A bit of luck…

Aarwen woke up to the pitter-patter of rain drops on her AC. A dove had made a nest over it on the bit that hung out from the building. She loved rains. For her, life would be ideal if the day was bright and sunny or when it was raining…a drizzle all through the day (she was as scared of heavy Mumbai rain like everyone else) was perfect. The city was grey. From her 10th floor window she could see the people walking around with umbrellas and raincoats on the road below and the grey expanse of the sea with a blurred horizon that just merged into the low clouds. She could see the Bandra- Worli sea link under construction in the distance (her landlord was a son of a corrupt bureaucrat who had gotten lucky) which was a year from completion.

She checked her cell, no calls and one sms. For any Indian in their twenties life revolves around mobiles and internet. As a race they love to talk and love to surround themselves with people. No wonder our population doesn’t bother us much. Gadgets come and go but net provides everything one could want (connectivity, music, movies, chat and download) and then god bless Cellphones.

So she switched on her satellite radio and mulled over why no one had called. It was a Saturday morning and being the ‘Monica’ (courtesy the series ‘Friends’) she already had plans for the evening firmed up way ahead in the week. It was the lunch plan that she was awaiting a sms confirmation for. For Aarwen, weekends were a time to switch off, relax and catch up with friends and watch movies. Mind you, she only watched movies with happy endings (no no..not because she was an optimist).
‘There is enough hardship in life to sit through a three hour movie which ends in death or depression’, she would say.


She looked out the pouring rain over a mug of hot coffee. She will miss this city - a city where she had loved and lost and found it again. The city where she had learnt to stand up after falling apart, to fight and follow her heart, the crazy manic city that never sleeps, the city of dreams, the city of passionate mad people who live and love life, the city where she had survived the flood, the city where she had tried, the city where she had bought her first car (‘over my dead body’ is what she used to say to that till she finally got one) and fell in love with driving despite the jams and the narrow escapes.

‘Mumbai is my home and the world is my temporary accommodation’, she thought to herself and smiled.

And yet, just when she thought she had been there and done it all, there it was.... in the middle of nowhere...a choice to be made.

Who would have thought…?