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Kamalika's Notebook

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Story of A Startup Girl… I Am Not What Happened to Me. I Am What I Choose to Become

September 27, 2021 By Kamalika 1 Comment

In India, the first challenge for a girl child is acceptance. More often than not, families refuse to accept their firstborn as a girl. In that way, Malavika was fortunate that her parents celebrated her and never opted for another child. But was that enough? 

I’m Malavika…

I’m Malavika, and this is my story. After finishing my Engineering in Information Technology, I went on doing the CCNA certification, then joined a mid-sized tech company as a Network Support Engineer – and that’s when I realised that my IT basics were not as great as they seemed from my grades which led to many unpleasant challenges in my workplace. After some initial struggles, I quit and opened a small academy to teach diploma engineering students. I was always a good student and managed decent grades, so teaching proved to be better rewarding than a corporate job. But that also stopped after we had a Baby. Oh, did I tell you? I got married by that time, and my husband supported me well in my academic venture. But then I stopped working again because we decided to have a baby, and I wanted to be available for my baby as much as possible, even if that meant losing everything I had.

Was it the right decision to quit everything for my baby girl? Well, that’s where my self-realisation starts, and that’s what I’m going to share with you all today, how I got it all right and all wrong at the same time. My life’s experience tells me that just like the coin has two sides, we must not look at life from one perspective – there’s always another standpoint.

Ajji and I…

I was the only child of my working parents, and ours was a nuclear family. My mother had no option but to join back work right after three months of my birth, as maternity leave was only that much at that time. She appointed a private caregiver woman for me, but it turned out to be a bad idea – because of the maid’s negligence, I developed a mouth infection from the feeding bottle. That episode led to me getting hospitalised for an entire month. My grandparents lived in another city, and my grandmother was furious over my unfortunate illness. She held my mother’s work responsible and gave her an ultimatum – either my mother quits her job, or I move with my grandparents. Aai decided to let me go – I was only five months old by that time.

Life after Ajji…

Granny devoted all her time to my wellbeing for the next five years, probably the best time of my childhood. But God didn’t seem pleased with my happiness – she decided to put me through the pain again. My Ajji was diagnosed with a brain tumour and passed away immediately. I was back at my parents again. Granny was my whole world; she was irreplaceable. I could not deal with her untimely demise and became a difficult child. It was a stressful time for Aai and me. Aai’s very presence was the constant reminder of Ajji’s absence. Five years went by – I became a little better to come to terms with Ajji not being around.

Ajji’s vacuum was so much that I could never become close enough to Aai like a normal girl child. Now I understand Aai better but am still quite detached and in denial to accept Ajji’s death. It is what made me quit everything and be there only for my daughter. But after two years of motherhood, I have started to feel differently. It is crucial to be selfless and love your child unconditionally, but as women, we must empower ourselves to be independent by all means. I failed to weigh my mother’s sacrifices and acted selfishly. Aai was ahead of her time and understood the importance of financial independence.

Baba’s illness…

God was still testing me – there came another unpleasant twist when I was only twelve. My father was detected with a rare psychological disorder. Statistics say it isn’t that rare – almost 5%, close to five million US adults, have been diagnosed with it. The signs start showing pretty early. In my father’s case, he was in his thirties when it began. This tragedy brought my mother and me close as we were the only two warriors to fight through this as a family. It was worse for us because Indian society or the medical system didn’t have sufficient awareness to treat the disorder.

It wasn’t until I got married and my husband guided us to avail right kind of treatment, but by that time, Baba had suffered for almost fifteen years. Initially, we didn’t even know the correct name of the ailment. Last year when I was watching Modern Love on Amazon Prime, I could completely relate to what Lexi (Anne Hathaway) was going through. We have lived those days with my father. This kind of dysfunction plagues the whole family. 

I was all grown up…

During all these struggles, I missed developing any aspiration to become something in life. Fortunately, I was a good student and managed to take science as a major in junior college. I finished a diploma and joined engineering directly in the second year. My diploma was in “Electronics and Communication”, and I got “Information Technology” vertical in engineering because of the unavailability of seats in the ECE department. It seems God was still testing me! I didn’t know anything about computer programming, and my first exam was on “Data Structures”! I refused to fail and memorised all the programs like a robot. I cleared the exams but couldn’t develop any actual knowledge. It wasn’t all bad, you know, because this is where I met my first love Pranav who later became my husband.

