Bombay Blues

I am sure most of us have read so much about this city that we practically feel we live there.But to me bombay(changed for political reasons but aptly named,anyways getting to the point)represents a city of hope,inspite of the filthy roads,congested traffic and the liberty to inhale all the listed poisonous gases by the pollution control board.I was there for one whole week and now i am going to be deployed there for another 2 years.I had a chance to observe the lifelines and the lifestyles of mumbai at close quarters and i have gathered quite a lot(some of it might be opinionated,no offense to u,my dear fellow mumbaikars),on the one hand there are the local trains which is symbolic of the great indian middle class and on the other hand u have the posh suburbs of bandra,vile parle,juhu and lokhandwala where driving a small car might actually give u a complex.There is a certain charm to mumbai which is magnetic and infectious in its own way.If there has to be a commercial made on national integration i would say this is the level field.I would like to take a cue from my own life, my roommates are from 3 different parts of the country(kashmiri,sindi and gujarati) and so is an entire class of 60 students coming to pursue their mba here,a complete pan india(though there is some bias from one state,gujarat)

Mumbai surely matches up with New York as far as the lifestyle is concerned. Accommodation is as scarce as water in tamil nadu and power in andhra pradesh.The available space goes for exorbitant prices.Rents here range anywhere between 10,000 to 45000 for a one bhk.The rates for a 2bhk are best left undisclosed(no point even getting there).But there is a striking paradox to this shock,u can eat at the taj end up spending a fortune(hopefully by selling off the neighbor's place) or eat at the road side tella making the same food(who knows taj might have outsourced it from him)and it remains the same.The roads here can be awarded for the maximum optimization of space(even a truck gets in with ease and no sense of guilt).Filth and slums go hand in hand and so does bandra band stand and couples making out publicly.All in all a city which is full of paradoxes,surprises and great food.There is probably more i would describe in the coming months.For now i would like to stop with this bird's eye view.Peace