Summer is over with a BANG! Quite literally, I’d say. A few days back, I was caught in a car crash- hit headlong by a speeding bike from the opposite side. In a flash, the airbags were out, the windshield smashed and curls of smoke began rising. I felt I had reached heaven. Alas, the doors of heaven aren’t open for me yet. Fortunately, I escaped unhurt apart from a few bruises and a bleeding lip. The accident did much more to me than just that, surely.
Remember how we empty a packet of biscuits into a jar? A bang on the jar sorts them into their places, making room for a few more. That’s what this jolt did to me. It sorted out my head and allowed the negativity to escape, making room for the forgotten feeling of gratitude to settle in again. Thankful for being alive, happy, and writing again.
Let’s start at the beginning of summer. As school vacations began, we set off, bound westward!! After 3 long years thanks to the pandemic, I am heading to the city that is characterized by its unique essence and vibrancy. Mumbai, the city where I grew up, studied, and laid the most important foundations of my life!
Welcome to Mumbai—the warm and sultry air hits you almost like an old friend greeting you with a friendly slap on your back.
Each day, millions of people enter this megapolis hoping to fulfill their dreams, make a fortune, or just plain have a good time like me. Mumbai disappoints nobody.
The best part, I feel, about the city is the sea. It travels along the island’s length from South Mumbai to the North. You can either visit the iconic and picturesque Marine Drive or catch it at Chowpatty Girgaum. If you are a love-struck couple, head to Bandra Bandstand for the perfect evening by the water. For families with pesky kids, Juhu beach is ideal, or you can head as far as Gorai creek on your journey with the sea. The Sea Link, connecting the suburbs and the city, is spectacular and a drive over it by night time is not to be missed.
Shopping is what most head to Mumbai for. Apart from the malls, there are amazing wholesale and local markets in every locality. Dadar market, Santacruz, Fashion Street, Linking Road, Crawford market, etc., the list is endless. All the best designers have their outlets in Mumbai. My favorite shopping haunt in the city is Colaba Causeway. Globe trotters have this colorful market on their bucket list. Try the shoes, bags, and clothes on the streets or walk into any one of the swanky boutiques. Nobody walks out of those streets with empty hands- no one, trust me.
Mumbai is called the Financial Capital of India. You can smell money on the streets. Every dinner conversation in the city eventually steers towards real estate and property prices. The sums range between 5 and 100 crores! It is one of the most expensive cities in the world, yet there are innumerable ways to explore Mumbai without making a big dent in your pocket. Bollywood and the Hindi Television Industry call Mumbai home. Celebrities can be spotted easily in any of the swanky boutiques, pubs, or salons in the elite western suburbs of Khar and Bandra.
What I hold dear about this city is its affability. The indomitable spirit of Mumbai! It’s easy to make friends here, Strike up a conversation on a common topic with a stranger-I do it often, People don’t judge too much... Which is the case in small cities, I can walk down the streets to pick up my groceries wearing shorts and a tee and with a messy bun without as much as a whisper, I couldn’t even dream of doing this in Coimbatore. Here I see people in supermarkets with Louis Vuitton bags and perfect make-up-buying tomatoes!!!
People mind their own business and avoid interfering in the decisions of others. This attitude, however, has its downsides. It can get very lonely in this big, bad city. Everyone’s caught in the grind. They are too busy doing their thing. I have many friends in Mumbai, but I have to make appointments to meet up with them when I'm in town!!
They may be few, but my friends here in our small town of Coimbatore are the best! Always ready to help, just a call away. If I’m down in the dumps, they’d surely be around to catch up for lunch and cheer me up!
The city of Mumbai is like a Melting Pot where diverse communities, classes, talents, ideas, and individuals simmer. They merge and blend, losing their individuality and taking on a new hue and identity. High-rise, multi-storeyed apartments coexist with the filthiest of slums here. Beautiful driveways coexist with corners overflowing with waste disposal yards. Unbelievable, yet true. Each familiar alley leads to something unknown. A dip in this melting pot brings out new emotions and stirs my senses, awakening a restlessness and creativity that keeps me charged. Till the Melting Pot beckons again.....
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