Nothing succeeds like success. Glad to inform you all that with blessings of elders and good wishes from friends like you, I have achieved the target of #50000 words for my #July2022 #Nanowrimo project " (National Novel Writing month for the uninitiated): Novel name being #TapaswiniKantha" ( the 2nd in the row this year after April 2022 project titled "#C
They say 1) #Charity begins at home - if I don't praise my son Rajiv RJ who will? 2) #Time is the greatest healer- I realize how much he has changed for the better. 3) Anything you #persevere with, becomes a habit - Rajiv RJ joined me for morning walk on 25th June'22. Now he pushes/drives me to go for morning walk. Such is the #powerofpositivity and it is #infectious. He has started studying his subject of work area with all sincerity in the morning time. What a better way of starting August 2022 than #thankingGod for all these #tinytinypleasures? ( My son is in the forefront in this picture, I am behind him and the 3rd is our neighbor Mohan Reddy).
The same TJ (tour or travel jockey) wanted me to write a #1000wordstory about my #Mumbaiexperience. I share below the same. Hope you enjoy reading it as much as enjoyed writing the same.
My Mumbai Experience
A city which
I never wanted to live in, or come and settle down, though I must have passed
through it umpteen times – Mumbai. My Marathi friend asked me as to why this
contempt for Mumbai? I replied that I hated a busy life with no room for
enjoyment, where to live a decent life, one had to take up two jobs. The city
never sleeps. The electric train is stopped only for two hours, between 2 a.m.
and 4 a.m. And if it rains, you are doomed. You cannot even travel to your
office and back home. “What else to say?” quipped I. My Marathi friend replied
“But here is where I made a fortune. I came as nobody and Goddess Mahalakshmi
ensured I became somebody. My needs are met. I am never short or out of
money”.
I still
fondly recall my tour to Karnataka through Mumbai from Ahmedabad in between
1993 and 1995. I was marketing manager for a submersible pump company based in
Ahmedabad and was supposed to tour at least 15 days a month. I used to come to
Mumbai Central from Ahmedabad by Karnavathi express which started at 5 a.m.
from Ahmedabad and dumped me at Mumbai around 12.30 p.m. The Kurla-Bangalore express used to be around
3.30 p.m. the same day and reached Bangalore the next day evening around 3.30
p.m. or so. I was supposed to first go to Bangalore, our branch office and from
there travel north of Karnataka to Belgaum and Bijapur districts. I used to
visit interior taluqs in each of these districts and appoint pump rewinders as
our franchisees/ dealers. I ensured sales jump up from 600 pumps in 1993 to
1000 pumps in 1994. One of the main reasons was a jolly Goa trip that we
arranged for all these dealers.
Coming back
to my memories of Kurla, I used to buy Mongini’s slice cakes there for Rs.5/- a
packet and enjoy eating them. I once got caught by a RPF policeman for wrongly
entering “Ladies Toilet” at Kurla Station mistaking it for a “Gents Toilet”,
though my act was not intentional. I had to pay up the fine of Rs.100/- from
the meagre tour advance of Rs.3000/- taken for a 20 days tour. Those were not
days of Google Pay or Phonepe or NEFT. Even if somebody deposited money in my
bank account at Ahmedabad, the Bijapur branch of the same bank would not give
money upon production of my signed cheque by myself. He would ask for identity
proof. Those were days of no mobile. We had to book a trunk call in our hotel
and wait. The receptionist used to call us once the line got connected to our
Head Office at Ahmedabad or Branch Office at Bangalore.
I still used
to love eating “ vada pav” at Mumbai stations. I used to eat the “meeta paan”
in front of Mumbai Central which was a delicacy by itself meant to be tasted.
It would be prepared on a block of ice with generous doses of cherry and guess
what – date fruits. It used to be chill and melt in the mouth. I had never
tasted heaven like that.
I used to
write inland letters to my darling who was pregnant with my 1st and
only son then and struggling all alone in Ahmedabad. I used to wait for her
reply inland letters to my lodge in Bijapur. Out of the 15 days, I used to stay
for 6-7 days each at Belgaum and Bijapur. My letter written from Belgaum had to
wait for her reply to reach to Bijapur lodge. There were so many logistic
difficulties. I hope you can understand. It was long distance love even in
those days. The joke doing the rounds after he was born was that she had to
introduce me as his father, every time I returned from my tour. This was
because I used to be away for 20 days in a month. Barring the 3 months of July,
August & September when it rained in Karnataka, I was on tour for the
remaining 9 months in a year.
My other
experience of Mumbai was with my first job in 1987. I worked for an air
conditioning company of repute. It was an Indian MNC, you can say. I joined as
a management trainee at Chennai branch of the company and was frisked away
immediately upon joining for an induction programme of 20 days to Mumbai. I was
reluctant to go. I got down, half way and went to Bangalore where my dad was
staying. My mom was with my younger sister at Hyderabad. My father somehow
convinced me and like an idiot, I took a bus from Bangalore to Mumbai,
travelling through Pune for 2 stretches of 18 hours each. Ultimately, I reached
the induction programme even if it was a day late. I stayed with another
trainee in a hotel room. It was an experience for the first time. I used to wash
my inner wear and dry it in the bathroom. Then we used to attend the training
in our office at Chinchpokli. We also visited our Thane factory for about a
week to see the way air conditioners were manufactured. For both these places,
we used to travel by the local train in 1st class. We could not
imagine travelling in the local train in any other class. Our company provided
us with a season ticket or pass for 1 month. We could at least comfortably
stand and go, if not sit. If we were lucky, we could return sleeping in the 1st
class. We were more concerned about the change of trains at Dadar and the fear
of being able to get down at the right station for such changes from Western
Railway to Central Railway and vice-versa. We had our fun times too. We visited Juhu
beach, Chowpatty and enjoyed Chaat items for the first time in life.
I was recently asked to write about Mumbai in 180 words. I had applied to become a comedy writer with a leading TJ (Tourist Jockey). The write up was on Rains in Mumbai and is given below. Hope you enjoy reading it in as much as I enjoyed writing it :
What could motivate this Old man to run such a wonderful book store? I wish I retire in life this way. Books, books and books everywhere and not a single one to choose OR to let go loose. Sorry for the blurred photos. This is at Lakdikapool, Hyderabad.
Wish me good luck as I attempt to write yet another novel of 50,000 words in July'22 as a part of NanoWrimo project.
