To Mumbai, with love

Last night, after a few drinks with two of my friends, I was totally into my favorite pastime - bitching, what else? Now, who does not love that, eh? Cathartic, it feels, blaming everyone except yourself for everything that is wrong. The teeming lights at the other end of Arabian sea formed a boundary, attempting to keep the sea by the city of Mumbai, while the resting wooden boats told the story of the struggles the common citizens of the city go through everyday. Surreal, it felt, at the Gateway of India, discussing our naive hopes about future at this wee-hour in the morning, in the cool breeze and with the usual hoi polloi missing. Although, the middle-class life in the city is no less than an ordeal but it always felt like the city was mine whenever I did this with my friends.

While we commiserated and thought about the future, this harsh obnoxious voice cut in sharply "Did you guys not hear the whistle? What are you doing here". It was your quintessential Mumbai policewallah at his crude insolent best. When I protested politely (and, I really was, trust me) that there was no sign indicating any permitted time or anything, he threatened us with consequences. Indeed unreasonable, I would assess, as we neither looked suspicious nor created any nuisance. Honestly, from the way he was acting, I think, things would have definitely turned out much worse than they actually did. I might as well have been nursing an injury at home rather than telling you this story. That would have happened, of course, only if we did not have the minds to take recourse in the ecumenical and tested solution of passing on some moolah to him. I know, there is nothing to tell actually. Thousands of such instances happen here everyday. And it's not just the police or anything. Contempt and disrespect for others are a way of life in India. It's ubiquitous!

Anyway, fortunately one of my friends was from a bureaucrat family who managed the situation and got the police guy to apologize for his unreasonable behavior. That language the policewallah understood well, though. On the bright side, we got something more to bitch about and continued till five o' clock in the morning. Is such way of life going to change? Such behavior, I believe, stems from something very fundamental. Probably, the lack of individualism in our culture. This way of life is not going to change with our economic growth or affluence only. To change this would require a conscious effort on every individual's part. But hey, it's just me! Can't take me seriously.