So I am going to talk a little about my very first encounter with this city of lights. Not as a visitor this time, but as a resident now. It’s been just three months now that I have shifted to this new place and my love for this city has started growing exponentially already. Ever since I was a little child, I have been in traveling to Mumbai very frequently and this place has treated me the best and better each time I have been here. Right from a simple auto rickshaw ride to catching a fully packed local train. Right from shopping in the overcrowded Colaba Market on a sunny afternoon to sitting on the Marine Drive and just staring at the sea endlessly in the middle of the night, Mumbai has given me few of the best memories of my life.
Just like any other person, even I have come to Mumbai looking for opportunities and making my life large. But, I believe that unless I do not give this city what it wants, it will not give me what I want. Over these months I have learned that all that Mumbai wants from any person is timeliness, punctuality, hard work and dedication. All it demands is only “EFFORTS”. Before coming to Mumbai I was already warned that Mumbai is a very tough place to live in. It is a fast track and you need to keep running if you want to survive. MYTH! Mumbai is just like any other city. Rather, it is better than any other place in this world if you are really willing to make your living and your existence worth it. There is a reason why this place is known more popularly as “The City That Never Sleeps”. For, people who really want to make it large in their lives are found in Mumbai. People who dream with their eyes open are found in Mumbai. Right from a normal vada pav vendor to the owners of the top Indian MNCs here work their souls off every day like it’s their last day in this world. That level of dedication amuses me. That level of dedication I wish I had. These are those morning coffee thoughts that strike my head when I get up every morning and just lay there on my hostel bed. These are those thoughts that I just use to inspire myself for learning something new and doing something out of the box every day. These are the lessons that drive me a little closer to my goals every day.
The last thing that I would like to talk about before I sum this up is the people here. One prominent thing that I have noticed in the people here is the ‘never stop attitude’. No matter how troublesome it gets and no matter how many times they fail, they will never give up. They’ll rather take a leap of faith and go for another try. Every person I meet is struggling in their life with something or else. But I never see anyone talking about quitting or giving up. They would abuse aloud sometimes or even just curse the work or the person who has allotted the work, but no one here says “I can’t do it anymore”, “I quit”, or things like these.
And otherwise, people here are very sweet, humble and helpful. If they see you stuck somewhere, they do not wait for you to go to them and ask for help. Rather, they would simply walk to you and ask you if you needed any help. No, this is not a joke. This is something that I have personally experienced. There are myths about Mumbai and Mumbaikars that they have no time to stop by and talk to you even for a second. I agree to this to some extent, otherwise, NO. Or maybe the situation is just like that and I have always been lucky enough to get all my help every time.
To just sum this up, I just want to say that Mumbai has given me the best lessons of my life so far and I hope that it continues teaching me something new every day. I hope that with time even I become a “PAKKA WALA MUMBAIKAR”.
I love Mumbai. Mumbai is an amazing place.
chiragsanghvii 