Tales from a Travelling salesman

Merrymaking in Mumbai I sigh heavily as I struggle to drive around Mumbai this week. Diwali is almost a month away but revelers are out in strength. The merrymaking in Mumbai is a serious business, festivals provide flurry and fury to it. The makeover of Mumbai markets is in progress as I drive on Lady Jamshedji Tata road, an arterial shopping district. Shopkeepers are cleaning, painting, and sprucing their shops. Small boys are vigorously hanging strings of lights and balloons with the gusto that makes a recluse in me uneasy. A quick burst of honking wakes me up from my melancholy. I sigh again realizing that we are not likely to leave festivals behind in Mumbai. They appear in an unending frenzy throwing our lives out of gear, yet bringing goodwill and gaiety that the city is always longing. Diwali and Christmas is the king of the city's festivals. Ramazan/Eid, Durga puja, and Ganesh festivals rank next, Holi and Janmastemi just below that. Mumbai appears in a permanent festive ...

Mumbai, Monsoon, Magic We are in the middle of October. Monsoon is acting as a reluctant bride, sulking and demurring to leave the parental home. As much as we love the monsoon magic of Mumbai, watching the fury of the southwest monsoon pouring rains with thunder and lightning in the middle of October appears surreal. There is nothing unseasonal about thick streaks of water pouring from the sky endlessly. One moment we are under a canopy of blue sky and in next it morphs into the brooding, thick slate-grey clouds, the way life alters at times; wholly, suddenly, dramatically. Mumbai’s romance with the monsoon begins in the month of June with an uneasy and apprehensive wait with everyone constantly looking at the sky for clouds mounting the city’s skyline. Sitting on a park bench after my walk, I gaze towards the blue sky and the Arabian Sea and imagine the advanced guard of the monsoon about to herald its arrival. I almost smell the scent of the rain; visualize southwest wind cresting t...

Wallet worries I am good at losing things. Repeated warnings by my benefactors to remain more alert, agile, and aware of my fault have borne no fruits. I continue shamelessly with my streak of losing stuff. With gay abundance, I lose house keys, phones, spectacles, pens, umbrellas, and wallets. Consequently, the recent loss of wallet did not agitate me much. This loss however was not so benign. The wallet contained my whole digital life. Everything was lost, my identity cards, driving license, credit cards, debit cards, club cards, the whole lot. The pain and anguish of dealing with paperwork, and tedious calls to banks, police, and sundry agencies exceeded the pain of losing my wallet. I am not sure when I got my first wallet. It was not during school or college days, as I had no money to keep in the wallet. My mother gave me a monthly collage allowance of Rupees 5 with a word of advice to spend it cautiously. I never carried those 5 crisp one rupee notes to the college. I kept th...