Mumbai Madness

Mumbai is strange. I know this statement has no novelty in it but this is the only conclusion that I have drawn after staying here for a year now. Uniformity prevails in every city throughout its population and places but not in Mumbai.
One can see contrasts that one cant fail to notice. Be it the local trains or the streets or even my neighbourhood the strangeness of the place seems to get hold of you.
Neighbours...hmm...since I have mentioned the word let me tell you about some of them. Since I hail from a small town, neighbours have always been an integral part of my life. Be it standing on the doorsteps and gossiping with them or experimenting with a new recipe ( which you do not trust has turned out to be good) and sharing with each other (to get the feedback), my neighbours and me have known each other quite well. But the concept of neighbours turned out to be entirely different as soon as I stepped inside my building. I looked at the name of the residents at the reception trying to see my floormates. Well, let me tell you, till date I have only known their names (apart from little details that I have gathered with my peeping skills).

The Subramaniams
They are the first family I encountered after shifting to my current address. A typical South Indian family with a senior citizen and wife, his two sons with their wives and a kid. It's quite funny to know that the elevator in my building has some South Indian music playing 24x7. When I asked the receptionist he said that it was courtesy due to the major population in my building being South Indians especially Tamilians. The Tamilian tune playing in the elevator was fine with me had it not been extended to my flat. Then I discovered that the Subramaniams were not satisfied merely with the elevator song. They played different Tamilian tunes everyday in the morning at a loud volume to entertain themselves (and maybe to give some Tamilian taste to their neighbours). Phew! I was not very happy but since I was a newbie in my building any kind of interference may not have been welcome. So I decided to keep my mouth and door shut most of the time. But it was not only the music that was pouring into my living room everyday. Our kitchen windows being adjascent even the smell of their recipes was flooding in my kitchen. This was intolerable because have I didn't have much liking for idlis and dosas............ (to be continued)