Mumbai's tiny tot

Mumbai is perhaps the only Indian metro city which has come to mean so many different things to so many people and hence phrases such as 'the city of dreams', 'the city that never sleeps', 'the NY of India', 'the maximum city', and so on.

I relocated here in the month of June, 2012 and what exactly were my reasons to opt for Mumbai? None (honestly)! Before I could even try and think of one, I was here. Had this relocation taken place a couple of months earlier, I could have called it personal but certain things are not meant to be, is how I look at it in hindsight. I had visited Mumbai a few times before but I can hardly refer to them as visits considering how short they were and the limited time that those visits allowed me to explore this city. Besides, its one thing to have visited a city and another to relocate, so I obviously had my own set of apprehensions about Mumbai. The best way to ward off those apprehensions I thought was to not think much about it and to wait and see it unfold instead. While this kind of  spacing out did help, the downside of this approach was that it took me significant time to sink in that I was in Mumbai after I was made to fly.

We are nearing the end of August now and I realise I am two and a half months old in this city. How has it been here? Not bad at all, I would say. I am sure if certain people I know were to hear that response (especially my brother), their reaction would be - "oh c'mon! You end up liking every city you live in". And I wouldn't dispute that at all because that's in fact true. It's not because I have no bad experiences, but because the good ones outdo the not so good ones for me. Also, I choose to look at the brighter side by default- blame it on my parents.

While it is too early to conclude anything about the city, I already have a few good things to mention and the foremost being- how safe I feel in this city. I have to admit that I have never felt so safe in any other city and this is despite staying all by myself here. Agreed my work hours are not as atrocious as they have been previously but I can bet, no matter what your work hours may be, this city envelopes you with a sense of safety that no other metropolitan city in India can. It's amazing to see a city with so much energy and life at any hour of the day (and night) and what is even more amazing is, that it is contagious! I crib to myself practically each morning I wake up for work. However, fortunately my cribbing remains restricted to the four walls of my room and to that time of the day alone for as soon as I step out I realise I fall in the rarest of rare category of people (not just in Mumbai but in any other city) who have the luxury to walk to their office. That apart, like I said the city's energy is contagious...it grows on to you no matter what the weather is like. I was surprised to see, how even the heaviest of rains here does not stop people from doing their daily chores, when I would mostly be dreaming of ways to somehow bunk office and sleep for a little longer or sit and have a cup of coffee in a cafe across the street. 

There are plenty of other things that I love here, for instance, the exciting  theatre scene with so many good plays being staged every other week, jogging by the sea side at Carter Jogger's Park and Bandstand, street shopping, rains at the moment (for its monsoon time here), exploring the plethora of eating joints that surround my house and office and most importantly finding people who I enjoy with. However, I would not want to conclude about Mumbai based on these reasons alone because these aren't things that can be attributed to the city alone. These are things that I partly opted for (except the rains of course!No, I am not related to the Rain God.). To explain better and at the risk of coming across as a show off (and secretly trying to do so ;)) - I don't think everyone living in this city gets to jog at Carter whenever they'd like to and sometimes run into celebrities too. Well the point being I can do it because I chose to stay  close to my office (which happens to be in a beautiful area called Khar) and was lucky enough to find a place.

Just when I was thinking of concluding this post, I realise that there is a lot more I'd like to write about (read my experiences) the city. However, that realisation also amuses me as I can't believe I already have so much to write about a city in which I have barely spent a quarter year. That apart, being Mumbai's two and a half month tiny tot, I better reserve my thoughts n comments for just a little longer.