UNIQUE MUMBAI

They say never look a gift horse in the mouth. I do not think Charles II of England looked at Bombay when he got it as dowry from the Portuguese in 1661 for marrying Catherine de Braganza.

The city of dreams, fortune, riches, films, theatre, art,and Marathi manus-Bombay, Bambai, Mumbai!Every one's dream comes true here. It is a melting pot of all cultures, all states and religions. The rare Parsi, Bohra, Jew, Anglo Indian community are found a plenty in Mumbai. The city seems to have actually developed under the Parsis the most. Their Theatre, Art, culture, cuisine, way of life, exquisite dresses -emitting so much dignity and grace made Mumbai glamorous. There is an amalgam of the Indian saree draped with so much style as if it is a Western garment, and the hand embroidery on it is a delight to watch. The dress of the men too is distinguished. The loving way of talking, particularly the word Deekra or child made famous in a number of Hindi movies, is different from the normal Mumbaiyya.

The Hindi of Mumbai is distinct. Apun, tere ko kya, kyaaa, khal-las, jhakaas, bindass, aeii tu aata kya re, this is typical Bambaiyya. It has found its way in the mainland of India due to it's influence on the Mumbai film Industry.

Films, magnificent scenes, stories, drama, ethos, pathos, everything is there in these films. Love, boy meets girl, rich girl poor boy, mother always on the sewing machine, father perpetually with the umbrella, lovers running around trees singing, all what doesn't happen in real life is seen by us with wonder on reel life. Love triangles, impossible deeds, extreme hero-giri, extreme sacrifice, the police always arriving late, the Kumbh ke mele me separation-oh the stories and their portrayal are so convincing! We all love our dose of Hindi films. Mumbai is the city which has made heroes out of people with no godfather. There are so many stories of how Dev Anand, Dharmendra, Mumtaz, and so many others struggled to get a foot hold in this industry. Stories of footpaths, Irani dhabas, and walking miles and miles to reach studios, and their ultimate success. These spur a whole lot of people with dreams to run away to Mumbai.

Even if the film industry does not smile on a whole lot of them, there is a lot of work for everyone in this mahanagri. Anyone or everyone who comes here has found a way to earn a living. People have to earn it. They do. The attitude of Mumbaikars is very professional. Life is run like clockwork. Planning has to be precise as transportation is generally by the local train, which is very punctual. Distances are too much and traffic on the road is tremendous. One good thing about the traffic in Mumbai is that it is unlike any other city of India. The people of Mumbai actually follow traffic rules, they actually follow lane driving. The lane driving and the punctuality of the local trains are the factors which make the Mumbaikars follow a set pattern. They don't have time to gossip, look here and there and waste time. They have to run from place to place and be on time.Time for them is money.

The dabbawala is a unique phenomena of Mumbai. Their precision is so perfect that their system has found it's mention in most high profile business schools all over the world, where their management style is studied.

The localities of Mumbai have very different sounding names. Have you heard of any other place called-Sion, Bandra, Mulund, Malad, Borivali, Kandivali, Bhandup, Mahim, Juhu, Parel, Dadar? What do these names mean? On the other side we have Dhobi Talao, Nal Bazaar, Bhindi Bazaar, which are work specific names.

There are some door to door services that I have not seen elsewhere. There is a service of delivering garland of the size you want at your doorstep daily in the morning. No need to go anywhere to get flowers for your daily Puja. In the parks where there are a lot of people taking their morning walks, one finds a stall selling all kinds of fresh fruit juice-all the healthy variety. You name the fruit and they have the juice.

Then we have a bhelpuri wala selling his delicious bhel out of a cycle on the Rajendra Kumar Chowk in prestigious Bandra. Bhel, vada pav, pani puri, sabudana vada, all sell at every corner and are relished by all, rich and poor alike. The ice cream variety too is tremendous. From the Natural ones where you have actual frozen fruit ice cream, to the Haji Ali Sitafal Cream-Wow is not the word. One also gets fried ice cream-what will they think of next?

