On 8th February 12 pm, I landed in a city
I had believed I hated the most, Mumbai.
It might be because the crowd, humidity and the fast life never intrigued me. I
was very reluctant to come initially but just because UPSC had given Mumbai as the center for the Defense
exam, I had to compromise with my loathing. I was struggling for a reason to
combat with my disgust and was finding ways to overcome it. Finally, a female
friend came to my rescue. I asked her if she could help me explore Mumbai. She replied in positive and all
got well in the hood. We decided to meet at Dadar
station around 12:30 pm. In view of that I boarded a bus in the morning from Pune and around 3 hours I reached Mumbai. I went down from my bus and saw
the time; “12 noon.” my mind said in
exhaustion and I headed towards Sion. Initially
I was unenthusiastic; still with a ray of hope, I began my exploration but I never
knew that it would ultimately lead to one of the best explorations I could ever
have.
With my first step in Sion, I found
it very difficult to cope with my antipathy. The irritation gripped my mind about
the place all over again. Going with the plan as instructed by her, I reached
the station to catch the local train for Dadar.
Yes, the local! My disgust increased further with the thought of local train. I
stood in the queue, bought a ticket, went to the platform and stood near the
track waiting for the train. No sooner did the train arrive than the crowd
burst out like insects as if they were going to die if they would miss the
rain. I was simply standing near the door, caught by the dilemma, “to go or not to go?” In between that conflict,
a huge thrust came from nowhere and I was squeezed. Within a second I was in
the train. I was wondering how I made it to the compartment. (Newton’s 1st Law it was: Every
body maintains its state of rest or of uniform motion unless it is acted upon
by external indirect force.) However, the liberation did not last longer.
There was hardly any air left inside; even oxygen molecules were fighting hard
to enter into my respiratory system. “Hail
Mumbai!” my legs said in
soreness. Nevertheless my body and mind didn't suffer much as Dadar station arrived shortly. To save
myself from the chaotic crowd I directly jumped off the train and landed safely
on the platform even before the train stopped. No thrust, No push, No riots. I heaved
a sigh of relief and walked out of the platform with mixed feelings of anxiety.
Yet, a sense of accomplishment followed my unease while walking, “Yes! You have made it through the Mumbai
local, Ecstasy!” My mind said in liberation and I left the platform.
I took my mobile out when I came outside to call her and to notify that I
had reached Dadar. It was 12:15 pm;
she asked me to hang around the tt-circle
for 15-20 minutes until her arrival and suggested to eat something till then. I
took a walk around and went on a hunt to assuage my hunger. I saw a café nearby and ate mix-veg sandwich
accompanied by a glass of Orange juice. They managed to develop some positive
notions in my mind. Psychologically, they worked as a fuel and I was ready to
go for a ride. “You are prepared.” my
mind sent the signal and as the last sip of juice went through my throat, my
cell rang. This time the signal was corporeal. It was her. “Wait at Dadar station.” She said. "Are we going by local?" I asked in
despair. “Indeed yes!”She exclaimed
and displeasure gripped my mind yet again. Even so, I toddled all the way
through tt-cirlce and combating the
negative vibes reached the station. The
anxiety was replaced by excitement after I crossed the entrance barricade. As
soon as I arrived at the platform my cell rang; it was her for the third time. She
was somewhere in the vicinity and so was asking about my exact co-ordinates. No
sooner did I give her further details than she came near and patted me on my
shoulder.
I turned around at once and put the cell back to my pocket. I greeted her with
a cheerful smile; not as cheerful as her. She had that Mumbai-spirit aura; energetic, cheerful and poised. I managed to steal a moment in the interim and
made a quick fleeting look over her attire in that time. She was looking
fabulous. Her bright top matched her dark chocolate hair and the denims
complemented well to her casual look. There was something profound in her eyes
as well when my eyes made a brief eye contact.
Unfathomable, radiant and brown they appeared; my eyes were finding
difficult to cope with them. As soon as they flickered for the first time, I
came back to sanity and involved myself in formal talks. After a minute or two,
the platform board indicated about the arrival of a train to CST. Seeing this she gave me a rough
sketch about the places we could explore around CST in whatever time we had and amidst that explanation our train
arrived. To my surprise it was almost empty. It was the happiest moment since I
had stepped down in the city. “Lucky Boy!”
my mind winked at me and we boarded the train comfortably. We went inside with ease
and stood near the door to set ourselves comfortably before the train starts. Subsequently,
the formal conversation began. She initiated with whereabouts and in the same
moment, the train accelerated and began to run.
