Mumbai

That day I again managed to breach the cordon and entered the Virar fast boarding it from Borivali. After a few hostile glances and some mumblings indicating - Better get into your own train, I settled into my customary position beside the train door.
After Andheri passed by, I heard him preaching. He was talking about the Lord Christ, referring to him as Yeshu, a term used by the lower class Christian community when speaking of Jesus. As soon as he started he was warned and asked to stop. He didn't pay much heed to this and continued nevertheless. Hearing the commotion I tried getting a look at his face but was unable to do so as the train was heavily overcrowded. Soon there were shouts which forced him to discontinue and confront the shouters. He tried placating them in the softest of tones as the rest of the travellers were hell bent on pushing him out of the train.
Travelling in a jam packed train where humans are worser off than cargo - that compartment is the roomiest one I have observed, commuter anger has been a cause of concern in Mumbai since a long time. And every "Train Travail" as I called it is a testimony as much to the grit and determination of the Mumbai junta as to the apathy of the different governments that ruled over it which has reduced our financial capital to this state.
Studying in a convent, Christmas was as much my festival as it was for my Christian friends. Yet over the years I had come to love the way it was celebrated in Mumbai. I still vividly remember the Vile Parle streets adorned with christmas trees and lots of stars of different shapes and sizes. The gaiety was somehow always missing in Gujarat. In my recent visits to Mumbai though this sentiment seems to be waning. And its just not me that thinks this way. A prominent actor isn't given a house as he is a Muslim, compulsory reservation of flats for Marathis in locales, separate societies, not just by Parsis, but the newly rich Jains and diamond merchant Patels.
I dont know wether its commuter anger or Shiv Sena rhetoric at play. When I work in an office in Hyderabad where my colleagues constitute virtually the whole of India, and who readily celebrate Uttarayan - eating the chikki, with us, all I ask is where is Mumbai heading ?