Transitioning

It’s been a year now that I am staying in Mumbai. Last year, this same time I came to Bombay for an internship. For a person like me who is way too imbibed in the roots and culture of her city, it was quite a bug decision to move out and come two thousand kilometers away. However, I made up my mind about moving out of my comfort zone. The moment I stepped into the city I had mixed feelings. On one hand, I missed how lazy Kolkata was and one the other I was excited about how busy this city was.

The next day I went to my office, my first corporate experience. As I stepped in, I could feel the buzz building inside me. I was assigned to a desktop and a desk of my own. “Would it be like school?”, I thought to myself. Very soon it turned out, it was not an inch like school. When we are in school, we are often excused for our mistakes and are taught with patience. But here, one has to take the responsibility of mistakes and learn new things on your own if situation demands. Soon, I realized that this was a place where you got to fight for every tooth and nail. With a few ups and downs, I spent three months in the city.

I came back here again in the month of August, but this time to study. Well, this time was worse than the previous one. I didn’t like the place I was staying at. Kurla wasn’t as posh as South Bombay. But, I had little choice. As our classes in college started, I started getting used to the place, used to the dingy hostel room, used to the roads where humans and cars both can get on you, used to the nasty food. After almost six months here, I won’t say I have started loving the city but it has surely grown on me.

Maybe it’s not because of the time but because of the people who are around me- the girl who comes to my room every day to check on me, the egg seller woman who gives me onion salad for free, the restaurant delivery boy who gives me ketchup pouches, the panipuri vendor who listens to my rant of how bad panipuris are. Now, I feel more independent and confident as ever unlike the last time when I saw my parents leaving. The point here is, maybe, Bombay doesn’t give you homely feels but it surely gives you teeth!