The Mumbai Diary!

--on way to Mumbai-- [16th August, ~10pm]
For a little more than a day, I will be talk of the town ..er.. I mean, I will be out of the town. To be the talk of the town, at least in my native city Banda requires a very different set of activities. The top three would be:
=getting into one of those IAS category services
=going around with the beautiful girl in your gully on a bike
=getting a job in Mumbai even vaguely related to Bollywood - the sabjiwallah whose cart is toppled in every fight scene, assistant makeup man, spot boy or anything else.

What won't make you the talk of the town is:
=burning your wife for dowry
=jumping into the neighbourhood well because your husband has an affair with the pados wali lady
=thrashing anyone and everyone you can find at the electric station for the long and frequent power cuts

Sounds weird. Even a little disturbing. But then, we all move around with a big "Do not Disturb" painted right on our forehead. In BIG font. So, nothing seems to bother us anymore.

I am on a train to Mumbai. Ideally I should be sleeping. A fellow banterer kept me awake till 5:30 am last night. We were planning the abduction of curnol-ki-beti to get hold of the desh-ki-file. We were talking about Pappu ki mummy ki pot belly. We were also talking about why I suddenly seem to be afraid of being myself. The real me.
I mean, it is okay to need some chicken soup [or saliva-inducing jalebi] for your soul.
Isn't it?

At least between us, the issue has been resolved. I had only little sleep last night. Isn't sleep such a waste of time!? Except when you really can't do without it. Why waste your time doing nothing?
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

--on my way back-- [August17, 10 pm]
I am on my way back. It was a mission unsuccesful, but I can't really claim to be disappointed. My neck is slightly paining. I was probably looking like a baby hippo last night. So the caretaker gave me a pillow that resembled the well rounded thigh of a plump she-hippo. Smooth and round, alright. But verrry uncomfortable.

We also had some exotic Lebanese and Iranian food in Mumbai [@Piccadily ]. It tasted great acoompanied by a glass of fresh lime soda. But it didn't full-fill my stomach. So I took my friend to our old place - the Moti Mahal Deluxe, and had a nice chicken curry to appease our growling stomachs.

A trip down Mumbai's lane took me down memory lane as well. Sweet and sour memories from the days of my summer internship at Mumbai came flashing back. Sitting on marine drive, loitering around the Gateway , travelling in jampacked local trains....

Zzzzzzzz