A drunk celebration!

In shorts and unwaxed legs I managed to buy a beer for myself from the nearest wine shop.

That is how our anniversary was celebrated. Me and Mumbai.

3rd May 2011, landed in Mumbai I was so sure of how things are going to be. Alas! for me this 'City of Dreams' turned out to be a 'City of Pungi' and wherever I went 'the pungi' followed.

My first job after an MBA, no, PGDM (calling myself a PGDM student makes me feel  less embarrassed for the years that i wasted!) was a Client Servicing Executive in a digital agency at Charni Road. I stayed at Andheri East (now don't you make that face! ). Not kidding, but staying at Andheri East cost me my two precious friends. In Mumbai, the area that you hail from talks a lot about who you are and guess they knew it already.

And then began the molestation which led to daily orgasms, weekends excluded. I am talking about traveling in Mumbai local trains. 

It is an altogether different feeling when you have an Aunty's tummy touching you in all parts of your body. It is just inexplicable! And that smell of sweat....

But somehow I did look forward to it. There was a feeling of belonging and acceptance in that mad rush. A sense of achievement in finding a seat for myself (Even if it was in a train that started from Andheri station :P) , eye conversations or just sharing a smile with a co-passenger. This journey becomes an integral part of your being in this city, it only sinks in when you stop travelling in local trains daily that you realise that you managed a relationship with it.

The pungi struck again. As always I got bored within a few months in my job and I joined a new agency in Andheri West. This was under a mentor I knew since college. From series of boredom in my earlier job to series of 'what the hell! there is so much work to do!' my life had changed. 

But why am I talking only work here! That makes me a boring bitch! But I wasn't here in this city to become a boring bitch!

Frankly there is nothing immensely exciting that I have done here. Even then, it flirts with me in its own sensuous way. Sometimes makes me feel it is beyond my reach and sometimes just lies in my lap and I embrace it. (Beer Effect!)

The chapters of learnings are many. And the number one lesson is relationships. The number two lesson is  money. If you have these two Mumbai is yours.

I would love to bore you with the sightseeing details and what food to eat but I am not writing a guide for a tourist. Only stating that by making you realise the importance of the time that has passed by and in the tussle of finding yourself in the crowd, Mumbai gives you the real picture of yourself. And then you feel strong and weak at the same time.

Interestingly, when it shuns you away and you reach to the sea for the empathy, it wipes away your tears and gives you hope too. That's why you should never give up on this city.

The pungi didn't give up too. I faced problems in my personal relationships, I became a loner, I was broke (still am), I didn't fulfill an iota of the dream that I had for myself. I became a rat too. Dissatisfaction is the word.

How I would have loved to have a Cinderella ending.

You cant be here if you are not living for yourself. This place is only for those who add meaning to it, not take its advantage. You will cherish what you lose.. it is either black or white. The grey just fades away.

I had almost lost myself, my sanity and my identity. I found my independence. I lost faith but the void wasn't filled with mistrust. You come to terms with the 'new reality' or 'system'.

In this state of dissatisfaction that I live in, it will be so much easier to blame it all on this land and its maneuvers.But that is not what independence teaches you.

I have a Brobdingnagian 'Bollywoodian' desire to end this blog with the cheesy line 'Zara Hatt Ke , Zara Bach Ke...Yeh Hai Mumbai Meri Jaan' but since I haven't learnt as yet how to fulfill my desires in this city I guess I ll leave it here with the hope that 'Picture Abhi Baaki Hai Mere Dost'!


Happy Anniversary! Cheers!