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Guest writer

How deep is Mumbai’s depression?

A psychologist explains how a city’s vibrancy and aura of success can be the very basis for depression among citizens.
by Devashri Prabhu

Mumbai is life personified…it is active, zingy, kicking and full of energy. Even when the world sleeps at night, Mumbai is awake and alive. It crawls, runs, jumps, does a jig or two but never stops. It instills hope in you, it hugs you when you feel alone, it smiles with you and it helps you fall in love with life all over again.

You just cannot not ‘live’ when you are here – at least that was what I felt when I came to Mumbai. Then my journey with psychology took me to such corners of the city that showed me a complete different side of the life in this city. I saw people who had given up all the hope to live, all thanks to the wounds that this city inflicted on them, some physical and some emotional.

How can a city so alive be depressed?

emotional disconnectNo, this just can’t be – I revolted. Nobody can give up on living just like that and too in my city, Mumbai! But the truth spoke in numbers – Mumbai does fare badly when it comes to depression. There is a palpable feeling of helplessness in the city which leads us to what we know as ‘depression’.

The city has even prompted many people to end their lives drastically. The most recent example of this was the suicide of young actress Jiah Khan. Whatever her reasons may be, the frantic beat of the city poured a strange loneliness into her, which probably could not be cured even by love. Be it a housewife in a suburb trying to balance the needs of her husband, children on one hand and her personal dreams on the other, or a share broker who had just promised his son a new toy car that he saw in a upmarket toy shop or a struggling starlet, or the model who is trying hard to gain a foothold in the city of dreams, all of them have one thing in common – they all have felt the frustration while fulfilling their everyday goals and functions. This frustration, when it becomes too hard to handle, put a person into depression.

How depressed is Mumbai?

It turns out that depression is striking the city in several deadly ways. During my internship trial at the same clinic, a young girl of 14 to 15 years of age, who had just come to Mumbai – new and fresh and with lot of dreams – was depressed, and the reason was this very city. The city spoke to her in a very different language, a language she could not understand. She soon felt out of place – even among her friends. She felt all alone even when surrounded by her very own family.

Soon she started seeing only faults in herself, while the fault was not totally hers. Thus started the long dark journey towards depression, with an attitude that said, “This is the end of it, depressionI cannot take it any more because I cannot do anything about it.” The ‘I’ loses faith and finally the ‘I’ is crushed and becomes non-existent. The life that we were gifted becomes a burden, a burden so heavy that some people prefer death over it.

The question is: Does anything have so much power over the choices we make, that we choose death rather than facing life? A web definition of depression goes: ‘Clinical depression (also known as a major depressive disorder) is a complex condition marked by sustained instances of a depressed mood and loss of interest in life. It differs from having a depressed mood in that a major depressive disorder lasts for more than two weeks, evolving into a mental illness.’

Besides getting a medical help here are certain simple things that you must do when you feel depressed:

– TALK or SHARE:  Talk to someone who has a positivity around him or her. Just talk it out. Your friends will understand you. Go to a friend, hang out with him/her, chill for some time, let yourself loose.

– LOVE YOURSELF: Be Geet from the movie Jab We Met. It’s okay to indulge in yourself completely once a while. You have to stand in front of mirror and say that you love yourself dearly, thank the whole of your being  for just ‘existing’. Stay away from self-pity.

– ACTION: Bring some action in your life. Dance, jog, run, do yoga or whatever activity that suits you. A little spring in your step makes a difference to your mood.

– AFFIRMATIONS: Fight negative thoughts. Fight against them, and give them a hell of a fight. In reality, they are nothing but little packets of irrational fears, that are created to destroy your developing self. Just start every thought with ‘I can…’ and fill the blanks with your wishes and dreams and believe in them. ‘Faith’, one of the most important tools, will help you in this battle.

– NOVELTY: Try things that you have never tried before. The excitement of trying something new gives you a rush, it helps break the monotony of your daily routine. Besides, it might just give you a fresh perspective to life, the one that may move you to a better you.

