Mumbai Darshan

Its winter time again and the countdown to Christmas and the New Year has begun. Everyone is in a holiday mood. Going back to classes and sitting for lectures does not seem to be like an appealing option.

Queen's necklace, sparkling as ever!

To enjoy the last few days of the long vacation that we had, I had gone to the ‘Town Side’ (that’s how people call CST and Colaba areas!) to show my friend, who was new to the city, the better half of Mumbai. This entire trip brought back memories of my first ‘Mumbai Darshan’. My bestie and I were new to this place. We were thrilled to get onto the famous local train, see the Gateway of India, relax at Girgaum Chowpatty, look at the beautiful sun-set at Marine Drive and see the queen’s necklace coming alive and finally food at Leopold Cafe. It was a long day and we enjoyed every bit of it.

Security at various places

Going back to the same places 3 years later and thinking about the past, instead of feeling nostalgic, it felt weird. There were changes in these places, some apparent and some very subtle. And these changes were not due to changing trends, but coz of what happened 2 years back. 

It kept running at the back of my head as to how is it that, when everything was going on so normally, so peacefully, someone could just come along and try to destroy everything to prove a point!!

The Other Side of the Story

Really Equal?

We have been talking a lot about female empowerment and equality of late. But how much of truth does it have? After coming across incidents (which I earlier thought happens only to 'others' and never to people I know or the society i am living in), I am left wondering, is this how it actually works? Which world was I living in till now?

Year: 2010, Location: Metro 

Scene 1:

Sweta is a fun loving and an independent girl. She is full of life and lives her life in her own terms and conditions. It doesn’t matter to her what the world thinks about her. And this is the reason Rohit loves her so much. Rohit and Sweta have been dating for 1 year now. Life was like a romantic movie and things had not changed much. They were very much ‘in love’ with each other. Everything was perfect until one day Rohit realized that Sweta interacted far too much with other guys. Though his interactions with females were fine, but her interactions with other guys seemed inappropriate.

Scene 2:

Sunidhi and Rohan have been in a relationship for 6 years now. They are both working hard to make a mark in their respective careers. Sunidhi is working in the creative department of an Ad agency and many a times has to work at weird hours to complete her assignments. She doesn’t mind all that because she is being recognized for her work and sincerity. Rohan is working in an IT firm and though officially his timing is from 9-5, but invariably due to client calls and other contingencies at work, he has to stay back late in the office.

Due to family pressure, they decide to get married. Rohan knew about Sunidhi’s work schedule from the beginning but now that they are planning marriage, he made it very clear to her that she had to change her job profile. After all, it was inappropriate for a daughter-in-law to be working at night, though it is absolutely fine for the guy to stay back in office if work so requires!

Scene 3:

Shilpa's marriage was fixed with Rahul who is working in Australia. She is currently working in a MNC and now after her marriage was finalized, due to work permit issues in Australia, she could not continue to work there and was expected to quit her job here and to join him in Australia. It again is inappropriate that after marriage she stay away from her husband because of career (and obviously it is unthinkable that he will quit his job to join her here!).

Scene 4:

Surabhi has been married to Raj for 2 years now and is expecting their first child. She is a home maker. Raj has to travel a lot due to work and is hardly at home. Though they stay with his parents, she was missing her 'maika' and wanted to go and stay there for a couple of months, until her delivery. But it was considered inappropriate for her to stay with her parents for so long after marriage. What will people say?

Disclaimer: This article is in no way trying to make statements, only sharing certain incidents. It is up to the readers to draw their own conclusion out of this! 

A Beginning...

Some things are very close to your heart, no matter how many years go by....

It was 10.30 P.M and my bags were packed. My train was scheduled for 2.00 P.M the next day. I was still not sure where things were heading. All i knew was that i was going to Bangalore (now Bengaluru) for ‘further studies’.

Around 34 hours later, we (my dad and me) reached 'Majestic' (Bangalore Station) at around 7.00 A.M and as soon as i stepped out of the train, chill morning breeze enveloped me in its arms. It seemed to me like it was saying, "Welcome to Bangalore!". The month was August and it had rained in the morning. Weather was cold and nice. People were drinking 'Garam Chaya' in the station. 

Dad's colleague came and helped us around the city.

Bangalore being true to itself, had awesome weather. It would have been nice to just sit, relax and enjoy for a while, but we had work to do. After getting inputs from various 'experts' about the colleges in the city, we set about looking for colleges and courses that they offered. Finally, we zeroed in on a college called 'Garden City College'. "Weird name", i thought, but was taken in by their vast green campus and Labomed microscopes!

Next stop was the hostel. I climbed up the stairs not knowing what to expect. Was i nervous? Was i scared? Or was it excitement? I don't know. It was a weird mixture of feelings. 

I was introduced to a girl wearing a pink top and brown pajama with beautiful curly hair and big expressive eyes. She smiled looking at me. I felt better. (A smile can do wonders!) This is how i remember my first meeting with A. Later that night we chatted like we had known each other forever! We also managed to make a plans to study but ended up talking about ghosts and other paranormal activities. (And as expected we could not sleep that night!)

Next evening 2 of my other room-mates joined me. One who spoke relentlessly to my dad, and the other who cried incessantly. A and I were wondering how were we going to manage to be friends with the new roommates? Little did we know that the bond that we would make subsequently will last a life time.

After settling in the hostel, dad decided to leave the next day and despite the fact that i had company and new friends, loneliness set in. New place with new people. We were all staying out for the first time and we took turns to miss home and sulk or cry for sometime. 

But before we knew, we had so many things to talk about and share (some of you might call this gossiping!) that we forgot to miss home after that. Hostel was fun. 

From hostel to flat. We were together through it all. 

This was the place where we spread our wings and learnt to fly together.

Recently i spoke to one of my friends, she said, "Life was so much easier, only we did not realize it then!"

This post is dedicated to my "Kundal Ratnam" mates: Anila, Anusha, Nikhil, Siddharth, Sumi and Swati. Love you all a lot and miss you! Wish we could turn back time and live there once more!