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From a simpler time

I was warned about the pollution. The traffic. The noises. Malaria. Culture Shock. But I wasn’t warned enough about the blissful state of contentment and joy that would envelop me. Everytime I return back to Bombay, my city and I instantly recognize each other and without exchanging a single word or gesture, we become one again.

Old habits resurfaced naturally: bargaining, yelling at the ricksahwalla who tried to cheat me, conversing in marathi with my neigbors and ignoring the smut-faced innocent eyed children who follow you around begging for one rupee. It took me less than a day to re-introduce myself to *my* Bombay. (My version of Bombay which begins and ends at the peripheries of Andheri to Bandra/ Mahim. Thats the Bombay I know and love.)

Cultural and structural changes aside, I was most struck by the amount of free-flowing disposable income everyone has in Bombay now. A night out at Blue Frog and we (6 of us) easily spent in excess of 10,000 rupees. And the next morning, I visited my fathers factory where Shivaji, who has been with my father’s firm for over 16 years still makes only 6,000 rupees a month. This sort of irnoy bothered me throughout my time there.

The salesguy at a silk store in Bombay showed me over 100 dresses, one after another, in colors, fabrics, cuts and styles that I requested. Tired and famished, when I finally asked him to stop he replied, “But Madam, I am not tired yet! Let me show you more.!” My total bill amounted to some 15,000 rupees - a paltry sum for me, but his salary for 3 months.

I suppose you could call me the rosy-eyed phoren return girl who acted, felt and behaved in a fashion that is very predictable of such folks. But that is not true. These juxtapositions have always been ingrained in the fabric of Bombay. What Bombay didn’t have before in such surplus quantities were the financially and culturally progressive youth. My middle-class society has not spent money with so much abandon before and that took me in by surprise.

Anyways.

I am back now. Energized. Happy and excited for the new year. My priorities are foccussed and what I want to do this year is finely aligned with the kind of person I want to be by the end of this year. And here’s hoping the same for you.

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