Disclaimer: It’s been two years since I’ve written anything as a Note on Facebook. Writers Block they call it, but I am no writer, I initially had a lazy ass syndrome, then a too much work syndrome, followed by a graduation goggles attack and post-college I’ve had no time to rest my ass syndrome. So every day I’ve made a mental note but wrote nothing. This note is just a way to unwind and is an opinion. Please do not judge Bombay (yes, it’s the Emotion and Mumbai is the name), Bollywood or Brinjals by the way I perceive them.
My Dadi hates pizza, she makes an uncomfortable face when anything new is served to her. I always tell my Dadi: how can you form an opinion about something unless and until you’ve tasted it, she used to give me an argument – why don’t you try the brinjal ki sabzi, my defence – yuck! I mean I like every other vegetable in the market but brinjals, I hate! It took me 14 years to try the sabzi of brinjals – Thanks to the mess of my college I had no option but to go for it (ILS Mess – kadki wala dinner time or exam wala dinner), surprisingly it was good and from then I liked brinjals too. However, I just like brinjal ka bharta.
Now that I think about it, it’s all just about taking the leap.
This note is not about brinjals it’s about me. It’s about that me in Bombay, the Bollywood in Bombay the Bombay in Bollywood and the Bollywood in me. Somehow complicated but simply it’s about the flimy me.
Where should I start?
Let’s start from where Bombay begins in reel life and for 90% of Mumbaikars who live the rail life including me nowhere else but at VT station.
So scene, cut and edited directly to that busy Dadabhai Nauroji road where the majestic Victoria Terminus stands tall and in that buzzing noise millions of mMumbaikarswalk without caring about anyone else.
When anything catastrophic happens I think – Oh heart, it's difficult to live here! This is Bombay, It is Bombay ... Yeah hai Bombay Meri Jaan.
I take a slow train, reach VT (Victoria Terminus – or as currently known as CST or Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus), take a cab to another office then take a cab to the courts around or just sit in a conference or am at my workstation reading, drafting or researching then when I get done, (which is around 9ish) I trace my feet back to VT. Have you Mumbaikars noticed? For the past few weeks, the LED decoration on the VT station is on random mode, the colours change, the combination changes, and the perception changes. I find myself in that.
When I decided to do law I said to myself – I’ll get into an LPO and then open one and become famous successful and rich when first-year passed I decided – I’ll get into a corporate firm and hen suit-up day and night, kkick-assand become famous successful and rich. As the third year seeped in the sad reality of life fell on me. Life was not about becoming rich, becoming successful and kicking ass. Life was about living the moment, making a moment and not losing one moment to get another. (Filmy concept taken from – Kal ho na hoo). After being offered an opportunity in a litigation firm I started dreaming, the lakshya was still the same to become something, someone and not that thing or that one. It was about making an identity, finding oneself and becoming that one. However, life is a bitch and it’s not that easy to climb the stairs of the sand castles you build in the air. By the beginning of the fourth year, I did not know where my life was going, where it had come to and where I want to take it. So I listen to my heart and its calling, and to my surprise, it had a lot of demands. (that story is a different note)
College ended and as it's told in Rang de Basanti reality struck and it was painful. College de gate taraf zindagi ko ham nachate hai, aur college de gate is uss taraf zindagi hame nachatee hai. 7am lectures became – to-do lists and news updates time.9am breakfast became – better homemade food minus the taperi madness crossing Law college road was training level – became BOSS wala level to cross any Bombay street. Researching for a case was much tougher in the real world with so many variables
And suddenly I realized the importance of the 7 days of the week.
Monday – Morning Blues, but reach work early to sort the week
Tuesday – now that the week is sorted let's do some work
Wednesday – I should take a moment to think what a weekend it was but work overload
Thursday – holy shit the week is about to end, finish pre-set targets
Friday – waiting for Sunday
Saturday – waiting for the office to be over early Sunday – rest/fun
And the clock continues non-stop. I like independence but I wish for a carefree attitude. I am sure we all do. I know what it is to struggle now, litigation is all about the struggle. It took some hard work, clerical work and a lot of patience to get what I wanted as a job. I finally feel that I am on the right track and the train shall reach the destination.
But how did I make the train work?
How did the wheels gain motion and how did all of this happen?
That’s one boring story. They say lessons learnt the hard way are the ones you remember the most. (Filmy concept – Fauji, Lakshya & Udaan). So the struggle is essential, but more than step one is the jump. Too many work examples. I am also bored writing them ( penning down the day it seems like). Once you are in the mode of struggle everything in life becomes a struggle. Even organizing a birthday party becomes a struggle. So how do you plan a kick-ass birthday party?
