Reminiscing the days left behind

I read this blog regularly and yesterday's post mentioned about using the friday word "left behind." Therefore here is my post using the word left behind.

It is raining since morning. The leaves are changing color and the weather is rather nice, neither too cold nor hot and humid. I am craving for some chai, vada pav and kanda bhaji (onion fritters. Vada pav and kanda bhaji are popular snacks in Mumbai). I want a nice hot chai with masala and ginger.

Whenever it rains I always reminisce about Bombay and my student days (it wasn't called Mumbai then). Whenever there was a huge monsoon downpour, classes would be suspended. The train service used to be super-slow but regardless my friends and I would still go to college! Not because we were interested in studying…NO! Instead we went to college because we wanted to just hang out with our friends. Therefore, my friends and I would take the train at our usual time, around 7AM, which would reach Victoria Terminus (V.T.) Station (now Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj (C.S.T.) Station) around 9AM (thanks to the torrential downpour). We would then go to the library, where we could leave our bags with the attendants. Of course you had to be reading or studying in the library to leave your bags as these attendants had a major attitude! Therefore we would then hang out for about fifteen minutes pretending to study but actually waiting to see who braved the monsoon downpour to come to school. Then one by one the group would quietly slip out. We thought we were being so slick but I am sure the attendants knew about this all the while and just indulged in us! We would walk all the way over to Girgaum Chowpatty, which is quite a walk from V.T. (I still prefer to call it V.T. as opposed to C.S.T. as the British built Bombay and we have to accept our colonial history and not be in denial of it! In addition, Pratapgad was not renamed Victoria Fort by the Brits so shut up Shiv Sena).

Anyway there is nothing like watching the Arabian Sea in the monsoon with the waves surging passionately towards the shore, lashing at the rocks. We would sit there for hours enjoying life's simple pleasures. Over chai and pav bhaji from Sukh Sagar, we would discuss architecture, politics, our dreams, and tease each other. There was no point taking umbrellas during such downpours. We would be completely drenched in the rain but it was so worth it!

This morning I was reminiscing those days of innocence, hope, simple uncomplicated friendships that I have left behind. I have moved on geographically, intellectually and have matured in my tastes yet the green chai latte that I am having right now does not quite cut it. I do miss the flavor and taste of the decocted chai from the local chaiwalla!