Bombay Bloopers

P. S - This is a guest post.  

Bombay Bloopers

Then Bombay - Now Mumbai (City of dreams)

 

Bombay was never a strange city to me. Before moving in here for work in 2010, I had visited this place several times to meet my sister.

I started living with my sister’s family in Mumbai. My peers complained of rising auto prices and jam packed locals every day and I was empathetic enough to ponder on it on my 4 minute walk from home to office. While they were busy searching for brokers for rent and fighting with their room-mates over space /grocery bills and tasteless canteen food; I made important decisions ranging from what to eat for dinner: palak paneer or mutter paneer and how my new room would have pink curtains contrasting with the white walls.

The city of dreams truly lived up to its name for me.

I spent a good 2 years here and then was transferred to my hometown for an assignment where daddy’s princess had a rosy path to tread on.

Fast forward to 2014, it was time to move to Mumbai again and this time without my sister’s presence in the city.

The moment I landed in the city with my baggage, the city looked strange to me .As I dragged my luggage towards the taxi stand I kept pondering on how uncannily daunting it would be to survive by myself this time. 

On my way to my new apartment, the taxi halted at a signal. My thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the window. Though it was very hot outside, the curious and innocent eyes of the knocker compelled me to listen to what he had to say. A boy of around 8 years was demonstrating a drawing book. I said “I don't have kids to buy this for “.

Image Source - Google Search(thehindu.com

He promptly replied “You can draw, color and paint yourself. It’s always fun to try new things. Who knows you could be better at this than you think”.  Although impressed by his salesmanship, I did not buy the book but I couldn't keep my eyes off my newly found guru who had uttered the exact words of wisdom I needed then. My taxi moved ahead and so did I.

I was apprehensive of my new innings in the city but then I decided to give it a shot with an open and positive mind. 

It’s been two years of living all by myself now and I’d like to share some wisdom too.

Life is a journey. However small be, every journey has stories and every story has a moral. You either become wise by experiencing things or by learning from what others have experienced.

I've learnt about life in these 2 years more than my whole life put together.

Here's what I’d like to share with anyone who is apprehensive about doing a new thing:

You cannot be everywhere and you cannot do everything. So prioritize what is important. The thumb rule is to value people over things.

Always be ready with alternatives and backup plans.

Take into account everyone’s opinion. If you think a certain opinion is unimportant then let the person know why it is so.

Always support your statements with logic and facts. Don’t say or do anything on basis of any preconceived notion.

Bank on action plans and ideas and not people.

Be hungry for knowledge and have multiple perspectives and think about all possible outcomes of everything you say or do.

And finally no work or person is inconspicuous. There is plenty to learn from each kind of work and person.

About the guest blogger:

Namrata Shrivastava is a software engineer by profession and she says,"writing remains my timeless passion." She has many credits in her stride and currently she is on a long vacation with her husband in the UK. To know more about her, visit her awesome blog - "Life Har Angle Se!"

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