Recently visited to India for a week and every time I visit Mumbai I can see the ever increasing number of people living in the city. It’s really amazing to experience the rapid change especially if you are away from the city for long time. I make a conscious effort to visit the city at least once in a year; else I will be gasped seeing the rapid changes in the city.
As my parents were going to come with me to UK, I took them for shopping in local Borivli market. First I entered the Swagat store which is famous for its high quality shoes and it was absolutely packed. I am not exaggerating but you could hardly make any movement, situation similar in Virar fast local train and you dared to board it at Borivli station. In England, I work my arse out in gym to see some sweat dripping from my body or sit in Sauna to experience what I was going through in that store. Within couple of minutes, I could feel sweat dripping from head to toes. Not complaining about the salesman in there but when I asked him to show size 10 in one of the shoe on display, he bluntly said that those are not rainy shoes and left in a hurry. I didn’t know how to react to the situation and could not do more than just laugh at the situation and walk out of the store. Probably, I was asking for wrong shoes in wrong season :)
I stood outside the store and kept watching the people entering the store and showing no sign of frustration and happily buying what they were looking for undeterred by the situation and inconvenience surrounding them. Probably all of them were inside to buy rainy shoes.
I wanted to visit a friend of mine who was just 4kms away from my place. The usual mode of transport for such a short journey is Auto rickshaw but to my horror, I end up spending 30 mins searching for Auto or rather convincing the driver to take me to that place. Finally got one and reached the place in less than 15 mins. An immediate comparison ran through my head; I drive to my sis who is 60 miles away from me and still reach in 45 mins in UK. Agreed that I have my own car here but even without a car, calling a cab and reaching destination is just a call away.
Was travelling from Borivli to Santacruz in an Auto Rickshaw one fine evening and on normal day it will take around 45 mins to reach the place. But with the ever increasing traffic it took almost 1 hour 30 mins to reach the place. Instead of getting bored sitting in the auto, I was chatting with the driver and no surprises here, he was a Bhaiya (no disrespect to UP, Biharis though, we are all used to this term now). I was really amazed by his attitude towards life. He showed absolutely no regrets in life for driving in such a polluted and populated city. He said, you guys studied and got a good position but we have not so we have to work hard to earn money. And he was ready to put that effort and still remain happy in life with whatever he has.
No wonder Mumbai is still running strong with people having never say die attitude. Even I was one of them and I make a conscious effort to keep that spirit alive in me.
