Bird of Passage

It’s been 2 years since I left home, my refuge, my sanctuary, my safety net. It was like I had been thrown into a body of water and forced to swim and the only other option was to drown. While I’ll admit I did experience drowning into my own overwhelming helplessness, multiple times that too, the only vivid memories I have till date are the times I caught onto a life jacket, fought through the waves of struggle and rose above.WOW, who knew I could write so well. Well to be honest it took me 30 minutes, a digital thesaurus and a Wi-Fi taken on loan to write these hefty lines portraying me as a wonder woman flaunting my red cape (okay I’m doing it again), who fought against a million odds and beat her suicidal thoughts. Oh well, I wish my story was as dramatic but eh, it really isn’t.So my story began almost 2 years ago when I shifted to Mumbai, the city of dreams they call it, (which is ironical since I’ve hardly slept since I came here, let alone harvest dreams). The first few months were – I DON’T WANT TO STAY HERE I NEED MUMMY – months.
Trying to figure out which people were warm and approachable was a task and took up half of my time, travelling all alone in a completely unknown place made me more anxious than I would like to admit, every time I hopped onto a local (yes literally hopped, to save my life), I would pray the wonderfully melodic announcer would call out my hometown’s name, OH AND do not even get me started about the food! –— okay I’m beginning to get a little triggered.Well my rant screams of frustration but quite honestly, these are exactly all the things that also made me fall in love with this city (cliché I know but let’s go with it okay). The chaos, the struggle, the running, the competition, the panting – is what started to drive me. It grew on me like a forest fire that could not be tamed (Note to self: never become a writer). The people – both good and bad – taught me life lessons that go way beyond the word limit of this blog post; the lone travels in a vast city ripped me of my self-doubt and insecurities; the scars of Leopold alleviating my own wounds; the stark contrast of living evolved my perspective; the grandeur of Town Hall stimulated my dreams; the night lights casted away the darkness from my heart; the calm and composure of Marine Drive started mirroring in my personality; and the food continued to suck.
Mumbai is a melting pot of lifestyles, it soaks everything like a fabric and makes it it’s own. This city has coerced me to grow up, stand on my own two feet and flourish into an independent individual. Now that the time has almost come for me to leave again, I’ll be thrown into a water body again, much deeper this time, ripped away from home again.

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This week’s recipe is for Adjusting in a New City-

• Start off by preparing for new experiences,
• Rinse yourself in every thing the city has to offer,
• Carefully sift through and focus only on the reason why you moved to the city,
• Heat yourself with some breathing exercises till you’re warm enough,
• Use the new cutlery of Local Apps to make your experience better,
• Experiment by adding new people and places for a different flavour,
• Add a pinch of self control by managing your finances carefully,
• Garnish with constant contact for support from Family and friends!

Sugar and Catrina are back !!
Are you a cat person or a dog person??
Let us know in the comments for sure!!