Shades Of Mumbai

The train was overcrowded. I could barely get inside. Along with me, few other people were shouting and pushing the people in the front so that they could get space. But there wasn't any space left. I was struggling with my bag and my lunchbox in one hand and the other hand was supporting me. I was holding the handle strongly so that I may not trip and fall. My perfectly ironed shirt had lost all its integrity. My gelled and nicely combed hair now looked like as if I had just woken up. My shiny shoes had no shine left but other people's foot marks. I cursed the crowd but said nothing. Waiting for my station to arrive as soon as possible, I started to look outside and random thoughts started building up.

Even at 8 o clock in the morning, there was a crowd which could be a strong opposition for the Kumbh Mela. I started missing my small home town. At least there was peace in travelling at 8 in the morning. THE CITY NEVER SLEEPS - Mumbai was meant for this statement. As if all these problems were not enough when it started to rain all of a sudden. I tried to get inside quickly but it was of no use. There was no space. I tried very hard but I couldn't . Tired from attempting, I stood where I was allowing the rain to drench me. Cursing Mother nature herself, I faced inside the train so that rain does no harm my spectacles, I saw people having this calmness on their faces. It was as if they didn't care about the crowd or the rain. They were busy talking to each other, busy on their phones, busy dozing off. Everyone was doing something or the other thing. That is when I heard something which i hadn't heard in a long time.

I saw an old man. He must have been around 60. He seemed weak and feeble enough to travel in such a train in so much crowd. His clothes seemed decent and he had a small bag in his hand. He had a phone strapped around his neck. Not the smartphones which we use now a days but as far as I remember the model, it was the Nokia express music. He was holding the phone pretty close to his ears.

It was as if he was trying to listen something but the noise outside was not allowing him to. Although in a less volume, I heard the lines. AE DIL HAI MUSHKIL JEENA YAHAN, ZARA HATT KE, ZARA BACH KE, YE HAI BOMBAY MERI JAAN. I had heard this song before but I had no idea that I would listen to it again and that to in here. The song felt like a cold breeze. I forgot all things happening around me. I forgot about my shirt, my shoes, my spectacles, my hair, the rain and the people pushing me. All i could see was that old man enjoying the song. He didn't care about any of the things happening around him either. He didn't care about the crowd, he didn't care about the rain. All he was busy with was listening to the song. Probably one of the oldest songs of the industry yet it seemed so fresh for him. I zapped back to the past when I had heard the song.

AE DIL HAI MUSHKIL JEENA YAHAN, ZARA HATT KE, ZARA BACH KE, YE HAI BOMBAY MERI JAAN. Apart from the song in the movie, I had read these lines in my class 10 history book when we were taught the Bollywood industry's history. My teacher had forced us to sing this song in chorus. Mumbai was a land of dreams, a city of opportunities, MAYANAGRI she had told us. That was in the year 2009. I still remember what all she said. But I couldn't fathom that one day I would be living in the city.

I had already skipped my station and now I had no urge to go to the office. I suddenly realized that I was actually living in Mumbai, the financial capital of India, the land of the films. Out of nowhere I wanted to explore the city. Thinking about all of this, the song suddenly stopped. I saw the old man getting down the train. It was Dadar station. I got down with him. I followed him till a point and then I stopped him. He turned around.

He: What happened?

Me: Baba, what do you do?

He: Why do you have to know? Who are you?

Me: No one. I just saw you listening to the song and travelling so easily in that over crowded train. You are so old. How do you manage so much?

He: Beta, its a habit now. I was around your age when I came here. It has been 40 years in Mumbai now and it doesn't matter if the train is crowded or not. Give it some time and even you will get habituated. Ye Mumbai hai meri jaan.

He smiled and walked off, disappearing in the crowd. And that was ladies and gentlemen when I saw the first shade of Mumbai. The local and the people living. You always get a story in a local train. Some one or the other has something to share. Give local trains and the people here your time and see them accepting you, gracefully.

Now that I was at Dadar station and I had made up my mind to skip office today, I thought of going a little more further and exploring the good iconic places of the city. I had read in the books, about the Queen's necklace. I wished to visit the place. Marine Drive. I boarded the train without any hesitation of the crowd or the people but a smile on my face.

It wasn't hard to reach marine drive apart form the fact that it was almost at the end of the city. The place was exactly as i had seen in the movies. Not that the structure or the place would ever change, but it felt the same as it felt when i used to see them in the movies. The thing was that i had only seen these places in the movies and seeing them in the real life felt so exciting. I was seeing Mumbai through the eyes of the Bollywood industry.

