Mumbai Dreams!

The Journeys that changed me…

A R Rahman was playing on my Nokia X2 and I was on my way to Mumbai on the a train to Panvel. It was about 2 weeks after the World Cup win by our nation. The spirit was very high all around the nation. Even I was high on spirits that I would finally be on-board. Being on-board is what we call being on a ship working. I was trained to be a Merchant Navy cadet and was awaiting an on-board training for nearly a year and the Mumbai journey offered me the much awaited ray of hope.

One of my friends introduced me to an agent in Mumbai who used to receive a sum of money from aspiring Merchant Navy Cadets to get placed in companies. The money will be used to bribe the HR of the particular company and part of it will be taken by the agent as a charge for his service (Is it?). The agent whom we (I and my father) were about to meet promised to take the money only after my placement was assured for sure. Dad was convinced of it and so we decided to meet him personally.

Being from Nagercoil has an advantage while in India because you feel really connected to anywhere in India. There seems to be a train to any place in India from Nagercoil or Kanyakumari. If at all our luck fails, more often it never does, and we always have a train from Trivandrum if we don’t have in both the junctions I mentioned. Thankfully we had a train from somewhere to Panvel going through Nagercoil Town Station. Panvel is a place in the outers of Navi-Mumbai.
We boarded the train from the Nagercoil town station and the coach we were in was empty except for us till we reached Thrissur. We had reserved tickets – thank God! Only at Thrissur people started boarding in our coach and it was immediately full, I could infer that the people who boarded were all of the same group or should I say, family. It’s just a day of journey. We boarded by morning and reached Mumbai the next morning.

Most of the first day, the train travelled through the stretch of Kerala going from Trivandrum to Kasargod. So all that we could see through the window was greenery and water and greenery and water. Nothing but green trees all around and water channels. And I could not get enough of capturing snaps after snaps of the greeneries all around. My X2 gave me the handy opportunity to capture them so that I can cherish them for ever.

Early next morning I woke up to find myself at a station called Aravali Road. Till date, it remains the most beautiful railway station I had ever seen in India. Don’t under estimate the number of stations I have seen. I have truly been to a lot of places. I came out of the coach and had a face wash. I then looked around to enjoy the scenery around me. It was a blue tinted early morning scene at a scenic railway station. I guess you will be able to picture it.

After a couple of hours of journey from there we finally reached Panvel. I was so excited. I am in Mumbai. I AAMM IINNN MMMMUUUUMMMMBBBAAAIIIIII. I believe you feel it too. I was in Mumbai. I was in Mumbai for the first time. I was in Mumbai the financial capital of India. I was in Mumbai the largest city in the world. I was in Mumbai, the FILMCITY, the tinsel town, the place where Bollywood films are made. I was in Mumbai where the stars live. I was in Mumbai where India won the world cup a few weeks back. I had had the same feeling earlier when I went to Chennai for the first time.

Mumbai – my favourite place in India. Most probably you’ll be seeing that as a blog post title soon.
(post to be continued…)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

In search of an addictive narrative

Image
I like telling stories. I like writing stories. And I like showing stories. I believe that the key element which should be present invariably in all these forms is what I call ‘the connect’. When I tell you a story, I should be able to make you feel the story. I wish to think I am capable of it even though I don’t know for sure. While orally telling a story, the impact of the story depends on the voice modulation ability of the narrator and also his ability to conceal his excitation towards the coming events of the story. He should be able to give peeks in to the future but not telegraph the twists. This will enable the audience to be interested in the story till the end. There must always be a hook which holds their attention. Same goes when writing down a story. Here the voice modulation factor is replaced by the range of words the author uses to communicate the idea. It must connect with the reader and should not make him feel as though something is odd with the narration. But vis
Read more

I just can't wait to Shine!

“I just can’t wait to shine!”               This is a line from my upcoming short film. It brings out the feeling of a person who desperately want to taste success. It’s not the fame or money that attracts these guys, it’s the self-fulfilling feeling of having done something that others can’t replicate. The burning desire to succeed is all it takes to be successful in life.               People who are talented and especially the ones who are confident of their talent surely will be restless of waiting to succeed. They want success so badly that they push their limits. They explore new avenues to showcase their skills. They don’t feel let down by failures instead they feel happy to have failed earlier. Because failure teaches you lessons that are tested throughout your path to success.               I really feel that there are three kinds of guys in this world. The first is the kind that you find commonly around you – they go with the flow. They don’t actually strain themsel
Read more

Fear of responsibility...

Many have this simple doubt – why is a manager paid more than the people under him while all the work is done only by the sub ordinates and the manager simply oversees them? Is it not unfair to underpay a working person and overpay someone who supervises? NO, it is not. The weight of managing people is very high. Only a few shoulders have developed the strength to carry responsibility with ease. Others just have to join the lot which wonders why the hell these managers are given perks. Responsibility is such an important thing. Some people just hate responsibility, some others pass responsibilities by pushing it someone who could well be a scapegoat, and only a few cherish responsibilities as if they were born for it. Feeling responsible for your success is the greatest feeling you can ever get. There are many situations when we succeed at something but we don’t feel it at all. We just sleep like it was any other day. This happens because your heart knows that you are not responsible
Read more