Hommage...

Straying from the usual mood of my posts, I'd like to borrow some lines from books I have read and make a note of some significant turning points in the them. These do not, in the least sense, resemble the kind of things I write or will ever be able to. It makes fine reading nevertheless!


* "You have to take risks. We will only understand the miracle of life fully when we allow the unexpected to happen. Every day, God gives us the sun -and also one moment in which we have the ability to change everything that makes us unhappy. Every day, we try to pretend that we haven't perceived that moment, that it doesn't exist - that today is the same as yesterday and will be the same as tomorrow. But if people really pay attention to their everyday lives, they will discover that magic moment. It may arrive in the instant when we are doing something mundane, like putting our front-door key in the lock; it may lie hidden in the quiet that follows the lunch hour or in the thousand and one things that all seem the same to us.

-By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept

* “We were born and brought up with the maxim that “time is money.” We know exactly what money is, but what does the word “time” mean? The day is made up of twenty-fours and an infinite number of moments. We need to be aware of each of those moments and to make the most of them regardless of whether we're busy doing something or merely contemplating life. If we slow down, everything lasts much longer… but why not use that time to think about pleasant things and to feel glad simply to be alive?”


*… in order to forget the rules, you must know them and respect them.

* …each of us contains our ancestors and all the generations to come. When we free ourselves, we are freeing all humanity.

*Athena: I was behaving like a little girl who has just found out that the world isn't full of ghosts and curses as grown-ups have taught us. It's full of love, regardless of how that love is manifested, a love that forgives our mistakes and redeems our sins.Love is not a habit, a commitment, or a debt. It isn’t what romantic songs tell us it is-love simply is. That is the testament of Athena or Sherine or Hagia Sophia- Love is. No definitions. Love and don’t ask too many questions. Just love.’


* Samira R. Khalil, 57, housewife, Athena’s Mother: ‘The blank pauses?”

Athena: “I learned calligraphy while I was in Dubai. I dance whenever I can, but music only exists because the pauses exist, and sentences only exist because the blank spaces exist. When I’m doing something, I feel complete, but no one can keep active twenty-four hours a day. As soon as I stop, I feel there’s something lacking. You’ve often said to me that I’m a naturally restless person, but I didn’t choose to be that way. I’d like to sit here quietly, watching television, but I can’t. My brain won’t stop. Sometimes, I think I’m going mad. I need always to be dancing, writing, selling land, taking care of Viorel, or reading whatever I find to read. Do you think that’s normal?”


Athena/ Sherine: “I’ve always been a very restless person. I work hard, spend too much time looking after my son, I dance like a mad thing, I learned calligraphy, I go to courses on selling, I read one book after another. But that’s all a way of avoiding those moments when nothing is happening, because those blank spaces give me a feeling of absolute emptiness, in which not a single crumb of love exists. My parents have always done everything they could for me, and I do nothing but disappoint them. But here, during the time we’ve spent together, celebrating nature and the Great Mother, I’ve realised that those empty spaces were starting to get filled up. They were transformed into pauses-the moment when the man lifts his hand from the drum before bringing it down again to strike it hard.

* And as you make those discoveries, you'll manage to fill in the blank spaces that all those writers left there on purpose to provoke the reader's imagination. And when you fill in the spaces, you'll start to believe in your own abilities.


*...If all the words were joined together, they wouldn't make sense, or, at the very least, they'd be extremely hard to decipher. The spaces are crucial…


* Dance to the point of exhaustion, as if you were a mountaineer climbing a hill, a sacred mountain. Dance until you are so out of breath that your organism is forced to obtain oxygen some other way, and it is that, in the end, that will cause you to lose your identity and your relationship with space and time. Dance only to the sound of percussion; repeat the process every day; know that, at a certain moment, your eyes will, quite naturally, close, and you will begin to see a light that comes from within, a light that answers your questions and develops your hidden powers.


* Pavel Podbielski, 57, owner of the Apartment:
'All we have to do is understand that we’re all here for a reason and to commit ourselves to that. Then we can laugh at our sufferings, large and small, and walk fearlessly, aware that each step has meaning. We can let ourselves be guided by the light emanating from the Vertex.'
'What do you mean by the Vertex? In Mathematics, it's the topmost angle of a triangle.'
'In life, too, it's the culminating point, the goal of all those who, like evryone else, make mistakes, butwho, even in their darkest moments, never lose sight of the light emanating from their hearts'.

*Athena: 'When I die, bury me standing, because I've spent all of my life on my knees'...

* …when you grow tired of being what you’re not, go and have fun and celebrate life…. In time, you’ll discover that it will give you more than pleasure, it will give you meaning.