As the train gained momentum, out of the blue my mind took me
back to my school days with the same speed with which the train had had picked
up the pace. She was my classmate back
then. Yet, we never have had exchanged words with each other; nor we have had
left any mark in our memory lane to get along. So far, we had hardly known each
other through few references from our mutual friends and to some extent through
some candid acquaintances on social network. It was only in Diwali vacation few
months back, when we happened to meet after four years and had a brief idea
about our respective qualities and thought processes.
I found her more sporting and more realistic than our
previous meet. However, this time, I was finding it difficult to match
with her zing because the milieu had turned altogether different now. The café
had turned into compartment; the AC had turned into natural airstream and as the
wind blew stronger near the door; it was troubling her hair and was making them
hover all over her face. She was swiftly setting them with her hands time after
time amidst conversation, over and over again. I was struggling to have a sight
off her face in that breezing ambiance and I was just reacting rather than
being pro-active in the interaction. To be precise, I could only do one thing
at a time; either be sane and respond or just keep looking at her and react. In
next to no time, I came back to my senses with the call of next station and I
started responding.
I realized that the mob might enter in a jiffy then and so
I thought we should trade our places. “Be
Protective!” my mind exclaimed. So I stood near the door and asked her to stand
beside me as the station arrived. She was more comfortable than before I
realized. After having another set of routine conversations we reached our
station, CST. We stepped down and
moved outside the station. I wondered what a huge population travel by train
everyday; it was larger than I had thought. As I saw the main terminal building
I recalled seeing them in many of our bollywood movies. It was almost similar to
what we have been spotting on silver screen, yet the real picture was better
than the reel one. I wish I have had
gone with a camera because she was showing every place akin to a guide with
such zeal that all the places, old buildings; cafeterias seemed worth having a
click.
After strolling for a mile we went to
an art fest at Kala ghoda. I was
amazed to find that mammoth of teenagers had turned up for that festival. There
were various artistic portraits, handicrafts, ethnic wear; each representing
their ethnicity. We went through several stalls but I hardly found anything
worth mending a hole in my wallet. Actually there was hardly any ‘guy’ thing to
buy. I only kept wondering about the art from distance and the rest of the
admiration was done by her, by exploring almost every piece of art that caught
her eye. She swam through every cute thing in that ocean of handicrafts.
However, unlike other shopaholic girls she didn’t introspect much; she would
like it or she would refuse it blatantly. When she found that nothing could
interest her there, we left the art fest and she took me to another place, the
most famous art gallery of the city, ‘Jahangir
Art gallery’. We both knew nothing about paintings, abstracts and modern
arts yet we were poised to go gaga over it. Akin to devoted art lovers we keenly
observed every section of the gallery in that exhibition. After profound
introspection we almost deciphered the hidden emotions from two modern-art paintings,
‘journey of the head’ and ‘Moonlight walk’. We realized that art is not that tough to
connect and on this note we left the gallery and headed for our next
exploration, kolaba.
Kolaba, is a phoenix mall of
streets vendors. In a little while after walking through few stalls I realized that
it is simply another girl’s world. No girl can come out of it with empty hands.
My patience level was struggling seeing this scenario. She figured that out very
quickly, yet she politely asked me to stick around for an hour. “She is a girl. Shopping is her
characteristic. Understand.” My mind advised me and I tried to be normal. She
was getting too much confused with every outfit and that uncertainty continued
almost for an hour as she bought nothing in that time. “understand.”, my mind informed me yet one more time but this time I
didn’t pay heed to my mind as I had to rescue myself. Thus, I intervened by
suggesting her with some bright color outfits which had a touch of her favorite
shade, copper bronze. Surprisingly, she liked it and that brought a glow on her
face. Eventually that brought a glow on my face too with a feeling of content
that her shopping was finally finished. Yet, she was not content and was
obstinate to go back and buy a bracelet which the shopkeeper had earlier
refused to sell her at a bargained price. I had already bought it then through the
corner of her eyes but I thought I should gift it her while leaving, as a surprise
gift. But the plan failed as she remained stubborn on going back. “No one has ever won over a girl!”My mind
conveyed me and I decided to surrender. At last, I stopped her and took that
bracelet out of my waist bag and said, “Hey
wait, I already bought it for you!” she turned around and a sudden
expression of surprise appeared on her face followed by ecstasy. Her happiness knew no bounds and with
generosity she said “Thank you.”
