How Mumbai is Different from Other Cities

I have been fortunate to live in different cities of India and have a taste of different cultures. Just after completing my school, I happened to live in Delhi for a few years, switched to Trivendrum for a media course, and life took me to many other cities for various experiences. Let me share how Mumbai differentiated itself from all other cities.

When I came to Delhi in early 2000, the Delhi metro was not so popular. I had to commute to places either by bus or auto-rickshaws; both of these modes of transportation were notorious. The bus drivers used to rash drive the bus and those were the days when Blue Line bus drivers were famous for knocking off people on the road. No one would dare to challenge these drivers as the Delhi-ites hardly had any alternate for transportation. Nonetheless, the auto-rickshaw driver during those time were no less than goons who would extort money from other people because of the monopoly they enjoyed.

At present, whenever I go to Delhi, the scenario has changed a lot because of Uber, Ola, and many other cab services. I can ask the auto-drivers to turn on the meter and charge a fair price. Sometimes, they may refuse to go by the meter and ask for an arbitrary price.

In Trivedrum, the auto-rickshaw scene is quite messed up. They would switch on the meter, and it showed 45 INR for a short distance once. I handed over 100 INR to the driver, who returned 50 INR to me. I looked at him bewildered, he made strange face, shook his head, and ran off without saying a word. With time I realized that I cannot ask for the remaining amount from the auto driver after he rounds off the bill to the nearest 10.

In Chennai, I have had the worst experience with auto-rickshaw drivers who do not care to install any meter in their vehicle. They can ask for any amount they like for a short distance and be stubborn about it. The choice is on the passenger whether he wants to ride his auto-rickshaw or not. After paying hundreds of rupees to these notorious drivers, I decided to have Innova Self Drive for my road trip from Chennai.

The best is the attitude of Mumbai drivers. If the meter in the vehicle says 49 INR, I would hand over a 100 Rupee note to him, and he would return 51 INR exact change to me. Most of the drivers have it ingrained in their minds that they should be honest with their passengers. There have been many instances in the past when the drivers have returned precious gold jewelry and lakhs of rupees in cash to their passengers who forget their stuff in the auto-rickshaw.

The attitude of people in Mumbai impresses me every time I visit there. I don’t have to struggle with people for daily events such as commuting even though the city is heavily packed with people all the time. Until now, Delhi and Mumbai are my top favorite places to travel and stay whenever I get a chance to go to places.

How I Revitalized My Marriage over Road Trips

When I was growing up before the age of ten, I would ask my parents that whom do they loved the most. They would always take each other’s name, and I would feel sad about why they didn’t say that they loved me the most. However, in my teens and early twenties, I realized that the married Indian couples set the wrong examples for their children when they keep them on priority and ignore each other for a long period of the married life. But my family was different where Dad and Mom expressed their love openly and set the right model of married life for me and my sister. In addition to our family vacations, they would often go for couple vacations either with each other or with other couple friends.

Now I see many people in my generation who keep their spouse on top priority, and I resolved to do the same as well when I got married. In the initial years, it was easy to find time for each other, but it became increasingly difficult to spend quality time with each other with Myra tagging with us all the time. After five years of marriage, I finally decided to talk to Arun about it that we should go for vacations alone and leave Myra with her grandparents for a day or two.

Spending quality time

Thankfully, he understood without any tussle about family talks, and we went for our first road trip to Jodhpur. Unlike our family road trips, we would talk endlessly about things we do in our office, plans for career, and the things that make us happy. Our talks would not revolve around family issues, the groceries we need to buy or the corners of the house that need repair. All we would do is leg-pulling, abuse each other like we did before marriage, and romance like teenagers. We both agreed that spending time like this gives us better opportunities to express ourselves.

Setting examples for Myra

Just like my parents had set the right example for me, I wanted to show Myra over the years that the bond of a husband and a wife is a crucial one where we need to give importance to each other. When we went to a family trip to Bangalore, my parents needed to stay at a friend’s place. Since we had already spent a lot of time in Bangalore while attending a wedding, Arun and I decided to go for a road trip to the nearby hills.

