So be it.

I must be a really bad writer since I was not able to get across what I was trying to say. So many crossed wires..maybe I should take up gardening full time instead..

I started to write my blog with the perspective of a MW who has to travel from one end of the city to another by a transport system that isn't suitable for human use (in my opinion, ofcourse). When I started travelling by WR, I used to wake up dreading the journey to work. I used to have a pounding heart and palpitations watching the train move into the station, knowing that I'd have to risk all, stand close to the edge of the platform and jump into a moving train if I wanted to stand comfortably or be lucky enough to get a seat. If you've travelled by a Virar train, you would know what I meant by hyenas - the women in the ladies compartment would not hesistate to tear you apart. While I can easily understand what they feel - because I have also felt that anger and irritation towards other commuters - it just makes me constantly wonder why it can't be better, and that's really the point of all these observations. To that end, it was a refreshing change to be able to walk into a train that's fully stopped at the platform. It may be crowded, but atleast you're not risking life and limb each time you climb in - and that's what every MW who travels by train does each morning and evening. It comes as a relief to see that a different world IS possible and again wonder why we can't start to move towards a similar world..

On Prejudice : I've been in the UK for a few weeks now and I did come here expecting some sort of prejudice on the basis of my color or accent. Funnily enough, I haven't found any, yet. I know I might find it sometime, but I'm not looking for reasons to justify everybody else's experiences. Everywhere I've been, people have been relatively friendly, polite and responsive. Prejudice and bigotry abounds everywhere. It's there in the MW's who resent non-Maharashtrians no matter how long they've been in Mumbai. It's in the attitude that we have towards "outsiders", it's in the North-South divide. One can't escape it. One just has to live with it and not let it affect you, because it'll continue to be there long after one is gone..And that's something even I'm not attempting to change!!

Them v/s Us : Anon left a comment on an earlier post saying that even though we are treated like shit in the western world, we still come back saying that Paris/London/the rest of the world was so beautiful and gush about how wonderful it all was. You know, when one is on holiday, one doesn't look at the horrible, one looks at what will give you memories to remember for the rest of your life. When tourists come to India, I hope they return with memories of how friendly the people are, how accesible, how easy it is to find your way because there is always someone at hand to give you directions. I hope they remember the colors, the sounds, the noise that makes India what it is. And I hope they overlook the slums, the infant beggars on every signal and crossing, the bad roads, the garbage on the train floors, the lech's (yes, there are many), the eve-teasers who can't keep their hands away from women on streets,buses, everywhere - and she doesn't have to be a foreigner.. And we will always come back gushing about our holidays in the West because there is beauty in order. There is beauty in the neat roads, the pavements, the cycle paths. There is beauty in not having hoardings stare you in the face. There is beauty in having green around. It's a different kind of beauty from the Indian one. And therefore it's appreciated. (My opinion entirely, because that's what I see.)

I am not a bigot. Nor am I racist. My anguish is directed towards those who do their best to ruin our city and fill their pockets to the brim while doing it. It upsets me to see police taking bribes openly in the middle of the street without batting an eyelid. It angers me to walk on pavements full of excreta. It annoys me to have to walk upto an information desk and have to deal with a surly, paan spewing creep who has no information at all. It's tiring as it is to make a life in a city that's so spread out. Perhaps if I lived in South Mumbai or someplace closer to work, I'd see the city in a different light and gush about it a little more. But for now, I'll just quietly join the millions who silently struggle each day, travel 3-4 hours in a sardined train, just to be able to feed the family, because before they know it life will be over. Either naturally, or because you've been thrown out from the train.... That's the face of Mumbai that I see each day and that's why I write in relation to it.

If that is bigotry, then so be it.