LIVE from Mumbai VII

1st March
Jolly Maker Chambers II
Nariman Point
Mumbai



Not much to write for yesterday. Had some work to do at office so it was a good day. I felt useful and it felt nice to be busy. Worked on a few story ideas to be sent for approval, and also helped my colleague on one regular piece that she does. Went down for lunch and got a Sub. Now I’ve decided. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays I’ll have Subs for lunch since the sub of the day is non-vegetarian. I miss my meats and for dinner we haven’t found a non-veg place as yet. Not on this side of the area. So having vegetables or rice-dal daily is getting to me. No doubt even the veg food is good, but I’m so not a vegetable person. My colleague was surprised when she found out that I don’t even take salads in my Subs. So yeah. That’s how it is.

One important thing that I want to mention is what my friend was saying last night just before going to sleep. It had always been a dream for her to work in Mumbai. And only one week later, she’s decided she had been wrong in choosing her dreams. This life isn’t made for her. She hates it. What kind of life is this? You slog all day at work without any recognition, without any acknowledgements and without any kind of appreciation. You get back home and there’s no time for anything else. No time for any of the things you love to do. No time to even talk to the people in your own house. It had been 7 days in the flat and she’d seen this other friend of mine only three times. She didn’t want that.

That’s exactly the kind of thing I was afraid of before I came here. Part of it is still true for me. But somehow, it’s fading away. Not entirely though. I’m scared that if that fear of being here goes away, a part of me is going away too. Because I felt so strongly about all of this. I associated myself with this fear. And without that, I don’t know who I am.

I wish I had some comforting things to say to my friend. But I didn’t. Because everything she said was true. But do I want to accept that now? I don’t know.