Mumbai Calling

#138

I hate to ramble though many well-wishers wryly observe, “Your blog posts are long, get it in the 500-750 words range.” There is a point there, but if you want even a bit of visual in the read then the words tend to be on higher supply zone.

            First rule of writing is “there must be a well-thought out subject for a blog post.” Second rule is: If you find humour in the daily run, record it for a rainy day. Now we get to this post to find if I can strictly abide by them.

            What makes me a good (let’s say readable) writer is “I think original thoughts, rather they impinge on me when faced with the current of life.” Two, I try to be as concise for brevity is clarity. I was in Mumbai in the month of Feb, 2007 as I started employment in Worldwide Media that manages lifestyle magazines as in a Femina and Filmfare.  I was residing at my sister’s house in Santacruz for three weeks, I found my new colleagues callous, the city mechanical that those three weeks felt a life imprisonment. I told my manager, “Thanks for giving me permission to go back to Chennai, I am taking the earliest morning flight.” She said, “Sathya, Mumbai is not so bad.” Later when discussing this with a friend, he added, “Mumbai is a soulless city.” That metaphor stuck in my mind for a long time till I visited Mumbai in June, 2019. Twelve years is a long time, usually characters of cities don’t change a millimeter in decades for they are as predictable as weather.

            In June, 2019 I saw my thoughts change little by little. In the seven days I spent, I found classmates who were all smiles and banter. Strangely I also felt a lot of people respecting me. The whole lot of intangibles in the unconscious combined and that trip got me singing a new tune: Mumbai is certainly the best city in the India. I tried to capture a bit of transformation in this link

            Then I had another week in Mumbai in July for a Vipassana outing at Igatpuri and I felt a lot of positive vibes about the people and the place which is often intertwined. Last week, I had another week in the maximum city (thrice in three months) and I found a lot of bonding, vibes of friendships and lot of banter and humour. After the Futures course, couple of classmates felt, “Sathya, your skills will be better used in Mumbai. Relocate here if you wish to get somewhere.” I met Dr. Rajaram who seconded, “For your kind of Indian intellect which I must say is “First rate” Mumbai will be your savior city for it is a land of hope." Then he said something like “Mumbai is not a Cape of good hope for it does not resemble a cape, nonetheless potential city of hope for you.” He is a man very fond of words always ready with a smile and way with words.

            Then Ashish Bansal who read that "Futures @ Mumbai" blog post said, “Sathya. Mumbai seems to see virtues in you that Chennai doesn’t. Let that lover affair with the city grow, and if you earn enough in trading you can leave the most negative city in the world to this urban jungle.” The idea sounds great, let me park in the corner of my mind for money will be determining factor.

            But this new stream of respect makes me feel a good person. There is quiet confident feeling inside: maybe I am not such a bad bloke. There are some nice things about me. One of the best things in life is the “power of a genuine compliment”. Even if you are a shade worthier, it propels you in the right direction. What is the converse of “give a dog a bad name and hang it”? Maybe it's “give a dog a good name and it will try to live it up.” That’s what a good environment is all about. It rewards the virtuous or the merest glimpse of it, that encourages the person to dwell deeper. That’s the reason I am an unabashed lover of the Gulf.  Nowhere on earth I fetched compliments like “Sathya is a man of integrity or he is a bloody good writer.” Yesterday my uncle called out of the blue to reinforce this goodness as he said, “I was telling your mother that Sathi can be difficult but if you observe closely his anger is never out of place. There is a righteousness about him, he is incapable of doing wrong. ”

            Let me end this post with this humour. I was telling my OTA friends, “These guys are expanding. Last time I was here; I saw my student adviser dragging a suitcase with lots of packages from Marks & Spencer. She has got the shapliest legs in those short western skirts. Whether I make money or not, at least I am content that she gets to shop in these fancy places thanks to a few idiots like me. Besides I get to see those glossy legs in each of my trips.” That got the biggest laughter as I said poker-faced.  But this blog post is not about her legs but about prospects of relocating to a Mumbai if and when I make money. Enough said.
Post Script for an afterthought: We all need a bit of recognition and care. Mumbai seems to reserve these qualities in these three short visits in a classroom setting. Unless I find an earning source and preferably in a Tamil speaking area - could be Trichy, Coimbatore or Madurai - it makes no sense to relocate though I am fed up to the brim with Chennai.