When people talk of romantic cities, Paris, maybe Dublin and several others come to mind. But Bombay never features on that list, does it? They say Bombay is quite like a graveyard that is littered with hearts. It's the place where loves chokes itself to death. A place where you can find people who make a living out of writing beautiful, poetry laced, perfume scented love letters but you can never find love. A place where even the smallest tendril of romance gets washed away in the downpour of routine.
But I think nothing could be farther away from the truth. I think Bombay reeks of love. The air in that beautiful city is thick with romance. You find it in the smallest of corners, hiding under the shade of hope. It crawls out of the deepest of chasms: the chasms of insipidity and vapidity. It crawls out everyday, faithfully, loyally to face the mellow sun of your heartbeats. It lies nestled among the weeds of aridity and blossoms into a blush of joy at the merest hint of a drizzle.
Love flourishes in Bombay. It's all around, everywhere you see.
An elderly couple helping each other climb on board a BEST bus...
Sweet intimacy on board a crowded local...
The watchman who waits for the entire week to save up enough money so that he can run to the nearest PCO booth and call up his beloved somewhere in a faraway corner of the country...
In the tuition classes we all went to as kids...
In shared pani puris with your friends at Juhu beach...
On the rocks at Haji Ali where nobody needs a religion...
The buzz of part time lovers in the numerous clubs that dot the city...
The smile that crosses your lips when the guy beside you at the traffic signal is playing "Romeo and Juliet"...
The intimacy you share with the girl who gets on fire while singing your favourite song at the karaoke night at your usual pub...
Promises carved out on trees in the gardens at Lokhandwala...
The girl with the voice of an angel in your church choir at Bandra...
With Mango Souffle....
The girl with pretty eyes in the by lanes of Dharavi...
The cute one who catches your eye at the traffic signal...
The "gossip" between the vegetable vendor and the chaiwallah at your local market...
The isolated moments of tenderness at Bandstand...
The exhuberance in the sexual tension in the coffee shops exactly opposite...
The girl who waits along with you at the bus stop on a lonely, nippy winter morning...
When you feel the sea mingle with your tears on a 2 AM drive at Marine Drive...
The emotion that pierces through heart as you see parents put up notices about their missing children on the walls at VT Station...
The tears that crawl out of the corner of your eyes as you say a silent prayer and walk away...
You lose your heart twice in this city:
In Bombay...
To Bombay...
8 comments:
an ode to mumbai..huh?
oh yes..how abt the chicks seen on the beach during the morning jog? ;)
i thought i had gotten over Bombay...
clearly not...i crave for it, more than ever now...beautiful! :)
I am always deeply moved by anyone who writes about Bombay from the heart. I often think to myself that with Bombay around, who needs a lover?
@sharanya
who needs a lover??such blatant ignorance!!!
ITS ME who needs a lover ...yes ME!
:P
@Sharanya
Couldn't agree more.:)
It's not always that you need to love something that can love you back.
Bombay is and will always will be the most glorious ode to unrequited love. :)
for some one who has a million reasons for not liking bombay this post blew the chimes of jealousy. I am jealous for why i couldnot find all the love and romance which you could feel in the humid air of bombay. Why I couldnot see love in the never ending never pausing hustle bustle of a city which never sleeps.... why could i not relish the sweet taste of romance in the ice creamsat flavours... why that one month that i spent in bombay still counts as the most miserable period of my life though i was in the company of someone i loved!!!!
"The beauty of a landscape resides in its melancholy"
-Ahmet Rasim
If you ask me, there can be no better lover than Bombay Herself. :)
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