Sunday, July 13, 2014

The dilemma of Mumbai

It has been 5 years since I moved to Mumbai, and I just realized I haven't posted a single blog since arriving here, so this one might be slightly long.

The moment you land in this city, you realize there is something different about the place. The auto / cab guys go by meter, there is little haggling to do for your grocery shopping and there seem to be informal systems in place for almost everything, like shared auto / cabs from stations to most offices and residential complexes, the system of forming a line while getting into a bus, the fact that most people vacate their seats for ladies and senior citizens on the designated seats in buses. At the same time, there is the ever maddening rush always heading for some place without a break and without a rest. Doesn't matter if it has been raining for the past 24 hours and there is serious flooding on the roads, life doesn't stop in this city.

Mumbai is a city of contradictions. From the sorry you hear every time a person touches you while sitting in the local train to the same person ready to jump on your head for the chance to enter the train before you. The traffic will follow lane driving in most of the cases, but the moment there is a red light, almost everybody will want to jump it, and then stop right in the middle of the road and wait for the green light. The cops who are present everywhere and do not mind intervening for the smallest of disputes which might get physical to the absolute ignorance they plead on other violations as long as there is no physical damage involved.
It's difficult to decide whether to love this city or not, and even tougher to decide whether to settle in this city or not. For all its positives there are equal negatives, and for all its law and order, there is an absence of living space. Even though 5 years is a good enough time to get accustomed to shortage of space, once in a while I still tend to be nostalgic about all the facilities and playgrounds I had access to as a kid, and how none of that is a possibility in this city, not to forget the kitchen garden and the grass in the front porch.

When I first came to this city, I wasn't sure if this is where I want to be. Now 5 years, 2 jobs and 3 houses later, I am still in the same dilemma, of whether I want to be in this city or not. Hopefully, I will have the answer in another 5 years time, and hopefully I would be writing another blog before that!!