There are times when you feel like just writing. Just penning down your thoughts. There is no good time or a bad time for this. Thought strikes, pen it down. Simple. Thanks to the digital age, we have mini assistants in our pockets all the time waiting to capture the thought. This is one such moment.
Friday evening. Raining outside. The weather has been playing up the last couple of days, and the rains are joyful. Keep aside the fact, that the mosquitoes and all virals also find the rain fascinating and show up their ugly face during the rainy season.
Everyone would have memories of the rainy season from their childhood. Good. Bad. Both. I still remember the way I used to spend all evenings staring at the rain water flowing through the slope road next to my apartment, merging with the drain. The view from my second floor balcony made it all feel rhythmic and then I would see people rushing with hands or handkerchiefs on their heads scouting for some shelter. I still fail to understand how the tiny handkerchief protects anyone from this torrential rains?
Gurgaon rains are different. Most of us privileged lot are well trapped in our high rises without even coming to know that it is raining outside. The temperature controlled atmosphere at the astronomical heights of the apartment keeps us away from the earthy smell of the rain. The only thing kids would probably remember is that they were denied going out to play. Such a sad state. Cities trap you within in the process of freeing up your mind. Such is life.
The drops of rain on my balcony railings splash on my face and some of it in my hot tea cup. The weather gives a completely positive feeling about it. Thank God am at Home. The rainy season in Gurgaon is a nightmare when you are within the car. The car could take forever to get you to your destination. Such is life!
Off I am to just stare at the water dripping from the well manicured trees below, and transporting myself on a nostalgia trip. Such is life!
If it is the astronomical amount demanded in the form of deposit in Bangalore, it is the high rentals demanded in Mumbai that becomes the sore point. The fact that I would be a single bachelor staying in the house any which ways got seventy percent of the houses out of my realms. And this Anti-bachelor resonated in all of the cities without exception.
This trip to Bangalore, after a full three years, when I had left the garden city to move to Mumbai, was also filled with nostalgia. Walking down the brigade road and the MG road, did bring back a lot of fond memories from what now seems like a different era.
I still remember during my first week in Mumbai, I had complained to my manager how I already hate the city due to its rains and the overcrowded roads. She very calmly smiled back at me and said, “give it some more time. Mumbai would grow on you and you would start liking it”. Grow on me, it truly did, so much that I now find it difficult to leave this city.
Like every city, I developed my own favourite places to hang out, where I could spend hours and hours together. Powai was one of them. The whole locality gave a very European feel to it, and I wish that I could stay here someday. The other favourite is Colaba causeway. The whole street has fascinated me right since my Summer intern days, where it turned to be a daily hangout place, from our hostel near Chruchgate.