The Girl With Seven Fingers

When Mumbai was born with 7 fingers, her mother- India was not very excited. Already very poor and exploited by outsiders all her life, she was now burdened by her new mistress, the Queen of England. India couldn’t even breathe on her own accord, let alone raise a newborn baby! However, to add to her woes, England had given her this girl with 7 fingers. But she had to accept the baby with mock gratitude because her ruler demanded so.

When Mumbai was a little girl, her abnormal-looking 7 fingers made all of the others look at her with disdain. With no connection whatsoever with the motherland, she was aloof and no one except the poor fishermen came to play with her. The kind fishermen were her only friends. Only they understood how powerful her little 7 fingers were and they made use of those fingers to dance on the seas and catch fish in abundance. Mumbai was sad and lonely, but these fishermen filled her heart with joy. Forgotten and alone though she may have been as a child, no one knew that this little girl had abundance written all over her stars. Though her mother India had no money to treat the separated 7 fingers of Mumbai, her adoptive parent, the Queen of England realized that this desolate creature could yet be useful and so paid for her surgery. Whatever the motive, Queen of England had ensured that Mumbai now looked normal and was connected with her mother.

With the unification of her fingers, Mumbai’s destiny changed. From an outcast, she turned slowly but steadily into a beautiful young maiden. As her youth and beauty started rising, she started attracting a lot of suitors. People from all over started befriending her, making her their home. Her destiny of abundance was surely getting fulfilled. You name it and Mumbai had it. Stunning looks, diamond necklaces, jewelry, fame, glory, wealth, glamour- she had it all. But when destiny was writing abundance in Mumbai’s life, she played a cruel game… She did not limit it to positive things. She put all misery and negativity also aplenty. What started as a life of fulfillment and stardom, started giving outgrowths to a lot of negative occurrences. Mumbai also started experiencing Broken dreams, broken hearts, poverty, violence, calamities. But the once lonely girl had grown so wealthy in terms of her friend circle, that she no longer needed to fight her problems alone. Her friends stood strong with her through every failure and celebrated every single one of her achievements.

But then one day, Mumbai faced her biggest foes, ones she hadn’t even dreamt of! Once, only once in her lifetime did Mumbai suffer so badly that even her friends did not know how to help her– The day Mumbai had to close her doors to everyone, the day she had to send her friends away, the day all her blessings fell short, the day she had to fight 2 battles at once- with 2 enemies- Covid and Nisarg! But she had always stood strong in front of every calamity, every disaster, every challenge is thrown at her, and she came out victorious in these two battles as well! She did bear a lot of scars- reminders of her valiance, her unfearing disposition, and her strength. Reminders to all her friends and all her enemies, of how valiantly she fought!

To this day, Mumbai struggles in balancing all her blessings with all her curses. And life for every Mumbaikar goes on!!