It is not possible to see the sky in Mumbai. Stars-there are plenty of them living in Mumbai, the film variety - you can neither see this variety nor the variety that can usually be seen elsewhere in the sky. There are so many dwellings, so many houses, so many buildings, so many slums, so many people!! To see a vast multitude of humanity, just watch the road in front of Churchgate station on any working day - it is amazing to see the heads! Such a wide road filled with nothing but heads!!

I love to walk on Marine Drive early in the morning. (The photo on top is of Marine Drive taken by my neice Tanya.) Ujjwal, my brother lives off Marine Drive, so whenever I visit him, my destination is Marine Drive. It is a marvel to see the number of people walking there and yet observe the cleanliness. It is surprising. There are groups of people who meet there every morning. An old people's group is interesting to watch. If there is an occasion for celebration, the member will bring sweets, announce the occasion and distribute sweets in his group. They have regular interaction, discussion and it is more like a social platform, rather than just a morning walk. One can see a number of famous people taking their walk or jogging along with their security guards flanking them on this walkway by the sea.

There is not a moment's silence in Mumbai. It is alive twenty four hours in a day. Mumbai is one of the safest places for women in the country. One can see ladies going back home from work at all hours of the day, without a trace of fear on the face. Public transport is safe and the people respect women.

Mumbai is heaven for those who own a house here. Otherwise life is very difficult. Getting a house on rent is almost impossible. They have a unique system called the "pagdi system" where the rent is not too high, but the deposit taken in advance is really very steep. Often it is impossible for a new entrant to the city, to find a suitable dwelling, they have to go to the suburbs or even beyond. Then there are chawls-these were actually chawltrees or cheap housing provided to mill workers who migrated to Mumbai to work in the cloth mills in the late 19th century. These were one room tenements with a cooking space and common toilet, a common balcony in front of the room leading to the stairs. These have survived to this day and are in prime central locations.

Festivals are unique here. Id, Christmas, Parsi New Year's Day are celebrated by one and all by visiting each other and interacting. Janmashtmi is celebrated with fervour where a matki is tied very high up which has to be broken and goodies taken by the ones who succeed in breaking it. People make human building blocks, one tier over another, until one person can climb over their shoulders and break the matki. Even Dussehra is more of the Garba Dance festival which is celebrated for nine days. Ganesh Chaturthi too is a public function celebrated with great fervour. Sankranti too is celebrated more as a social function where til and gud are distributed and the saying at that time is "Til gud ghya, goad goad bola" -which means take this sesame and jaggery and talk sweetly. Most festivals are celebrated together with bon homie.

It is a unique city with great character, joy, professionalism, dignity, dreams, work and togetherness. A truly cosmopolitan city with a lot of hope. There is no other place like Mumbai, anywhere in the world. They say anyone who comes to live here never leaves the place. Once a Mumbaikar always a Mumbaikar.

Freedom

A trip to Washington DC and Philadelphia brought home to me how important Freedom and Liberty are to a person. I was born in independent India, and I have seen and read a lot about the freedom struggle and sacrifices made by numerous people from all walks of life, for achieving freedom and independence from a foreign rule. The struggle, loss of life, immense sacrifice and total devotion and dedication of all those people made it possible for us to be free of the British Raj. The picture on the left is of "Freedom" and it is placed on top of the rotunda of The Capitol-in Washington DC.

The American Independence which they declared in 1776, about 232 years ago, is still appreciated, celebrated and revered as if it happened only yesterday. It is not taken for granted. Almost all the speeches of past Presidents and Leaders speak of freedom and equality. The "I have a dream "speech of Martin Luther King Junior is still fresh in the memory of people, maybe because the dream has just been fulfilled with Mr. Obama becoming the first African American President of USA. Washington D C has walls and panels where whole speeches of Jefferson and Lincoln, speaking of freedom and slavery have been etched in stone.

However freedom is not the freedom of a nation alone. It is to do with human beings too. Freedom means an absence of interference with the sovereignty of an individual by use of coercion or aggression. The people worst hit by the violation of personal freedom were natives of Africa who were sold as slaves, the Jews who were persecuted by Hitler and his Nazi regime in Germany, and the Scheduled Caste people of India.

