Mumbai Proved me wrong....

I always thought mumbai as a city with mechanical life. In my opinion, this city was like a big machine where a person enters it in the morning and comes out of it after 12-14 hrs of job doing all the routine things like running for a train/bus, eating wada-paw, working for entire day, then again same race to catch XX:YY hrs. train from VT and go back to home. And this seems to be infinite loop with no ending. In the process a person becomes so absorb that he/she looks like a robot following a written program without any change.

But after listening the stories, which I heard from the newspapers, internet, friends, TV (after 26th flood caused by rainfall) I must say that I only observed the mechanical cover of mumbaiits. Beneath which there is a human face of care, friendliness and courage. When people started going back home on 26th late night or 27th mornign they found people distribituig fruits/tea/biscuits, showing them alternative roads to their destination, warning walking junta of open manholes, offering lift to complete strangers and there are so many such events.

My roommate (Rajurkar) stuck in the office for 26th night and came back from dadar to powai on 27th afternoon. He was even offered to take rest in their home by few persons during his voyage.

I remember a poem, which I wrote few months back on the mechanical or routine life of bombay. Which goes like this:

कुछ तस्वीरें, बेनूर सी

वक्तः शाम के ६ बजे
जगहः VT Station
गया था ज़िंदगी तलाशने के लिये
हिन्दुस्तान का सबसे व्यस्त शहर,
उस शहर का सबसे व्यस्त इलाका
देखा वहॉं थे लोग कई और थी कई ज़िंदगियॉं
पर ध्यान से देखा तो ज़िंदगी थी बंद,
किसी के ब्रीफकेस में, किसी के बैग या झोले में
वहॉं मिली तो केवल तस्वीरें चलती हुई, नहीं, शायद दौडती हुई
ज़िंदगी के रंगों से बेरंग तस्वीरें, पता नहीं किसकी तलाश में भागती तस्वीरें
लंगडे भिखारी और बीमार कुत्ते के दर्द से अंजान तस्वीरें
दूसरों की कौन कहे शायद खुद से भी अंजान तस्वीरें
किसी ने सच ही कहा है कि बंबई कभी नहीं सोती,
क्योंकि ऑंखें तस्वीरों की कभी बंद नहीं होती।

But I am happy to see that tasveerein may look like lifeless but they are full of life and humanity. My thoughts in the poem may be true for a certain time but definitely not the complete picture of this great canvass called mumbai. Hats off to Mumbaikars... I am happy to be proved wrong.