Mumbai- Lonely amongst a sea of people...
A city of opportunities. A city of dreamers, A city where dreams become reality. A city for families, for youngsters, for old, for the people who love life and nightlife, for the hardworking and the smartworking, and also for the ones who preferred solitude. One could fall in to some of these categories, one or all of these categories. I was a hard worker, may be not very smart and for most part I liked my own company. I didn’t have many friends, still don’t. I don’t have a dislike for people but I preferred to be alone.
Taking you back to the mid 80's again. the Mumbai I love and cherish and time stands still. Working long hours in the service industry did not allow much breathing room. Once a week on my day off, it would be washing clothes, giving what cannot be washed at home to the Dhobi and either going to the nearest Udupi restaurant for a leisurely breakfast with the day’s newspaper, mostly scanning for what is a movie to watch that afternoon. There was a small nook in AkbarAlly's in Fort where they would sell espresso and snacks. it was a small bar counter with a couple of bar stools. I would sit there for hours having an omelet and sipping coffee reading newspapers and doing the daily crossword puzzle. In the afternoon, catch a matinee, mostly to sit in air-conditioning, many a times, I would go to sleep and wake up at the end of the movie. Sometimes the best sleep I have got. Of course, the bugs would feast on my arms and I have to go get boroline or caladryl to stop the itchiness. but that was never a deterrent. it was a part of life. Evenings I would head to Mahesh Lunch home ( it wasn’t that famous then) or another restaurant for a beer or two or a quarter of Old monk with thums up. and of course some dinner. Once in a while I would go to "Cannon" pao bhaji near VT where you stood around a stall and ate. It was so good there was a line behind you, after you finish your meal, you fall out so the next person can take your place. Walking past all the illegal stalls selling smuggled good near VT, the sad faces of ladies of the night waiting for customers, street pharmacist selling their stuff, making it back to the dinghy room with no window or fan to settle for the night... tomorrow is another day.
Loved walking up and down marine drive, sits on the tetrapods, and gaze at the ocean. watching Arab tourists tossing coins at beggars and waking away indifferently. Sometimes I would go over to fashion street( across from Eros and the moved to across from Bombay Gymkhana) and buy export reject clothes at throw away price. of course you have to bargain.
Leopoldo cafe and another place that I have been many a few times . it was fascinating to see so many Caucasians in one place. Listen to them and trying to understand what the heck they were saying. It was hard to tell Eastern Europeans from Americans or any other part of the world, they all looked and sounded the same.
Thinking back one thing that I didn’t notice then but realize now is the people, there were people everywhere, no matter what time of the day it was or where you went. So much energy and adrenaline that you could feel it and then you become it.
I have seen many like me in the course of the time, sitting alone and drinking, watching the one movie that the restaurant plays all night, walking aimlessly, forlorn look on their face, migrant workers probably missing their families, hoping for a better tomorrow or waiting for the next big break......
Wear a mask, save yourself and save others. Peace
