One gets a hint of the spirit, the geist, as it were, of Mumbai at Dadar railway station. You are washed over by people in constant journey from a place to another. A constant thrush of people, each in their own uniform harmonic oscillation, giving rise to an emergent order, like parts in a well oiled machine. Unlike cogs and chains, however, what passes by you are bundles of thoughts and emotions. Ambition, anxiety, worry, love, longing, yearning, despair, acquiescence... mostly all to do with something more; the present, the here, is but a means. Just like Dadar station. It is for most just an interchange, on the way to some place else.
And yet, it is this lack of fulfilment, and constant pursuit of it, that defines Mumbai. Each person and institution locked into a Red Queen co-evolution, constantly fighting, unceasingly moving either to climb ladders or to remain where one is. The city itself finds peers only in other global cities - none in India - and it is locked into the same global melee, running and running to remain in its place. This makes the geist of the city a restless one, and in this restlessness, mediocrity is overthrown, complacency is not an option. All of ones energies and abilities are to be used, honed, and improved upon. And this makes the city and its people brilliant.
No. It is no utopia. Inequalities and injustices of the world exist, if anything, more pronounced than elsewhere. It is far from offering a comfortable, safe, or secure place to live in. It is neither true nor good nor beautiful.
But one cannot doubt its brilliance. People strive to help in little ways, a culture of helping in need, for one could be a helper today and the one needing help the next (although I doubt whether the help would be forthcoming in bigger matters of life, given the constant struggle to make oneself). And there is meaning in life, for all of you is utilised in the run; there is no space for doubt - it is either a problem to be solved, or it is the scene of one's being run over.
I'm characteristically out of place here; with my sloth-pace and constant scepticism*. To stand and stare is to be eliminated from the game. I'm not a player, truly, but neither am I willing to be written off. So let me make my way across the gangway, and board another train, leaving Dadar en route a longer journey. Mind the gap.
(* - but neither can I claim "aamchi mumbai")
And yet, it is this lack of fulfilment, and constant pursuit of it, that defines Mumbai. Each person and institution locked into a Red Queen co-evolution, constantly fighting, unceasingly moving either to climb ladders or to remain where one is. The city itself finds peers only in other global cities - none in India - and it is locked into the same global melee, running and running to remain in its place. This makes the geist of the city a restless one, and in this restlessness, mediocrity is overthrown, complacency is not an option. All of ones energies and abilities are to be used, honed, and improved upon. And this makes the city and its people brilliant.
No. It is no utopia. Inequalities and injustices of the world exist, if anything, more pronounced than elsewhere. It is far from offering a comfortable, safe, or secure place to live in. It is neither true nor good nor beautiful.
But one cannot doubt its brilliance. People strive to help in little ways, a culture of helping in need, for one could be a helper today and the one needing help the next (although I doubt whether the help would be forthcoming in bigger matters of life, given the constant struggle to make oneself). And there is meaning in life, for all of you is utilised in the run; there is no space for doubt - it is either a problem to be solved, or it is the scene of one's being run over.
I'm characteristically out of place here; with my sloth-pace and constant scepticism*. To stand and stare is to be eliminated from the game. I'm not a player, truly, but neither am I willing to be written off. So let me make my way across the gangway, and board another train, leaving Dadar en route a longer journey. Mind the gap.
(* - but neither can I claim "aamchi mumbai")
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