Monday 14th April - Haji Ali n Leopold

After having a sumptuous meal ( as usual ) which included the usual share of some exotic dishes, we set out for Haji Ali, a dargah built in the middle of the sea, which can be reached by a 500 m narrow cause way which is negotiable only during low tide. Walkathon being the theme of the day, this 500m walk was preceded by a 2 km stroll. In addition to the usual “smell of Mumbai breeze” , we could also observe the rubbish dumped on the seaside. The smell and the sight together made it disgusting and nauseating.

But the ambience changed once we reached the beginning of the pathway. Hundreds of devout devotees, crowd thronging to shops on either side of the beginning of the passageway n the kind of music which was being played gave me a feeling that was quite unique in its own way. I m not someone who can be considered a theist, but I am always fascinated by the atmosphere prevalent in and near a religious place.

As we continued our walk, we realised that we were dressed differently ( I wont say inappropriately ) for the place. Seeing the covered head of all the ladies, seemingly sane girl made a note of adding a shall or a veil to the already large number of items present in her handbag. No, no, no…I m not cheap enough to look inside a lady’s handbag. During the course of our journey, for more than a couple of times whenever we needed some essential item like fevikwik, stapler etc etc, this seemingly sane lady played the conjurer, pulling stuff out of her bag with a dexterity that made us believe that seemingly sane girl had all the seemingly useless (or should we call it useful) stuff in her bag.

The courtyard in front of the mausoleum was thronging with people, people who were soaking in the atmosphere, people who were relaxing after the physically n mentally exhausting journey, people like me who came just to get the feel of the things n the numerous ones waiting to have a glimpse of the casket which was draped with flowers n colourful banners.

Seemingly Sane Girl n Smiling Budha decided to call it a day after the Haji Ali visit, while ABC n the lazy bum decided to check out Leopold of Shantaram fame. Spending a Vishu at Leopold, could it get crazier than that ? May be the book had given the place a cult status, but I felt the place was straight out of the book, teeming with such an eclectic crowd separated by no barriers that the utter disrespect I feel for the human created barriers came to the surface with its full force. Laws n regulations are necessary for a society to function. But the human created barriers and societal norms are just to protect and encourage mediocrity, to make the insecure feel secure in a make-believe world.

I had seen it in the movies, but i was seeing the 3-feet pitcher for the first time in real life.

The day ended with one of those usual bouts of “book buyathons” which I occasionally suffer from and the discovery of that Lee showroom I was searching for over three days. When jockey started becoming the pulsar among the undies, I ditched it. Just like I ditched an IT career when all ram, shyam n gopu started coding. Now the question remains when I ll ditch my pulsar n when I ll feel that there are too many management graduates inhabiting this world….. I m not that brand-crazy metro sexual dude who doesn’t know y he wants a particular brand. Then u might be wondering why I wear branded clothes more often than not. I am so fascinated by the power of branding that I wanna celebrate it and feel a part of it n respect the ingenuity n craziness of the branders. I know it sounds crazy, but cant help it……