Marriage, job, Ananya…

I completed my engineering, got married and shifted to Mumbai. I had no idea what to do next – a well-wisher advised me to do a networking course as I was weak in practical computer programming. I did the CCNA certification, which only taught some more theories and no practical knowledge, and needless to say, it did no good to support my job! The workplace became more unpleasant with each passing day, and I decided to start teaching. I received positive responses from the students and took it as a full-time profession. Eventually, some limitations occurred when students other than ECE and IT streams started approaching us, and we couldn’t support them well. By that time, our Baby Ananya was already born.

The beginning two years of Ananya was challenging, but we bravely fought through it, and today she is a healthy child with enormous energy. She is the apple of our eyes. I love my child fiercely and unconditionally, but slowly, I have realised that I have lost touch with my inner self and the outside world in the process of becoming the perfect mother of my child. I’m far away from self-awareness, low in confidence, sometimes down in self-esteem. Pranav always wanted me to become financially independent and came up with many new ideas, but I always went in the opposite direction.

Introspection and new journey…

Today I’m not regretting my life choices but realised I must start the next chapter of life. It is time that I become something my daughter can be proud of, I don’t want her to respond with, “My mother only looks after me and does household chores.” when someone asks her, “what does your mother do?”. One of my close friends runs a startup, and they managed to design a role for me in which I don’t have to deal with computer programming or networking; instead, I have to work with the programmers and other tech people in a servant-leader capacity.

Yes, you are guessing it right! I’m on the pathway to becoming a Scrum Master and eventually an Agile Coach. I don’t know whether I’ll succeed in this endeavour, but this time I’ll give it a real chance and won’t give in easily. My mother’s greatest strength was her education, financial independence and grit and hadn’t I learned anything from her?

I’m Malavika, a startup girl; I have started many times anew in my life. The first time I was few months old, then when I was five and then again when I was twelve. Again, during my engineering, job and motherhood. Now my journey is towards the next level. So far, I have refused to bow down to the play of fate, and it won’t be any different in future.

Disclaimer: The narrative is inspired by actual events, and I have only fictionalised character names and added a few imaginary references to engage the audience better.

Filed Under: Social Issues, Startup, Stories, Thoughts Tagged With: Cultural Empowerment, Economic empowerment, female empowerment, Feminism, Feminist approaches to women empowerment, Girl power, Startup, Women Empowerment, Women empowerment essay, Women in India, women independence

Happy Father’s Day – father figures/mentors and father

June 20, 2021 By Kamalika Leave a Comment

Father's day 2021

I always tell my team that I’m the blended effect of everyone I have ever met. Today, while scrolling through hundreds of father’s day wishes on Facebook, I was trying to think how many ways my father may have influenced me and I realised it’s not only my father – there are father figures who have helped me become what I’m today. As a child, “Baba” was my go-to person for every question/doubt I had, be it literature, mathematics, science, sports, movies, politics, general knowledge or whatever. In a way, he was the mentor of an overtly curious kid who probably wanted to understand and analyse everything around them.

Mr Sibaprasanna Saraswati with his wife Late Mrs Shanti Mr Saraswati.
My uncle/teacher Mr Sibaprasanna Saraswati with his wife Late Mrs Shanti Mr Saraswati.

Then he introduced me to my uncle Mr Sibaprasanna Saraswati (husband of my father’s distant cousin), and I found my second father figure/mentor. He was the first person to make me believe in myself, who said it was OK if my literature paper marks are not that great because literature is more about the experience than analysis. It doesn’t matter if my school teachers were not impressed by my creative expressions, but I must carry on and evolve. Many students didn’t understand his teaching methods (including my fellow schoolmates), where he would mix pupils from different grades in a single batch and conduct classes. I loved it primarily for two reasons – it flourished my leadership side and I got a few followers from junior grades, which I immensely enjoyed back then as a teenager. It boosted my confidence because I could compete with my seniors and many a time emerged as a winner in his eyes. He taught me every piece of printed stationery is worth reading – even dictionaries are books and we must read them. He made me fall in love with English literature as he took the fear away that we vernacular medium students are not enough to learn the queen’s language. Quite humorously, he’ll do a percentage census and prove that the English speaking population in India was significantly higher than Britain’s total population! He emphasised learning mother tongue (Bengali/Bangla) because he believed if we know our mother tongue properly, then we can master and enjoy any language in the world. We never paid him any fees, but I sometimes got my father to buy him imported cigarettes! The lessons I learnt from him are invaluable, and they are the building blocks of my childhood and teenage.

