there till 2003. Incidentally I have lived in this city and done my post-graduation before that, so I can claim to be familiar with its nuances and moods, but here I am talking of just the dressing of its female denizen. The women in the streets are smartly attired and well groomed. They wear the latest in Desi fashion whether it is the Patiala salwar, salwar kameez, churidar-kurta. These days jeans and kurti and western wear is popular too. It’s like committing hara-kiri to turn out in grumpy clothes and dishevelled hair. The ‘Bibijis’ mostly  wear tailored to fit. The thing about Delhi is the area speaks of the class of people you are going to bump into. Khan Market and G.K will be high in Fashion Quotient while Rajori Garden and Pritampura may be less. But everyone on every street turns out well. And  New Delhi parties come with a warning- attend only if you have fortune to shell out because the checking you will be subjected to is akin to immigrations at JFK! After all, Delhi is the fashion capital of India, Bhaiya!

(Delhi women are always well turned out)

                                               

Punjab is similar to Delhi in ladies fashion, but a notch higher on glitz! The ladies of Punjab love Kitty Parties and I, talking about Punjabi kitty party gear will be like me talking about Bombay Stock Exchange!! But this much I know that each party will have a theme (animal print, floral, a specific colour, western outback, animation!!!)  You need to shell out big bucks to wear a designer garb each time! Or you could take help from “www.kittypartiesthemes.com” a website actually exists)! Moral of the story: Oye Chak De Phatte!!

(Women of Ludhiana, Punjab)

Mumbai is a whole different ball game! Everyone wakes up, throws on some clothes (accessories optional) sits on the local and goes to work. The dress is crushed and very ordinary, picked off the rack; no thought goes into the hair or the face. The SOBO college kids (a small hand full of exceptions) may sport the latest Indi-fashion, but that’s that. I have been a Towner and I have no knowledge of the suburbs, sorry. In Mumbai you get to save on your beauty treatments and designer boutiques because  everyone is buying BIBA, Lifestyle or Pantaloons. In some pockets of this Metropolis you will even find “Nightie”clad women roaming the streets doing their daily chores! The Gujju ladies can however be easily spotted; they will be the most colourful and the most vibrant lot! Dressing well is a minuscule minority here. Motto is dress as you please! Sab Kuch Chalta Hai Yaar! 

(Women shopping at Colaba, Mumbai)

Nagpur: Wow! what do we see here on the streets, well we don’t! The girls are all covered up in scarves and dupattas and only their eyes are visible!!! The Taliban will love this place. I thought it was the heat but they are still all covered up and it’s November for Christ’s sake!! Don’t ask, I have done the research; some say pollution, some say it’s to avoid stares, some just shrug their covered shoulders and shake their covered necks!! Poor dears!!

So can we safely declare our national dress as THE SALWAR KAMEEZ!? It’s overtaken the sari (which I think looks gorgeous when well tied) and all other regional dresses. So all Indian ladies on the road in ill fitted ugly salwar suits, Now that’s like a scene from a zombie movie! And I too am one of them cause I believe in the phrase “When in Rome, do as the Romans do". Sigh!

Morning Walk

Its difficult at first, but then you get used to it and then it becomes so much a part of your daily ritual that you can't seem to start your day without it.
My day begins with a steaming hot cup of Assam tea, yeah I have been adviced on the goodness of warm water with lime juice and honey, but what's life if we can't enjoy our own beverage.

I quickly tie my walking shoes, thanking the mastermind inventor of it (my heels actually thank him/her). At this point I am in a great hurry to be out and my sluggish husband always tests my morning patience by dilly-dallying in searching of things like keys, socks, cellphone....AAAAAGGGGG!!!

And then I am off. The fresh air hits my lungs and my limbs are raring to go.
When that lazy lump of a husband decides to sleep in, I take my ipod and plunge into a musical world. Sometimes the nonsensical lyrics of Honey Singh make me smile in memory of days in Ludhiana, Punjab. Nikki Minaj and Jessie J pep me up with my loveliest memories of the U.K, Bollywood songs bring longing for  Mumbai and the romantic Marine Drive.
And before this piece of writing becomes a trip down memory lane, back to mornings.

My companions come in all shapes and sizes! There are those who struggle, pant and puff; Those who race and overtake others like they are the Donald Trumps of the walking track. Some people put their music on speakers so when they cross you you know what their taste in music is like- Bhajans mostly or old Bollywood hits. Now speaking of which, I feel the kind of music one listens to is like a window to the kind of person you are.

Okay back to morning walks- one interesting thing I often observe is the way people glance at each other when they cross each other's paths. Some seem to look you up and down and say "Tsk!Tsk! so overweight!!" While some kind of admire you silently or maybe like my Hubby says who has the time like you to think so much?

Have you noticed how people do the stretching and the exercising? Some look so hilarious, I actually saw a man holding a tree and swinging around it!A women doing some kind of breathing exercise that seems like she was gasping for breath!Some people clap as they walk,is it to cheer themselves or some kind of yogic stance?

Here I must again bring back Mumbai to tell you all about my fantastic Marine Drive morning walks- the thing about Mumbai is nobody looks at anybody. Its as if you don't exist. People walk alone, or as couples or as the typical SOBO Gujju businessmen group,more I think to discuss their deals, mixing business with exercise. And the open sea, the crashing waves..... but all that some other time. Back to sweet Nagpur morning walks.See the best thing in Nagpur is the forest at Seminary Hills and that is  where I take my morning walks. If I need a reason why I am inspired to tumble out of bed every morning it must be this.

And as it often happens in the middle of my walking, I am seized by an urgent need to sit down or bunk the walk midway and cheat myself off the track and take a detour or a shortcut;I can't. See that's the beauty of the "forest walk" in Nagpur, they have a narrow jogging track and you are forced to complete the whole round at least once (almost like life itself, no shortcuts and no going back)!
So at the end you reach back home tired but with euphoric feelings and muscle soreness, but the endorphins released in the body making you feel exhilarated and ready to face your day!
See you in the morning!