| Sun, 23 Jun, 19:12 (17 hours ago) |  | ||
| ||||
A delightful article about
Happiness in Mumbai by Malavika Sangghvi.
> Happiness in Mumbai is buying a bunch of rain-soaked, shivering sontakkas from an even more rain-soaked, shivering urchin at the Kemps Corner traffic lights -and knowing that the memory of his smile will last longer than the flowers he’s just handed you..
> Happiness in Mumbai is an evening spent among familiar-looking strangers and unfamiliar-smelling smoke at Mehboob Studios, while listening to a world-famous saxophonist or an unknown poet, and feeling as if you were on the Left Bank in Paris, while sipping your beer from a plastic cup.
> Happiness in Mumbai is jostling in a queue to buy a perfectly made demi-glass of cold coffee at NCPA’s Tata theatre during the interval, between the Allegro con brio and the Andante con moto of Beethoven’s Fifth, surrounded by what looks like the world’s entire Parsi population, doing the same thing.
> Happiness in Mumbai is a windswept morning at Matunga flower market, redolent with the fragrance of fresh jasmines and mogras and the sound of bells ringing from Ayyappan Mandir next door.
> Happiness in Mumbai is the sight of the devoted congregating on Tuesday evenings outside Siddhivinayak Temple at Prabhadevi to propitiate the Gods ; and happiness is seeing more or less the same faces, the very next day, outside the St Michael’s Church in Mahim for the Wednesday Novena.
> Happiness in Mumbai is Juhu beach, where on any given day you might chance upon a famous film star hoping to pass unrecognized on his afternoon off, or an unknown film aspirant in his Sunday best, hoping to be discovered.
> Happiness in Mumbai is the sight of middle-aged, early-bird joggers at the crack of dawn on Marine Drive, in their shiny new athleasure gear, blithely undaunted by the fact that through all their years of sweat and flex, nothing seems to get sleeker except their expensive sneakers.
> Happiness in Mumbai is a fleeting glimpse of the magnificent Burma teak staircase at Wadiaji Atash Behram on Princess Street, as you drive past during rush hour — a chance, sudden opening of a door which transports you're into a sanctuary of silence and solemnity; it is the astringent orderliness of Colaba’s Cusrow Baug, juxtaposed so delightfully against the endearing eccentricity of its residents.
> Happiness in Mumbai is the louche, cut-price sprawl of Colaba Causeway, where the man behind the counter at the leather store might speak to you in fluent Italian, while singing the praises of a trendy tote, but will switch effortlessly back to Hindi, while discussing its price.
> It is in the reticent, fairy tale charm of cottages named Ave Maria and Peace Haven in Bandra’s by-lanes, in the imposing aloofness of the Indo-Saracenic buildings of Ballard Estate, in the sleepy quaintness of Kotachi Wadi which wears its East Indian heritage like a talisman against the brash new developments encircling it.
> It is in the sensuous curve of the Sea Link and in the sweet spot at its Northern end, where lovers perch to woo and coo, foolishly under the impression that they are invisible to the occupants of passing cars.
> It is in the magnificent stained-glass windows of Mumbai’s oldest church — St Thomas’ Cathedral, and in the rotund sumptuousness of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, with its dome set off against the brilliance of a full moon.
> Happiness in Mumbai is the iconic Rajabai Clock Tower, said to have been financed by a wealthy philanthropist so that his blind mother could hear the bells peal each evening and know when it was time for her dinner.
> If happiness in Mumbai were a taste, it would surely be dosas at Matunga’s Madras Lunch home, pani puri at Bandra’s Elco Arcade, brun from City Bakery, bhel puri at Chowpatty beach, and vada pav at Kirti College Lane in Prabhadevi.
> Happiness in Mumbai is the sight of fishing boats, festooned with flags after a good morning’s catch. It is a procession of stately, vintage automobiles ferrying their equally stately and vintage owners on a Sunday morning across Marine Drive.
> It is Queen’s necklace on any night and of course the sparkling sea that hugs the city with maternal pride every night.
> If happiness in Mumbai were a sound, it would be the tinkling of a piano in Juhu’s Theosophical Colony, the cacophony of the money-making machine at Dalal Street, the crackle of commentary at Brabourne Stadium during a cricket match, and the opening night roar of applause for an off-Broadway musical performed by local talent.
> If happiness in Mumbai were an emotion, it would be the profusion of yellow Amalta trees outside Byculla zoo; the vivid, purple, pink and white blooms of Bougainvillea across the city; and the all-too-fleeting shy grace of Mumbai’s own Gulmohars, which bloom only annually, between late April and May.
> All these and more are the aggregate of happiness in Mumbai; and given what the city has gone through and is going through and might go through, it would serve us well, gentle reader, to remind ourselves of all the things — big and small — that bring us happiness in Mumbai.
No comments:
Post a Comment