Living In Mumbai- Part 2

               Imagine, a Rainy day- getting wet like crazy, taking bath with hot water, relishing the taste buds with spicy bhajiya’s and finally sipping the garma garam adrak wali chai! Wait Wait…all this with old Hindi classics playing in background. Wah! What a quintessential experience! 

                 But what happens when you need to reach office for an early morning meeting and it starts raining heavily? Jam pack highway, cars moving at snail’s pace and to top it all you are hardly able to see anything in the rear mirror!! I am sure then, 99% of the Rain lovers would start cursing the rains.

            To me everything about Mumbai looks just perfect!! No No wait a minute, surely not the rains. When it rains heavily (which happens mostly), the traffic of the city comes to a halt. Water flooding here and there, king size potholes everywhere, semi wet people struggling to get a rick or cab and the pedestrians trying to save themselves from the water splashes. Hanging on the bus doors, walking and carpooling somehow people find other alternatives to reach home. Mumbaikar’s are so used to their prosaic life that whatsoever happens, they would struggle and reach their workplace every day.

               I am not a rain person. If it rains on a holiday I avoid going out. On weekdays rain banter me while driving to work. But once at work, thanks to my IT job, I get spared of the atrocities of Mr Rain. :) Sitting at one place and working on the computer, I somehow forget about the rain until its evening and time for me to leave. 

              I feel rains mock me. They paralyse me temporarily, leaving me with the only option to sit at one place and do nothing. When it rains, everything looks depressing to me: sad, dull and monotonous. Not at all does it seem romantic.  It only brings out the worst in me. I crib, I rant and feel irritated.

             This year it had been a dry monsoon for Mumbai. Didn’t rain like every other year. No heavy showers, no throughout the night rains. However, day before yesterday when it rained like cats and dogs, it seemed like a lot of prayers were answered. I didn’t realize the intensity of rains until I left office and got stuck at a signal for almost 30 mins. After that long wait, things didn’t quite improve. It only became worse. Vehicles moved inch by inch and my irritation grew by leaps and bounds. 

               The Radio channels managed to scare the hell out of me by updating about every street and every corner flooded with water. Stuck in the jam, I couldn’t possibly think of doing anything. Jaded, I started to think of ways to entertain myself.  Listening to music, contemplating, watching people outside; I did all. But nothing seemed to divert my attention from the traffic. I ate a few biscuits from my bag. But my hunger was in search of junk (Healthy /Unhealthy). I decided to stop cribbing about the rains and find a way to eat something scrumptious. And the bulb glowed.

                I knew there was a Domino’s at the street’s end. Without wasting time, I called up Just Dial and got the number. I ordered garlic bread with cheesy dip. A few minutes later I was outside the store, and the sales girl was sweet enough to come out and deliver the order in my car.  

                 After that I forgot about the traffic, I forgot about the cars, I forgot about the time and I forgot about the rains. I was busy enjoying my garlic bread and licking the cheesy dip. What bliss, I told myself.  I realized ‘Rains aren’t that bad’. Somehow they give you time for yourself.  Rains seem beautiful to people because people do things they like and not the things they are expected to do. People pause their lives and live a fresh day. To every person rains say something. 

That day I realized, to me they say Take It Easy Girl.