Aamchi Mumbai

Mumbai at a Glance

A place of dreams .. dreams transiting to reality.. dreamz transiting to ashes…
Place where bada pav and sandwiches are quite common food added with famous mumbai cutting tea..
A place which never sleeps.. a place which enjoys the life at its best.. A place which is home for many celebrities and stars.. A place where in spite of busy life you can find people flocking at the sea beaches by evening…

Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Mumbai

My mouth left wide open when one guy at my work place distributed sweets saying that it is his birthday marriage day and rebirth day i.e. 12 march. I was amused by the word “rebirth”.
Rebirth ?? I murmured.
He heard it. He responded "yes. Rebirth"
It would have been my death day on 12 march 1993.
How? I asked.
“in 1993 my office was near BSE. I had my lunch and was coming back to my office. I was just crossing BSE when I heard a loud blast and everything was flown and scattered around. Luckily I was not on the front side of BSE where impact was most. All the glasses of BSE scattered and were falling down. Luckily my brain worked that time and I hid myself under a wooden luggage trolley parked on the road and saved myself from falling glasses. All the people on the front side including food sellers, people waiting there, taxiwala and whoever were there died on spot, Many got injured. When I came out of that wooden pulley I saw road was colored red. It was a close escape from death. If bomb would have exploded after 2 minutes I would also be on the front side and in the list of dead”.
I had no comments but to keep my mouth open and listen to his story.

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I felt people are more honest and helpful in Mumbai wrt Bangalore( except my first day bad experience :) ). Taxi starting meter charges are Rs20 and autoricksaw is Rs10. They never argue with you if you want to hire one and never make a scene or ask extra money when they drop you.
You are from which place, I asked the cab driver. “Allahabad sir”.
How long you are here in Mumbai?
“Almost 9 years”.
You met any bollywood star here?
“Amitabh and abhishek and many other celebrities I saw. It is easy to see stars here.”
What changes you see from the time you came here and now?
“Lot of things changed sir. Now people are not so honest and life is not so cool. It became crowded unexpectedly fast”.
So the time you came here, you are taxi driver?
“I worked at many places. Now I run my own 3 taxis and I own one house in Mumbai.”
That’s great I said. Having a house in Mumbai is itself is a life time achievement that too for a taxiwaala.