June 2009 I left Bombay for London. In that moment I did not know if I would ever return to this city. But I left with a heavy heart!
Three years hence, I am posting this from Bombay (with all due respect for Mumba Aai, the city will never turn into Mumbai for me)!
Friends warned me, "Bombay has changed in the past three years, you may not like it anymore!" But I was willing to take my chances, for I was not coming to an unknown land.
Reunion time! Another friend commented, "You had never left."
Should I feel the same silent rush sitting at Marine Drive? Should I still crave that Pot Rice at Cafe Leopold and Tiramisu at Ambrosia? Does the biryani still taste as yum at Bade Miyan? Do the local trains still generate the joke that a man was late for office because that morning he caught the 8.53 local instead of the one at 8.50?
Although born and brought up in Delhi, I call Bombay my home. Possibly because when I first came here back in 2006 and stepped out of the Mumbai Central Station, a sight that would have intimidated a stranger, made me feel as if I had touched shore.
The day stands out clear in my memory. The skies had decided to tell me that Bombay is (in)famous for its rain not without reason. A water-logged city where every one was running to find a shelter. Dripping wet people under the illusion that they could remain a little dry! Not a single place to set foot as if all population was out on the road. And amidst this chaos, I stood with a smile because I felt that Mumba Aai would take care of them and, from that day on, me too.
2012: driving from Chatrapati Shivaji Airport to my friend's place and nothing had changed.
People ask me why I love the city. Maybe because of everything that Bombay is and maybe because of everything that Bombay isn't. But, above all, because every time I come here I know that Aai is watching out for me.
I may fly away again but I will never leave!
