I am writing this after we left Mumbai exactly one month ago. I tried to write this before, but I just could not put words to paper without getting emotional. Because it's one thing to get out of Mumbai, it is a totally different matter to get Mumbai out of you. That is not so easy.
We came to Mumbai almost three years ago, not knowing what to expect of this huge, overcrowded and polluted city. In the years here I learned to love it in all his avatars. You don't get used to Mumbai, Mumbai just takes over and invades you like an alien and even if you decide to leave, you will take Mumbai with you. You don't have a choice, it is just how it's done.
I learned that there is only one way to live in Bombay properly and that is by accepting it for 100% with all your senses. If you manage to do that, you will receive a gift every single day. Every single day. Something you see, hear or experience will make you happy, give you food for though and enrich you.
For those who cannot let Mumbai take over, it will always be a big messy city with a lot of poverty, and of course..... slums.
I am not claiming that it is an easy place to live. Not at all. Numerous times when I was -again - stuck in traffic or driving for hours looking for Dutch cheese I wished it could be easier. But that is the beauty of the place. It is not handed to you, but when you get it, you get it!
We leave with much greave but enriched with all the friends we made. I do not feel at all that I am leaving you behind. Like Mumbai I am taking all of you with me, not as a reminder of times gone by, but as friendships that I intend to keep for the rest of my life.
So let me say thank you and see you soon.
Fermelenge!
Monique
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