Saturday, December 25, 2010

Requiem for a dream : Mumbai diaries

Walked back to the abode after a long tiresome day . The white tiled rooms lacking anything on four legs never seemed so alluring. The rolled up mattress on the floor ,the week's news papers strewn all across and the stench of unwashed clothes did lend it an air of rawness and brutishness. With the creaking sound of the ceiling fan's motor ,the hair shed over the last 7 days acquire wings and float happily smacking everything on the way. Papers bearing marks in bright red ink and the ones wearing a blank and unadorned surface lazily stare at the playful hair strands from the corner . The constant honking and roaring of the monsters down below add a constant background music to the untrained ears. The strong smell of an impending birth linger through the walls plastered in white distemper ,the birth of a baby pigeon -a squab . 'The retarded dumb ass pigeon' as the mother is fondly called without fail lays her eggs in front of the residence housing three crack heads. After three unsuccessful attempts ,this time all four are going to make it happen and keenly awaiting the fifth member of the unkempt flat.

Welcome to flat no 703 ,my present abode . Staring through the numerous windows in this seventh floor apartment ,could see a distant mountain gradually being eaten by greed and need .The distant glowing lights elsewhere are shouting out loud that it is festive season in 'The Maximum City' . The city of rags and riches ,rain and more rain ,the battered and the battering, the abundance and the rarity ,the sensitive and the heartless ,dogs and pigeons,the enormous concrete structures and the plastic thatched roofs,the polluted rivers and the well kept swimming pools and finally the innumerable number of homosapiens who design the pavements with their crouched bodies resting on the hard solid ground . This is the city I wanted to be in for so long ,the city of my dreams ,the city that fueled so much desires and finally its the city that I love and hate at the same time ........ Requiem for a dream .:)