At a dinner party last night, i met someone who's been in Seattle for ten years or more(i dont know the exact time) bu from Bombay originally-and in due course of small talk, Bombay came up. Let's just say Bombay's been a pet topic for us here for a while now-what with Nov 26 and Slumdog Millionaire and the fact that the couple hosting the dinner were just back from Bombay after getting married there. For me, Bombay is a conversation piece in any world, at any time-simply because i love that city so much. And so it was a rude shock to hear a former Bombayite say " Yeah, everyone who goes on and on about Bombay-let's remind them of the traffic and the chaos. Let's keep them honest. They sometimes tend to get ahead of themselves" or something to that effect. The Bombayite in me was obviously not amused. It was almost offensive to me-given my current state of homesickness. And then i wondered-do i even have a right to defend that city anymore? I, who has not been there for over a year now, but still living in the image i have of the Bombay i knew as a care-free student, in love,and living it up in the city of dreams and freedom and rock music in bars. Am i all starry-eyed about Bombay because i am not physically there, and i do not know experience first-hand the traffic snarls, the daily grind, and the challenges of living in a city that is splitting at its seams?
A friend was recently telling me of how her parents recently visited her in Bombay, and she took them to her favorite haunts. I was saddened to find i barely recognized one or two from her list. It scares me sometimes-to lose touch with Bombay. I almost dread going back there sometime and finding that everything has changed. The places i loved are gone, replaced by spanking new haunts that arent yet familiar to me. I worry-am i clinging on to the ghost of the past, while i am increasingly growing distant (literally) from everything that city represents and means to me. Are my annual trips to New York in search of that 'near-Bombay' feeling a foolish attempt to hold on?
And then i remember-that Marine Drive is not going away in a hurry. That Bandstand will always have Bandra's diaspora walking their dogs or working off the stress in their lives as they run, that I'll always be able to go back to a well-loved campus in Andheri and drink nimboo pani and that Bombay will always be, if nothing else, a city that embraces. A city that keeps abuzz and makes everyone that comes along to its shores and stays awhile, its own. And so-sure, i'll have the 'return to culture' hiccups, but i'll soon get immersed in the Bombay-ness of it all, all over again. And stay in love. That is the hope.
