11 months and 16 days to be precise. That is what it took me to come back to my blogging page again. More importantly, some free time finally that has prompted me to come to this. What else could be better than a cold chilly Christmas night eve in the city of dreams. Correction - Christmas eve yes, cold and chilly - not exactly. The last one year in this hullaballoo place called Mumbai has taught me one thing - you won't get variety in seasons over here, but what you will get is variety in every other facet of life -
Geographical varieties - from nearby hills in Lonavla and Khandala to the beaches in Kashid and Madh, Standards of living - from the absolutely towering of buildings in Worli to the slums in Dharavi ,
Transport systems - from jampacked local trains to absolutely eyepopping Porsches and Aston Martins on the Marine Drive, roads -
From the lovely and smooth Marine Drive to the roads of Powai Vihar (where i stay, it seriously cant get worse than this),
From cheap Vada Paos and Bhel Puris to absolutely titillating Chicken Shawarmas and mouthwatering Lasagna.
This city has got it all. No wonder they say that once you come to Mumbai, you would never want to leave this place. I for one have taken to this city fully. And the thing that I love the most about this city. It never sleeps. In no place other than my alma mater ( read as Kharagpur) could I roam around at 1 and still find members of the opposite gender around (certainly not in our beloved capital city), the streets crowded, buses plying and loads of options to eat. So very much like KGP.
At the start of the year I had set some weird targets for myself - to try n visit every place worth one till the time im in Mumbai, to have food at as many different places as I could and to see as many movies in as many different places in Mumbai I could (after all Mumbai is the land of Bollywood, right?). And after a year of retrospection I would say, I havent fared too badly. Thanks specially to my partner in crime , M/S Khurana and co. :D.
Lets get down to some serious shit now- movies. I am a complete movie buff. I knew this in Kgp and I knew this in Kolkata. But only Mumbai has shown me my full potential. No other city would I have got the opportunity to watch classics like Hum Dono or Citizen Kane or One Flew Over the Cuckoos nest on a big screen. Movies on laptops just dont hold any charm anymore.
For me, the movie that took my breath away was Rockstar. No other movie had made such an impact on me till then. The music lingered in my soul for weeks and weeks and Ranbir's persona left an indelible mark too. And underlying it was a love story which touched my heart. Apart from that, ZNMD , Shor in the City and Yeh Saali Zindagi were the other movies which really deserved credit according to me. Delhi Belly created a niche in the sense it was the first movie of the genre of Guy Ritchie in Indian cinema and the Dirty Picture took all the plaudits for a sensational performance by Vidya Balan. The one disappointment came from the 2 Khans - Salman and SRK. They might be vying for the top spot , but after seeing the success of the genre of movies like Ra1, Bodyguard and Don2 I really think Bollywood has proved that Everything's in a name!!
Lots more to cover and write about . Including my upcoming trip to Kolkata (where hopefully I will get to wear my Reebok sweater (sponsored)) and maybe the reviews of Agneepath, Sherlock Holmes and others. Till then, Merry Christmas and A very Happy New Year. :)
