Outside In

Was travelling in the local train last week when I noticed a teenager, around 15-16 years old, looking very scared. He probably looked like someone who had come to Mumbai for the first time. The nervous and yet hopeful look in his eyes prompted me to write this....

A pair of very angry eyes fastened on me in the Churchgate bound local. "Abee..dikhta nai hai kya! Dekh ke chadhna upar..Alibaug se aaya hai kyaa...Kahaan kahaan se aa jaate hai log...."

Kahaan kahaan se nahi...I felt like saying. But I was too scared..too nervous. As the train from Sarangpur pulled into Mumbai last evening, there were waves of different feelings passing over me - Nervousness, excitement, apprehension and hope. I stepped into Mumbai for the first time, excited and hopeful of something better just like the multitudes of people who come to the city almost every day in search of the proverbial pot of gold but at the same time fearing the worst.

Mumbai ke baare mein bahut suna tha, especially about it's new found hostility towards "outsiders" from people who had already migrated here. But I had no choice. The scene could be straight out of some Bollywood movie of old (these days even Bollywood has abandoned us in favour of making movies for the so called multiplex generation and NRI's) - the school which I attended till class VII was in shambles due to a dearth of quality teachers. My father worked as a labourer on a small piece of land and his income was barely sufficient to sustain a family of 6. Yes, it's a very typecast setting. But it's the reality none the less. People should realize that we do not like to move to Mumbai and survive, not live, in conditions worse than in a village - a slum with no water, electricity and sanitation amidst sewers and open drains. And it's not just the destitute. Even youth from well-to-do families, fed on a daily diet of soaps and ads, want to move to a city in search of a better life and entertainment to satiate their aspirational levels. To a naive youth like me, the solutions seemed so simple and staring in the face. Why don't industrialists set up factories here to process the raw materials like cotton which grows in plenty here? I had heard about so called Rural BPOs and Micro-finance initiatives which could generate employment for the semi-literate youth residing here. But sadly, none of this seemed likely to come up in the near future. I failed to understand the reasons. Perhaps it wasn't all that simple.

And so, here I was, trying to move into a new home of a distant relative who was kind enough to offer me some work, away from home and familiar faces and places. Thousands have come to Mumbai before me. Few have succeeded, most have continued to live a hard life. But almost all who have come here haven't been disappointed, doing something or the other that kept the wheels of this megapolis churning. I do not aim to do something miraculous. I do not want to be part of some rags-to-riches story. I just want to earn enough to support my family back home. I know the odds are against me. But hope is a wonderful feeling that keeps people afloat.

As I stepped outside Churchgate station, bright sunlight hit me. I took a deep breath, took one giant stride forward and moved on..the words "kahaan kahaan se aate hai log" still ringing in my ears.....