Of thunder storms and a bagful of memories

An overcast sky, high tidal waves, the gusty winds shooing away the sweaty summer in Bombay __ that’s just how I love the city I lived in for over a decade. Predictably, I was overwhelmed to be there to welcome and absorb the first monsoon spell as I zipped across city's roads from Churchgate to home in Bandra, chatting up with a friend I met after ages and then spending the latter half of my cab ride enjoying the view… the breeze…enjoying being in Bombay.
Well, I just got back from Bombay and though have about a hundred mails to delete and a few to respond to apart from of course finding out what’s happening in the city, I cant help give blogging the first priority also because I just could not get over the city I had once hated so much.
The cab ride home yesterday with thunder and lightning orchestrating each raindrop falling on the ground, licking ice cream in the drizzle made me more nostalgic about my days in Bombay than ever before.
The buildings looked cleaner, the trees greener…I ignored the puddles, the overflowing garbage at some points… even the hour-and-a-half long traffic jam between Mahim and Bandra I was stuck in…nothing stopped me on my trip down memory lane.
I thought of the innumerable days I would cab it up home only to enjoy the sea breeze either at Marine Drive or at Banra-Worli sea link. Or go out with friends after office for a while before heading home. Asking the cabbie to play the radio particularly after night shifts in office when even the funky channels would play `bhoole bisre geet’ would always set the mood for a relaxed drive back home after calling up the fire brigade and the police all evening asking them `kai vishesh’.
But, it was not always like this. I hated the first three years in Bombay. I hated the muck, the people (I always saw them running), the overcrowded locals. I hated the rains and the dirt floating around. In the packed ladies’ compartment I would close my eyes and visualize my house in Dehra Dun, the litchi trees, the comfortable life there.
I have changed now. I don’t close my eyes in Bombay anymore.

Pic: www.hindu.com