Category: Gareebi Rekha

The Balloon Guy

Today, about an hour back (about 10:30), I was walking around Bandra with a friend. We passed a dark alley and in the corner, behind the shadows was lurking a guy who was apparently selling Balloons. He was on a bicycle and there were some balloons hanging from the front of his bike. We looked at him and like every grown up who ignores things as playful and amateur as balloons, we moved on.

However, the man starting pleading to us, in low tones. He said something to the effect that he hadnt sold a single balloon in the day and he wont be able to buy himself dinner. Being a dilliwallah, I ignored his plea and was concerned for my friends’ safety. I herded her away from that dark alley, into the bright light cast by the huge Starbucks signboard up ahead.

We found a rick for her and once I put her in a rick and was walking back, it struck me that the balloon guy must be working real hard to earn his living and it must have taken a lot of balls to be able to ask for alms. And he’s probably worked hard all his life (selling balloons cant be easy), it must be even more tough for him to beg.

Left me wondering that we crave for things like houses and cars and we fight for things like God and idols of stone but we cant find a way to help people like that balloon wala make enough to feed his family. What’s the point of it?

Of course I wont have answers to these issues that perplex the intelligentsia. But I know for sure that that it could be a great purpose in life. To be able to help others upgrade the lives they lead. And how would I do that? I dont know. But I shall find out. I have at least 33 more years to go. And I will work on increasing that as we go along.

Help me on it? Please?

400072 to 400050

About a fortnight back, I moved from 400072 to 400050. And I have mixed emotions about it.

From – 400072

To start with, I am going out of my comfort zone. I lived there for close to three years. Life at Nahar was really awesome. Apart from a REALLY bad experience with a broker (Naveen / Anju Sharma from Good Homes Real Estate – if you are looking for a place in Nahar / Chandivali, please do NOT use their services. They WILL rip you), life was sorted while I was there. In fact, if I had all the money in the world and I had to live in Mumbai, I will not live anywhere else. May be I need to add this to my ever growing list of things to acquire.

Anyhow, thing with Nahar is that its like a cocoon in a big merciless city. It takes some effort to reach there and when you reach, it is so brilliant that you feel as if you’ve entered a wrap zone and teleported to a new world. Its green. Its quite. Its spacious. Its airy. Its clean. Its everything that you ever want from a place where you’d want to live. In fact, from my place, I could see a hillock and when it rained, I could see waterfalls. Oh, and I had a balcony, which in Mumbai is a blessing.

I could go on and on and on. It was a brilliant place! I will someday go back there.

To – 400050

At Bandra, on the other hand, life would be far tougher. Things will be unfamiliar and I wont be able to nod at people. I will have to find new comforts. I will have to re-create my life around how things are in Bandra.

But, the larger issue is that on a day to day basis, I will bump into people who are far richer, cooler, smarter, ambitious-er, hard-working-er than I. I would look at them and secretly compare myself to their toys and cringe about my inability to get my hands on them. Case in point? After working for almost 10 years after my MBA, I still havent been able to buy a car. And everyone else I know of has a more than two houses, 5 cars for a house that has like 2 and a half members. And since #in2016, I dont want to crib, I shall leave this rant here.

Also Bandra is far from clean. There are nice little pockets that look great. There is that occasional celeb spotting that happens. But on a day to to day basis, its not a place where I would want to live.

However now that I have made a decision to live here, I will have to live with it. And I need to make the most of my time while I here. So… if you live in / around Bandra and would want to catch up for coffee / drinks / something please do let me know. While I have varied interests, I can hold interesting conversations on startups, marketing, branding, poker, travel, writing and self-improvement.

Up for it? I am @saurabh on twitter.