The City Of Opportunities

Leaving the sand storms of Kuwait to the floods in Mumbai, I came. Excited yet apprehensive of moving out of home, of moving out of my comfort zone, of moving to a new city. Starting life anew, new friends …… does take a toll on you. It’s been a month and half for me in Bombay…and I can convincingly say that I have taken the place in my stride. I have gotten accustomed to the smells, the noise, the pollution, the drains overflowing, …..even walking in the rains but, not to the food in particular!...it still gives me an upset stomach!...literally everytime I eat out!.....moreover , am still getting used to the ‘slang’ spoken out here…my hindi has considerably improved, I cannot read Marathi numbers, I do commute by train daily and love the journey…..even if pushed, shoved and squeezed. I might just eventually accept all of that…but I do not know if I cud ever get used to the poverty that surrounds me or the division of class n caste and religion which is right in my face as I go along everyday. At times, I think of giving each one who comes knocking on my window at the red signal or those sitting near the platforms….and then I wonder for how long?....everyday??...n then I tend to get complacent …to not bother…to give a blind eye or a deaf ear..n my ego sets in…..but it’s comforting to know I can fall back on my conscience to remind me..and thus I find myself caught up in between…slightly helpless….and I go along.
Besides a few friends at college, my life is confined to the 4 walls of my room, whiling away my hours ….most probably on the laptop , with music or with the television. ..partly, trying to make cooking and cleaning a regular hobby…at least the former is sumthin I like to indulge in! Come Saturday evenings, n its either carter road, hill road or linking road at Bandra…..cuz that’s where the life is…..where the crowd is! With orientation activities through, its school or rather professional training like they call it, in full progress. But at the end of the day, it’s the long hours that u mere travel…..n the physical energy drained out in the trains that makes u long for those fulfilling hours of sleep!...n which also to my luck makes u shed some of those kg’s I’ve been so wanting to lose!
Coming here was the very first decision I took on my own…..constantly being told of its negatives…of a wrong choice, made in haste...but I had one positive thought…and on coming here I realized its true. That no matter how crowded this city is …..people come and people go…just like one is born only to ascend into heaven…that no matter…if we have to wait and stay unemployed…no matter the competition….the generation that currently exists as the working class…will some day resign, will some day be out of work, will someday have to go…and a new set of us will evolve in those very positions creating more opportunities for others. I realized that this is the city of struggle, of life, of dreams, fulfilled , and dreams, carried forward. I realized this is Mumbai and I realized, I was not wrong.