Mr Bhaskar Sen, founder of Sika Qualcrete
My mentor Mr Bhaskar Sen, founder of Sika Qualcrete

I met my second father figure/mentor some fifteen years ago, Mr Bhaskar Sen, my best mate’s father. Because it is father’s day, I shall restrain myself from mentioning her mother, Mrs Jayasreen Sen, with whom I share an extraordinary bond whose impact on my life is beyond expressions. I was an ordinary IT employee when I met Uncle, and he was already retired from work, but a person like him never really retires. If not anything else, they keep mentoring and inspiring others, mostly people like me, searching for their ultimate calling. It was probably him and his life that gave me the courage to leave my hometown behind, build a life in Mumbai, and eventually becoming an entrepreneur in that unforgiving and challenging city (though successful or not is a different question!). I happen to spend both waves of the Covid-19 pandemic with him, and the way he has led all of us to through it is unbelievable. He taught me that a leader must lead from all fronts without dividing personal or professional, and just like a soldier, an entrepreneur is never off duty. He says entrepreneurship is not only running the business – it includes running everything around you with utmost dedication as much perfection as you can manage. He taught me life must be enjoyed even if the situation is worrisome and tense. He’ll appreciate my anger, and simultaneously he’ll teach me to hold my temperament through all adversities. If I ever have a future as an entrepreneur, it’ll be because he came into my life and changed the way I looked at the world.

Now that I have spoken a bit about the father figures in my life, it is time that I discuss a little about my father. A simpleton, a little bit chauvinistic when it came to his wife (my mother!) but entirely liberated in matters concerning his daughters (especially me!), a sincere worker with no career ambition, abstemious, food connoisseur, traveller (read tourist!), avid reader, sports lover and most importantly a communist. All in all, a total homely guy, great in theories of the world but hardly outgoing. He was quite the opposite of what I’m, but his values lie at the core of my value system. He taught me the basics of everything (except singing and drawing/painting and computer science), quite unconventionally though, as we never sat for typical teaching sessions. Let’s say if he didn’t teach me alphabets then I wouldn’t be able to spell “floccinaucinihilipilification”!

Last year I wrote a father’s day article on him while going through a complex state of mind – it became so emotional that I never read it a second time.

Filed Under: Family, General, Stories, Thoughts Tagged With: Father’s day memories, father's day, father's day wishes, father's day wishes for dad, fathers day 2021, fathers day love, Fathers Day Special, Fathers Day wishes from daughter, happy father's day

Shubho Bijoya! Let’s Talk About Some Sweets from Bengal

October 28, 2020 By Kamalika Leave a Comment

PatisaptaAccording to the Oxford dictionary, the word “sweet” depicts a kind of taste with the properties of sugar or something that is not savoury, bitter, or sour. To Bengalis “Mishti” means a dessert for which the main ingredient would be either or a combination of the following elements milk, chhana/paneer/cottage cheese, besan/chickpea flour, rice flour, puffed rice (Muri), flattened rice (Chire/Poha), popped rice (Khoi), coconut shavings and the sweetener will be either white sugar of or date palm jaggery (seasonal). Among all the ingredients, chhana is the most widely used, chhana is nothing but the Indian version of cottage cheese which is referred to as “paneer” by the rest of India and as Chhana, Chhena, Sana (Asam) by north-eastern India. Sometimes chhana is mixed with one or two of the other elements to create variations.

“Misthi” for Bengalis is not just a food item it represents their culture and tradition, whether it’s a get-together, puja at home or a celebration like a wedding, a temple feast “Mishti” is not only inevitable but the star of the show.

