Coffee, Coffee!

Bustling, brewing, captivating..For some lines are never the same again. You would want to ask, what is this that I am talking about??? I am talking about Mumbai city. For the whole of three years, I stayed in 'town' or South Mumbai. I cherish the fact, I was never too far away from the beauty of Marine Drive. As nauseatingly cliched as that sounds, you have to live there, at least once in your lifetime. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Don't ask me about suburbs, because I am not the right person to capture the essence in the far flung Central or Western suburbs. I have travelled there, stayed with friends, but then, it's not the same as living and breathing that space.

Mumbai has become a rallying point. The media plays over and over again, with those images at Leopold, CST, Taj. They will, for sometime. But, I hope there is some justice to what has happened. The politics bores me. One terrorist alive is all we did. Blame Pakistan, is all we said. The peace march is over, the candle wax is smattered.

I am busy fiddling with big numbers, imaginary ones, juggling them in thin air, even as the whole nation expresses solidarity. I recount my days in Mumbai, thickly layered with luxury, sometimes boredom, loneliness, fun, a hazy mix that plays in memory like a disc and churns out sounds not known to me earlier.

I won't be lying if I said I miss Mumbai. Do not blame me, for this, even if you smirk at me saying I spent a part of life living close to sea. I, in fact, miss all those people, I recall fleeting moments, I recall those who inevitably struck a 'lost touch'. It's something like people who make you aware of some unknown lost emotion, they help you feel. It's awesome. I feel like it's the first day of XIC classroom. I was walking with Mayura, discussing Paulo Coelho's works.

I remember the first few days, which were spent knowing one another, before the sessions had begun.

I feel I have just been introduced to Paul Wesley and Noorjahan Momin. I remember laughing when we are asked to list unique traits of oneself among the group. I list 'gap toothed' and someone smiled few seats away saying, even I have a gap.."see?!!"

I remember sitting next to Gautam, worried our project would never finish on time, and Biprorshee surprises us, coming from behind and tries peering into his nostrils. What followed was a legendary remark from Mr. Kagalwala. You gotta contact me to know what it was.

I remember BJ discussing the opening at Reuters at campus, how he so wanted to reject them after he was through with the interview with them. That look of his has stayed with me. I can still imagine Rajesh sitting there, intently looking at Bijoy.

There are more memories, each one, offensive or happy, but how can I part with everything and dissolve it in words? What if those never return? But..'aren't they lovely?" :-)