Mumbai city is synonymous with a whole lot of names – the city of dreams, the financial capital of the country, the city of gold, the land of opportunity etc. According to official estimates the city houses in its bosom, 19 million Mumbaikars. That makes it the 5th most populated city in the world! But, unofficially the number is projected at a whopping 30 million! That would make it the 2nd most populated!
Mumbai has always captured the imaginations of artists, filmmakers and businessmen. It is but natural for that to happen when you get 22,000 people in one square kilometre!
I came to this city three years ago seeking a better education, fascinated by the image that Mumbai had woven around me through my adolescent years. The journey has been bitter sweet but there are a lot of things that the city teaches you in practice and through observation.
For any big idea to tick you need small bits of execution that churn the whole thing together. Every aeroplane built starts off with a few pieces of metal and some nuts and bolts. Likewise, the idea of Mumbai is kept alive through small things. These are the things that keep it afloat and sometimes even pull it down. These are just my observations and experiences through these years in this city which you can end up loving or hating but just not ignoring.
Ever travelled in a local train at 9 A.M. on a weekday? You feel a deep sense of triumph if you fend off the competition to get into the train. But, there are always the 2 or 3 people hanging out of the doors; dodging the poles next to the tracks. More often than not, however crushed people are inside, collectively finding space to get that person to safety is a small thing that makes a big difference every morning and evening.
If the trains are packed in the mornings and evenings, then the roads are not far behind. We are used to the potholes and in some cases craters too. We are used to a small little dug up section causing snarls for entire years. And then we are also used to an auto rickshaw breaking down reducing 10,000 cars behind to a snail’s pace; be it a top notch CEO in a Mercedes or some children in a school bus. The small little auto rickshaw is a small little thing that makes a big difference.
The humungous monsoon year after year turns the city into a swimming pool. Trains run slowly, buses break down, taxis enjoy a monopoly. The people are bothered about no one but themselves. But, that kind enough biker getting drenched himself offers a lift to someone badly stuck. That is another small thing that makes Mumbai big. It always comes together in adversity.
Politicians have their vendettas everywhere. Mumbai therefore is no exception. They try to divide Mumbai into Marathi and migrant. They try to enforce rather than influence. The people who support them are always a minority. Keeping that particular enforcing minority to not even influencing and a failing one makes a big difference.
There are a huge number of haves but the number of have-nots is three times more. Everybody wants to see the Taj Hotel, but most ignore the vada pav stall outside it; the stall that serves hot, fresh Rs. 5 vada pavs. Those two vada pavs are probably the only thing a kid on the street can afford after a whole day of begging or hard labour. That 10 Rupee meal is a small thing that makes a big difference. After all it saves the kid’s life.
There is competition in every corner of Mumbai. Your mother competes with other women to find a place in a maternity ward. You compete to even drop out into the world. Your friend pushes you to compete, your colleague pushes you, your family is pushes you, every stranger pushes you. The small contests are the ones that collectively make a big difference.
This article can be a never ending one as a city like this one never ceases to amaze. I say this even though I am not yet a lover of this city. The place squeezes you of the last ounce of energy but then it also replenishes that energy through deserved recognition. You are just another face in the crowd unless you do something about it. That is why I say deserved.
They say that love it or hate it, no one wants to leave. I say we see that on the streets, trains and buses every day. There is some magnetic energy around this place. What else would otherwise explain such an adamantly equal give and take relationship?
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