Bombay meri jaan!

I've lived in Bombay for five years now, and I just cannot have enough of the city. What truly sets it apart are the amazing people that live here.

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This December, as always, my hostel room was taken over by a bunch of friends and acquaintances during Mood Indigo. This has both its positives and negatives. On the bright side, I always seem to discover a host of new years' gifts during my marathon post-MI room cleaning sessions. This year, Santa had stashed away a nice little gold watch inside one of my shoes. A couple of weeks of inquiries later, I still hadn't located the owner of the watch. So, I decided to gift it to the housekeeping staff on my hostel floor (a good friend of mine). Initially, he refused to accept it, but a little coaxing resulted in him finally taking it. Two days back, I bumped into him in the corridor.

Me: (wave) Kya chal raha hain?
Him: Achcha hun, sir.
(I walk past, and he calls out)
Him: Sir, meine ghadi ko Hall Manager ke office mein jama kar diya. Achcha nahi laga, log kya sochenge.

He had felt uncomfortable wearing the fancy watch. There was no way he was going to jeopardize the trust of his community for a glittering gadget that he had no real use for. No wonder people in the slums do not feel the need for doors in their houses.

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My all-time favourite real life incident is a story narrated to me by a friend of mine who is a frequent traveller on the Virar fast, Bombay's most crowded local train.

Once, an old uncle travelling by the Virar fast wanted to get off at Jogeshwari. The problem with that was that the Virar fast does not stop at Jogeshwari. On realizing this, Uncleji pressed the panic button and asked his co-passengers what to do. They comforted him and told him that there was no cause to worry. All fast trains slow down at slow local stations, and they would help him jump off the train. All he had to do was continue running to maintain his momentum. Father Newton would take care of the rest.

So, Jogeshwari arrived and as promised, he was helped off the train. Remarkably for his age, he timed his jump, landing and subsequent jog to perfection. Piece of cake. Now, in Bombay, when you see a fellow Mumbaikar in need of help, the thing to do is to lend a helping hand. On noticing Uncleji running beside the train, the passengers in the next compartment did what comes naturally to them. They pulled him back into the train!

At least you cannot fault their intentions. Beautiful city this is :).