Kavyakankshini...bewitching words spun with spindles of thought and quicksilver yarn...: April 2009

4.27.2009

MUMBAI: < SINGLE>


This city must have had lovers, haters and converts from both the earlier mentioned groups...well I for once am standing in a place where all these club’s doors surround me...the Mumbai lovers, the Mumbai haters and the haters turned lovers and lovers turned haters group...why do I say that! Well I come from a very strong inner faction of Mumbai haters..that faction which is based out of an uppity city like Pune!
Such blatant abuse of grammar and the vernacular language in particular, certainly rubs us the wrong way! I am still no different but now staying in Mumbai, the “apni gali mein sher” status is sorely missing!
The ultimate reality of Mumbai, I kept escaping it by literally fleeing Mumbai every weekend..till I decided to use the other approach that of fight than flight!
And voila, its almost as good as discovering a dream lover in the very same guy whom you thought was extremely repulsive at the first glance!
First date with Mumbai happened to please me beyond measure! And my! what extraaa efforts did this lover of mine take! A place replete with total madness, boho ruled the world there and arts and paintings and all things began and breathed Creativity in psychedelic pink or an intellectual shade of purple I think!
Kala Ghoda 2009 shall remain etched in memory forever! What a weekend was that! It not only touched but almost left an indelible mark on every facet of my being...me the crazy boho chic, me the painter, me the photographer, me the secret interior decorator, me the lil gal within, me the intellectual, me the socially aware citizen...me the youngistani and ultimately me!
But it so happened that I was getting edgy and not letting Mumbai my lover meet up with me again...i kept avoiding the next date for months on end...kept running to my good ol’Pune! Savoring home food, Vaishali and Roopali and Barista delights...listening and speaking chaste Marathi and loving my bike rides more than ever!!!
But they say a true lover goes out of his way to get you back on track! Mumbai did just that! A shopping spree in Kalba devi market, Gandhi market and there it was back to regaling me, enticing me with silks and chiffons and all things nice, nudging me gently to contribute to the economy....shopping never seemed such a tempting sin! Till it meant that I had lost my hard earned money to silks and vain chiffons and crepes of the highest order! Then the silken threads pulled me again..this time to the scented by lanes of Masjid Market....the bakhoors and nargis ittars swirling around me...i was slightly limp with the heavy scents... scents in Mumbai is this story and scents of Mumbai is another story...you get them all captured perfectly in the vial called “local compartment” one moment it’s the soothing mogra and suvarna champak and the other moment it’s the fresh and not so fresh prawns and some such variety of fish!!! And this comes back to back mind you! Till your nostrils are threatening a strike of sorts for overworking them!!!
Those now regular train rides to south Mumbai at the slightest excuse, those amblings on Marine drive and longing looks cast at the sea! Add some soul stirring music to the setting and you have a perfect recipe for the evening! This is how he makes it special for me...all the time! Mumbai the lover....
And then come crazy weekends when I am glued at home..within the confines of my apartment, the sun and the grime and sweat keep me in..he sneaks in and starts humming that crazy solitude tune in my mind...till I am driven crazy beyond repair...and regaining normalcy ensures its Monday already!!! This is how it is with us....
The Puneri porgi in me is irritated by such on the face advances of Mumbai, how uncouth! my sophistication mutters under its breath...but the unmindful soul continues wooing me out of my Pucca Puneri ways.....
And then comes a weekend like this...a ride to Juhu for a whim, eating roadside stuff to test the alertness of the white blood cell army in my systems...it turns out that the army ain’t that prepared...hehe but yeah it wins anyways...
And then comes the ultimate shopping spree..multi hued crazy footwear...lets forget the count..and this lover of mine hardly complains about it! Eggs me on to buy more so as to pump more money in his lean economy biceps...
Comes a flirty Sunday, he cajoles me out for an afternoon soirée. I go all the way to Goregaon and return within minutes of reaching the famed Mall there...why? Oh just like that!!! Did I tell, he got me come back through the soothing environs of Arey colony! Now that was sweet...
Finally the movie plan materializes and I get to relax a while with a neat coffee....I love this kind of solitude I say...he says..dudette am around...what solitude...
The movie plan works well! We watch the movie with a single ticket! Mumbai needs no ticket! He’s omnipresent....almost! in this part of the world!
And a stroll down the very crowded Andheri roads till a bevy of malls pulls me in, as iron filings to magnet...I stroll about and keep riding elevators and escalators till I reach a dreamland called Landmark! And then it’s all lost! I lose track of time till the kind staff there, suitably puts me and the lights out, in that order!!!
A crazy enough Arabic dinner followed by some brandy cookies and am already smartening under his hypnotic gaze...Mumbai my lover! Gallantly leading me out of the now deserted mall, into the Mumbai special mode of transport...spluttering and muttering, I reach home...with a smile permanently sewn on my lips...feeling lighter..erm that;s not me but my wallet...and nicer about another evening well spent with this lover of mine!!!
Did I ever complain of anything? Nah! This affair is certainly turning out an affair to remember!!!