It was in the year 1999. A man visited the toughest city in the world and spent a month there for training in one of the multinationals and described to me a vivid account of his stay at Mumbai. There was a stark contrast in his enumeration to whatever material we find about Mumbai in the movies. The dark tales of underworld, terrorists shooting indiscriminately at people and the usual horrific details of people getting thrown off from fast local trains did not find mentions in his recounting of details of his month long stay in the city of ‘maya’.

My buddy began his narrative by directing a query towards me that why people loved Mumbai despite the fact that one has to shoulder the burden of living in the toughest city of the world. Is it only the desire to earn unlimited wealth that drew people to the city across the world? Is it the glittering of celluloid that attracted so many people? What is there in Mumbai? Oh it is foolish to think that people flock to the city to toil under mechanistic living because they have access to the air of sea-beach.

I kept mum under the gaze of smiling curiosity at my friend’s words.

He said he boarded a train from his state only to reach Mumbai after forty two hours. He reached the city in the wee hours of the day and set his feet on a platform far away from the main entrance of it. He walked quite a distance to reach the entrance.

My buddy was soon accosted by the taxi drivers. He asked one of them to take him to a nearest hotel. The taxi driver asked for a flat sum without putting the meter on. While on this short journey, my buddy asked the driver that if he belonged to Mumbai.

“No Saab, I am from Bihar”- He replied “And there are thousands from my brethren”.

My friend stayed in the hotel near the Victoria terminus station for one night. He was informed about the non-availability of his company’s guest house for one day. As he took a local train towards Andheri, where his office was situated, his manager (personnel) smiled at him. My buddy feared the inscrutable face of the manager as the latter was more adept in showing stick than offering carrot.