Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Bombay, We Salute You.

"If you are late for work in Mumbai and reach the station just as the train is leaving the platform, don't despair. You can run up to the packed compartments and find many hands unfolding like petals to pull you on board. And while you will probably have to hang on to the door frame with your fingertips, you are still grateful for the empathy of your fellow passengers, already packed tighter than cattle, their shirts drenched with sweat in the badly ventilated compartment. They know that your boss might yell at you or cut your pay if you miss this train. And at the moment of contact, they do not know if the hand reaching for theirs belongs to a Hindu or a Muslim or a Christian or a Brahmin or an Untouchable. Come on board, they say. We'll adjust."
from Maximum City by Suketu Mehta

Quote courtesy tamasha on SM.

3 comments:

corporate whore said...

i hate this find-lotus-in-slime bullshit!

Its a great city i admit, but then anything can be made poetic, and hence beautiful. Trust me, you will find literature that makes Dharavi out as an island of hope, but then, thats not how one would look at it if you lived there.

blr bytes said...

Not having lived in Bombay, I'd find it hard to pass comment on what you said. But is, what is in the post, not true or less true because it's poetic?

Nonetheless, the trains are central to the identity of the city.

corporate whore said...

it is true, but under that veneer of imagery a lot of things get brushed over. Like the repugnant attitude people have for travellers who stumble into a first class coach by mistake (as there is not much differnce in how the coaches look), they almost throw him out. And the innumerable instances of groping, of frayed tempers, of that ievtiable hand all set to push you out / in, especially when there is no need to do so.

The perfect example of what Bombay stands for me (especially with respect to the trains) is when i saw a 40 something old man, try to board a running train with bags in both hands and almost dying in the process. He could have just taken the next train (3 mins away). If you are one of those laidback bangaloreans (which is whay i am) then you are looked upon as a minor social reject, as you are stupid enough to let a couple of trains go by before boarding one.

I dont want to sound negative as thats the easiest thing to do, but i cant allow this upbeat mumbaikar thing that trivialises real problems. Its like, more russians laugh about themselves than americans because they have more problems and laughter is a good, though hopless, antidote.