The constant Mumbaikar
Updated On: 05 January, 2024 04:35 AM IST | Mumbai | Rosalyn D`mello
On returning to the city after four years, I’m happy to know I still belong. When I am here, something kicks in, enabling me to easily slip into gear; I know how to conduct myself and how to talk to whom
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I think Mumbai demands your attention and your presence in a way few other cities do. Representation Pic/Pradeep Dhivar
It’s hard to fathom I’m writing this dispatch in the same time zone as you, my reader. After four years, I am back in Mumbai. Yesterday, as I sat in the rickshaw wolfing down two samosas, I genuinely had the sensation of never having left at all. I recognised this feeling from my frequent returns while I was a student at JNU, Delhi. It has everything to do with the omnipresent sign that has marked the city for decades, “Mumbai is upgrading.” I have always been on the lookout for that elusive moment when the upgrade is actually complete, but yesterday I realised this is the hallmark of Mumbai living, there is never closure because 25 new projects are kickstarted while the one is still underway. Our taxi driver felt flabbergasted by the traffic from the airport to Kurla. He was constantly counting down, afraid he might run out of fuel. He told me he’d have to wait in queue after our ride to refill.
I felt little temptation to make longer journeys after that long ride. I’m still getting my bearings being here with our toddler who, I have to remind myself, has until now only known the privileges of the first world. I see his eyes struggle to take it all in, as if he’s in a giant object search book unable to focus because there’s an overabundance of stimulation. I now understand that I grew up believing the world around me was ‘normal’. I’m not suggesting it’s not, but that I could barely conceive of realities outside of those I knew. For my toddler, it’s “full on”. When we walk on the footpath, we have him perched against our backs in a wrap because it’s not easy to navigate a stroller through rocky footpaths. What surprises me is how, after all these years of absence, I am able to easily slip into gear and be a Mumbaikar, as if something in my DNA is activated by my being here. I know, in my gut, how to be, how to conduct myself, how to talk to whom, especially when it comes to getting bureaucratic work done, which is a significant reason for our being here.
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