Mornings of Mumbai

A lot is said and written about ‘The city that never sleeps’ but then unless you don’t live it each day by no means you can fathom what this ‘Maximum city’ is all about. After relocating to this city, for months I went exploring aimlessly. As I shoved my way across its streets and maddening crowd one thing that struck me explicitly was the unremitting transformations in the character and mood of the city. It almost felt like a  fabric wherein its people, its suburban railways, other form of private and public transport, its streets, its real estate are intricately woven together to form a very complex labyrinth. At times while crossing a shanty settlement by train or while passing by sky kissing towers, this city seemed like a mystery to me. A mystery where in it appeared as if the city is offering you it’s entire range of ingredients and it’s left to us as how do we combine them, merge them and use them in a way best suitable. As they say ‘mumbai main toh sab bhagte hi rehte hai’, may be this is one of the reason. Everyone is occupied and running around to gather and bring together ‘their’ ingredients.

Amid these ingredients that this enormous city has to offer what captivates me the most is its ever-changing mood. And few moods are such that they are not visible upfront and one has to actually move out of their comfort zone to experience them. Each morning when most of us are pushing ourselves out of the bed there is a section of society who are keeping things ready for us -may it be your dudhwala or the car cleaner or your puja flowers and newspaper delivery guy. Such activities are innumerable and they silently and seamlessly take place without we having even a hint of it. With this came the idea of ‘Mornings of Mumbai’.

‘Mornings of Mumbai’ is a photo explorative effort to understand the dynamics of each morning in this ‘city of extremes’.

An early morning walk sometime in October 2015

Moraj Junction, Navi Mumbai

5:30am - Palm beach road - Before the dawn breaks... 

6:00am - How about few more naps before the day begins...

6:05am - Last five minute nap as the sun rises...

6:10am - The dawn

As someone takes a lazy nap, there is someone waking up to the rays...

6:15am - The morning action begins... time to sort...

Early morning feast... 

A foggy morning and time to warm up and burn some calories

6:45am - All sorted... time to deliver some hot news at the doorstep...

 Time for some hot news with some tea... Wanna join :)

 

Mount Mary Festival, Mumbai - The celebration of hope and faith

Mount Mary Road

19^th September, 2015

Groups of people walking towards the Mount Mary church

The most sought after festival of Christians after Christmas in Mumbai is unarguably the Mount Mary festival, held at the Mount Mary Church, Bandra. The festival is a week-long affair accompanied by a fair held on the Mount Mary road near the church complex.

The wax miniatures and two young lads 

The fair largely has stalls selling wax dummies of various things like a house, a baby or that of a limb, boat etc. The whole idea is, for all that you wish for, buy a dummy of the same and offer it to Mother Mary. It’s a faith with which people come to the festival that Mother Mary will fulfill their wishes.

What surprised me the most is that it seemed less of a Christian festival than a celebration of faith. And this was evident from the crowd which visited the festival. It had more number of Gujaratis, Maharashtrians, Punjabis, etc. than Christians.

The idols of  Lord Jesus

The beautiful interiors of the Mount Mary church

While a whole lot of people walked on the demarcated pathway, for me it was a blissful cloudy afternoon, walking up the Mount Mary road, feeling the south west monsoon winds and the intermittent glimpse of the sea and rushing waves from the narrow aisle formed by the towers along the road. And the religious ambience around added to the whole experience.  

The serene environs and the wild waves forming the backdrop

Juhu Beach - As the sun sets...

An evening of February 8, 2015...

Colourful beach wear and decorative shacks,

Swanky beach side bars and feet tapping music.

When its beaches, all of these is what we think,

But then there's much more to it than just these sumptuous things.

Some scattered candyfloss vendors,

And some astrologers on the move.

One selling smiles on a stick,

And other making you grin with his fancy future picks.

Some ‘bhuttawalas’ here,

And colourful ice gola stalls somewhere.

One warming up the evening with its roasted corn and tangy spice,

And other freezing the taste buds with a plate full of flavoured ice.

As the young folks rejoice the waves,

Kids try their hand over the sand and its cave.

While some couples share love over a coconut,

There are friends posing for a groupfie against the sea, the shack and the hut.

The beach and the sand may seem the same each day.

But these small little activities make it a place that is different every day.