We hired a Self-Drive Car, took Myra along, and went ahead for two days to spend some time in the pleasant weather of South India. When she saw us holding hands while sitting at the mountainside, she asked Arun, “Papa, why are you holding Mom’s hand? Can she not take care of herself? Will she fall if you don’t hold her?”

It was indeed very sweet listening to all those words from a three-year old baby, who wanted to know more about holding hands. All she knew that I held her hand while crossing the road or to protect her at other times.

I explained to her that when people grow up, they can hold hands to express love for each other. She nodded her head at that time, but the most gorgeous moment at that time came when she asked for my hand so that she can embrace it. She did not leave me for good five minutes, got bored after that, and went to Arun to ask for his hand!

Life lesson taught right, I guess!

Road trips are indeed great to make memories and learn things.

My Experience of a Road Trip from Kashmir to Kanyakumari

Driving all the way from the top of India to the bottom of the country was a tough decision indeed. I had to drive alone throughout the way and it was certainly lonely at times. Here I must admit that I am a fiercely independent person and a self-governing traveler who does not like to depend on anyone for anything. Even though I wished that I had company during my road trip for a few moments, but if I compare the pros and cons of not having a companion, the pros always win. The problem with driving with two or more people is that you have to adjust with other people, which I cannot do all the time. Therefore, I began and concluded my road trip on my own.

During the entire course of the solo drive, I would be in the car from morning until evening. I would eat whenever I felt hungry. I would stop whenever I felt tired and exhausted. I would pull over the car whenever I wanted to click a picture. Had it been a bike ride, I would have certainly felt more tired. However, since I had taken a Self-Drive Car Rental, the journey was indeed more convenient though expensive.

In Himachal

I met a traveler in a village in Himachal who was riding a bike from there to Mumbai. He had already completed one side of his journey and had already resumed his return trip. We talked endlessly for two hours, and drove simultaneously the next day. Although the drive was interesting, it became a little too much for me to adjust according to the stops he wanted to take. Whenever he felt hungry, perhaps all I wanted was to drive. Whenever I felt tired, he wanted to go for some sightseeing. Since we both were solo travelers, we understood that we could not carry on our concurrent road trip. We parted ways and I swooshed to continue my independent journey.

Know thyself

It is no hidden fact that a solo trip lets you know yourself. While driving on this road trip, I got to know about a lot of my weaknesses and strengths. I found out ways to improve as a person because every day teaches something new when you meet so many people. I met an old lady in her 70s who could not walk, but sold bananas every day to make her ends meet. She had no one in the house to earn for her, so she would come out of the house every day on her crutches and spend her day selling bananas.

When I bought a few bananas from her, I did not have change money. Although I did not want to embarrass her, I had to tell her that I did not have 50 INR change. She asked me about the rupee note that I had, to which I replied that I had a 2000 INR note. She cheerfully said that a group of young boys had handed over a 500 INR note in the morning itself, so she would manage the rest of the money for me.

My heart broke when I saw that those clever fellows had fooled her with the counterfeit 500 INR note. She gave it to me, I looked at her, and I could not resist warning her. I secretly kept the note inside my wallet and jokingly said that fake notes are exchanging hands in the market and that she should be careful. She asked for more and I explained to her how she could differentiate between real and fake notes.

Why I Hate Traveling for Work

Traveling is something that has always been very close to my heart, but of late, I have started hating it. I don’t like to pack my bags anymore as I used to do earlier. I don’t like to experiment with foods the way I did a few years ago. All of this happened because I decided to choose travel job over desk job seven years ago. Only the first year in my job was great as I loved exploring new cities, but everything started becoming tiring after a while. Let me tell you why I don’t like my job anymore and why I want to return to a normal life.

No rest

Traveling for leisure is a different thing and doing such a pleasing thing for work is a completely different scenario. I hate waking up at 4 am to catch a flight at eight in the morning. I have to pack my check-in luggage at night and I cannot afford to pack a huge luggage since it takes a long time at the airport to submit and take it back. I hate waiting in the long queues even when I cannot stand straight for a minute. There have been times when I feel like I would crash any moment, but still I have to be there for an important job in a remote city in the other corner of the world.

