namesake

I took and auto with my aunt to see her off at the airport. Got off, had one kappi (Nescafe!), smoke and conversation before she went in. I walk upto three auto guys and tell them where I need to go, each didn’t want to go in that direction, so, I waited for another auto guy for about 5 mins. Nothing in sight! Finally one of the first guys I had asked started his auto and drove upto where I was standing and said ‘bhetiye madam’ (please sit). The only thought that crossed my mind was that,if I had been in chennai(purposely using chennai coz that name is what makes me indifferent to that city – madras is home, it’s a place I know but chennai is a city I don’t relate to) then I would first have to argue with an auto guy for a rate then he will finally decide he doesn’t want to head in that direction and if I had been stuck waiting for another auto, he wouldn’t ever think of just taking me where I needed to go. he would just park up next to me and be completely indifferent to my anxious wait for another auto. This guy offered to take me where I had to go and ritually turned the meter. This is the real Bombay. It does have a heart.
You need to live here to realize it the mumbai the rest of the country or metros read hear or see is just a percentage, that plays minimum role in giving this city character but that what the rest of ‘em get to see and therefore stereotype the city to what they see of it.
I cannot generalize and say that Bombay is this and madras is like that. Both cities are made up of different kinds of people, each city with its share of past, different politics and different lifestyles. It’s the lifestyle you lead in both cities that makes the person and not the city . the spunk of Bombay is that it enables you to live the way you want to based on the choices you make but with madras your choices will be a neighborhood discussion. Since Bombay gives you the freedom of choice, it carries extremely different people who have learnt to live and survive independently and just co “exist”.im not pro Bombay and I love madras, but im just sick of listening to so many friends and people complain about Bombay without even living here and just base their theory on people they have met from Bombay (who apparently they don’t like). Yes!, this city is bizarrely humungous and travel and getting around is quite an experience to get used to. this also being one of the reason that people don’t have time to just spend time with each other or just probably catch up for a smoke or just do sunday afternoon beer. So invariably everyone is alone and being alone makes you hard. Being hard not necessarily means your soul is dead. The auto guy had soul. He is also mumbai.