From Spaces: Another favourite

Had written this one just after the deluge...

My Mumbaikar

The ‘spirit of Mumbai’ has been the centre of many discussions over hot cups of coffee in places as remote as Chikmagloor where not even a drop of the fury would’ve touched the people. They speak about the hardships that “so and so” who was ‘there’ went through etc etc and came back home in due time… like a triumphant warrior, who’s just won a war.

They may not be far off the mark. But, what they fail to understand is that this warrior has been fighting small battles everyday – on crowded trains, overfull buses, traffic jams, humid weather – and these battles have toughened the Mumbaikar to fight a war that will leave one more scar on a soul that is already criss-crossed with the wounds of the years gone by. Whether it was the Ayodhya riots, which made their presence felt in Mumbai, the bomb blasts, the dark underbelly that the city has been living with all these years or the present day fury that was unleashed by nature itself.

Sure enough, it was a reminder that while one may be able to battle it out with circumstances created by man – a rainstorm like this one (the highest recorded rainfall in a day in history) will leave scars that are deeper, scars that will take some more time to heal, scars that the Mumbaikar is not about to forget in a hurry.

But, still having been a Mumbaikar during my formative years – having seen the city at its worst (1992-93) and having a certain soft corner for its indomitable ‘spirit’ even now I tend to get a bit defensive about the city that's shaped my personality when one speaks of the dirty and filthy Mumbai without having actually stayed there, when they speak of how Mumbai, touted to be the next Shanghai doesn’t have enough infrastructure in place, how Mumbai is ‘going to the dogs’ and the likes of such statements. Call me a foolish sentimentalist or an incurable cynic – I’m confident that the city will be up on its feet in sometime – going on as if yesterday was just another day – tomorrow’s yet to come – living for that day – fighting out life’s little battles for that day that has made the Mumbaikar someone who is capable of overcoming tragedies to come up trumps. So while others may salute the ‘spirit of Mumbai’ – I praise the Mumbaikar without who, this spirit would be as soulless as a dead body. To quote a dialogue from a recent movie (translated of course) "A person may not be special - it's the challenges he overcomes that make him special."