For a mother, it doesn’t matter if the child chooses a karmabhoomi away from his janmabhoomi

To me this is what the “spirit” of the city has meant. But truly, its cosmopolitan nature, the presence of so many different communities that live here, the energy of this synthesis, the acumen of varied and diverse minds have all contributed to its greatness. It is a city that can become almost impersonal in its attitude and the very next second, climb over the walls of your home and sit beside you to comfort and assuage you. I have travelled fairly extensively in the world and even though there are many places I may not have visited, I can safely declare that this particular quality of the city is unique. You will not find it anywhere.

Despite its confusion, despite its high populace, despite its nagging traffic, despite its much maligned pollution, despite its so many other accepted and unaccepted ailments, when you come to Mumbai there is a strange sense of relaxation. There is a feel that you breathe easier, metaphorically, there is a lightness of being, as though the burden of some weight has been lifted. This is what gives it its character.

Having arrived from small town Allahabad by train, a journey which for an average middle-class youngster was like stepping out to the moon, I was, eyes wide open, jaw half dropped in amazement.

My next visit to Mumbai came in 1960. A little older, aware and independent; a couple of years in University does that to you. Again with my parents, again by train and the wonder of it being air-conditioned. The expanse of the city, its magnificence and its “rush of existence” (a reference to one of my father’s poems on the rush of life), very evident and noticeable, but not dropping my jaw since we had moved over to New Delhi in the meantime.

... contd.