* Deidre O'Neil's Protector:
"One day, I left my job and set up my own blacksmith’s business, which went completely wrong from the start. Just when I was starting to believe in life, things got markedly worse. One day I was working away and I saw that there before me was a symbol…
The unworked steel arrives in my workshop and I have to transform it into parts for cars, agricultural machinery, kitchen utensils. Do you know how that’s done? First, I heat the metal until its red-hot, then I beat it mercilessly with my heaviest hammer until the metal takes on the form I need. Then I plunge it into a bucket of cold water and the whole workshop is filled with the roar of steam, while the metal sizzles and crackles in response to the sudden change in temperature. I have to keep repeating that process until the object I’m making is perfect: once is not enough.’
‘Sometimes the steel I get simply can’t withstand such treatment. The heat, the hammer blows, the cold water cause it to crack. And I know that I’ll never be able to make it into a good ploughshare or an engine shaft. Then I throw it on the pile of scrap metal at the entrance to my forge.’

I know that God is putting me through the fire of afflictions. I’ve accepted the blows that life has dealt me, and sometimes I feel as cold and indifferent as the water that inflicts such pain on the steel. But my one prayer is this: “Please, God, my Mother, don’t give up until I’ve taken on the shape that you wish for me. Do this by whatever means you think best, for as long as you like, but never ever throw me on the scrap heap of souls.”


*Live now what others will only live in the future…

-The Witch of Portobello

Mumbai: The city of Dreams, The city that never Sleeps, Home for You and Me!

For all the years I have spent in this magical city called Mumbai, I have come to think of this place as one that boasts of a very unique attitude. You may love it or love to hate it…but you can never ignore this place that a VARIETY of people like to call “their home”.

These people include residents by birth and also those who poured into the city over the years from different parts of the country, starry eyed, in pursuit of different things: careers, money, glamour, plush apartments,… love!! Some found their calling, Some groped in the dark, Some struggled hard to cope up with the pace of life, Some got richer (the easy or the hard way!), Some lost what they had, Some witnessed a changed personality, Some veered between shyness and aggression, Some lost memory of what they really were as they donned several masks to suit circumstances resulting in Insecurities and IDENTITY CRISIS!!

I always spoke about MUMBAI with great passion to some very dear friends who stay in another city and left no opportunity to boast about belonging to this place. It might have hurt them for they may have felt I had a condescending attitude towards the city they resided in…NOT AT ALL…I just meant Mumbai was different for most reasons I will talk about!

The beautiful coastline, the hooting cars and maddening sound of traffic, the busy roads (24x7), the sparkling Queen’s necklace at Marine Drive, The Gateway of India, The skyline of South Mumbai, The fireworks in small streets when India beats its rival in a random cricket match (never mind the magnitude and the format), the glitterati and grandeur of film sets, the euphoria at night clubs and lounges (irrespective of the day in the week), Colaba causeway, Victoria Terminus station ,The Times of India Building overlooking VT Station, The Rainy season, the Roadside food, Cutting Chai, Siddhivinayak Temple (in no specific order) would come flashing to me in 2 seconds if someone asked me what Mumbai distinctly stood for.


First things first, I still relate to the nostalgia linked to the name Bombay that came to being Mumbai to boost the ego of some few politicians or party!!!... And one thing that I would never miss to mention or describe is the unbeatable Mumbai Railway system. They say if you are a true Mumbaiite or vying to be one, you have to know what it feels like to travel by this invincible mode of public transport that looks no different from a creepy caterpillar when you are suspended in the air while travelling out of this city. The S.V. Road that looks like a ruler drawn straight line dissecting essential parts of Mumbai , the vast expanse of the Arabian Sea, the slums and a random local is what you will never miss to catch a glimpse of from any aircraft entering into or exiting from Mumbai.

I would say my routine travelling by Mumbai locals has given me an interesting perspective of what Mumbai stands for and the broad emotions that people in this city go through.

For most years, my mornings typically began with me staring at those malfunctioning electric indicators displaying an odd time, like say… 7:04 a.m. and trust me I have forever pondered over the idea of suggesting to the Railways about having round- figure time schedules to make life simple. The absurdity doesn’t stop there about the Railways. We also have men from the trains passing by; make awkward gestures at the women waiting. Normal souls wonder how on earth does one manage to keep those droopy sleepy eyes awake at that hour let alone make sleazy comments or gestures!! But a true Mumbaite never gets unnerved cuz its just a WAY OF LIFE ! … For all you know, you may also manage to see a man being slapped or nudged for misbehaving.

It was rare that I travelled on a men’s compartment (for obvious reasons)…Only if the stakes were too high to get on to the train and women’s compartment seemed difficult to reach…From my little experience, the conversations in the Men’s compartments were usually about stock markets, money, more money, other sources of income, ways to make quick money and sometimes hot models and extra marital affair (if i may exaggerate!!)

Inside the ladies compartment, conversations and talks get much more interesting!!!

From one of my long trips on the Western Railway, I recollect some conversations and expressions!!!

A woman was sharing with her “train friend” how her husband had to make breakfast that morning because the lady was running late…(when you stay in Mumbai, its natural to have a school friend, a college friend, an office friend and also a “train friend” incase you were wondering!!)

A teenager was telling her friend how she broke up with her boyfriend for the 31st time and how she thinks he would plead and they would come back to being a couple exactly on the 10th day after the breakup, ( The teenager looked at ease with the predictability of her relation!!)

