Still Longing for Bombay
I was outside my campus in Mumbai, sitting on one of those cement blocks in the shop front, just beginning my coffee rounds for the night, in the next 7–8hours I would have about 4–5 coffee from Michael. Yes, Michael’s coffee, not your Starbucks or CCD ones, but the very watery coffee he would prepare to pour milk out from the large aluminum container placed in his cycle’s rear rack, emptying the 2 rs. Nescafe sachet and stirring my ‘kam cheeni’ request into it!
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I just sit there, watching the highway traffic flowing. It’s almost 12, but you can still hear the honking chorus with occasional wheel screeches! Yea, Bombay is loud, but it has never bothered me. Listening to the traffic roars has only calmed me, it was a reassurance of Bombay’s reputation as the city that never sleeps, that no matter what happens I can always stroll into the city night and feel at home.
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I came to this city with a lot of strings attached, with conditions hanging around me, with people controlling every aspect of my life, I was misplaced in my own reality. But all these loud noises and flooding people, all this chaos and dirt of Bombay has rewired me into someone who could walk away from dread. And that night I was realizing how much courage I have found here and I knew right away that I had to celebrate this city that very moment!
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And what better way to celebrate Bombay than catching the last train to CST and walking all the way to Marine Drive. I don’t remember taking a seat in the empty bougies that night. All I needed to heal was my share of the humid Bombay wind, swinging along with the hanging handrails. Walking to Marine Drive, I realize how this place has never made me feel out of place, day or night. I wish I could share the joys of walking in the nocturnal city, when it’s just you, few cab drivers, chai-walas & the police folks.
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A few minutes after I was breathing in the salty air, sitting by the boulevard of Marine Drive, sipping another coffee on the edge of the sea in the middle of the night, thanking the city. And that was the night I found this bliss, followed it through, and made it stay.
Note: Finding solace and comfort in old writeups as I unbearably long for Bombay.
