My Home Away From Home

 

Today is the 13^th anniversary of the 26/11 attack. An attack that shook not just Mumbai but the entire world. A dastardly act of violence and aggression that no person of this age can forget.

 

Today, my spirit is with Mumbai. I feel a strange yearning to be there. To be at CST, my home away from home in Maharashtra. Not a single day goes by that I don’t think about Mumbai. But today, I long for it.  May be the grief that every Mumbaikar is feeling today is reflecting in my soul too. For every Mumbaikar is connected with mutual love for this city which is a mother to us.

 

I have worked in two offices in Mumbai. The first one was at Fort and the second one was at Colaba. I remember the euphoric feeling of getting down at the platform of CST and walking towards the exit, side-by-side people of all walks of life. I felt one with them. That is what CST does! It instantly connects people. For me, every morning felt like I had left one home and arrived at another.

 

I used to take a short-cut to Fort. My office was at P.D.Mello Road. I had to go through a small tunnel where the homeless of the city would lie side by side. I remember seeing their faces devoid of hope and yet clinging on to life to live out this birth. One of them was a guy who must have been in his twenties or so. He always had a stray dog beside him. I would see him share his paav with the dog.

 

The spirit of Mumbai. Even though life is hard, there is always something for everyone. Because everyone here gives. Embraces another soul. Considers everyone as his/her own.

 

My second office was in Colaba and initially I used to take a bus to travel there. But one day, the line for the bus was too long. So I decided to walk. And it changed my day! I enjoyed walking through the busy streets. Watching the Siddharth College for the first time was like standing in front of a celebrity! Flora Fountain or what is more commonly known as Hutatma Chowk was another much-loved stop. Crossing that junction was really thrilling! But the best part of my walk came after the Hutatma Chowk.

 

Starting from the Hutatma Chowk until I neared Colaba, the pavement of the road was filled with books. Hawkers sold a variety of books of all genres. Some of my most priced collections are Gitanjali by Rabindranath Tagore and The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda (8 volumes), both of which I bought from the hawkers. Once I discovered this street while walking towards my office, my days with the bus ended! I walked in the morning and in the evening too, simply to buy books.

 

Books were not the only thing that made my walk interesting. Walking beneath the Elphinstone College felt like walking beneath a tower of history. There was also a library on the way that was so attractive and enticing that I almost longed to leave my job and work (or stay) there forever.

 

Opposite to the Siddharth College, there was a bhel-puri vendor who sold the best bhel in Mumbai (yeah, I declare this proudly!). I would have the bhel wrapped neatly in a paper-cone and would balance it carefully in one hand with a newly brought book in another. Then I would deliberately choose a slow-local train towards Dombivli so that I could sit at the window-seat, munch on my bhel while reading the book. The slow train usually arrived about 15 minutes before its scheduled departure. So I would wait leisurely till the train started so that I could enjoy eating and reading during the ride.

 

If it wasn’t Bhel, then it was a packet of Kurkure. But CST never let me go hungry. It fed my stomach with food, my mind with books and my soul with the love that only Mumbai can give.

 

Sometimes I headed out over to the Gateway Of India which was very near to my office in Colaba. Sometimes I walked towards Marine Drive. Be it anywhere, the Arabian Sea never failed to comfort me. The times spent here in solitude are some of the best times of my life.

 

But my Mumbai has bled. A lot. It has staggered under the impact of bombs (seven at a time) and unrequited firing. Heavy rains have often tried to sink it and to bring life to a stand-still. Mumbai reeled under the impact for a while. But it always woke up, stronger than before. The spirit of Mumbai stays strong, accepting and embracing everyone in its warm embrace and providing livelihood to every dreamer who comes to Bambai – Jaadu ki Nagri.

 

I am far away from you, Mumbai. But you are never far from me. And today, as another anniversary of another of your loss appears as a reminder of how you have suffered, I wish to be with you. To visit CST station again and to feel your embrace. This Mumbaikar will forever be indebted to you. Always and forever.