In Gratitude:

The road glistened after the shower, the tall buildings and billboards with bright light cast its reflection on the empty late night streets. The light drizzle hit our faces as our auto-rickshaw sped along. In a serendipitous moment, one of my friends handed me her ipod to listen to a song. The song and that moment have forever defined the city of Mumbai for me - the energy of the city, the freedom which I could not even dream of a month before, friendships that gave you a lot of space, nostalgia for something which I never had, longing for a future which I could not yet define. All I wanted then, at that moment, was ‘another chance’ to life.

In the spilt second that was eleven years for me, I was tested, pushed, held at an arm’s length, cajoled, held in a warm fuzzy embrace, loved with love, and loved with compassion by the city. In the tiny apartment spaces that one can only find here, I was given a vast open space to grow into my own, to find back my real self, the self that I had forgotten many lives ago.  Through many more serendipitous meetings and moments which brought numerous amazing people into my life, paths opened up slowly, first narrow trails and now open highways. Mumbai showed me that if I allow myself to not question, trust the city, listen to my heart, and go with the flow of life, then magic can happen.

The whispers started two years ago that I was not ready to listen to or address. But this year, it got loud and clear. The city was gently, lovingly yet firmly asking me to step away, beyond the warm cozy corner it had created for me. To travel down the same highways it has opened up for me and see where I finally arrive.

I will forever be in gratitude to this city of ‘another chance’.

It will forever be - Mumbai meri jaan - for me.