STEP 1 – Research
You have to do a lot of Bollywood research on birthday parties. Not the ones in the rich filthy KJo crap but the romantic Yash Raj gesture types (Yeh, I am a Yash Raj fan – believe it or not) which has the poetry of Gulzar, the intensity of SRK (I bet all of you know I am SRK fan) and the reality blast that Farhan Akhtar gives. So keep it simple but make an effort to make it the best. Get your time schedule right, get the cake – order it online, get the gift – complete a task and think about a surprise technique.
STEP 2 – Group Work
Nothing can happen alone here, and when you are in a place like Bombay a taxi driver to your best buddies will do anything for you. So tell one of them to dance with you (if he is a best buddy he shall reject the idea prima facie) and another one shall ensure that the birthday girl is kept track of.
STEP 3 – Patience and Hiding
You have to wait for the right moment to tell the Birthday girl. If you tell her everything she might just get a panic shock (Preity Zinta types psycho levels) and if you be very slow she might just behave like Katrina (expressionless, emotionless, no facial expression only crying and laughing). So timing is important the surprise to last long must be step by step, however, remember to keep that surprise big. It’s like the expression the cherry on the cake types.
STEP 4 – Keep Calm do damage control
So what if you couldn’t dance like Ranveer Singh on “happy buddy to you”. So what if you couldn’t take a lot of pictures while cutting the cake and if the daru didn’t make you high. Enjoy the company, enjoy the music, enjoy the moment and think about making it better next time.
[Just a word of advice – never give the person a surprise party the next year too, it becomes
A. an obligation and
B. loses the whole point of a surprise]
So, now what do we know what have we learnt?
Sometimes, when you open your arms standing on the Girgaon Chowpatty all you can get is some bhikari asking for food.
Sometimes, when the cold wind is blowing on your face and feels calm, quiet and romantic however you are stuck in a traffic jam.
Sometimes, when you think of leaving early your boss just gives you some urgent work.
However, sometimes a blind couple can be equally cheezy as a normal couple and shall reflect true love more than any other couple even on a crowded local train. I swear the fact that they could not see each other was very reason no one paid attention to them and didn’t pass any remarks.
Life is about turning around to that bhikari and telling him the importance of education but after giving him some bhel, life is about finding a break and starting all over even if struck in traffic, life is completing that work because anyways the tension of your incapability will not give you a good night sleep and life is all about living that moment with your loved ones, the ones who give you a judgement don’t matter much. [Unless you are in High Court – Their judgements matter a lot.]
I was at that stage of my life where I was alone and wanted company. She wanted the same but didn’t desire any. I told her to let’s take a chance and let us see what happens. Let us take this step and make it happen. She didn’t reply, she wasn’t ready for it she said. I told her it was now or never. I told her 10 years down the line you’d regret it if she didn’t do anything about it. I was confused too. I had said it but I didn’t know if it was love. She agreed to jump in with me. I agreed to let go of the past, and I stopped thinking about what love meant to me and what I meant to love.
I kept it like Bombay, Bollywood and Brinjals – you have to struggle, learn and give it a chance because love is all about chance be dance. Maybe that’s why people call the ones who fall in true love lucky. I gave a dance, a chance and shook a leg during her surprise birthday and made it a bit like Bollywood a bit like Bombay.
Now that I have started the topic of Love, let me just answer a question – what is love?
It is just that fun you have in the confusion. It is that group you make just for her. It is that effort you make to connect to what she likes (apparently – very less from my side), it is that madness in the Bombay rain, it is that link to Bollywood songs. It is just the smile on her face that nothing can keep me away from.
It's just been 8 months in Bombay, 2 months as an Associate in a new firm. I have some plans for the future, they are all in the cards. What matters the most is that.
Sometimes I wonder if it was a nudum pactum (naked promise)
I have it all but still there is a void, I like curtailed mood its voidable I sense.
When I think of the old times, its like in actus reus (guity act) at times
The nexus (link) with reality is prima facie (at first face)
Its making me compos mentis (having command of mind)
But I set aside every past incident as
I am prior tempore potior iure (earlier in time, stronger in law)
Something doesn't change if you don't want them to like the love of your mom and dad, friendship with your best buddies, random hangout plans with old friends or your Dadi - she still hates Pizza and she will never try it.
So people thanks for reading, and give a comment if you like it. Leave a hate note if you don't.
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