Yep!
Thats technically what I am now, a corporate woman!
Its been sometime since I have joined, almost a month now...a full blown job!
The hangover of my educational life remains... this coming to office and working on the comp and catching the local train back seems like a temporary routine which would culminate in me going back to campus and leading the idyllic life that awaits its inhabitants at planet-i...
Only this time, it wont... I am here for good, and this is not ending like forever...I am in this routine rigmarole for good... only I have to realize it!
Work is okay, since it hasnt started yet! I had been gloriously whiling away time till like today...from today I have some training routine starting... its again going to be timepass only, but since there would be deadlines at the end of it, I probably would throw in some seriousness to save my skin!...
But more importantly, I AM IN MUMBAI!
Boy, what a city!! It's huge, it's crowded, it's freaking dirrrrty, it's tough tough tough... and yet, its the city in which I have found my freedom!
Today I came to office in a local train for the first time, and I already had my shock absorbers in place having heard all the nightmarish stories about the famed train journey.. but it was sooo peaceful the journey, that I was kinda disappointed!.. no grand train journey story so far, but going by my luck and my procilivity of attracting the wrong sort of experiences, trust me, they wold pour in by the truckloads soon! Then the blog would come in handy, honeys...
People here are amazing, in an observational sense.. they know they have to be tough to get their way, they would stamp on your feet if it needs to be done... but they would be faintly apologetic about it.. as if, if it were some other place and time, he would have said sorry.... when you see the rush of women getting into the train, they would stomp and stab and pull and grab but never look into your eyes or even look up when they are doing so... as if to say, its not personal, its only business... all's fair in love and war, business and Mumbai baby!
For a month, I stayed at the Taj President at the Cuffe Parade... one loong month of luxury, man... the laundry service, the breakfast and the local call service was free, and boy did we make good use of it!!...
The laundry service was AMAZING, boss... I had my entire wardrobe washed out, worn or unworn, I was so impressed!... and the breakfast, man... huge amount of food, of every kind, and of every type... I honestly think I have eaten my whole life's fill of chicken sausages in this past one month! Trust me, sitting on the breakfast table, with a host of people from across the world in all shapes sizes and colours, and with the unlimited choice of food and in a freshly laundered crisp shirt, I felt like, well, maybe I have arrived... maybe this is it.... maybe I would have these many choices in life from now on...
The key word was maybe... one month is long enough for an awesome short story, but it doesnt a novel make.. I have moved in with a friend in Andheri now.. and the commute is god awful, its simply tooo long... but as n number of people have told me since yesterday, such is life honey..such is real life...
I only had coffee for breakfast today...
I had the taste of the hard life while househunting... the rates in Mumbai are not only exorbitant, but ridiculous and absurd!!... its not funny, people, when you pay 40000 of your bloody hard earned money on some shit hole of a place which actually is a box turned into a 2bhk... hopefully would get a good enough house soon, cause i want some permanence in my life.. I hate shuffling through my suitcase for everything and anything, I dont want to be living out of my bags...I dont want to be a forced vagabond!... I want some place of my own!!
But I have to mention whats stayed with me now... I have met some wonderful people in those who've joined HSBC with me... interesting, nice and fun people.... I have roamed around the city unaccompanied, suffering and surviving the people and the shit that gets thrown at you every single second... i didnt take all of it well, but well, i am here and typing... I have gone to pubs and nightclubs and stayed out dancing till 2, and I hope to death my mom never reads this blog of mine!
And I have discovered Marine Drive... whenever things get out of hand, whenever you are heartbroken, whenever you miss home, or wanna kick your boss or rile against your job, you should go there and sit on the parapet... its a panacea for everything and anything.... it seems all okay in an instant!.. Mumbai actually seems peaceful and inviting from there... the sea seems less dirrty, and more romantic.. and the rains actually add to the charm!... its my tonic, its my haven...i hope it comes to the rescue all the time!
I MISS campus! I miss all my friends, I miss the people, I miss the mess, the timepassing, the vellgiri, the late nights, the daaru parties.. the whole bloody symbiotic, cool, a world-in-itself life....I dont want to start on this anymore, since the post is already quite long... but I wanna go back for a month every year... that was normal, this is absurd.. I want that normalcy back!!
Time out now!
Will mail regularly now, since all other means of communicating to the world is nicely taken away from office... no gmail, no yahoo, no gtalk nothing... when at work, 'live' it!.. when not, piss off... quite difficult, I tell you... life without gtalk is like being vegetarian.. you can still live, but its not the same fun anymore!