There is no be-all-end-all way in our life. The city we that we call ours has the power to heal the wounds that we carry with ourselves, just like, our life. The questions that are still unanswered may be because we were searching the wrong cabinet or maybe we are in a situation where our ladder is  at the wrong wall. But so what, it’s never too late for anything in life. Time, after all, has the answers to everything and all we have to do is give time some time!

Devashri Prabhu has a Masters in Psychology and her interests lie in areas like Mental Health, Social Issues and Spirituality.

(Pictures courtesy theviewspaper.net, she.sulekha.com, healthposts.easemyhealth.com)

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Guest writer

Why should I keep a constant vigil?

The conclusion to yesterday’s ‘rape calculator’ story comes with a question to ponder on: is constant vigilance a viable option?
by Adithi Muralidhar

Part II  (Read Part I)

There are a few things that run in my mind, on a daily basis 24/7. It is something that I tend to keep myself aware of, at all times. And then I think, there might be so many like me…we sex pests in Mumbaihave these thoughts constantly guiding our every move while we take on our daily duties, be it at work, college, home or anywhere. We make important decisions at work, we are creative, we calculate and do other math, we manage households, we are caregivers, we love, we run businesses, we teach kids, we treat patients, we sing and dance, we manage accounts and finances, we travel and study, write and act…and then we deal with male chauvinism and family matters, and all this we do when something apart from our body functions (like breathing) is continuously working inside of us.

All the points listed in my previous post – these are things that most girls come to learn either on their own or are taught. It, of course, very subjective and depends on the individual girl and how violated she feels if something happens to her. Some women are the kind who would probably do everything opposite to what is listed, either because they are much more brave, or just to prove a point to society that it is not her problem to tackle such issues, which is as valid a stance that can be! While others can be the non-confrontational kind; and they will go to any lengths to avoid or prevent such incidences from happening. In fact, they may do so to such an extent that it would lead to putting themselves in a permanent state of discomfort. Similar efforts are also made by women who are maybe under peer pressure and worry constantly about society and “log kya sochenge”, and tend to just go with what is considered ‘good Indian girl’ behaviour.

unsafe mumbaiAnd then I think of those unfortunate incidences where the terrible act of rape occurs and I cannot help but think – ‘Oh, was it because she let down her guard for one moment? Was it because for five minutes, she was carefree and forgot to do her calculations correctly, or worse, was she so preoccupied with some other ‘really important’ work, that she let the calculator’s battery run low for a while…and what a terrible consequence she had to face! Imagine, carrying that weight around your head the whole time.’ What does a mother go through? She not only has that calculator set for herself, but she also has it set for her daughter(s). Every time she says – “Yes, you can go to the party, but be careful. Yes, but please be back home by midnight. Yes, but please get dropped home by a guy. Call me when you reach there…” she is doing all those calculations in her mind.

Why does a woman even have to be worried about these things in the first place? Isn’t it enough that they already have to deal with other kinds of inequalities and oppression in society? The worse thing is that most people think, ‘What can you do, this is how it is. This is normal.’

Well, it is not. No one deserves to live a life like this. Constant vigilance can drive a person insane. Previously, the scientific community viewed vigilance as something that is mentally undemanding. But recent studies in psychology tell us otherwise.

“… physiological and subjective reports confirm that vigilance tasks reduce task engagement and increase distress and that these changes rise with increased task difficulty”.

(Warm, Parasuraman & Matthews, 2008, p. 433)

The authors of the above paper of course extend their conclusion to occupations that involved being constantly vigilant, like being involved in military surveillance, air traffic mumbai by nightcontrol, cockpit monitoring, seaboard navigation, quality control, long-distance driving, and agricultural inspection tasks, etc. But having to constantly worry about what you do requires a high amount of energy, even though it seems that women have been and are doing this effortlessly (and unfortunately, innately) for ages.

Also, many psychologists are of the opinion that the impact of chronic stressors are usually ignored and are in reality much more insidious than even the extreme (non-chronic) stress symptoms. There have been studies on gender differences in stress and many studies report that women have been found to have more chronic stress than men. In fact, there are studies that even explore gender specific stressors for women – like violence, sexist discrimination, etc. – all of which can be detrimental to their physical and mental health.

