365 days of weaning

Disgruntled auto drivers, even more resentful pedestrians, never ending traffic jams, sweaty stinky annoyed men on the train, reaching work drenched in sweat whilst walking through muck, the same routine to and fro till you reach home and you're too exhausted to think...what is it about this place? They say that this place grows on you; I always wondered why would anyone even let that happen.

Mumbai was always the quintessential Pandora's Box for me, forever hated it, always dissed it and never intended to step foot in the city for more than a couple of days (a few hours if I could). But then faith threw a curve ball and I swung. What I initially thought of as a strike out, wasn't so after all.

Its been a year that I have been living in Mumbai now. As cliched as it may sound, these 12 months have gone by very quickly. Now, on the other side of 365 days here, I like to think that I have changed... I like to think that my weaning has finally been done... I want to believe that I have come along from being the guy who shifted cities (without thinking one and a half times) hoping to keep affinity alive midst an already fading relationship... I want to consider that I have eventually realized that even though there is slight semblance between being practical and being emotional, biased decisions seldom pay dividends. More than anything, I want to prove to me more than anyone else, that the white crayon within ceased existing once I moved.

I also like to make myself believe that the few kilos gained over the last one year have nothing to do with the much often intake of lagers and draughts, but then I gave up on fooling myself awhile back.

The last time I wrote about the city was when I finished 6 months here (read). I had paced myself by then. The initial adjustment troubles were dealt with and the city was being 'accepted' for what it is. Now, after adding another 6 months, I finally discovered that part of the city which infused a 3D effect to the rudimentary 2D existence. Albeit more exhaustive in all means physically and monetarily, 3D meant everything from a new best friend to a new social circle to nights I still can't recall and something even some for the helpless amorous boy within.

In this "its complicated" relationship with the city, step 1 was tolerance, step 2 was acceptance... and now step 3 is liking her for the same things one tends to hate it for. I dare say that it is easy to do so, cause I know its not... but something tells me that faith didn't really pull a Pandora on me. Along with its arsenal of necessary evils, there was, still is and always will be hope at the bottom of the box and unlike what happened in Greek scriptures here, hope did come out and eventually made its mark and has been asserting itself more and more with every passing day, week and month.

Happy one year Mumbai... never thought we would make it so far... booyeah!!!