My friend Vijay

The first time I met Vijay I was visiting Curacao in the summer of 2007. I went into town to get my cousin a gift for her wedding. She was getting married about a week after I would be gone, but since we grew up as sisters I really wanted to get her something nice (I did manage to attend her bachelerette party though, still recovering from that one....).

Anyway, so I get into this nice jewelery store in town and asked for my cousin's birth stone. The store manager attending to my needs showed me literally everything he had. Finally he said to me (probably in despair because I could not make up my mind): "Choose any of these and I will give you a very special price, only for friends."

Having heard this line exhaustingly in Mumbai stores I sigh:" O God, don't tell you're from Bombay."

He said:" Yes, How do you know?"
"Well", I reply, " I live there, and I recognize your accent".

He didn't believe me. Really he did NOT. I stood there for a full 20 minutes while he was cross examining me about Mumbai sites. Some examples:

HIM
Where do you stay?

ME
Bandra only

HIM
WHich part of Bandra?

ME
Pali Hill

HIM
Which side of Pali Hill?

ME
Union Park road, near dr Ambedkar statue, off Carter road.

HIM
Which route do you take to the city?

ME
Linking road off, course.

HIM
Which school do your kids attend?

ME
Ecole Mondiale in Juhu, near Amitabh Bachchan's old bungalow.

HIM
Is it a long drive from Bandra to Juhu?

ME
Morning 10 minutes, afternoon 30 minutes, evening one hour.

after this last answer he was finally assured of the fact that I truly lived in Mumbai.

Vijay, as he then introduced himself to me, has been living on Curacao for a few years now. His wife and son are back in Bombay and he misses the city terribly. His fluency in our local language, Papiamento, is not bad at all! But it is in Bombay where is feels most at home. To Vijay Mumbai is the best place on earth.

He gave me all these tips on living in Bombay and finally told me not to trust anyone and not to be to soft. When I want to buy something I should bargain as if my live depends on it and only agree to a price when I think that I it has actually dropped too much. That is survival for you - Bombay style.

I left the store, very happy, with a beatuiful piece of jewelery that I got at a special friends price (at least I think it was good bargain!)

Not long after we first met, Vijay went to Mumbai to spend some time with his family and it seams that the years he spent on a relaxed Caribbean island have somewhat altered his view of his 18 million-plus city.

We met again the next summer on Curacao and the first thing Vijay asked me is how I can bare to live in such a polluted city. "My God", he exclaimed, "the streets are so blokked that it takes me two hours to bridge 10 km! And the crowds! Everywhere there are people. There is always something going on somewhere. Honestly, Monique, I don't even understand why you left Curacao in the first place".

So I had to explain to Vijay that Curacao is indeed the most beautiful place on earth, but that it is mine - like Mumbai is his - regardless of where I am staying.
He had to understand that Mumbai may be cramped and polluted, but that I had already fallen in love with it. That I love the buzz, the sounds, the smells and - yes - the people.

After this Vijay and I met several times. I even met his wife in Mumbai and every time I am on the island I stop by to say hallo and tell Mumbai tales. I tel him what happening, how the cinema's were closed during the Sena riots, how the new scenery is taking shape in the beginning of Carter road and how superb the new Bandra-Worli sea-link is.

He still advised me on how to handle Mumbaikers and - lately - we even have been speaking in Hindi.