Coming back to the real question – why should we even be doing this? I have to admit that it would be idealistic to think that I can keep my guard down in today’s society (be it in Mumbai, or be it any town in India or even in the world). Personally, I am not willing to take the risk. So what would I prefer? Keeping all those antennae alive and ticking seems like the only option right now. Is it okay? No. It is not OKAY. I just have my hopes set on the fact that education and more awareness among people will help to change the society for better and such crimes against women would eventually stop one day.

Till then, my calculator beeps on.

Adithi Muralidhar currently works in the field of science education research, in Mumbai. Apart from that, she works in areas related to environment and sustainability and also has a keen interest in social issues. 

(Pictures courtesy www.mumbaimirror.com, www.indiatvnews.com. Sketch courtesy Manoj Nair. Adithi has referenced ‘Matud, M.P. (2004). Gender differences in stress and coping styles. Personality and Individual Differences Vol 37(7), pp 1401–1415’ and ‘Warm, J.S., Parasuraman, R., and Matthews, G. (2008). Vigilance Requires Hard Mental Work and Is Stressful. Human Factors, Vol. 50, No. 3, June 2008, pp. 433–441’ for the writing of this story)

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Guest writer

My rape calculator’s always working

A Mumbai woman explains how her mind is on constant auto-alert for signs of sexual pests and even worse, rapists.
by Adithi Muralidhar

Part I of II 

To all my girlfriends, I am sure you will be able to relate to some of the thoughts (if not all) that I have penned down here.

To all my guy friends, this is to give you a vague idea of what runs through the mind of a woman, living in a society such as ours.

Thanks to new age media, nowadays, rapes get reported more often than before. You open the newspaper each morning and you can be guaranteed to come across at least three rape reportings.

Being brought up in a relatively liberal household, I was allowed as a child and a teen to go out for as long as I wanted, stay out late with friends, go to far-away places. These ‘privileges’ came with some rules. But my parents never forbade me from going out.

Also, my parents never told me what I should and shouldn’t wear. They let me judge for myself and as long as I was comfortable with what I was wearing, they did not question my choice of attire. I was lucky that my parents even allowed me out at all, since I know of households (even in the so-called urban educated society) where they do not let their ‘girl’ children (only) have a stay over at a friend’s place, or party, or socialise with the opposite sex.

scared to walk on the streetsWhile I am extremely grateful for having such cool parents, I can’t help but question the need to have rules in the first place. People now are advocating new-age thinking. Previously it was, ‘Don’t get raped’ (meant for girls only) but now, the message is, ‘Don’t rape’ (meant for boys only). This should be based on the fact that, women for generations have been taught at home to not attract attention and invite rape, when in fact men need to be taught to keep their aggression and power-frenzy in control. But is that happening? Are men actually paying heed to this message? Unfortunately statistics show otherwise. Rapes still happen all over the country (and the world). So what does one do to prevent such a crime? Tell your daughters and sisters to not get raped? And so, I feel most of the girls in India have either been brought up in a household where they are downright refused freedom of everything, or given restricted freedom. Getting complete freedom would probably be the rarest of rare cases!

On closer introspection, I realised something else…like several women, I have a ‘Rape Calculator’ at work all the time. This is how it computes things for me:

– I am more comfortable in loose clothes, than in tight fitting ones.

– I tend to hunch, and not keep my back straight when I walk, in order to ‘not attract’ attention to the chest area! Invariably, when travelling, I cover my front with a dupatta, shawl or stole (irrespective of whether it matches my attire or not).

– I look down when I walk, avoiding eye contact with people on the street.

– When I walk on streets and I see a shady person walking in my direction, I cross the road and then cross back again.

– When I walk on main roads or smaller lanes, I do so in the direction opposite to that of the vehicles on that road, so that I can keep an eye on people on bikes/ cars; and to avoid segregated for safetyanyone touching/groping/ attempts.

