If there is a place in Mumbai that is a near perfect example of a social class equalizer, I think it is the Marine Drive walk or the Queen’s necklace (as our erstwhile rulers chose to call it). A paradise for people watchers, this amazing stretch of the pedestrian walkway or promenade on the coastline is flanked by a perpetually busy eight lane highway on one side and the often impatient waves of the Arabian Sea on the other. I had the opportunity to work a few days at the Air India building nearby a couple of years ago and I have been meaning to write this article since then. As I arrived there in the early mornings, I could see people jogging in anything from an elaborate Nike track suits to a shorts and “banian” !! Now isn’t that amazing – it does not matter how much you earn or who you know at this location where the sea washes away your social strata ! As the morning wore on, the traffic on the highway increases exponentially and the promenade settles down to a lazy pace of activity – a few children throwing stones at the water or a couple walking on the beach. It is as if the city sucks in all available energy and life into itself as people go about their daily rushed pace of life that are usually programmed down to the exact minute of the hour (5.08..8.17 – each person has a different magic number!)
The evenings on the walk are just amazing, especially during the “Butta” season. I could never wait to get out of the office to spend an hour or so before taking a taxi to the VT station to get on the central line! As the busy day wound itself down, an amazing evening awaited me on the promenade. The sights and sounds of the golden evening provided a much needed respite from the pressures of work. Once again, the steady sea breeze washed away much more than the weariness of a hard day – it washed away all notions of social classes as the janitorial staff from the high rise building and the executives they served waited patiently for their “butta” to roast on the improvised barbeque apparatus (which is nothing but smoldering coal blocks in a rusted iron bowl). Elsewhere small groups of people start pooling around street vendors selling “chana jor” and Vadaa Paanv’s. The fitness conscious joggers and evening walkers make their way precariously through the crowds of the “ekdum mast hai” taste conscious street food connoisseurs (which seem to be almost everybody!).
As the sun finally makes its way to the horizon, the pace of activity on the promenade nears its peak. Couples scan the busy pavement for anything that would provide a modicum of solitude or privacy. As the water starts shimmering and the sun melts into the yonder horizon, a sense of awe prevails …
A few taxi drivers pull to the curb for an expresso shot of rejuvenation –
I hastily turn around to find a place to discard the newspaper plate that I had been enjoying my “chana jor”from and tell him “VT chalna hai”
He took one last look at the crimsoning sky and flipped the meter down with a big smile and nodded me in ..As he merged artfully into the endless stream of cars, I wound down the window and tried to take a few pictures more.
Tomorrow, I promised myself, I should spend a littlemore time here ...
But tomorrow will turn out to be yet another today
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