On the Road

The American Dream. In a Japanese Car.

So, as I write this, I am living the American dream. As American as they come. The dreams I mean.

I am as free. Free like a free man at the start… shut up, Mr. Garg.

Thing is, I have no place to go back home to. I am in a car and I am living literally in it. And to make matters more American, the car is borrowed. Beat that fellas!

I had to vacate the house I lived in (for the last two years) and the place that I am supposed to move in is not mine yet. And wont be. For the next 15 odd days. And thus, all that I owned (for all the claims that I make about living an austere and minimalist life, it was 25 boxes) has been sent to storage. Barring one laptop bag, one overnighter (that has one pair of denims, a couple of shorts, three shirts and as many tees) and one vanity kit (yes I do have one). These three things allow me to live on the road for about a month.

This would be, I think, the 7th time I am changing the house in Mumbai in the last 4-5 years since I’ve been here (Ashok to Zara to Zinnia to Peter to Wadhwa). 6th.

Funny thing is that this was the first time I was even remotely emotional about leaving a place behind. I am actually sad about leaving it behind.

I am not sure what made me so attached to the place.
Was it the fact that this was the first time when I was living by myself?
Or was it the view from the balcony? You know those expansive shots of Godrej and beyond? Wait. Balcony!!!
Or may it was because I was living next to Myra?

I dont know. But what I do know is that I miss the house. And I will miss it for a few days. Unless the next one is so grand and so amazing that I forget this one. Which I know is probably not going to be the case – the new one is smaller and there is no balcony to stand in and stare in the infinity.

I have no clue why builders in Mumbai dont do balconies. And I dont know why people in Mumbai dont ask for one and settle for less! Probably because space is at so much premium that people get stuck in whatever is offered to them? We’d never know.

But then, like everyone, I want to claim that I am different. I want to demand it all. Even if I am unreasonable. Here’s what most people ought to do when they look for a house in Mumbai. For the ease of reading, am breaking this into a 101.

Step 1.
You look at your pocket. Understand the budget.

Step 2.
Then you try to look at the kind of space you need.

Step 3.
Then you do that math. What part of Mumbai will offer me the kind of space I want for the amount of money I have.

Oh, I missed the most important component. Where do you want to live. I know of people who have decided to not set a foot out of Bandra. There are some that do not cross Mahim. There are some who are ok living in the jungles of Kandivali or Bhandup for the kind of space their budget allows them to. Then there are people like me. Who want the best of everything. Large space. Balcony. Proximity to a Starbucks. Accessibility to various hubs – cultural (Bandra), writing (Andheri), startups (Powai) et al.

So, step 4.
You put all the variables together. Find a place that gives you all the things you need. You want. And then you tell everyone you know or dont know that you want a place.

Step 5.
Go pray at whoever God you have your faith in. I mean this is that stage where you need Dua more than you need Dawa.

Step 6.
You prepare for all the gut-wrenching questions that people would ask you. Did you read my last post?

Step 7.
When you do get humiliated enough and find a house, you grab it both your hands. Even if the house will be made available to you after a month! And if its getting available in a few days, ensure you have a car!

So after these 7 steps, in all probability you would have a house. If you dont, fuck the golden opportunity that you are sitting on, ignore that and go back to your gaon. I would’ve done that if I dint get a house. I was thiiiis close to doing that. No shit, bro. I was. Just then I got the place and the only compromise seemed to be getting the possession after 15-odd days. And I snapped it up! And that’s how I landed in the middle of the American Dream!

I’d talk more but I have an important thing to do. Find a place to crash for the night!

Till next time, over and out.

R. Roads.

Post 4 in series of 30 posts in April. Each about a thing that I am grateful / happy about. Others in the series are W, M, G. I haven’t been able to write on the 4th or the 5th. So glad that I could write today.

Today I’ll talk about Roads.

R. Roads. Or may be H. Highway. Depending on other days as this becomes increasingly harder. You understand that right?

So, structurally a road is a stretch of paved surface that connects two places. And maybe takes you beyond. In an ideal world, this stretch is smooth to drive on, is lit well and has loos and pitstops at regular intervals. It should go on forever, if you ask me. And if forever is tough, which I think it is, may be it could just go around the world a few times, taking you through hills and valleys and cities and villages and people and stories and memories and dreams and all such places that typically seem accessible; but are not. You know what am saying? Its mithya. Its an illusion. You think its there but it aint not there. You think you’ve seen it all, hell, you know that you’ve captured the scene in your cameras and have uploaded to Instagram and have like a 238 likes on it already. But did you really get it? Did you see it? Did you capture it? Or all of its just a myth?

The thing is, I love the roads like I love life and money. I can spend all my life on the road. I could live on road. If I am home for a few days on the trot, I get itchy. So itchy that I have to just leave. The sad bit is that I don’t have a car yet. I am buying one this year. I had thought that my first car would be a premium car but in case I cant get one, I will get whatever I can afford but will buy a car this year for sure.

With roads, thing is that you have this illusion of freedom. Freedom because you are moving all the time. Illusion because you are still confined to the road. You are on the road. You are tethered to it with the wheels and the seat and all that. But then like they say, you see the glass half-empty or you see the glass half-full. I see the road as a liberating agent. You are on the move. You can see the world go past by. You can see yourself move on. Move ahead. And move towards a destination in most cases. What destination you may ask? Well, often, there is that loved one at the other end. Wait. You know what’s better than having someone at the end of the long road? That loved one next to you, as you try to break free from the road. And no, not break-free like in full-of-rage break-free. Just plain old pleasure of being in control and that great feeling of getting away from the trappings of the drab life.

Oh, I just noticed that drab life features in way too many posts that I make. I need to do something about it. Break the monotony. How? May be by hitting the road?

Well, maybe!

On The Road

Thanks to Prateek, he got me this book, I have stumbled onto apparently one of the most important non-fiction books of our time. On the Road by Jack Kerouac. I started reading it today and I am stuck on page 7. I cant seem to go beyond it. There is this piece of text on that page that I cant get over with. It reads…

Image Credits: MWW

In plain text it reads,

I shambled after as usual as I’ve been doing all my life after people that interest me, because the only people that interest me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones that never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes “Awww!”

This piece of text, sounds fancy but is brilliant. The easiest thing to say would be that I am the maddest person I know of (I want everything, I dont say commonplace things etc) but I am not. I have lately realized that I am not mad or out of ordinary. I think as I am growing older I have sort of reached a compromise with myself. I will not shine like Steve did or all the other mad people I know of are on the verge of. No time for sob story, this is an exciting book and I am glad to have got a copy. Thanks once again pattice.

I then thought, if I am not mad, do I know some mad people? Are there people who inspire me and I “shamble” after? Are these the kinds that make you go “Awww”? Surprisingly the answer was not one but many. In fact most people I tend to make friends with are the kinds to have the mad trait. A small list would have Killa, my boss, Ashu, piyush, meghna, Solo from my workplace (wow! so many mad people there) and otherwise, Suds, RR, Huz, #sgMS, the other SG, Radhika, Nikita, Vijesh, Ankit, Agony Aunt in it. Ofcourse I have tons of non-mad people who are special to me, the guy who tolerates me more than anyone else, the guy I share my place with, the woman I have a recent crush on, they’re all comparatively sober. What I need to do however, is transform all these people into mad ;P

Anyways, coming back, I am really looking forward to reading the book. I can easily relate the state the country is in right now to the things Jack talks about. May be I shall write the Indian version of On The Road someday. I dunno. But for the time being, I am going over the Page 7 over and over again.