Conversations and Bombay

Ever since I've left Bombay, I've had few (if any) good conversations with any interesting people. Sure, I'm back to Cal- the city where i was born and raised- and I'm back to the comfort of my home, but something's amiss. And that's interesting conversations.

It's not like I don't have good friends here or that my folks are boring. In fact, most of my friends from school and undergrad are right here and most are very intelligent individuals. As for my parents, the mother is extremely well read and the father is superbly street smart. Considering this fabulous social structure of friends and family is what I've come back to, I should be sufficiently satisfied, right? But I'm not.

I was constantly seeking something. I had no idea what that was. But in my hunt for the things that'll make me stay in Cal and not move back to Bombay, I've found very little to hold me back.

Only recently did I realise what it was that I've been searching- conversations. With interesting people. About things thus unknown. About stories thus untold.

It's those stimulating, random chats I miss here in Cal. With people I cannot relate to, with people who're so different from me that I'd never imagined the existence of their kind. With people that make me feel like I have a zillion cities to visit, a gazillion things to learn and shiploads to learn of the world from.

Which is why I guess I fell hopelessly in love with Bombay. The city's teeming millions offer a huge plus- the entire gamut of human personalities. From the burka clad, conservative Muslim girl- a mother of two at the premature age of 22- to the Parsi lady who yells abuses at you if you don't obey her "shift please" in the local train; from the students of HR, KC, XIC to the SoBo aunties in their fit flops; from the hair-clip-sellers on the trains to the freeloader friends. There were just SO MANY PEOPLE! And with that many people, there are that many interesting conversations to be had!

But at home the familiarities are comforting. Yes, that sense of familiarity sets home apart from the rest of the world. That's why it's awesome to COME BACK home. But not to stay there forever!

Which is why I love Bombay. It's mine and it's crazy as hell. But it's where I felt like I belonged. Because of the things I love eating, all the things I love doing and all the conversations I now realised I was having.