I started relating the places to the movie scenes. This was the place where that scene from Munna Bhai was shot. That was the place where Shah Rukh Khan shooted for Deewana. This was the place where climax of the movie Wake Up SID took place. I just closed my eyes and like ringing of the bells, it all came to me. The iconic tetra pod stones near the shores, the sudden high and low tides, I had seen all that earlier in the movies. It was like I was revisiting the place all over again. Bollywood had done its part. It had been relating me and all of us to Mumbai from a very long time. It was only that I realized it now. I stood up and went to the railings, and just as the Baadshah of Bollywood had told, I whispered to myself, "One day I am going to rule this city". And then I laughed on my own stupidity.

Then I remembered something. I hurriedly got up, took my bag and started to look for a cab. The cab drove past a few Harley Davidsons, Lamborghinis, Ferraris, Barista coffee shops and some Masseratis when it finally reached the place. It looked liked a tourist spot. People were swarming around. Hawkers sitting around everywhere and selling everything. And then I saw the board. It said MANNAT, LANDS END. This was the place where one of the biggest stars of Bollywood lived.

It was the place where Mr. Shah Rukh Khan lived. And then i realized that I was living in the same city where Mr Khan was living. Out of no where i felt special about the place. The house was truly like a palace. Some ones Mannat. People gathered around the name plate and clicking selfies with the board. Logically thinking, it was of no use. It was just a sign board and not Mr. Khan himself, but it had its own aura. People were happy even then. And then I realized the second shade that

Mumbai bestowed upon us. Bollywood. I felt so happy being there at that moment that i wanted to cease it. Adding icing on the top of the cake, I just wished Mr khan to appear and wave at us like he does it on his birthdays. I sat there for a very long time. Enjoying the place, seeing people coming and going when a notification on my phone distracted me. It was a tweet from Mr Khan himself. He was half way round the world doing his work and i was half way around waiting for him here. I smiled and picked up my bag. I looked at the house one last time and walked away looking for a cab. In some time, I was again at marine drive.

It was getting dark now. I thought of going back home when the unexpected happened. It started to rain again and this time heavily. I ran to find shelter. Standing under some roof, I was hoping the rain to stop soon. But then it got me. I used to like the rain. I loved rainy season when I was a kid. I loved rainy season even when I was in college. I liked walking in the rain, playing in the rain, getting drenched in the rain.

What had happened to me ? I asked the question to myself and I myself knew the answer too. LIFE HAPPENED. But not today. Today life had something else planned for me and I promised myself that everything will happen differently today. I slowly left the shelter and started walking in the rain. It was as if the rain was meant for me today. It was all pouring on me and i was in no mood to back off. I had heard about Mumbai ki baarish . Today I was feeling it. And that is when people, Mumbai showed me its third shade, THE RAIN. I continued walking when I saw some more people walking in the rain. Some kids were dancing, some were sitting on the railings and just laughing. It was the Mumbai hangover I felt on the people.

I finally planned to go back home now. On my way back, I kept thinking what happened today and understood what Mumbai had taught me from all the shades that it showed me. For starters, it had taught me to be patient in life. Just as the old man said, "Give it time and u will get habituated." He didn't care about the rain, the crowd or anything else. He kept listening to the song and got down peacefully when his destination arrived.

Similarly, life has many difficulties planned for us.We just have to endure it patiently and get down at our destination. Everything will be sorted out. The second shade taught me love. It taught me that loving some one is as easy as loving the sign board at Mr Khan's residence. Bollywood taught me the importance of places and people. People near his residence didn't care if Mr Khan was there or not. They were just happy being at the place. That's something we need to apply in every sphere of our lives. Love. The third shade as for me, was the most important lesson Mumbai taught me or rather made me remember. My childhood. It taught me that it is okay to excel in life, but it is equally important and perfectly normal to keep your inner child alive. It taught me that is it very normal to do what the heart tells us to do and not just what our boss tells us to do or the society tells us to do.

Drenching in the rain once in a while in your formals can do no harm. Just like the child inside me who once loved drenching in the rain, the older me relived it once again.

Sitting near the window in the train, I plugged in my earphones, listening to the song that made this day possible and murmuring it myself I kept recalling the shades of Mumbai. 62 years later and the song had an impact on me. The buildings were passing by and I kept singing. AEE DIL HAI MUSHKIL JEENA YAHA, ZARA HATT KE, ZARA BACH KE, YEH HAI BOMBAY MERI JAAN.