And for a Friday, returning from Mumbai after a Bilalumni gettogether … a trip full of nostalgia…. some thoughts … some musings….
Having stayed for more than four decades in the Malabar hill area……. every landmark & street is full of memories ….. Monday morning dropping my grandson to the Cathedral Middle school bus ….. was a rewind to three decades when the same coloured yellow bus …. the same white uniform with “Savage” house logo badge …. black leather well polished shoes ….. school bag bulging with books …..I had dropped my son ….. reluctant Monday blues ….. same with son & grandson…..excepting then there was no tunnel… no coastal road …. no mobiles …. no fancy cars … if bus missed ….only kaali -pili taxis ….all were old premier Padmini (Fiat) …… if the bus was late or had already gone …. only the corner Panwalla was the informant of all messages ….no other communication mode …..our black rotary phones at home had very limited usage for such emergencies …. unbelievable …..in these days of 24×7 on line with almost the whole world …….catching up with President Trump’s latest speech while waiting for school bus ……!!!!!
In Malabar Hill everything is changed or changing…. excepting the Hanging garden ….. the Boot House … unbelievably is exactly the same ….. every kid from every part of India visiting Mumbai for the first time will surely visit this place …. on a Sunday morning seeing the kids ( only under age 10 allowed) climbing the spiral stairs inside the Boot & running in the lawns …, & again in the queue for a second & third chance to climb…. a truly remarkable ikon of Mumbai …. memory of every Indian who visited Mumbai from all over rural Maharashtra & the other. Cities of the country …….South Mumbai is today the Best place to live in India ….
Every city , town & village in India is changing …. is improving …..Young Indians are aspirational with “fire in their belly” ….. let’s boost this spirit ….. the energising way …. the sustainable way ….the SEEGOS way.