Here are some names of Bengali sweets that don’t use chhana as their principal component like Mishti Doi, Rabri, Payesh (Kheer for rest of India), Jilipi & Amritti (called as Jalebi otherwise), Dorbesh, Patishapta, Malpoa (Malpua), Narkel Naru (laddoos made of coconut shavings), Puli Pithe, Sitabhog, Mihidana. Some sweets are moist (“ros-er mishti”) and some are dry (like “Sondesh”), and some are a combination of both (like “Jolbhora”).

It is impossible to cover all types of Bengali sweets within the boundaries of one piece of a write-up, but I would like to talk a tad deeper about the ones that are my favourite!

Rasogolla

Nolen-Gurer-RasogollaRasogollaDespite the rows between Bengali and Odia communities on who made Rasogolla first, the World recognise it as one of the most extraordinary desserts from the Indian subcontinent. Primary ingredients to make Rasogolla are chhana and white sugar. Chhana made from full fat cow milk, and the sugar should be white refined fine-grained. Of course, Rasogolla by no means is health food no matter how dearly Bengalis promote it as one! Chhana once prepared and cooled to room temperature is mixed with sugar, semolina, all-purpose flour (secondary elements vary depending on the recipe) to create the perfectly round-shaped balls, and then more sugar and water are used to make the syrup (Ros/Chaasnee). There are other Rasogolla spin-offs like Rasmalai, Chom Chom, Rajbhog, Chhanar Payesh (even Pantua, Ledikeni, Langcha are Rasogolla improvisations). During winters there is a premium variety made with date palm jaggery instead of sugar.

In Kolkata Dhiman Das maintains that his ancestor Nabin Chandra Das who established a sweet shop in Jorasanko of North Kolkata back in 1864 had invented Rasogolla. In Odisha, they believe in a myth that says that Rasogolla was offered to an upset Goddess Lakshmi as bhog by her husband Lord Jagannath and they celebrate the ritual as “Niladri Bije”, Lord Jagganath’s return to Shree Mandir, the last day of Ratha Yathra in Puri. They marked the return of Lord Jagannath as Rasogolla Dibasa, to authenticate the foundation of Rasogolla ((the first celebration was on July 30 2015). Regardless, it is fair to say that no matter wherever the origin is Rasogolla prevails to be one of the most popular desserts of India.

Sondesh

SondeshAnother Bengali dessert made with chhana and sugar/date palm jaggery depending on the season. Sondesh plausibly exists in the maximum number of variations across Bengal. There are distinct categorisations labelled as Koda Paak (hard knead) and Narom Paak (soft no-knead). Bengali sweet aficionados fancy Gur Sondesh (the one made with date palm jaggery) over other kinds. Kolkata Bengalis love their Koda Paak, especially the one described as Jolbhora it is a heart-shaped Misthi and at the centre, it has jaggery syrup filling, the 2018 film Dhadak, suggests several references to this one. Another well-known form of Sondesh is called Kanchagolla. Then there is Sorpuria, but Bengalis may debate deciding whether it is a type of Sondesh or a completely different “Mishti”. There is also Makha Sondesh usually available in smaller towns and villages. This type of Sondesh is a slightly grainy, soft no-knead almost Kheer like dessert.

Misthi Doi

Misti-DoiAh, the little too sweet variety of curd only ever available in Bengali dessert shops and nowhere else! Yes, though nowadays there are some brands like Mother Dairy, Epigamia offering “Misti Doi” but then the unadulterated taste can be only be felt (yes, you read it right, you have to feel the taste!) when served in an earthen bowl called Matir Bhanr (Kullad). Main elements consist of milk, curd culture, and sugar or jaggery. Of course, the milk has to be full fat and sugar has to be white refined fine-grained and if jaggery then the date palm. The fermentation process is much longer than that of regular curd, and it also varies depending on the weather conditions.