A mother was sharing her guilt and anxiety for not being around her kids who were growing up , how she must get home early that day to feed her husband’s parents,

A young girl telling her mate how she was feeling nervous that her parents had begun contemplating marriage for her and that she would have to fall in the “Arranged Love” trap like most fellow Indians. She said "You know Tina, i am meeting this guy who is dad's friend's cousin's son...We'l meet over coffee and if need be also over a couple of Paneer rolls, clarify everything... our salaries, our habits, our past, present and future and then, may be, take a CALL! The poor girl was just trying to convince herself it would be all good and through one and a half meetings she would start feeling or pretending to be in awe of the guy and decide to love him for all her life and the same for her dad's friend's cousin's son i assume!!!

A woman in pink shirt and grey trouser, talking nothing, but only scouting for all the fourth seats that were to become vacant in the next few minutes!! (in the rush hours and in Mumbai, the fourth seat is the most crucial...its a compromise between a good amount of sitting space and no space at all... so here in the fourth seat one can rest their lower bodies... but on the condition of remaining a l'il alert so that one may not fall off from the seat when there was a slight jerk or sudden stopping or starting of the train!!!... It's important cuz most Mumbaiites travel for atleast an hour in the trains and the l'il rest and sleep one catches up on, in these journeys quite determine the mood and mindframe for the rest of the day !!!

An aspiring model with her portfolio and lots of makeup, day dreaming …I assume about that first big break and the materialistic pleasures that would follow,

A middle aged woman lost behind the pink pages of a cold business paper worrying about her investments. She looked like she had seen the world at large and had experienced the gamut of emotions the previous four ladies went through.

As we were approaching Bandra, we also heard a woman frantically yell out instructions to her maid in broken Marathi. I quickly recalled the network was always weak in that patch between Khar and Bandra. As it turns out, while the lady had left for work, she could not let go off the thoughts of the happenings at home!!

Amidst all this commotion, in an inconspicuous corner was a petite girl visibly worn out for lack of sleep and/or food? The world seemed to have come down for her. Her eyes looked teary and her expressions were those of hopelessness and despair. If one was to see her, it wouldn’t quite be easy to tell what was on her mind except that she was surely having a weird conversation with The ALMIGHTY as to WHY her life was shaping that way for all the good she had done, WHY was it so difficult for people to understand that it dint matter to her what they said to her to comfort her, it probably dint matter if they existed for she had lost the more vital reason to BE.

It looked like she had silently endured what life had imposed on her but now she was losing herself and her emotions to people at large, forlorn and withdrawn, she looked like she was giving up on life’s possibilities, if there existed any. Her silence was really loud in that conjusted noisy space. My heart reached out for her. I wish I could have changed her world and circumstances. She looked like she would cry bitterly even if I spoke in a loud tone with her. She now got up mechanically. I guess she had to get off at Elphinston station. My eyes remained glued on to her for the longest time. I was disturbed with her silence and I wanted to know what she had planned to do to help herself out of or in the situation she was in!!

But life in general (not just in Mumbai) is really fast. Life never did and never will stop for any single person!!! Other people can, at best, shed a tear or two for the ones in pain…

The train pulled off and the compartment was again brimming with the exuberance of the ambitious and the shy individuals, squeals of laughter, anxiety and an eclectic mix of emotions: all stuffed inside this one little Women’s compartment. Which meant thousands of emotions on the entire train!!??

I could not cite a better example than the Mumbai trains that best symbolize the SPIRIT of this city!!! The coexistence of numerous situations, emotions, colours, languages, cultures, circumstances and dreams!!! And all this in a city that operates at some unimaginable velocity. I bet you wouldn’t experience this any other city!!!

At these Mumbai Railway stations, it is heart warming to see the sight of men and women stretch out their hands magnanimously to strangers, to pull them inside the compartments of these fast moving trains and help them cope up with the pace if they had slowed down somewhere on the way!!
Some of these strangers express gratitude and continue the tradition of helping more individuals trying to learn the ways of the city, while some plant bombs inside these compartments and kill those thousand emotions and dreams in a single blast!!!

Yet, the way the city rolls is unique. The principles are clear: Never stop losing faith and hope, You take to the streets to help more and more people in the face of a difficulty, You celebrate every single occasion and festival with Grandeur, You welcome more and more strangers trying to realise their dream in some corner of the city so much so that they never miss the home they had once left …

… And the beautiful coexistence of the “Supeh Rich, the Bourgeoisie and the Slum Dwellers!!

The Brightness, the Richness, the Sobriety, the Humility, the Glamour, the Bling, the Elegance, The Rustic touch, The Urbanity, the Simplicity, Ostentatious displays, and several other contradictions exist in perfect Harmony in this city that has SOMETHING for EVERYONE…!!!

After enduring the several bomb blasts, floods and other tragedies, MUMBAI is one of the few cities that bounces back in no time. All the discomforts then only seem to be like a deal everyone unconsciously and voluntarily subscribes to, because, the magnanimity, kinship, warmth and affection that the city showers upon its people, clearly outweighs everything!!!

CHEERS TO MUMBAI !!!