Hummingbird

Whenever I have visited a grocery (kirana) store, I have always seen one particular group which has run the store. Whether be it Bhilai, Mysore, Cochin, New Delhi or Mumbai (I do not have anything against East but never been there :) ), there are always the ever enterprising Marwaaris, people from a region in Rajasthan. I used to get stumped by the idea of a person moving from a northern region to a place in Kerala or Karnataka where very few north Indians can manage. A few interactions with them would make you realize that business is in their blood. I realized that i while back but never got to imagine the intensity of it. Now, that I am here, there seems to be an incessant need to own one's destiny with ourselves. If there is one thing to respect it the need to be self dependent and keep growing in-spite of the odds presented at a place like this. The heat, the absence of water or rainfall does not encumber the businessmen here. They have found newer and better avenues to gro...

Stories are good and no one demands and excites the listeners than the great canvas of life called Mumbai ! Its the art connoisseur 's dream, the ultimate movie making theme. It has excited millions of people around the world and continues to do so despite the dark underbelly and the recent excitement among the "other" aspects of the world. This is what I was carrying a torch about when i was about to enter Mumbai for the first time. I am not new to strangeness and new things. I have stayed outside my home comforts for such a long time now that, it has become rather dreary to sit at home and relax. I must admit though, even after staying for two long months in the heat of Delhi, I was a little anxious about moving to Mumbai. Off all the things heard and seen one tends to remember the dark times rather than the good and happy ones. And Mumbai even though renowned for its safety for women did not have such a bright presence in my mind castle. It has been anything but dre...