Well, the panorama I refer to is quite commonplace. There is this place near my home in Mumbai, a large 6 lane highway near the seaface. (It is immortalized innumerable shootings and sightings in Bollywood movies of the likes of Dhoom et al). Since I was on an extended vacation to Mumbai, and a terrible throat infection prevented (and still prevents) me from long conversations, I drifted off to the sealink for a refreshing walk.
That place is actually excellent for an evening walk. It is thronged by joggers and walkers of all ages and sizes. The other most populous denizens of this area are the millions of couples, yes, human couples, that arrive by the dozen, reserve places on the stone embankment and proceed to ummm... well.... just make out in public. It is so dense that once I was jogging down the track, and there was no place for about 200mts for me to stop and rest without violating someones privacy. Can't really blame them, no real private spots left in Mumbai. What pisses me off the groups of lecherous yougsters that roam the palce to ogle at the couples... I mean... sheesh man, thats really stupid.
Nevertheless, I ended up yesterday evening, all alone with my MP3 player, on the sealink. After a long time, I had solitude and time, both at the same time. You need both these simultaneously to actually THINK. So I plugged in the earphones, sat on a luckily empty spot on the embankment, and just gazed out at the evening skyline of the city of dreams.
I dont know what it was, maybe it really was the solitude and time, I had this absolutely surreal feeling sitting there gazing out into the creek. The whole world whizzed past me, joggers on their rounds, boats in the creek, planes in the evening sky, people around me, and I just sat there. Thats when I noticed, that Mumbai has an excellent skyline. A rather commonplace observation, people would say. NAY I say, not for a hardcore Mumbaikar.
And not for me definately. I had the whole vista right in front of me, like I had just painted it. Right from Bandra creek, across Mahim and Dadar Chowpatty to Worli and the Land's end. And every building, every feature adn colour in the sky ahead of me, had some emotion, some memory, some reference attached to it. That just gave a whole new perspective to a seemingly smelly and sodden creekside view... It made it a panorama, a panorama with a perspective.
The most prominant structure, the Hinduja Hospital. Hospital's rarely evoke pleasant memories, atleast not for me. I lost 2 very dear friends to a freak accident, another friend was admitted there with multiple fractures. I can see myself standing there on those steps, waiting anxiously for some news, trying to be cheerful. Thats is an image that evokes just pain, no mixed emotions here.
The sodden creekside railway crossing before Bandra station. That used to be a 'landmark' once upon a time. Whenever I return from junior college by train, the sodden smell of the creek reminds us all that Bandra is here, gotta get off!!! The Mahin and Dadar chowpatty are places for the immersion of large idols during Ganpati. I remember going to my friends balcony to view the immersion. His grandfather was a detective (???, atleast thats what he told me, and at age 12, that was rather believable), so he had this high power binoculars which we used. That really was an enjoyable time :)
At one side is the Taj Land's End hotel, and the actual sealing bridge construction, all this adjoining my engineering college. He he he, I cant really go into the memories connected to that, that would take a LOT of space. Maybe I'll put a synopsis here some of these days.
And at the farthest end, is the end of Worli. The tall TV tower with its red blinking lights, and the hideously tall skyscrapers and the enormous construction crane. If the rest represented some memory of my past, this was one part where i'd want to associate my future. As I sat there listening to my mp3s, I logged this silent dream. That is, if I ever make it big, thats where I'd want to live. In one of those shimmering skyscrapers, amidst all the hustle and bustle of the high life. But hey, thats just a dream. Lets just hope for its fulfillment... CHEERS!!!
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