Deewar Re defined

I was talking to a friend the other day and he commented, “Dude, are you sure you have got your priorities right?” Basically we were travelling to Bangalore and I suddenly tapped him on the shoulder and said “I want to be the first to get off the plane today” and raced to the door. On the way to the guest house, the nice guy that he is, he tried to tell me why I should be serious about what I want in life. I understand that but the point is my life would lose all its charm if I don’t do these things. I will feel sad for myself the day I can not get excited by a new leaf sprouting out of a dead branch outside my window.

Going back to Bangalore was therefore fun. I got to do a lot of things I had not done for a long time. I sat down on the steps of a shop on 100 ft road chewing paan and chatting till late night with a friend. I tried to meet a lot of friends in the small time I had and almost screwed up every meeting. But friends as they were from a long long time, they pamper my idiosyncrasies. I couldn’t meet some very important friends and for a change wished that a day had more than 24 hours. I walked all around Indiranagar getting drenched in the drizzle and actually imagining myself to be Gene Kelly. In fact, it was a glorious night and I was happy again.

But this is the main reason why this Bangalore was special. Whenever I think of Mumbai and Bollywood only one scene comes to my mind - Amitabh Bachhan looking out of the window at the sea and the roads, remembering Nirupa Roy walking down those streets with 2 young sons. That was what Mumbai and Deewar was all about - the sea of humanity coming to the city of Dreams. Whenever I touch down in Bangalore and look out of the window I do not see the runway coming forward to meet me. Rather I see three friends sitting on the rails in the bus stop at 100 Feet Road, Indiranagar, looking at the cars speeding past, worrying about their futures and wondering at the beautiful buildings of Defence Colony, before going back to their scantily furnished and small flat.

As I went to sleep that night at our guest house in Defence Colony, Deewar re defined itself in my life.