Tuesday, November 03, 2009

Thoughts flow at random

I am thinking of the Mumbaiblasts. It will be nearly one year since those series of night-marous three days. But everyone has moved on, Mumbai has grown older with one more hard experience and the Mumbaikars (some new, some old) get along with their lives, the city supporting them.

*****

London is a lot like Mumbai. More organised. People stand in Q's; use their "sorry-s","excuse-me-s" and "thank-you-s"; wait for their turn. But then again, it is the same hustle-bustle. People are just as wound up getting somewhere. The hurried pace in their walk and the vacant streets on a Sunday afternoon, all remind me of Bombay; maybe a larger version of South Bombay.

Homecity, however, was nicer. Warmer. Weather-wise and emotion-wise. People exchanged a smile in the train, shared their oily goodies, cribbed about the weather. I felt re-assured, even if the lady opposite me in the local didn't talk. Here, I am more aloof. Everyone is more aloof. And in the instance anyone speaks, you just turn away assuming s/he is mad, drunk, of suspicious nature or unacquainted with the code-of-conduct(and therefore not to be mixed with). The other day, I was travelling back by "national rail" into London and it was hardly an hour past dusk. I sat by myself looking at my own shadow in the dark window pane. I eaves-dropped on an occasional line passed between so-passengers, before they hushed it down again. A group of men opposite me spoke an unknown language. I looked and them. And one of them said "you alright?" I turned away, the way Londoners do. I didn't know his intention, his ways were out-of-the-way: OF SUSPICIOUS NATURE.

*****

There are many disjointed thoughts at this moment. I must tell you about goat cheese. Try it, if you haven't. It has a putrid smell, which will fill your nostrils and a dry, flaky exterior making you wonder, how you should spread "this" on your toast. But then its creamy and pure. It is heavy and fatty and pure... And when I say pure, it is the taste that remains with you for much after you have eaten it. Just like baked cheesecake. These are flavours that you feel should remain with you. For these flavours, you end your meal with them and do not feel the urge for another one. They fill you... your mind, your body and your memories.