Bhaja Misti

Sorbhaja“Bhaja” is a Bengali word which means fried, ingredients of Bhaja Misthi are chhana, sugar, semolina, all-purpose flour. They are a moist variety of Bengali dessert, soaked in thick sugar syrup (Ros) after deep frying. Other variations of Bhaja Mishtis consist of Pantua, Langcha, Ledikeni, Kalojam, Chitrokut, Sorbhaja. Rest of India has only one variety of Bhaja Mishti called Gulab Jamun! 

Khir Kadom

A variety of Bengali desserts that appears like a Sondesh, and is kept moist inside, it like Rasogolla wrapped in a Sondesh skin. Little too sweet and has Sev like garnishing. The popularity of this one is debatable as many Bengali dessert connoisseurs don’t fancy “Khir Kadom” and consider it as overrated.

Dorbesh

DorbeshThe Bengali variant of Boondi Laddu made using gram flour, sugar, ghee/vegetable oil, and tastemakers like cardamom, cashew along with edible colours. Sumptuous when consumed fresh and mildly hot but little greasy and hard if kept in the fridge (not the ones made with ghee!).

Mihidana and Sitabhog

DorbeshMihidana and Sitabhog both originated from a place called Burdwan, West Bengal. Primary elements of Mihidana are rice flour and sugar syrup, a distant cousin of Boondi where Mihi means fine, and Dana means grains. Sitabhog is also made using rice flour, sugar syrup, and has vermicelli like shapes. Authentic

Mihidana and Sitabhog both may contain miniature Gulab Jamun like balls called “Nikuti”, for Sitabhog they are mandatory and optional for Mihidana.

Epilogue

These days Kolkata city is filled with premium/branded dessert shops who offer boutique-style Bengali desserts or “Mishtis” and the townships around Kolkata like Chandannagar, Kalyani, Krishnanagar continue to produce the traditional varieties of Bengali desserts. While city-based premium stores focus on variety and improvisation semi-urban, village shops are about authenticity and genuineness.

Bengali desserts have travelled beyond Kolkata and West Bengal, nowadays every prominent city in India has many Bengali dessert shops, and they are savoured by millions of Indians whether Bengali or not.

Filed Under: Bengali Cuisine, Blog, Desserts, Food, Thoughts Tagged With: Bengali Cuisine, Desserts, Food, Foodie

Happy Father’s Day – Why Should You Know Your Parent

June 22, 2020 By Kamalika Leave a Comment

It is a personal note which I thought of sharing, in memory of my deceased father, I hope it makes some sense for all of us.

