Back to Mumbai Nagariya

Mumbai - a place to make your dreams come true, a city that never sleeps, the financial capital of India, the fashion face of India, the busiest city of India....the list is endless. There is so much to say about this place. One can go on and on talking about this place but you'll never get bored.

After a long stint of 2 yrs and 9 months in US I came back to the same place where I started my career, Mumbai. It was a bit tough to adapt myself to the sudden change. But finally with little struggle I settled down. I thought India might have changed a lot by now, given the recent economic growth and development that it made according to those colourful business magazines. But to my surprise I still find everything to be the same as they were back in 2005. The same muddy roads on which you can hardly find any space to place your foot whenever there is a slightest possible rain. The same local stations where your hands stick to your nose trying to close your nostrils as tight as possible to avoid a projectile vomiting. The same auto rickshaws whose drivers feel as if they are racing in formula 1 with Micheal Schumacher, with a least concern to the pedestrians and other vehicles on the road. The same local trains where you never have to struggle yourself to either board or unboard it (All you have to do is stand near the door and the rest is taken care by the public around you). And last but not the least, the people who keep running non-stop as if the world is going to end in the next minute and least bothered about what is going on with the rest of the world except themselves.

Made me feel sad.

So, let me end this blog narrating a funny incident that I encountered shortly after I came to Mumbai.

On the 3rd day after I came back to Mumbai I was standing near Andheri Station searching for an internet cafe. Not knowing how to cross the station to go on to the East side, I thought I'd ask the Policeman who was standing near the station.

Me: Sir, station ke east side jaane ke liye overbridge kahan pe hain ?

Policeman: Yeh hain na, yeh bridge pe chale jao (showing me the over bridge that is right on top of the station)

Me: Sir, yeh bridge lene ke liye mujhe platform ticket khareedna padega. Bina ticket ke kaise jaa sakta hoon ? (For all those who haven't been to Mumbai atleast once, there will be 2 overbridges at every local station. One right on top of the station to change platforms and another one at the far end of the station for normal public to cross the station)

Policeman: Arey kuch nahin hoga, "koi nahin pakdega", chale jao.

Here is an Indian cop who tells you that there is nothing wrong in crossing the station without a platform ticket. For a minute, I was just staring at the policeman trying to understand what he just told me.

And then I told myself...Welcome back to India.

Finally, after searching for some more time I found the pedestrian over bridge at the far end of the station and walked all the way to that bridge.

No wonder why India is still called a "developing" country.