Seeing the history of the African people and how they were hounded out and brought to western countries to serve as slaves, is a very sad story. One can only imagine those times - the barrier of language, the pain of being uprooted from one's land and people, and not knowing if one would ever go back and meet those loved ones, is really painful. I have seen a movie "Amistaad", which very forcefully brought out the struggle of one such person, who is brought to USA and his struggle to achieve freedom. A movie, which was a delight to watch, and strongly recommended by me.

There were some free and reasonable thinkers in USA, who in the 19th century made sure that slavery was abolished and due dignity was returned to these people, although centuries had elapsed since the first slaves were brought in .

What happened to the Jews in Germany in the mid 20th century, was despicable. The Holocaust Museum in Washington DC was a real eye opener. I have always tried to close my eyes and ears to tales of this horror and go about my life, as if it didn't matter. However, a visit to this museum with the thought that I may have to endure this horror and pain only for a few hours, opened my eyes once and for all. Can we really turn our thoughts away and be oblivious to the pain, misery and sorrow inflicted by some philosophy on a whole lot of people? People who had to suffer absolute torture only because they were born Jews.

Looking at the pictures of little children with hope in their eyes, full of happiness and joy, going trustingly into horrifying gas chambers, made me feel abject sorrow and despair. What was their fault? The visit to the museum filled my heart with a lot of remorse and sorrow. How some human beings can do so much damage, cause so much pain, distress and misery to some other human beings? Were they really human? World War II ended this sad, horrible and shameful period of that century, and left a lesson for all of us to learn.

These thoughts took me further to my own land, my India, where we are independent. Are we really? What about those people who belong to the Scheduled Caste? Does a thought need to be given to them? Who are they, why did they become what they are, why are they not treated as equals? There are divergent thoughts about who they are, but the truth is that they are not treated like human beings. They face a lot of discrimination, a lot of hostility, and are stigmatised for having been born in a particular caste. Caste system is unique to India and the Hindus in particular. People are categorised into four varnas which are Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudra. The people who belong to the Scheduled Caste are out of the caste system and are called ati -shudra, also referred to as untouchable. They were considered so polluted that no one would touch them. If the shadow of an untouchable fell on a higher caste person then that person would have to take a bath to remove the defiling. They were not allowed to read or even hear the Scriptures. They could not enter temples, or even draw water from the well or pond in the village. They had separate wells and could not touch water from the ponds in the village. They had to live outside the periphery of the village. They were treated worse than animals. Can anyone imagine the plight of such people? How did they live -devoid of dignity? How they were treated and how they managed to survive through these travails is another very long story.

Suffice to remember the story of Eklavya, who belonging to the ati shudra caste was not allowed to learn, but being interested in archery , erected the statue of Dronacharya, the teacher of the Pandavas, and practiced archery on his own in front of the statue. When Dronacharya came to know of this, he felt that Eklavya could be a threat to the position of Arjun, who was considered the best in archery, so Dronacharya asked Eklavya for guru dakshina or fees for his being treated as a guru. In guru dakshina he asked Eklavya to cut off his thumb.

It was only after the arrival of the British in India that people of these castes got an opportunity to get the benefit of education. Due to the prevalent untouchablity practised, these students had to sit outside the class. Inspite of discrimination a lot of children through sheer determination could get educated and become living examples for others to follow. What I am talking about did not happen in the too distant past. These practices continue to this day in a number of villages. Untouchability was abolished in the Constitution of India. However the concept of the Varna vyavastha has its roots in the Hindu religion. Can the concept be eradicated by legislation? Can the mind set of people who blindly follow dogmas, rituals, and superstitions be changed? Until and unless every person understands what being a human being means and appreciates that every other human being has equal right to live and breathe fresh air, partake of the same water, and be treated with dignity and respect, exploitation and persecution in the name of religion will continue.

A war has to be fought on the humanitarian level to ensure that there is no discrimination based on caste, no exploitation because of a person having been born in a particular caste. It is a known fact that every body is born equal and free but it is society which binds us in chains and also creates inequality. Injustice and exploitation needs to be condemned and done away with.

Until and unless every person is treated with dignity, respect and equality, there can be no freedom in the true sense.