I was recently in Bombay for a day and I visited the Kalaghoda Art festival, attended a talk on the emergence and evolution of public dining in the city and shared a table with a charming old couple over chai and bun maska! I did nothing spectacular but as I watched from my window the lights from the local trains speed away from me, I felt like I had spent a day with an old friend, and we had discovered that our bond was still the same!
My heart still beats in Bombay, and understandably so; it is the city that showed me my wings and a city of many firsts for me,
1) The first time I lived away from home; alone and independent!
2) My first prawn curry and chicken biryani were cooked and devoured here.
3) My first real job, first salary and colleagues that became family!
4) The first time I had a house to myself and later the first time I had flat mates; friends for a lifetime now!
5) Volunteering for the aid of stray dogs; bringing them home in the monsoons, cleaning maggots from their wounds, the first time I felt like my life was really useful!
6) The first (and only) time I quit my well paying Government job to find out what drives me and work towards it.
7) The first time I lived only for myself! All the plans were mine and so was all the laziness!
8) The first time I felt safe enough to climb into a cab after a night of drinking and head home.
9) The first time I didn't feel the need to dress a particular way or behave a certain way because I am a woman.
10) Being in a city where nobody knew me, it was the first time I let go of my inhibitions and was completely myself and in being so I discovered many new facets to who I am!
Bombay will always be special to me and I do hope that someday I will live here again and have many more life altering first time experiences!
