We live in MUMBAI city as of today.....So much has changed..... Its uncanny how the transformation from BOMBAY to MUMBAI spells so much more than just a name change! There are just so many aspects that I cannot relate to at all. I often find myself saying " this is not the city I grew up in"! When I walk around in my locality and see so many 'bhaiyas'(nothing personal or communal here), it feels like a total bhaiyaland ... maybe like a city in U.P. or Bihar! And ofcourse what strikes me the most about them is the pathetic north bred attitude or in common parlance what we would refer to as "male chauvinism". For those of you who do not know what the hell this means, I guess it could be best described in a statement I read a few years ago "SOMETIMES ATTITUDE STINKS MORE THAN GARBAGE"! Now you probably and hopefully have a better idea of what I mean. And being a woman one somehow understands this in a different light altogether since so often you are in situations where you find yourself arguing with a bhaiya for eg,a rickshaw driver(9 out of 10 times a bhaiya!) and you then realise the meaning of the phrase 'talking down to someone' . These characters actually make you feel like you are not meant to spoken to! Their expression when translated into words would go something like this, " look woman..... by the mere fact that you happen to be a woman we find it purely below our dignity to even converse with you because you are not made for that... you are made for other purposes and we would rather interact with you only in those situations"! The look on their face is that of a total waste of their time and energy!And if you dont believe what I am saying then you just have to experience this yourself..... And for most women out there it will be easy to relate to and for the guys, since they anyway hardly believe anything we say ,the patent phrase in reaction would be "its all in your heads, ladies !!!!!!! :) and all I would like to say in our defense would be "still better off if our heads than where it is for you guys most of the time ;)"
Really makes me wonder at times 'where do they come from and 'why'? Why cant they just remain where they were. Why cant we as a city have migration checks somewhere! Therefore my resentment towards them.... I honestly have nothing against them other than their attitude that truly stinks! Nothing puts me off more than these gender issues( actually if i start to list, there may be many, but i think this issue tops the list!)
Someone who reads the title of my subject might actually wonder why its called "Mumbai" but for me currently MUMBAI = BHAIYAS! I do hope for my own sake at some point soon enough this equation changes and "aamchi mumbai' really becomes "aamchi" once again! I loved my BOMBAY , the one i grew up in! I dont know where that has disappeared! Some silly superstitious streak in me feels that what if we change it back to "Bombay" , maybe we will get back what we lost.........
GIVE ME BACK MY BOMBAY!!!!!!!!!!
