A tale of two Bombastic cities
Inspiration does come from strange places. My friend "Nothing Spectacular" (everything is spectacular about him, well, mostly) sometimes checks with me whether I am reading his regularly updated blog or not and sometimes I feel so embarrassed to say that I've been too lethargic to read/write anything of significant meaning. So I decided to take up the gamut today after a particularly long break in the new year. So upon reading his blog, I came across his own tale of two cities, in his case its the typical Delhi vs Mumbai "http://nothing-spectacular.blogspot.com/2006/12/tale-of-two-cities.html".
My tale is about Bangalore and Bombay, the 2 most bombastic cities in India, or so I think. Seeing him extol the virtues of Delhi over Mumbai inspired me to defend the city of romance. Its a strange paradox though in many ways-
1. I am a Punjabi by birth and raised in a small town tucked in the corner of Punjab, to boot and I am trying to tell you that the City of everyone's dreams (mine included) is better than the jingoistic Punjabi Delhi, the Bal Thackeray Marathi's only please controversy notwithstanding.
2. I never visited Mumbai till I was 21, thats a little late to fall madly in love with your first city, wouldnt you say?
3. And a la my spectacular friend, I do like my space, which apparently is not available in Mumbai.
4. Mumbai is the commercial capital of India - the place where fortunes are made, traded and lost - and yet, its also a city of undying romance and hope.
Back to the point, the love for Mumbai has a lot to do with love, its the first city I fell in love with - Bangalore being the second, and there, it finally becomes a tale of two cities, finally - and it is also a city where I fell in love for the first time at a ripe old age of 25. Mumbai is also the city that inspired most of my poetry.
As for the biggest grouse against Mumbai, its lack of space, all I have to say is that you should try finding solace in a crowd.
The point where my love for Bangalore and Mumbai converges is the concept of water, in plentiful. Its obvious in the case of Mumbai, and in the case of Bangalore, if you have lived in a beautifully green campus, where you can get wet in going from the hostel mess to the library which is just a couple of breaths away, you would know. You will just have to live with the ocean that the Bannerghatta road can become.
My tale is about Bangalore and Bombay, the 2 most bombastic cities in India, or so I think. Seeing him extol the virtues of Delhi over Mumbai inspired me to defend the city of romance. Its a strange paradox though in many ways-
1. I am a Punjabi by birth and raised in a small town tucked in the corner of Punjab, to boot and I am trying to tell you that the City of everyone's dreams (mine included) is better than the jingoistic Punjabi Delhi, the Bal Thackeray Marathi's only please controversy notwithstanding.
2. I never visited Mumbai till I was 21, thats a little late to fall madly in love with your first city, wouldnt you say?
3. And a la my spectacular friend, I do like my space, which apparently is not available in Mumbai.
4. Mumbai is the commercial capital of India - the place where fortunes are made, traded and lost - and yet, its also a city of undying romance and hope.
Back to the point, the love for Mumbai has a lot to do with love, its the first city I fell in love with - Bangalore being the second, and there, it finally becomes a tale of two cities, finally - and it is also a city where I fell in love for the first time at a ripe old age of 25. Mumbai is also the city that inspired most of my poetry.
As for the biggest grouse against Mumbai, its lack of space, all I have to say is that you should try finding solace in a crowd.
The point where my love for Bangalore and Mumbai converges is the concept of water, in plentiful. Its obvious in the case of Mumbai, and in the case of Bangalore, if you have lived in a beautifully green campus, where you can get wet in going from the hostel mess to the library which is just a couple of breaths away, you would know. You will just have to live with the ocean that the Bannerghatta road can become.
posted by Amit at 12:04 PM
2 Comments:
hmmm...love has a lot to do with it :-)
i think there are really 2 cities in every city - one as we see it and the one the really is!! just as there are 3 of each one of us: one as we are, two as we think we are and three as others think we are :-)
hey groovy, Mumbai is the Maximum City, its always aamchi mumbai, space or no space , the vibration is there, the vibe is there, one feels altogether different in mumbai, everything seems achievable in mumbai, pessimist ideas evaporate in mumbai & optimism takes charge,
its really mumbai meri jaan.
Hope Suketu Mehta is listening
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