– When I use public transport like buses, I sit towards the edge of the seat (which is terribly uncomfortable) to avoid the person behind from touching my back with their knee!

– I am paranoid about my shirt/kurta, and constantly check if it rides up (while getting up from any seat, standing in a public place on a windy day etc).

– When I am walking through crowded places (like railway platforms), I walk in front of women, so that my arms are free to be used for ‘frontal defense’.

– When I don’t get a seat in public transport and I have to stand, I look for a spot where my back is towards a woman, and I cover my front with my backpack and my arms gear up as side-defense lines.

– I walk with my elbows jutting out in a crowded place.

– I put on a disgusted look on my face to repulse stares.

– I check the rear view mirror from time to time in an auto, to check if the autorikshawwallah is staring at me.

– I make fake calls to fake friends and loudly tell them my location when I am traveling in an auto alone, either at night or in unknown lanes.

respect women– I think twice before smiling and talking with a man (shopkeeper, autorickshaw driver asking someone for directions, istriwala, watchman) because I don’t want them to misinterpret basic good values and manners.

– I once lied to a cab driver that I was a married woman, as it made me feel safer (I had to do this in Goa, and I observed that he asked fewer questions once he knew I was married).

– I plan my vacations around ‘safe’ travel timings (day-time journeys) and ‘decent’ locations.

– I spend extra cash in order to travel more ‘luxuriously’ (according to some) while in reality I am just avoiding skywalks, subways, foot-over-bridges, shady lanes…and end up travelling by a longer route to my destination, using main road and cabs.

– I am careful about what I talk with other people/neighbours, so that passersby do not hear my personal information (like who is in the house, how many people live in the house etc.)

Finally, I believe that many of us have a ‘rape-calculator’ (I came across this term recently somewhere and I think it is a fantastic term to describe what is happening in a woman’s mind) working in our head. It never runs out of battery and it works during the day and night, when we are sleepy or when we are wide awake.

It involves a complex algorithm that takes into consideration multiple factors like time of the day, what we are wearing, where we are going, the roads that lead to where we are going, what will be our mode of transport, who is our company, what day of the week is it, what occasion it is, etc. And it tells us this is a relatively ‘less dangerous’ outing, we are less likely to get raped, we can go out  today. Also, we tend to make quick impromptu adjustments in the calculations when we take into account the age of cab driver/autorickshaw driver, his mannerisms and body language (as these are factors that you can take into account only when you are out).

Part II: ‘Constant vigilance can kill‘. Look out for the next part of this story tomorrow.

Adithi Muralidhar currently works in the field of science education research, in Mumbai. Apart from that, she works in areas related to environment and sustainability and also has a keen interest in social issues. 

(Picture courtesy newsreporter.com, www.5minute5.com, www.globalpost.com, www.france24.com)

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An accident and an eyewitness

A student witnessed an accident on the street just below his home. Read on to know what he did next.
anoojby Anooj Prabhu

“All human plans [are] subject to ruthless revision by Nature, or Fate, or whatever one preferred to call the powers behind the Universe.”

 – Arthur C. Clarke

You don’t witness an accident every day unless you are the motorman of a train in India! Being the only one present at the spot of accident is scary. I experienced something similar last Wednesday. I’d like to give you a detailed account of what happened.

Early morning of last Wednesday, I was trying to wake myself up since 3am so that I could complete my Physics journal and get it certified on time; I had my practical exams the next day and I couldn’t appear for them without a certified journal. After almost 12 times that I hit the snooze button, I finally woke up at 5 am and rushed to my study. I started scribbling in my journal, drawing two axes on a graph to plot my readings.

Mom is usually awake by this time. Surprised to find me out of the bed before her, she sat up, wondering. Suddenly, faint shrill noises could be heard outside our open window. We heard the noises clearly since the morning was otherwise silent.

It took around 15 seconds for my brain to register the cries. I was too involved in my graphs. I ignored the cries as I thought it must be a group of hooligans speeding on their bikes.
But the cries continued…

man watching from windowI turned towards mom,who by now was well awake and aware of  the noise. We rushed to the window to see something we had never seen on the road below our house.
A girl in her late teens, sporting a yellow top with blue jeans and a bag pack was screaming at the top of her voice. We wondered what had happened to her. Turning my gaze, I saw a young boy sitting in the middle of the road near the divider. That was even more confusing. None of this made sense till I saw something else.

