“Is shahr mein bas ek ghum hain, har ghar mein ek kamra kam hain”
This so aptly describes my plight living in this cramped city. A third of my salary goes towards house rent each month and yet the only space I get is the floor-area taken up by my 6ft-by-3ft mattress. With seven people staying in a 2 (matchbox-sized) bedroom flat, I really do miss my privacy… not to mention the other things that go missing like my socks and handkerchiefs. The only solitude I enjoy would be the first five minutes in the loo.. after which somebody or the other will invariably come banging on the door asking me to hurry up.
But I love this crowd... yup, I love all six of my flat-mates. There’s the Bengali intellectual who loves debating on whether true democracy exists, the Bihari gizmo-freak who stays glued to his new 17-inch laptop, the Oriya alcoholic who has a taste for bar-dancers, the Mallu communist who believes everyone should pay their taxes, the Mangalorian bodybuilder who has protein shake for breakfast-lunch-dinner, and lastly the Kannadiga hermit who nobody knows much about. The combined effect is 24/7 non-stop entertainment.
Funny how that sums up my experience of this city... even with our myriad miseries, entertainment is what we are best known for.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I proudly present... the city that redefined masala and gave us Bollywood... aamchi Mumbai.
