Page 3 of Made in Mumbai

“Undergrad course?” She finished her vada pav and tore one of the newspapers’ bunched on the side to wipe her hands. He nodded.

“Me too! But I already got admission because…odkhaan,” she rolled her eyes. He peered at her, clueless.

“My father’s contacts,” she clarified, not looking too happy about it. “But you decide fast. The admissions won’t remain open after next week… Wait, what are you doing here then? Did you come to see Rizvi College?”

“No… I came to see Marine Drive.”

“Marine Drive?”

He nodded.

“Here?”

He nodded.

Her finger pointed downwards between them — “Here as inherehere?”

He nodded.

The vada pav vendor burst out laughing behind them. Gautam frowned at him. But when he turned back, the girl was laughing too.

“Who decided to rag you today?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, this is not Marine Drive. Marine Drive is in SoBo on the other side of the sea, almost an hour from here by car. This is the suburbs.”

Gautam’s mouth dropped open. “You mean there is no sea over here?”

“Nooo,” she elongated. “There is the sea here too. In fact, this sea is better than Marine Drive sea.”

“How far?” He asked dejectedly. If Marine Drive was far away, how would he reach there? Mumbai had local trains but he didn’t know how to go in one. What if he got lost and couldn’t return to the spot where the tempo driver had to pick him up tomorrow morning?

“Go straight down from here,” she pointed down the hill. “One minute mein you’ll reach.”

Gautam eyed the road, the cars jammed up. What kind of sea would this be? Would it be as pretty as Marine Drive? Would he have to make do with it after doing all this?That tempo driver… b*****dhe cursed in his head.

At that moment, the sky opened and rain exploded down on them. It didn’t even start slow, but just erupted. Like one of their cloud bursts. They all stepped back and under the shack’s roof, the girl squeezing in beside him, not even caring that her arm was touching his. Other people didn’t care either.

Gautam kept eyeing the rainy scene. It was so beautiful that it made his chest hurt. Mumbai in monsoon. All hazy and grey.This,he could have. He sighed, recalibrating. As soon as the rain would stop, he would go and see the sea downhill.

But it didn’t stop. Or slow down.

Long minutes passed.

He began to get impatient.

“Hey?” The girl nudged him with her elbow.

“Huh?”

“You wanna see Carter Road?”

“What road?”

“The sea, the sea!” She waved in front of them. “You wanna go?”

“Yes. But how?” He craned his neck. The rain was washing down, so hard that he couldn’t see five feet ahead. And he didn’t even have an umbrella.

---