Contradictions

And I’m baaaaack! Hope everyone had a great weekend! I think I officially have issues because over the past couple days, any funny incidents that occurred led me to think about how I need to include that in my blog. I now obvi don’t remember any of these, but wow I need blog rehab.

Bombay was incredible as always. It’s a huge city, and I live in the southern most tip which allows me to drive through other parts en route and sit back and take it all in and slip into nostlagia mode. With a population of about 30M, it is often referred to as the city of dreams- people from all over the country migrate in thousands everyday from little towns for a variety of reasons-- be it higher education, work, cheap labor, and Bollywood, duh…(speaking of which I saw a huge billboard with Shilpa Shetty on it, I’m ok with the comparison now lol)

City of contradictions is more like it rather than the city of dreams. What else would you think if half of that city’s bustling population is living in slums and dire poverty while the other half lives in million dollar apartnments with views of the Arabian Sea? The Economist ran a great article last week (Vy, aren’t you proud of me!) entitled ‘Maximum City Blues’ which mentions a scheme to redevelop a slum called Dharavi (Asia’s biggest slum with a population of 300,000!) which would mean resettling those people into apartments that would be constructed while with the rest of the land being developed into malls, offices and the like. Doesn’t sound like a bad idea except for one problem- Dharavi is a commercialized slum (who knew they existed), but its leather and handicrafts industries bring in millions of dollar in exports. The traders in the slum would be offered space for rent under the new scheme- how many would actually be able to afford this rent however?! Not many I would guess- hah, even slums have contradictions!

Anhoo I digress. I caught up with my friends which is always a good time…you guys would love them, they are ridonkulous. We went to this trendy little restaurant called China Gate for my friend Gunjan’s birthday- terrible food (I was apparently the only one who thought so) , so I drank instead (typical- I really don’t change no matter what time zone I am in). We then went to this new lounge that’s all the rage- China House (Yeah, I don’t know why China was the theme of the evening, nehawma?) It was absolutely gorgeous, full of beautiful women in blink-and-you-miss-it clothing (yes yes freshman year, whatever) - note: I did not say beautiful men- I don’t like the scruffy unkempt, “I straighten my hair and drink my protein powder laced infused vodka” look that EVERY guy in the city has, what the fuck? Needless to say I got into a dance off with a fob (or am I the fob in this case?), made him drop his glass onto his girlfriend as he tried to do the Beyonce booty shake to copy me. Silly rabbit, trix are for kids. Why was I trying to dance with a fob with a girlfriend you ask? I mean, why is the sky blue?

I have a point. I mentioned city of contradictions. Where else can you drive into one of the nicest hotels/lounges in the world right next to decrepit slums? Where else in the world can you drive around in your 7-series that is being chased by little urchins trying to clean your window with a rag for 5 rupees?

We grew up privileged, and I am thankful for that. Most people that you would encounter at these places are South Bombay raised and Ivy-league bred. What is heartening is seeing the reverse brain-drain that seems to be occurring. During the IT/dotcom revolution in the 90‘s (wow we must be getting old if I referred to something as the ‘90‘s…), you saw some of the most intelligent, motivated youth of the city/country leaving to settle down overseas and make tons of money. These days, the same passionate kids are returning to work in India after Boston, New York, Bmore (what what) etc- which is exactly what the country needs to move forward. I mean, I came back right? :)

I felt kind of strange falling back into the Bombay I knew- going out, wasting too much money etc after working with slum kids and AIDS awareness education programs of the past week. Heck, screw city of contradictions, make that my life of contradictions. I thought about this a lot on my drive back to Bombay today. Should we feel bad about the way we lead our life in Bombay? Should I just sit and home, not shop as much, not eat out as much and feel bad about being spoilt? Clearly the answer is no. What is missing from a lot of bratty South Bombay youth is a social conscience. I am not going to sit here and say I am not going to do any of the shit I have been doing anymore. I just want kids to do more with their money and more importantly- time (which is what I have recently learned). Raise money via fundraisers if you have to, volunteer your precious time if you must. Write a check to an NGO, run a marathon for a good cause. Just do SOMETHING. The economic and social divide in the city is appalling, but if we begin in small ways such as this, hey, it’s a start!

Apologies for this sounding like a Full-House episode with a moral at the end but it needed to be said. What can I say, I love me some Olsen twins. Oh and Kimmy Gibler. She was hot. Ok love you ok bye.