Have been accussed many a times by friends out of Mumbai that I overdo my love for the Mumbai spirit but then everytime I see it grow, I am tempted to write about it.
Please show me a place in India where more than hundred thousand people assemble and wait from 2am in the morning for a procession.
Please show me a place where this mass celebrates the festival with a gutso, prays soulfully and then leave peacefully
Please show me a place where the rich and poor, able and disabled, those who travelled on a hand cart and those who reached in their swanky cars, all get together shoulder to shoulder for a celebration of life.
Yeah, that's Mumbai for me. No two hoots for your lineage or you social status. You are what you are at that moment. That's why, all seen early this morning were just devotees.
Left at 2 am for the Darshan of Lalbagh Cha Raja. Stood patiently for a few hours as the procession took long to reach. more than 4 hours to cover a kilometre. Huge garlands tied on oppsite buildings, nearly a lakh of devotees patiently waiting, people serving devotees water, cold drinks, snacks. The procession arrives and people break out in jubiliation. But no stamping, no pushing, no jostling, Madness but orderly madness. And when that passes, the crowd breaks up peacefully for their homes.. just some method in madness I call this.
So, Mumbai is still the Rockstar City of India not because of anything else but just because everyone here be it a hand cart puller or an industrialist, is a rock star in his / her attitude.
Chidambaram, budget and unjustifiable numbers
11 years ago
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