Okay...not to be unfair to Delhi, I decided at the spur of the moment to do a tell-tale sort of take on the glitzy blitzy bay. This is probably a first from my end to perhaps attempt this, since I've been very emotionally charged each time the bay's name touched my lips or someone else. Keeping those emotions aside will be difficult, so I will proceed. Mumbai gave me what I may not have given myself ever--the eyes to see everything differently.
Mumbai is much more fragmented than mercury drops and just like mercury collects itself, this is exactly how the city shapes itself up after sometime has passed. A single journey from Marine Lines (where I stayed) to Andheri (where my relatives stay) a whole world would have changed by the time you get off. And, it is so difficult to keenly keep your eyes and ears open because the mad pace of the people surrounding you from all corners doesn't really help. To an outsider, this means a lot. It's like stepping from a small world of your home, into a frenzy of mindless hustle in a confined space of a train, getting off into a new environ and slipping into obscurity again. This has been the most puzzling truth of the city. How many outside worlds can the city inhabit??
Delhi in that sense, without any self of moral high ground, is fairly simpler, easier to dissect. There's nothing in Mumbai that can put you in a state of complacency. However, I left the city thinking I may have at least unearthed few bits of survival truths. I must say, I have not, and neither will it hold true for the city I am currently staying in, that is Delhi. This is in essence, a surrender, so to say..But, as usual, as the mercury drops come together, I might have more to say on the city that taught me how one can lose identity yet find it each day again.
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