As you travel down the Harbour Line every morning to the
city, you can’t help but be mesmerized by the spectacle of the Thane creek. As
the train wobbles down, on your right you see the 10 lane 10 km Sion-Panvel
Expressway Bridge. On the right, you see the ocean. The vast unending ocean
finally going up to amalgamate into the sky. If you look at a map, you’ll
realize it’s the Arabian Sea going towards the gulf countries, to be later
swallowed by the Indian Ocean. But looking at those waters, such thoughts scarcely
touch the mind. The water doesn’t invite much thought. That happens with a
screen in front of the eyes and a keyboard at the hands.
The Thane Creek is a narrow stretch of the sea as it seeps
into India dividing the Monstrous
Mumbai with the rest of India – essentially – making Mumbai an island. So as
the train moves down, on one side you see the vast unending waters of the
Arabian Sea, on the other you see the Indian Mainland. No other structure has
ever given me a glimpse of what India would look like as we just leave it. As
you look across, the sight you see are the Parsik Hills, both inviting friends
to India as well as protecting it from alien foes. A sight such as that melts
the hardest of hearts and all you are then are a part of that moment, serene
and calm, at peace. With the wind that never fails to brush your face and the
smell of the clean air which your destination most certainly will fail to
provide, nature grips your sight, senses, thought, and soul and you look at the
waters and the land and think, ‘why?’
Some people have told me that the Bandra-Worli sea link has
the same characteristics, and is more beautiful, joining two very urban and
developed districts of Mumbai. I disagree. While the sea-link is a charm in its
own right, it fails to embody the serenity of the creek. The sea link is
essentially a VIP pass for those who can afford to bypass an hour-long commute
in traffic by the coast and choose to go through the sea at a fast pace. The
sea link is Mumbai – fast, carelessly ruthless, and expensive. It refuses the
common spirit of the trains, not allowing bikes, autos, and trucks on it. And
though it also puts the Arabian Sea on one side and the Indian mainland on the
other, we get on the sea link to get off from it. But while we’re on the creek,
we wish to stay. Ironically, we try to pass the creek to get to the sea-link.
Makes you wonder if humanity is actually progressing towards development at
all.
It takes the train about 8 minutes to traverse the beauty
and wickedness of the trees and the waters to get from the last stop in Navi
Mumbai to the first in Mumbai. For 8 minutes every day, I’m thankful to drowned
God for allowing me to see such a sight. I believe that once a man sees such a
beauty, then he may die in peace. For no greater peace can be achieved is what
is experienced in those 8 minutes. And one wonders if we could go back to the days
of the “uncivilized”, live by the ocean, grow our food, sing songs, make love,
run across fields, laugh, and sleep under the stars. The mind desires and the
lips smile. But then, very soon, the train stops and a horde of shouting voices
board and de-board, wanting to get someplace fast, trying fruitlessly to get a
corner in the train to stand where their neck wouldn’t kill them. And thus
Mumbai welcomes us.
“If you want to visit a city with a soul, visit Mumbai.
If you want to visit a ruthless soulless mean city without empathy –
visit Mumbai.”