The girl paused her screaming for five seconds and bent down to a person lying on the road to shake him vigorously, only to get no response from him. Now I understood. It was an accident. An accident had occurred early in the morning and injured a person seriously.

After five minutes, a group of people (mostly joggers) gathered around the girl, someone ran towards the auto-rickshaw stand and directed one of the autos towards the spot. They lifted the injured man and put him in the auto and rushed him to the hospital.

All this while, I simply kept watching the scene below. I could have been of great help being the first witness, but I didn’t dare to go to the injured man and offer my help.
⦁ Firstly, I had to complete my journal which was of utmost importance to me. Besides, our education system doesn’t allow us to care about a dying man before our studies!
⦁ Secondly, I knew whatever I would see down there would affect my entire day, and at this stage, I cannot afford wastage of days.
⦁ Lastly, I didn’t want to get involved in a police case and get interrogated by them needlessly.

All the above reasons do summarize that i was a coward,and this feeling would haunt me for the rest of my life.

After the injured man was rushed to the hospital, I gathered some courage to step down to the accident spot. I was curious to know what exactly had happened, but no one knew what had happened and how serious the injured man was. People had gathered anew at the spot that had a pool of blood where the man lay earlier, a damaged Kinetic Honda and the police had two teenaged boys in their custody.

The boys were 15 and 13 years old; they had borrowed the vehicle from their friend to drive without the fear of cops hauling them for driving without the licence. They were speeding eyewitnessbecause the roads were free of traffic and they had the roads for themselves. They had failed to notice a newly-constructed speed breaker that made the vehicle jump from the breaker curve. They lost control over the vehicle and failed to apply brakes; after covering a distance of 60 metres with their out-of-control-vehicle, they ultimately rammed it into the man, killing him on the spot. Yes, even before any of us could start praying for him, he breathed his last the very moment he met with the accident due to a serious injury to his head.

Thinking that the boys would be booked for rash driving, driving without licence and murder under the Indian Penal Code, sending them to juvenile homes and their parents facing trials and punishments on their behalf, I left the spot.

Whereas the person who was killed was a 22-year -old young man who was going to work. He had a family to support in Jaunpur (Uttar Pradesh) and was the sole bread winner of the house. He shared his room with four other people to save money. I don’t know what his family is going through now. I never thought that ramming a two-wheeler into someone can get that someone killed. I’d never heard or read such a thing before, only to see it myself that day.

My family was always against driving a two-wheeler because they are never safe, and if someone meets with an accident,the survival chances of that person are less than 5 per cent! After last Wednesday’s incident, I have developed a phobia of riding a two-wheeler. I have also started to regret driving before being eligible to do so.

I confess I am a little ashamed of myself.

Anooj Prabhu is a 19-year-old Malad resident who is currently studying Physics. His hobbies include meeting new people, travelling, reading and writing. 

(Pictures courtesy www.insuranceproviders.com, news.discovery.com, footage.shutterstock.com)

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Pet potion

A Mumbaikar writes about her fear of dogs translating into another emotion – it happened when she least expected it.
Rachel Tsengby Rachel Tseng

As children we have often yelled out “Mama!” in fright, an expression which has become synonymous to pain or fear. One of my biggest fears as a child was not just animals or birds, but dogs in particular. I don’t know if it was fear for real or was it because I was chased by a dog, so I never had a liking for them!

I spent my formative years fearing dogs and I was simply unable to comprehend why they even existed. Their mere existence seemed like such a waste. They were everywhere, on the streets, starving and suffering, on the playground, peeing and pooping, in the church, taking shelter under a bench, practically everywhere…except the zoo! Then came the age of promoting puppy adoptions, then abandoned pet adoption, donations to vaccinate, feed and shelter strays; it became more and more clear to me that they were really not wanted at least around me and my fellow human beings!

