Mumbai trains, Mumbai rains

In India since a week or more. So much I look forward to coming here. So much more I feel like going back !

First comes the whirlwind phone calls, and meetings with various friends. Getting upto speed on what they're doing. Happy to just be around, amazed at the fact, that distance, and time seem to have changed nothing, but nothing is the same either. Same familiar face, similar talks, but different issues, and different lives.

Heat got me this time. Although Dubai temperature is higher, I don't really have to bear it. The whole place is one big A/c. In Bombay though, when its hot, its hot. You live with it. Man it does get oh so hot and humid. . Wonder how I've stayed 25 years of my life without being aware of the acute summers here. I don't ever remember being overtly concerned about temperatures before. Not even of oppressive sweaty, meat packed state of local train where people are on the edge of their patience and ready to burst into violence on moments notice.

Had one such incident yesterday. Mumbai train's general compartment has benches for 3 persons to sit on. However it is regular and expected for fourth guy to fit it. Usually the first three guys will scrunch in, to allow fourth one to park his butt on the seat. However yesterday I boarded the train from Nerul to go to VT. As expected compartment was full but not packed. I went to the first seat where I found only three guys seated. However the third guy instead of shifting in, moved a bit out to allow me to sit between him and the second one. I was on the phone, and had book in other hand. Distracted I simply sat down between the two expecting them to make place. However they didn't and i had to lean forward and sit in a very awkward position. After I finished phone call, I tried to sit upright, and leaned back. Obviously the guys on my either side were pressed too. Suddenly the second guy on my left started hitting out at me. Sort of like how a girl hits you know, hitting on my shoulder like a petulant child.. Shouting why you pushed me!... Now he was a puny sort of a middle aged guy, maybe around 45~50 and immediately as he started doing this, his wife sitting across him tried to calm him down. He even managed to startle me and my mobile flew out of my hand, luckily just onto the third guys lap. However I had already noticed that he had a girl and a boy both teenaged sitting on either side of his wife. I retrieved my mobile and asked him in Hindi why he's so upset. I didn't mean to push him. That stopped him hitting me. But his shouting continued. I was really amused. He simply had started and wasn't sure how to stop ....! Luckily for me, I somehow felt too confident, and unaffected, all the while being acutely aware that that guy's kids were with him. So I simply patted him on his shoulder and said.. "sorry man, didn't mean to push you". The best part is in 5 mins the third guy got up and we had more than enough place for all three of us. Strange why we'd have fought for few mins of convenience. However the amount of satisfaction I derived from not having fought back, was much much greater than any I could have by fighting. And the big smile on my face, at his outburst, would teach him a lesson too. Finally I was happy, that I had wits enough to realise that his kids were with him. It would never do to insult some kids father. Would hurt them more than would have hurt him.

Oh yes, monsoons started bang on 31st. Was out with college friends Khozema, Sharad, Murtaza and bhai Taher as well as Adnan too for dinner at Bagdadi. Bagdadi by the way, near colaba, is one of the best restraunts for fried chicken in mumbai that I know of. It has been an integral part of my college days in Mumbai. All the guys were same as I'd known them in College days.. Murtaza however was smart, and his bearing, intelligence, all made me realise why he was my best buddy all through the college years. Hardly had we finished dinner that it started pouring. I suggested I keep my laptop bag in Murtaza's car, but everyone suggested it simply wasn't safe. A locked car is not really inaccessible in Mumbai it seems. We went to Gateway of India for a walk. The sight of thunderstorm was as awe inspiring as ever. A small boat had even turned upside down, moored off the gateway wall. Crazy trashing waves, lashing rains, thunderstorm, and soon some guys started jumping into the water. The height of the walls around gateway to the sea is quite a lot. Still one after another some guys started jumping into water to try and turn the overturned boat. It was a sight to see.. Unfortunately I couldn't record it due to constant rains. Learnt of a new place, next to radio club, which serves excellent masala milk. A worth visit, for all mumbaikars.

The rains have been coming on and going in spurts. It offers some solace from the oppressive heat while it lasts. Than the heat wave resumes with evermore vigour. Its crazy. But the romance of the cloudy sky, thunder, sudden gloom and gusts of wind, foretelling an oncoming downpour is absolutely a must experience event. Nothing in world comes close to the feeling of joy, when the heavens are about to pour. Some of my best memories of life are associated with rain. The sound of rain on the Cement roof of my 5th floor roof top abode, where I grew up, is still the most soothing music to my ears.

Mumbai experience is indeed magical. No matter how much I curse the heat, or the littering and unhygenic gutters, lining the road. It still evokes passion that cannot leave one unaffected. I have noticed I was very very reluctant to come to mumbai this time. However although anxious to leave, i know i will leave with strings, attached, gently tugging my heart, counting time, till i'm back again.