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Politics : Idea Of The Day -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: arun gera who wrote (42632)	5/22/2002 12:12:56 AM
From: arun gera	Respond to of 50167

More on Mumbai timesofindia.indiatimes.com Mumbai: Anon & Anonymous TIMES NEWS NETWORK [ WEDNESDAY, MAY 22, 2002 12:57:42 AM ] Mumbai: When the cities of the world stand up to be counted, Mumbai will rank along with New York, Tokyo and Mexico City. There are the Berlins,Washingtons, Delhis and Beijings of the world—the power and pelf cities. But Mumbai, laden with cash and opportunity, is in a different league. Let us get over with the criticisms of labelling it a city of moles living in pigeon holes, polluted, mafia-ridden and diseased. For, despite the litany of laments, once a Bombayite or Mumbaikar—it’s not just nomenclature, they are d i s t i n c t — i t ’s next to impossible to live anywhere else. Bombay i t e s are accused of sacrificing their lives at the altars of money and opportunity. The question is money and opportunity for how many? The Shah Rukh Khans, the Ambanis and Tendulkars are few. What about the teeming millions—the nurses, the constables, the unsung professionals, teachers and the rest? What gets them addicted to this city? What is so seductive about living a life that’s no different from that of worker ants or bees—regulated, defined and condemned to an unbreakable regime? Perhaps herein lies the secret of Mumbai’s treacle of attraction. It’s like opium, this lifestyle. Take it away and transplant the population to a place where they have no trains to catch, no meals to grab, appointments to keep, or deadlines to live, and they will be like millions of Arabian fish out of water. Mumbaikars are the kind of people who even on a holiday make the “if it’s Tuesday it must be Belgium’’ kind of tourists. They can’t take a holiday doing nothing. Because doingnothing means thinking, comparing, desiring, analysing and getting into the maze of the puzzle of what is the purpose of life. Mumbai’s anonymity gives you a sense of freedom which other cities almost as big lack. Small-town attitudes are automatically jettisoned. There is comparatively less time and energy to dwell on other people’s business, and therefore, you don’t have to seek refuge in the Himalayas to find solitude. The privacy and quietude people feel in the jam-packed local trains of Mumbai is unique. Nowhere in India do women travel at unearthly hours with the impunity with which they do in this city. Only in Mumbai can girls walk around in spaghetti tops without being ogled at. In Delhi, any girl—no matter how slovenly — attracts lewd, lustful looks. Chennai is too judgmental and conservative, and although Kolkatta is a shade better, it cannot match up to Mumbai’s special character of live and let live. There’s nothing elitist about this anonymity. It grants freedom to the family on the pavement, oblivious to the world swirling past which sees them with eyes wide shut. This anonymity is addictive, as is the high of being on the move.What better than to be in a city that has a history of making dreams come true but gives you little time to analyse where in the course of your rush-hour-packed day you lost track of your guiding star? Like a street lamp that attracts shoals of winged creatures which crash into its luminous face, this city of carpetbaggers burns through the night even as the heap of neon-addicted moths piles up at its feet.