She was all content after that surprise yet she bought a chocolate ice-cream
just to accompany our walk and her happy mood. We strolled another mile
relishing on few bites of chocolate and went to the main tourist attraction of
Mumbai, Gateway of India. I was absolutely
mesmerized by its sight. Endless Ocean, the sound of waves, ships, pigeons; all
were surrounding one thing, Gateway of
India. Facing to it was magnificent Taj
hotel. It reminded me of the unfortunate 26/11 attacks and with the very next
moment our topic of discussion changed to terrorism, religion and many serious
issues prevailing in our country. “She is
not an IAS aspirant.” My mind informed me and I took a backseat. After that
we clicked some pictures to reminisce and then we sat on a bench near the ocean.
The ocean was looking even more beautiful from there. We both were looking at
the ocean in awe of its beauty and infinity. An Absolute silence prevailed for
a minute. We just kept listening to the waves, the breeze, the sky and our own
internal thoughts until a strong wave rose and fell to flicker our eyelids; and
just then we came back to our real world.
The strong wave perhaps have had made resonance with our inner thoughts and consequently
we began to talk about our life. So soothing was the vicinity that the
innermost feelings about my life burst out in front of her as if I was talking
to myself. She too discussed many things; about her experiences and how the
city had helped her to explore a complete new world around her. May be we were
at the same phase of life and so our conversation went on surrounding newly
discovered versions of ourselves. I was finding it very easy and comfortable
to open up with her; it might be because I had discovered a real genuine person
in her. When she would talk, her brown eyes would do all the
conversation; fearless, unfathomable and lively as if her eyes are the mirrors of
her soul. Her effortless expressions had a rhythm with her thoughts. The reality
based conversation last until we had the last taste of the chocolate. I wish it
would never have finished and we would have continued talking, wave after wave,
breeze after breeze; eternally. Alas! Time is never in our hand.
It was 5:30, Time for us to leave. I was walking with a heavy feet,
reluctant to go but finally I toddled out and we headed for CST. We hired a cab this time as we were
running short of time. She showed me marine-drive,
jindal house, Cadbury factory etc. that appeared in our way. I saw most of the
things one could see in a day, yet I simply wished if I could see haji-ali mosque. She asked me if I really had to visit and within
no time she told the driver to turn for haji-ali.
I felt very happy by her gesture. I promised that we would complete the last spot
in short span. But when we reached there
she was little low for the uncomfortable zone the place offers to the women.
She was apprehensive. “Be protective.”
my mind yelled at me and so I tried to cheer her up with my funny side, yet it
was not required as she soon jelled with the surrounding and we strolled
faster.
We slowed down in the mid-way as we saw a beautiful sight. We were standing
in the middle of the ocean and it was as if the sun was smiling all throughout
the ocean and the waves were carrying all the happiness of the world. The ways gave
an impression of offering something; an internal peace, an anonymous notion, a
feeling to take along us and simply give a smile in return. We stood gazing for
a while and then marched quickly to reach the entrance. As I entered the mosque
I experienced something. The energy was liberating. So serene, so divine was
the force that we hardly talked inside the mosque. We removed our foot-wears
nearby and went inside to offer the prayers. There were separate queues for men
and women and so we entered inside respectively. Men’s queue was not crowded
comparatively and so I went inside the shrine before her. She was still in the
queue. I went near the tomb to have a closer aura. I joined my hands and bowed
my head before the all mighty to pray. There was an absolute stillness as if my
soul was interacting with him. I thanked him for all the bliss he has bestowed
upon me and further asked the almighty to bless me with courage, to spread the happiness
and peace all around the world. I prayed to seek his presence in my life and
with that I released my hands and raised my head. As soon as I opened my eyes I saw something I
couldn’t believe in.
The vision was blurred initially as I was gradually opening my eyes. There
was something anonymous happening inside me; an unusual notion was gripping me.
