Mumbai Musings and a Bombay Blast

Today is 12th of March 2007. One would wonder what is so significant about this date. Well, this date may just be a date for many of us, but for a few it is one of the dates written on their tombstone, for many it was the end of many good things to come and then for others, it was just an excuse to write. Thirteen years ago, Bombay was blasted by twelve bombs placed at strategic locations, which resulted in many lives being lost, many limbs being amputated, many careers being truncated, many minds being shattered, forever. You might wonder, why rake up this story again? haven't we seen and read enough? there was a film made on it, for god's sake!! enough, already. Yes, I know, it is difficult for me to write, as much as it is for the one who reads, but I just couldn't ignore the date, because I happen to fall in the last category mentioned above- 'many minds being shattered, forever'....... I was there. I felt the shudders, I saw the devastation, I saw the lives being ruined for absolutely no fault of theirs. I feel the jitters, when there is a police cordon checking every vehicle at strategic locations, I feel unnerved, when the security at the mall seems a bit larger than usual, I feel insecure when I board a train and see some tiffin boxes kept on the rack, I feel burdened, I feel anger, I feel helpless.............. You might say, 'but the culprits have been convicted and put away for good, aren't they?' Yes, I know that too, although I still believe that the real culprits have not been punished and they never will be (I'm not talking about Tiger Memon or Dawood Ibrahim) because those culprits have never been seen. No one knows what they look like, but they are there, somewhere, wreaking havoc with young impressionable minds, teaching them the finer points of 'how to take innocent lives', propogating the idea of violence and hatred, scheming and planning about their next big 'attack' as if it were some kind of a sports tournament...............where the losers and the winners, both end up mutilated or dead. Where does this end? yesterday it was 93, today it is 7/11, tomorrow it could be some new way of remembering a date. (shudder!!)
There is absolutely no motivation for me to write further on this subject and no I'm not asking anyone to even maintain silence for two seconds. So there!!
Whew!! I needed to do this, as you probably would have understood by now. But seriously yaar, don't you think that.....(oops, here I go again, sorry)
Let's talk about something else. Let's change the topic, totally. Oh yeah, the title of the post. You must be wondering why I used this one. Well, at first I was about to write about the various happenings around Bombay(Mumbai, as it is called now- I hate it) but then suddenly I remembered the date(told you, couldn't ignore) and I added the latter part of the title. Anyways, Bombay or Mumbai or whatever anyone wants to call it, is in actuality, the most rocking, the most happening city of the world(God only knows what not happens here and what happening means, but it sounds nice). The Delhiites and the Kolkata baundhus must be wringing their hands gleefully, waiting for a chance to lay their hands on me, I know(snigger). Biharis wouldn't mind, because they are all here anyway. (hey, stop it, arrey....okay sorry). Guys, there is a bihari sitting here right with me and he is beating me up. Bombaykars, wake up and save your son of the soil(Long live Raj Thackeray). Actually, what am I talking about? I'm not a Maharashtrian, I'm from Gujarat. Hey, that means Raj Thackeray will want me out one day too?? Me?? A true blue Bombayiite? (shudder!!!)
Well, anyway, coming back to the positive sides of what happening means in Bombay(Will you let me stay if I call Bombay, Mumbai, Mr Raj?please?)
Okay, he's agreed for now. Gujjus rock, you know. The world can't ignore gujjus, because then the restaurants will have to be closed down permanently everywhere(that's the place most frquented by the Gujju species all over the world). I bet, at any given time of day, when you visit a restaurant you would find a Gujju sitting there having his seventh snack of the day or something like that.
Anyway, where were we? Oh yeah, the other day, I happened to be at a screening of one of the movies being shown at the Mami Film Festival at Fun Republic, Andheri, Mumbai(Mr. Raj?). The movie was not happening at all, no, I'm not going to review them, sorry, but I was rather amused by the kind of people one encountered at the screening. I have rarely seen such a varied crowd at a cinema hall before. There were some young wannabes mingling about with the havenots of the Bombay Film Industry(I hate the word 'Bollywood')(I do have a problem with a lot of names, don't I). It was interesting to see most people clapping after every show, even if the film was nothing to write home about. I guess some of them clapped because the delegate passes are very inexpensive and the boring film did not cause much of a dent to the wallet, like usual. If you are thinking I'm criticizing the festival and the crowd attending it, think again. I'm not, for the simple reason that I am part of that crowd(wannabes mingling with other havenots, remember?) I think Mami rocks. So, people, leave your mundane routine aside for a couple of days and get those kurtas and jholas out and head towards the Fun Republic or the Imax, Wadala and spend the whole day watching films(the rest of the lineup of films seems to be impressive) because I am going, for sure. See you there and let's have a blast!!(oops!!)

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