Saturday, July 10, 2010

ye hai Mumbai..ye hai Mumbai meri jaan

No, I am not talking about this song from movie CID. Today, I want to talk about my feelings for Mumbai – a city of dreams. Today I was reading a book ‘Connect the Dots’ by Rashmi Bansal. It is a book about 20 entrepreneurs who do not have any formal education or training and still have excelled in their respective fields. The very first story was about Prem Ganpathy’s Dosa Plaza. Now with 26 franchises, his very first restaurant was Vashi’s mall ‘Center One’. The very same mall where I have been hundreds of times and even had dosa at this place. Not only I went but also took parents to this place. As soon as I finished reading this story, I was lost in memory lane.

I stayed in Mumabi for 2.5 years, from June 2004 to Oct 2006, the most wonderful phase of my life. This phase was full of responsibilities but no tension, money but no liability, demanding job but freedom. Mumbai really turned out મોહમયી નગરી - a city of dreams for me. I made friends, became independent, responsible and matured. Mumbai taught me to fight against all odds and Mumbai taught me to stay cool and balanced in difficult situations. In addition to my parents and teachers, Mumbai’ contribution is no less to make me what I am.


I have seen all extremities in these 2.5 years. After emotionally betrayed by friends and politically ditched by colleagues, I became stronger and more confident than ever. I did enjoy my life thoroughly there; I understood the meaning of enjoying life at its fullest.

Mumbai gives you lot of respect too. Mumbai itself means smartness and intelligence. Though I stayed there only for few years, sometimes I miss Mumbai life more than my own home. Memory of Mumbai always brings sorrow and sadness.

Now it has been nearly 4 years I left Mumbai, but memory is as fresh as ever. Whenever I try to recall Mumbai, I can remember tiny details so well – food, mall, local train, bus, office life, theatres, restaurants and specially Haveli. On my recent India trip, I happened to visit Mumbai for visa purpose and I had to work hard to control overwhelming emotions. I still feel that I have some connections to Mumbai.

આખુય મુમ્બઈ ક્યાન્ક હજીય મારામા ધબકે છે.......

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