The vision was getting clearer as I was trying to open my eyes further. The
blurred vision slowly got replaced with a dim yellow light; it was reflection
of the sun which was about to set. The complete milieu turned golden yellow
progressively as the sun was advancing. When I roughly opened my eyes I saw a
girl with a red scarf covered on her head, praying before the almighty. The yellow
sun behind her was showering with golden reflections all around her vicinity. Her
aura was looking so illuminating that everything encircling her was looking faint
relatively. Everything became numb for a moment. The reflected light faded out
soon. The picture was becoming clearer as the time was advancing. Finally,
everything became clear and when I saw the complete image I was taken aback. It
was ‘HER.’
I walked outside the shrine through heavy steps. I couldn’t believe my sight.
It was something magical. Something I had never seen in my life. I was numb. No
strange thoughts were engulfing my mind then. I just went back and wore my
shoes. My eyes were trying to convince my mind that what they had seen was true.
She came out in next few seconds. I was in my own thoughts. She wore her
foot-wears and we both moved towards the entrance gate. After some seconds we
started talking about the serenity the place radiated. But back in my head I
was wondering about that sight. For the next few seconds I struggled to make an
eye contact with her. When I managed to
look at her face, I found her different. The image which I had seen inside the
mosque under the rays of sunset was not there. I was trying to figure out the
difference. “Later.” my mind advised
and so I ignored those notions. While walking back we reached that part of the
way when we happened to stand once again in the middle of the ocean. I asked
her to stop for a while; it was very instinctive. We stood there for sometime;
glaring at the setting sun, the ocean and the waves. In awe of that beautiful
scenery, all of a sudden an anonymous smile came on my face. It simply came
naturally. I wondered if it was what the ocean, the waves and the sun were
trying to convey me while coming, (Simply
give a smile in return.) I had a spiritual connect for a second. I stopped
thinking about what I had seen. I got my answer and with a last second of
glimpse we moved forward heading towards the gate. Soon, I came back to my natural
state and we talked along the way till we reached the entrance gate. We already
got late and so as soon as we came outside we hired a cab for CST and took a sandwich to accompany in
the interim.
The complete day was flashing in my head as we were g nearer to the station
analogous to a slide show. I wished I could explore many more places with her. I
had suddenly fallen in love with Mumbai. Even before I could recall everything that
I had explored, we reached CST
station. We bought the ticket and as soon as we went inside we saw that the
train was standing on the platform already. We hardly had anything more to
discuss, however I had a lot more to say. The time was running out and I
couldn’t figure out what to say. She escorted me to the compartment with
general instructions which were necessary for an alien to travel. And finally
the good-bye moment came. “Thank her!”
My mind exclaimed for the last time and I stepped down from my compartment to
follow the same. I expressed my gratitude for giving her precious time and
further added that she is the most genuine girl I had ever met. She smiled in
generosity, and went on her way, waving her hand, saying good-bye.
The train came in motion as soon as I sat on my place. I took out my tab for
the first time since morning and attached my headphones and without even
selecting a song I simply resumed the music player. The slideshow of memories began
to pop up as the music started. The cold breeze was intriguing me to connect my
thoughts to the song. I was all lost in the memories. Soon the slideshow faded
out and suddenly some lines hit a chord with my thoughts. Out of the blue, I
got a rhythm in my head and some more lines came in my mind further. I followed
them throughout and ended up with a brief couplet of my wonderful journey.
A TRYST
I met a girl today
It was humid noon and the sun overhead was shining gay.
Yet, her ravishing smile was more lustrous
Even sunlight relative to her was dim and grey
As the time went by, we broke the ice
Did some shopping covering various miles
Every place she took me to was full of zest and life
Whether its art gallery, divine mosque or breezing marine drive.
For the precious time she gave to me
I wish I could thank her in a better way
I had managed to buy a bracelet to gift her in the end
Yet she caught me in the process midway.
All I can do now is dedicate some lines to her
For the memories I had
For the time we spent together.
Don’t know how many such golden moments in my life
Are meant to treasure and have?
But your memories I would never let it go
Your memories I will always keep and have.
A smile appeared on my face as I wrote the last
letter. I realized that I just had an
unforgettable tryst of my life; a day I wish I could ever relive again. I felt
I had left a part of me there. Perhaps I was taking a lot more than just memories along with me in this journey. I peeped outside through the window and with a feeling of gratitude,
“Love you Mumbai!” my heart uttered in
ecstasy for the one last time.
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