Dreams and Bandra

Around 6PM these days at Bandstand there’s a moment. The sun starts to set, everything starts attaining an orange texture, the wind starts blowing with a lot more gusto and people tend to chatter less or maybe I just feel that they chatter less. At that moment I see a lot of people just sitting and staring blankly at the ocean and paying less attention to what’s happening around them. I call it the dream minutes, the time of the day when people sit down and think how life is or was or could be, the time when they reflect on how lucky they are to be there at that moment or maybe on how things could be better. But I feel that it’s that time of the day which makes Bombay what it is , a place for dreamers , a place for struggle, a place where insanity meets order. It’s that time of the day which gives the city and its people the will and the energy to move forward, all the time.

So much has been written and said about Mumbai in movies, novels and articles but the fact that I still feel the urge to write about it means that the city has grown on me and almost everyone I know here. People either stay here for a long time or they tend to move out immediately. I still remember when I moved here three years back a couple of my friends did say “tum se nahi hoga” and I really believed it too. But these days I sometimes catch myself speaking Bombay Hindi on the phone or traveling without ticket on the local or craving a vada paav or arguing with society uncles about parking, things quite strange for someone from Delhi. I sometimes feel that I’ve entered a comfort zone in an uncomfortable place. I say this because now I feel at home here, I should be careful because at any moment something could happen which could make a dent on my perception of this city and that’s exactly what excites me and most inhabitants of this megapolis. The unpredictability, the sheer ability of this place to hit you on the blindspot.

It’s also one city in India where people tend to express love/affection/ideas quite freely. Strangers talk to strangers , acquaintances are easy to find, connections are made/discovered with ease, words are spoken without fear,  no one wants to know tera baap kaun hai ya mera baap kaun hai. Individuality is accepted and if I may say even rewarded. I still remember this one time I got on a local train 1st class bogey and someone said “ye first class hai” but the guy next to him retorted back “ to kya hua tum bhi to first class ho, baitho”  or the random guy at the toll booth saying  “hamara bhi din aayega” !

When I see what I’ve written so far I feel that the whole piece is a bit incoherent or lacks real order but maybe that’s how my subconscious addresses my thoughts about this city which I call home territory now and I shouldn’t get too carried away because hey it’s gonna be 6 PM soon and I have to be at Bandstand, just in time for the dream minutes ;)   

My Year in words, Thanks for being a part of it

To 2014

It took an year like you to make me get back to writing. I was starting to miss staring at the blinking cursor on my word pad and then you came along. But I waited for you to run your course. I waited with patience, with hope, that maybe , just maybe, you might throw another surprise at me. You might come along and shout out something new, unheard of , but you somehow decided to end it on a boring note. Maybe it was your own way to balance things out, your way to impress on me that you weren’t as eventful as I thought you were. But you fool me not and I still shall write.

2013 had tried to set us into a monotony of a 9 to 6 , tried to tame us , tried to make us more careful about where we stepped but you decided to end it all. On one fateful day in July, you came shouting in and decided to end it. Enough was Enough you said, we need to break free, we need to create new things, think bigger, take on new challenges, meet new people,change things, make a dent. I love you for that. I have never been more alive, never been more creative, never been more patient than I am now. Patient because you taught me that it takes time, effort and humility, lots of humility, to build something new and fuck no, it’s not easy.   

You also introduced me to death. To the misery and disappointment which a being suffers from when it loses someone close , someone dear to heart. I needed to get away. Go somewhere far and you took me there. Back to Europe where we found courage, where we found old friends again, where we found hope and maybe happiness.

You showed me what might have been the illusion of love. Strangers become lovers and become strangers again, all the time, you showed me how true this was. We just need to keep at it till we meet another stranger or not.

You reintroduced me to Mumbai. The city I have come to respect so much for its audacity, for its never ending energy, for its nerve, for its efficiency and also for its irregularity at the same time, for its ability to astonish me day in and day out, for its Bandras and for its Dharavis, for its bright lights and sea shores, for its chai shops and fancy bars. It has kept me young and running. Alive and Kicking (Yeah you know the song).  

Finally, I really thank you for the beers. For the countless cheers, prosts and santes.   For the stock markets and the casinos . For the long runs and new friends. For the crazy strangers and overflowing backpacks.

I raise a final toast to you my dear friend,

See you again in another life.

Yours truly   

Sanchit