Belittling Bombay

Light rain splattered over the window as the distracted driver slowly cruised into a lower gear. The motion sickness would pass now, I thought as I slowly regained my composure, and peered out into the rain soaked streets of Mumbai. Bombay, as I reassuringly call it in my head. Much has changed in this city since the last time I set foot here, much has changed since the day I was born here. But something still lingers in the air, something which inevitably leads to thoughts of liberalization, of trade and commerce, of movie stars and Bollywood, and of a certain sense of freedom that no amount of wild hinterland can offer.

This is the place where dreams can come true they say, but this is also the place that nightmares are made of. The dirty belly of the city lies in stark contrast to its dazzling peripheries, and for those who scratch beneath the surface, a bitter truth appears. Maybe it's just the unflinching cynic in me, but Bombay has always had a way of evoking a certain sense of bitterness and sarcasm within. Maybe I never truly understood her. Maybe I was simply afraid to open my mind to the vast opportunities that this city of contradictions held for me.

But what is Bombay, other than a city of accusatory contradictions. Everywhere you look, you will see disparity. It seems like an independent ecosystem sometimes, feeding slowly on the lives of its inhabitants. It also happens to be a repetitive reminder of the classic adage 'While the rich get richer, the poor get poorer'. Poverty is all around, the homeless hound you like zombies, demanding the last vestiges of sanity from you. The homes are dingy and probably belong in a British novel of the Victorian era, and the distinct smell of the sea, fish, sweat and unrealized dreams haunt you wherever you go.

In spite of all these though, there is something alluring about the place that one cannot truly fathom without living there. I think it stems from the fact that almost everyone is there to make a living, and this serves as a kind of unspoken and unchanging bond between people. One has to listen carefully though, because this message may be veiled under a tirade of abuse.