Scenes from Bombay 2011

Scene 1 Through the thick grey layers of the monsoon clouds the city below appeared. From my window seat the first things I saw were the numerous high-rises dotting the cityscape. The aircraft dipped lower and I could see patches of cobalt blue all over...but I couldn't figure out what they were. Lower still and I could make out the buildings properly and then with a jolt I realised that the cobalt blue was that of tarpaulin. Tarpaulin that made up the walls or roof or both of innumerbale shacks and shanties that dotted the ground. There were so many that there was no land left visible....just a sea of cobalt blue shanties....'welcome to Mumbai' said the air-hostess!

Scene 2 Seated in the yellow-black fiat taxicab I was already starting to perspire. The humidity was like a hot wet blanket that zapped me of my energy and left me a tad listless. Looking out at the roads I saw squalour. Drizzly rain and a thick overhang of grey clouds served only to enhance the gloomy decrepitude. More shanties....shacks which double-dutied as repair shops....box-like apartments with the paint peeling and soggy linen hanging from the balconies and windows. Up a fly-over and down...up another one and down again...following a stream of cars and buses till I reached my destination.

Scene 3 Travelling by myself in a local train. The cheapest and fastest method of travel in the city. The diversity of the crowd at Victoria Terminus station was stunning. There were the 'aam janta' (normal people) milling around, quite a few students with backpacks and earphones plugged firmly into their ears, a few grubby firangs...some chatting with the locals some taking pictures of the old station building and then there were the posh city folk in expensive tasteful clothes with branded bags and sunglasses serving as hairbands. Everyone on the same train in the same compartments without a qualm.

Scene 4 Bandra Bandstand outside the great SRK's house. A seven storey white building which...well...looks like just that...a building. What got me inetrested was the group of fifty odd people who were standing right opposite the road staring up at the building...waiting to catch a glimpse of the superstar. I looked at them closely...they were all between the ages of 12 and 30....mostly male...they looked to me like the srt of people who idolise a human being to the level of divinity....the sort who watch a movie umpteen number of times till they know every scene and dialogue by heart......the sort who want to escape the reality of their dismal existences in the glitter and glamour of the big screen!