Yeh hai Mumbai Meri Jaan

Even before I could blink, two years have gone. Two years of my being in this city, which I always liked but never dreamt of living in; which I knew but never imagined it would engulf me one day; which I explored but never believed I would map its local markets for groceries; where trains are the lifeline of the city but never thought I would travel in them one day.

Lots of resistance to leave a comfortable, cushy life in Delhi in a newly-bought home, little skepticism about a new life, a thought of bit adventure to live in a new city, a dash of hope to get a better life with better career prospects…an amalgamation of all this and more was what with I met the announcement of our shifting base to Mumbai.

So, what’s the progress report of these two years' stay here? I would borrow few words of my colleague, “This city sucks you in its system, its madness…even before you know, and you are part of it.” I am enlisting 10 sure symptoms, which tells me that there’s a Mumbaikar in me now:

1. The sight of “yet another construction” round the year, on every inch of the space-starved city does not ring the phrase “concrete jungle” in my mind.
2. Barricaded houses with grills here, there, everywhere and no balconies, no parks don’t yield more complaints from me.
3. I look forward to rains even if it means dealing with tension of drying up clothes, keeping floors clean, living with a damp smell, getting drenched even when on a small outing, and not seeing sun for days altogether.
4. Vada pav becoming staple food and missing it if few days pass without having it. Idli, Dosa, Sambhar, Shira, Poha, Ghakhda, Chakli, Chikkis are now part of our routine diet and we cook/store them.
5. Becoming more patient and respecting queues and waiting for my turn, be it in a doctor’s clinic, grocery store or bhaji market.
6. Outing, stroll, time pass…all this means hitting nearby malls turnwise.
7. I can’t imagine travel long distances without trains (no matter how much I dislike traveling in it)
8. I sit in the auto first and then tell my destination, and pay strictly by meter reading.
9. Usual masala now means green chilies, coriander, ginger, lemon AND Curry Leaves. Curry Leaves dominate most of the dishes now.
10. It does not surprise me to find a working couple earning more than lakhs per month stay in 1BHK with family (including parents, kids) without a car and rent out it’s 2 BHK house for extra income (our landlord is one of them).
11. I wait for Ganapati Mahotsav (but this is old one, even before settling in this city).
    
    The list will swell with time…depends how long we stay here…

Mumbai to Shanghai/Oops! We did it again…

My article got published in Hindustan Times - Mumbai Edition (page 4) on July 24 with a different heading.
Now I know why Olympics fail to infuse that excitement in me and many alike because we know that India is not participating in most of the games and if it does, at the risk of sounding pessimistic, it would struggle to attain top slot. And even if it does, I am afraid, it might be followed by some dope controversy to malign the charm and pride. And even if it does come out clean, the victory will be rejoiced for a moment with media undergoing over frenzy to cover every detail of the person and then send him/her to oblivion forever once the euphoria dies down.
While the countdown had long begun for other countries where they had been sweating it out day and night to sway away most of the top medals, India is, unfortunately sleeping away to glory. And some bit talent worthy of grooming would find itself trapped in the quagmire of politicians, lack of interest and funds. And let’ forget cricket for a moment please (it’s not part of Olympics).

India knows how not to promote sports and players and how to nip the talent in the bud. Now we can’t even use our age-old excuses such as money on sports is spent by some big nations with deep pockets. We are one of the fastest growing economies in the world and leaving our mark on the world map. Think of China, our closest competitor in Asia. Comparison never ceases to end between us -- be it our economies or our population. Come to think of it, China is also an Asian nation, the most populous country in the world and emerging powerful economies; yet when it comes to sports, we turn a blind eye to everything. Ever since it has been selected the venue for Olympics 2008, every Chinese took proud in the fact that it would be the host and has made all possible efforts, applied all possible sport techniques to be the main winning country as well.

Everyone right from a taxi driver to the staff from hospitality industry is doing its bit to be the best host known ever. A country, where the most spoken language of the world – English gets step motherly treatment has made it a mission not to let language be a barrier in communication and not let down its guest., It’s passion, Passion and PASSION…to make it happen, to do it, to show to the world is what an average Chinese is engulfed with. Braving the natural calamity, criticism, skepticism, China has emerged as a winner and now, is on the verge of taking over the world.

And the media is also not far away from having its share of flake. To the presspersons, Olympics means torch relay and who all participating in the event. More the people from Indian Film industry, better chances of its getting wider coverage. It’s more important to know if Aamir Khan is participating in the torch relay (due to Tibet-China issue) than to know who from the sports fraternity joining in. A leading lady as a torch bearer picture makes a better picture (read sells more) than a sportsperson doing the same.

But an optimist as I am, waiting for the day when Mumbai will become Shanghai and India will not only host Olympics but also dominate it as a winner.