No time for sightseeing

When I first went to Pune, I had thought that I would see as many sights as I can after my office. However, endless number of meetings and trainings were lined up for me in the administrative center and I could not even eat my lunch at peace. When I reached my hotel at 9 pm, the first thing that came to my mind was to have a glass of wine after a shower and crash in the bed. Three days went like this in the city, and my plans of going around Pune in the evening went down the drain. I have seen many cities around the world now, but some of them are only for the namesake.

Eating just anything

More often than not, I do get free food during my travels, but I have started hating it now. I don’t like the free meal coupons that include only fast food or unhealthy fatty cuisines. I rather prefer a bowl of cereals with milk in the morning, or just a plain egg omelet rather than lavish foods in every meal. Instead of having beer every evening, I try to grab a glass of fresh juice no matter what. The office parties do not interest me anymore, especially when my body clock is against the local timings.

Poor health

I can realize my deteriorating health whenever I eat unhealthy foods for a week or more. My body starts giving me signals that I need to bounce back to a healthy routine as soon as possible so that I can enjoy my work as well as weekends. However, no matter how hard I try, I can never be as hale and hearty as I would be at home. I used to work for a Self-Drive Car Rental company, have good food, maintain a stable routine, and go for parties only during weekends. Now I can party throughout the year, but it does not interest me anymore. As soon as I get a chance to be with my family and my cats, I take a flight to my hometown and spend maximum time with them. I don’t say that traveling for work is bad, but it saturates me after a while.

How I Spend My Boring Weekends in Delhi

No one in this world can have happening weekends every time; one has to have a pet place to go when there is nothing to do. One such place for me is a tea stall near my house where I meet my regular friends. None of has to have a reason to be there at Santosh chai-wallah. My group of childhood buddies comprising Rohit, Naina, and Kashish and I would arrive at the place around 7 pm to have a sip of tea or just sit there for a while. As we were growing up, we would gather at this humble place every evening after school and tuitions to gossip about our daily lives. After killing an hour from the allotted time, we would go home to have dinner and complete our homework.

Times after college

All of us have finished our college except Naina, and we still try to meet at Santosh’s stall even though the regular tea seller does not operate the place. Sometimes, it feels heartbreaking to see that everyone is getting busy and busier in their lives. We cannot always make time to meet at seven or even nine at our adda. We have to honor our commitments in office even though we cannot do so for our childhood promises. We still try to meet at least on weekends if we cannot make it during weekdays unless we have a plan to go out of the city.

Over time, the chai place at Santosh's has become more like a nostalgic place. Some weekends become so dull at times in Delhi that I cannot understand what to do to kill time. In my childhood, I would rarely go to our adda alone, but I like to go there on my own now because all my friends are busy. The colleagues from office are not a very good company to have during weekends since I spend a good deal of time with them during weekdays. 

The books are my companion

I take a book along to the chai-wallah whenever I cannot find anything to do, read fiction for an hour or more, and come back home refreshed and energized. Even a library cannot provide such peace and satisfaction that I get sitting on the makeshift seating arrangement constructed around a tree. The noise of the traffic, the chatter of the people, and the fragrance of tea continually boiling in the vessel is more pleasing than the peace of a library.

Although I miss my friends whenever I sit there, I cannot force anyone to come to the place every time I am there. While reading books, I often meet people from my neighborhood sometimes, and I get to talk to them. Sometimes I wonder why not I should go to visit someplace in Delhi whenever I get bored, but there is no fun going anywhere without my buddies. Rather than going to some random restaurant, historical place, or an event on my own, I would like to wait for someone to accompany me. The only place where I can sit alone is at the Santosh chai-wallah.

This January, it has been more than three weeks that I have met anyone from my childhood friends. And I have thought to get together with them as soon as possible, take a Car Hire, and go to the historical place of Delhi if we cannot go out of the city. It has been a really long time that we have spent quality time with each other. This time, I commit to myself that I will make it.