6

I checked into the Hotel Taj President at Cuffe Parade as that was close to Arjun’s new home and I didn’t want to travel in the crazy Mumbai traffic during the day. It was amazing, the city had grown so much in terms of its population of people and cars but the population of its square foot of roads had remained constant and very stubbornly constant at that. My hats off to the spirit of the people of this magical city who can be happy in the most challenging times and situations! The appetite the Mumbaikars have to smile and remain optimistic among all the difficulties of staying in this city is incredible, and therefore I love this city, for its attitude. Many a times this city has come out of catastrophes with such a positive mindset, I don’t think any other city would do that. I remember there was a bomb blast at the Stock Exchange building and within 2 days, it was functioning normally with the entire buzz associated with Dalal Street (the street on which the Stock Exchange is located, dalal means a broker in Hindi).

They said that about this beautiful city that no one sleeps empty stomach here. If one has the right attitude towards life, this city offered immense prospects to people who wanted to find an opportunity in a problem or a calamity. There are enough rags to riches story this city has to offer to cement that fact.

I got up early in the morning; my meeting with Arjun was at 10:00 AM. I decided to have an early shower and breakfast. It was a pleasant January morning and I wanted to walk the streets of the city I loved so much. From Cuffe Parade to Churchgate where Arjun lived would have been a half an hour walk and I was looking forward to reigniting my romance with the streets of Mumbai and the architecture of this part of the city. Cuffe Parade was an area of Mumbai, which along with Nariman Point and Churchgate was reclaimed from the Arabian Sea, and being on the sea on the western boundary of India. It had this mesmerizing smell of the waves of the sea which on a clear unpolluted morning was just an amazing feeling. I left at 9 am from the Taj President and passed the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India building called ‘Anveshak’ on my right. I knew a lot of Chartered Accountants in my life, a select bunch of people who became thus when only two out of a hundred passed the examination.

I kept walking enjoying the cars rushing by in the morning traffic, which wasn’t so bad today. People as usual were in rush to go the office and no one had the time or the inclination to look at each other. They were on a war footing to reach the office and start their daily battles. Mumbaikars didn’t seem to have the time to stand and stare. Some of them would have come from the suburbs taking an auto rickshaw or a bus to the nearest station, then board the challenging local trains of Mumbai, where most people stood on just one foot in the overcrowded trains, and then from Churchgate or Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus (still fondly called as Victoria Terminus {VT} station) either took a share-a-taxi or a BEST bus to reach their office destination. Reaching office on time was no less than a well-planned army attack on an enemy where if you missed one part of the puzzle above, you would have lost the battle to reach the office on time. I had enough time to look at the ironically dead but exciting expressions on the people in the buses and the taxis, and it reminded me of my hay days in Mumbai, when I was part of this battle.

I passed the fishermen’s village on my left and got reminded of the ghastly terror attack in Mumbai where the terrorists had supposedly entered the city from here. The 2008 Mumbai attacks were twelve coordinated shooting and bombing attacks across Mumbai, by terrorists who were trained in and supposedly came from the other side of the border. The attacks, which drew widespread global condemnation, began on Wednesday, 26 November and lasted until Saturday, 29 November 2008, killing 164 people and wounding at least 308. It was one of the most unfortunate incidents in the history of Mumbai which shook the conscience of these faces with seemingly dead expressions and united the city in grief and then the country against terror. No Mumbaikar will ever forget those days which are etched in the memory forever.

I turned my attention from this sorry story to the beautiful architecture I saw of the Mantralaya (Legislature for the State of Maharashtra) building on my left at Nariman Point. Nariman Point is the business and financial district of the city, where many Head Offices of the business houses are located. I walked across the building on my way to Churchgate from there, as I passed the KC and HR College on my right. I loved the pav vada (a spicy potato ball wrapped in a piece of bread) which used to be sold by small street vendors here and looked if there was someone selling them, as my mouth watered to have a bite of the same. This food was in no way hygienic by any standards but you can ask any Mumbaikar who can swear on the pav vada from the street vendor being one of the best food they had eaten in their life. Fortunately for me, I did find the street vendor and since my watch confirmed that I still had time to meet Arjun, I decided to satisfy my desire and appetite. I guess even if I didn’t have time I would have still gone for it and blamed the Mumbai traffic for being late.

I realized I had not bought anything for Arjun and as I walked further I saw on my right a shop called ‘Satyam’ which sold greeting cards and gifts. This was one of the favourite shops for the college goers in this part of the city. Valentine’s Day was round the corner and I could imagine the buzz the young lovers and friends would have around this shop at that time. I bought a bouquet of flowers for Arjun and checked the time; it was close to 10:00 AM. Arjun stayed very close from here, in the lane which housed the Asiatic, the Pizzeria joint and Jazz by the Bay, other landmarks for South Mumbai. Every part of Mumbai had a story to tell, and I could associate myself with them, having spent so many years of my life here. I realized Arjun had moved closer to where Karishma used to stay, may be still searching for her aura.

I walked towards his building and the realization dawned on me on my objective of being in Mumbai at this time. The city had mesmerized me so much that I had forgotten everything about Arjun, this is the magic of this romantic city, makes you forget everything else. I suddenly got reminded of my trip from Kashmir to Mumbai, Arjun and Karishma love story, the last breaths that Arjun was taking and my meeting with him. My heart beat fast, it was over 14 years since I had met him last and I was about to meet the person who had become such an integral part of my life with the knowledge that he is not going to remain alive for a very long time now. I was nervous to say the least and I could feel my nerves tremble as I pressed the bell of the apartment he stayed in.

“Welcome Mr Rahul, we were waiting for you,” said Mrs Saxena in her low graceful voice.