After my graduation, it was time for a well-deserved vacation. I was to travel to the US to visit my sister and since she is the only family I have in that part of the world, it was obvious that I would camp at her place and like every visitor I had to accept and adhere to her family and set of laws.

SammyHer family included a Golden Retriever.

I gave a serious thought to giving up my US vacation but the greedy side of me overpowered my fear and I decided to brave it. After all, a US holiday doesn’t come by every day!

Throughout my flight I fervently prayed that the dog would stay away from me. I didn’t want him to like me as I was scared of him getting playful and jumping all over me but yeah, the thought of him disliking me was worse. What if he smelled my fear and dislike? All I wanted was to be ignored.
As expected, my first meeting with the Golden Retriever – Sammy – was rather uncomfortable. I sat still; he smelled me and IGNORED me. It was mission accomplished for Day One! By day five, I became more at ease and began enjoying my vacation. Sammy didn’t seem to take any interest in me and I was just happy being ignored.

One afternoon, I heard a squeaking, muffled growl and I knew it was coming from him. I tiptoed to the other room and I saw him fast asleep with all four paws in a running motion, giving out muffled growls. It was the first time I had seen a dog having an active dream. I stood still staring at him. Theoretically I knew that they have life in them just as we humans but for the first time I sensed it. That moment he seemed so very adorable, I walked away and couldn’t believe that I had just found a dog adorable!

The next day after I was done with sunbathing and lunch, as I settled down to read, Sammy sat right in front of me with a toy in his mouth, wagging his tail. I didn’t know what to do or how to play with him. I didn’t even know that there were special toys for dogs until I met Sammy. I ignored him and continued reading.
In response to my cold behaviour, Sammy put a paw on my knee. I just went blank and stared into his innocent eyes. Suddenly fear disappeared and I raised my hand to pet his head. It suddenly dawned on me that he wasn’t all that bad; he was rather adorable – more like a big soft toy, and for the first time he made me smile.

In spite of a week in the US, I was still taking my time adjusting to Eastern Time. One morning as I lay in bed feeling uneasy and fighting my IST sleep schedule, Sammy strolled into my room and kept nudging my hand trying to wake me up. I ignored him till he curled up in bed and rested his head on my shoulder. And my God – that moment was magical, fear didn’t exist any more. I was so touched, it felt like he had accepted me as a part of his little world even though I never asked for it.

That loving gesture from a canine changed my life forever. Fear and dislike disappeared into thin air. I spent the rest of my vacation craving for his attention, pampering him, feeding him his meals, walking and playing with him and yes, even cleaning up after him. The little brat did manage to wrap me around his little golden paws.

I returned to India with beautiful memories – not of America but of Sammy.

Today I am a pet mother to the most handsome, adorable and loving Labrador. My day begins and ends with him. Holidays are planned only at locations with pet friendly accommodation. And I must admit, the mere existence of a pet dog has made my life more fulfilling with memories etched in my mind forever – it’s the pet potion effect!

Rachel Tseng is a fashion designer who lives with her Labrador in the western suburbs of Mumbai. She loves to explore new places and is a complete foodie who barely knows how to cook.

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The aromas of Mumbai

You can tell which part of the city you’re in just by the stink or the fragrance of the place. Mumbai has a very strong olfactory connect with its people.
Neerjaby Neerja Deodhar

After living in this busy metropolis for about 17 years, I’ve realised one thing – your senses are automatically heightened here. Whether it’s your eyes that are constantly alert in the fast-paced traffic or your ears that are forced to hear a cacophony of trains, vendors and honking cars. Your mouth and taste buds that have grown accustomed to Mumbai’s spicy, flavoursome cuisine.

And of course, we’ve all had the chance to travel in a packed local train, scared that we’d get pick-pocketed – it’s like we’re born with a heightened sense of touch, too. But I perceive Mumbai to be a “city of smells”. By this, I don’t imply that ours is a city full of stench and smog; no, it’s much more than that! Like each home has a distinct smell of its own, Mumbai has these particular aromas and scents that define the city and give it character.

