Mansoorbhaay bole-” %@#&( #@* !, bhalai ka zamanahi nahi raha! “

‘Ae Dil, Hai Mushkil … Jeena Yahan,

Zara hatke,zara bach ke,Ye hai Bombay Meri jaan…’

(Otherwise, even I call it “Mumbai”, it’s better to clarify and stay away from controversies)

Just the second day after I set my foot in my hometown – Mumbai… and had already started experiencing it all over again.

Except for my people, my pals and some beautiful memories (that’s expected when you spend 21 years of life in the same setup), that make you nostalgic (the best part about being nostalgic is, It occurs only when you enter the same system again, otherwise it doesn’t trouble much!), this city has got nothing for a person who loves spending time with himself/herself… it simply doesn’t allow you to do so.

It had been two years that all of us had spent some time together -myself, Sanjog,rajesh,nitin,varun,gajanan,rajendra (L yes… no girls, sadly I didn’t belong to mechanical department also, but as the saying goes… ‘naseeb &@#!^ ,to kya karega Pandu!’)

On the same lines as summer of ’69, I wd say…

Gajanan quit (India ),Varun got married…lol! And most of us got busy with our lives.

Had it not been for my visit… I don’t find any strong reason that all of us got together (last time it was for Varun’s marriage)

So we decided to meet @ siddhivinayak temple. Not sure whether everyone will come, I started right on time to reach Dadar by 4.30.the speciality of Mumbai is, even if you start on or even before time… you will be late to reach your destination.(I guess half the Murphey's laws were framed here-it has got its advantages though, it provides an excuse to public to go home/office/college late…but surprisingly the same crowd with same transportation system @ service, reaches on time to the examination and movie halls) I had started getting the signs of getting late already , as I sat in a share-auto along with a co-passenger ,both of us waiting for the third 1 so that the auto could start. My co-passenger a bearded Muslim guy with a skull cap and an electrician’s bag and a typical attire of a related trade was very restless; maybe he was finding it tough to keep quiet but my acquired sophistication after landing into a job held me from engaging into a leisure chat while we waited… it could even be for my new sunglasses as well..

I was restless for another reason for, I was getting late... Somehow I wanted wash off my impression of a ‘late comer’ so I thought of taking initiative and asked one of the people standing around if anyone could join… but no one showed interest , I guess they were happy waiting for the bus.

” BH#&( #@* !, bhalai ka zamanahi nahi raha! “ said the person sitting next to me… and started cursing hopeless bus service and stupid people. I knew I was due for some entertainment for next 15-20 minutes. Meanwhile another passenger joined us and the ric started moving.

‘Ye log aisehi hain saale,subhe ko rickshaw Milne ko maramari, aur sham ko aadmi milne ko maramari ’.

When I joined as an assistant TV mechanic, ustad (mentor) told me bhalai ke raste se koi tarakki nahi kar sakta,thoda shana hona padta hai” (U have to manipulate things sometimes).

He quoted an incident when he, for the first time went for TV repairing alone, some 10 years back without his master. It was a Marathi (Hindu) family, so he modestly took their permission to keep his footwear considering the possibility of a minor shock. The problem was very minute and could be fixed by replacing a transistor, so he told them the total cost to be 90 Rs. But soon he gathered from their talk (with whatever knowledge of Marathi he possessed) that, they actually doubted that such problem could be fixed so cheaply and they also thought of the possibility of an inferior quality of work.

Meanwhile we crossed another auto in which an old man sat whom mansoor bhai knew already, as he belonged to the same trade… “ek antenna fix karne ka 350 rupaya leta tha, par antenna aisa jagape lagayega ki signal ekdum perfect ’.. What he meant was if you are good at something, don’t do it for cheap.post above incident,manssor bhai followed the same principle and made a decent fortune… worked in middle-east for 5-6 years but didn’t get rewarded much… ‘choos lete hain saale,bhalaika…’ . Now he is into some construction related work.

By this time we had approached the entrance of the ticket counter, we had had a very pleasant conversation so far ( thanks to my listening skills), realizing that I don’t have a pass and will have to unnecessarily spend 10-15 minutes in a boring queue… Mansoor bhai offered me the punching-coupons he always kept as reserve in order to avoid standing in the line, but may be due to my modesty or reluctance to take help… I refused to take them and told that, I will get my tickets.

It wouldn’t have mattered much as the ticket cost a mere 7 Rs. So we bid goodbye to each other, went our ways…he, to the platform and I to the long queue. But I’m sure, while keeping those coupons back in his pocket, he must have definitely said, ” %@#&( #@* !, bhalai ka zamanahi nahi raha! “