Two weeks back I had planned a random shopping visit to Mumbai from Surat with my cousin. I got down from the train at Mumbai Central. While was walking out of the station dragging my luggage, Taxi drivers came in a herd and started asking "Kahna jana hai madam". I stood there and looked at the signage in front of the queue; it read pre-paid taxi. So without a word I looked at my cousin and started walking towards the main road and the taxi drivers kept following.
Tired of pulling the luggage and the voices around me, I stopped again and said "Bhaiya Shivaji Park jana hai, Dadar West par meter se." As expected, most if the taxi drivers just walked off but the remaining few kept pestering me saying, "Madam 350 de dena, saaman bhi hai." I stuck to my decision and started walking when of the taxi driver agreed but I had to pay him 20 rupees extra for luggage, which was fine. So here I was in Mumbai.
When I completed my MBA and started working here, with hardly any salary to survive in the city, I was naive. I never bargained or argued on anything. I thoughtlessly paid money. Indeed people would always smile at me after every transaction thinking kya ullu banaya.
Today I smile at that me. Living or Surviving in Mumbai, though was difficult initially, had made me strong and had given me my voice to ask for what is right. People say Mumbai mein jo reh gaya who kahin bhi adjust ho jata hai, true in a way. Mumbai, more than a city of dream, has been my teacher...My teacher for Life. So despite of me leaving the city, I keep on visiting there and now I am actually reconsidering my decision. May be this is my way of expressing my gratitude to what the city has made me today.... "Mumbai meri jaan"
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