The moment you step into Mumbai, your impression about the city could vary, depending on whether you’re an optimist or a pessimist. A pessimist would complain about the foul odour that comes from the slums, (You should know that Mumbai is home to one of the largest slums in Asia – Dharavi, so that’s a lot of stink!), the amount of vehicular pollution and smoke from cigarettes, the malodour of overflowing sewage etc.

An optimist, on the other hand would enjoy the sterile, sanitised smell of malls, hotels which are plenty in Mumbai. Or you Shopping malls in Mumbaicould be a realist like me and believe the city has a dual identity with a motley collection of fragrances and odours. But that’s a discussion for later.

Urbanisation has changed the face of Mumbai entirely – quaint little bungalows with terracotta tiled roofs are replaced with high rises made of chrome and glass. ‘Niwas-es’ and ‘Sadans’ are pulled down to make way for ‘Towers’ and ‘Heights’. However there still are some remaining gardens and patches of green like the Hanging Gardens, Jijamata Udyan, the Sanjay Gandhi National Park to name a few. Mumbaikars still visit these parks to get a whiff of nature.

And how can I forget the numerous “Chaafa” or champa trees with their sweet-smelling flowers! Ironically this fast pace of industrialisation and development hasn’t improved the condition of public toilets in the city. Most Mumbaikars still cringe at the stink that comes from our city’s ‘shauchalayas’.

fish dryingThe part of Mumbai that I enjoy the most is the sea. As a child, I’d know that we were passing by some “Chowpatty” or  beach by the crisp saltiness in the air. Mumbai’s fish markets smell of the salty sea too – it’s the smell of freshly caught fish. Most times these markets give off the odour of rotting fish – an odour I still find repulsive. And then there is the floating smell of sukka bombil or Bombay duck dried in the sun near the coast!

Another way of knowing that you’re near a crowded beach is the inescapable smell of chaat. The aroma of herbs, garam masala, the tang of squeezed lemons in a plate of bhel puri or sev puri are enough to set the juices going in your mouth! You’d also smell vada pavs being fried and pav bhaaji being prepared – taka-tak – two dishes that originated in Mumbai. And then there is the smell of piping hot ‘cutting chai’, (The term cutting chai is said to have originated in Mumbai too!) sold at tea stalls at every nukkad of Mumbai. Every meal in India usually ends with paan. Another common feature on the streets and many walls of Mumbai are paan stains which have their own disagreeable stink.

Sometimes I can tell which part of Mumbai I’m in only by the distinctive redolence of that part. I know my train is passing through Andheri when I get a whiff of baked biscuits because the Parle G factory is very close to Andheri station. I know that my taxi has taken a turn at King’s Circle because of the aroma of freshly ground coffee beans and the local cafes serving original south-Indian filter coffee. For that matter I still associate the aroma of freshly baked bread, cakes and cookies from the string of bakeries in my very own Orlem.

Travelling in local trains has become a part of the daily routine of a large number of Mumbaikars. More than often these trains packed local trainare overcrowded, filled with more passengers than can fit in. Now it’s not the sea of bodies that I have an issue with, it’s the smell of human sweat that’s the problem! At such times I dream of Mumbai during the monsoon. There is nothing more beautiful, more gratifying than rains in the city! It gives us Mumbaikars relief from the summer heat, the air smells fresh and clean. The smell of wet mud right after a shower is almost magical. Yes, such earthy fragrances are a part of Mumbai too!

At times I wonder what the city would be without its individualistic smells, if the roads didn’t have any vendors and all spaces were sanitised and air conditioned. Mumbai wouldn’t be as exciting as it is right now. Mumbai’s smells are part of its diversity and personality. If it weren’t for these odours and fragrances I probably wouldn’t be so attached to the city!

Neerja Deodhar studies Arts and lives in Malad. Nothing thrills her more than exploring new places and ideas, meeting unusual people and writing about them.

(Pictures courtesy www.prishindia.com, windyskies.blogspot.com, www.the-nri.com, evestigio.blogspot.com, www.time.com)

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