My father, Late Buddhadeb Guha Roy

The Monologue

My father and I were never close, at least that’s what I thought. Now, what does closeness/friendliness to your parent mean? Probably it means that you can share/discuss anything and respect one’s value addition to the other’s life decisions. I remember always fighting/debating with him over matters like which field of study should I chose, what political party should vote for, which politicians are worth our trust, how should I behave with a particular person even if I dislike him/her, when should I express my opinion and when not. While he was never a typical chauvinist, but his attitude towards my mother often seemed like one, but his female friends/colleague were gung-ho about the helpful and open-minded person he was. One of our most significant issues was his indulgence towards my younger sibling, I was always of the opinion that he should be stricter towards her for her good, but he would be biased and overlook every mistake she did. He was a simple, peaceful person who would generally not prefer to be part of any disagreement, but he was a person of opinion, especially about things that concerned him, or people close him.  Was he a loving and doting father? No, his expressions would never say so, he was an idealist busy in his world of thoughts. He was someone who would smile only when his friends/colleagues were around. He was not an ideal father we read in books or see in movies. Did all of these make him a bad father? Now, what is the definition of a good parent? I believe there is no definition or pattern. I wouldn’t have the capability or courage of doing what I did with my life or the decisions I took if he was. He was a person who never made us feel that every Indian family needs a son. His daughters were more than enough. He wanted his children to be girls because he believed women have better compassion than men and that they were emotionally more powerful.  He taught me to read books and watch movies without inhibitions and encouraged that I have my opinion about everything I see or learn, but I need not be getting into an argument to prove my point, I must choose my battles carefully. He never tried to become my teacher; he would talk about things randomly like a friend and encourage me to pay attention and remember/learn them for life. He was the most honest person I have ever seen in life; he would never ask for favours, won’t take gifts from clients and help them in every possible problem they had, and most of the times going beyond his way. He was a food enthusiast who hated spending money in restaurants but wanted my mother to cook all things possible at home, and he would read and talk about food/recipes from across the globe. He became so sickly before his demise that everyone thought it would be only fair to him to rest in peace, but I fiercely wanted him to stay, and he knew that. I never thought I would be, so grief-stricken after he was gone because we never had an apparent loving relation. Most of the time, I would be angry with him for not being fair to me or not listening to me for innumerable reasons. I wanted the grief to go away, but my every such attempt would push me to a fresh episode of depression. After almost a year of internal fighting, reasoning I realised, it is not possible to get rid of the grief of losing a parent because whether I want to admit it or not, I loved him, and he loved me too but in his unconventional ways. In many ways, I became the person he taught me to be, I inherited his emotions, his integrity, his intellectuality.  We don’t get to choose our parents but whether we like it or not we become the product of our parent’s behaviour/nature and education. Like every child is not the same, and they need the upbringing suiting their specific needs, in the same extent, every parent isn’t the same. Like our parents give the effort to make us better, worthier similarly we also must invest in understanding our parents. I wish there shouldn’t anyone out there who understood the feelings for her father after he was gone. In my defence, while most of my life, I kept fighting/debating/arguing with my father over various matters I did protect him like my son. I lost my emotional intelligence after he was gone and still struggling to get my composure back, but one of my life’s most important lesson that it is crucial to emotionally invest in knowing your parents better otherwise we may have to lament for a lifetime. It took me almost two years (after his death) to pen down a memoir like this but, belatedly I did it defeating my ego to accept the biggest fallacy of my life. I thought it was essential to share because many from our generation would have similar differences with their parents without even being cognisant about the same.

Filed Under: Family, General, Stories, Thoughts Tagged With: Father’s day memories, father's day, father's day wishes, father's day wishes for dad, fathers day 2020, fathers day love, Fathers Day Special, Fathers Day wishes from daughter

My days in Mumbai… the awakening!

September 27, 2015 By Kamalika Leave a Comment

mumbai-skyline

Before I begin my piece I would like to say, this is no travelogue or city tour guide or food guide. This is all about how I feel about Mumbai as a person or I should rather say as a woman. Do I love Mumbai? Well…

I don’t know but of surely there are places in Mumbai that I love. Do I belong to Mumbai? May be or may be not… but it is true that Mumbai is kind of infused into my blood. Am I uprooted from Kolkata and transplanted in Mumbai? I think no… may be because I still have the urge to go back to my roots.

The Background

I never wanted to move out of Kolkata just for the sake of it. I loved my life there, I was enjoying it to the fullest mostly because unlike other women around me I was not just doing a job rather building my career. My life was very human… driven by people. So it might seem like… “What went wrong that suddenly you decided to come out of your comfort zone and throw yourself into an unknown path?”… Well, let’s put it this way that something right happened in my mind and I decided that I need a change of scene to grow as a more mature and confident person and overcome the vulnerability I possess within my comfort zone.

The Beginning – journey of a lone soldier

 “To win, you must first learn how to lose!”

Choice of the new destination was easy, rather I should say Mumbai was the only option I considered… Reason? Simple… endless possibilities. April 2010… I started my journey towards an unknown destination… and here I’m, still figuring out the equation between Mumbai and me… The place I’m too close to and too far away from. As I embarked on my life’s first true adventure, every step reminded me that it takes courage, discipline and resilience to survive in a place like Mumbai. Workplace felt like a battlefield and it was impossible to determine who was an enemy and who was not… “TRUST NOBODY” and “DON’T BE YOURSELF” was the call of the hour. Being a corporate trusting nobody didn’t seem very difficult but not being myself felt impossible to achieve and eventually I failed. “Trying and failing is better than not trying at all” so it was a positive start!

Ideas, events and people – welcome to Mumbai

“Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.”

Mumbai is full of ideas, though most of them die at the ideating stage but a lot of them do make it big. In any meeting if you don’t come up with a new idea then you may be considered as dull, non-productive, non-proactive, etc. etc. Initially I failed to understand how could I even think about new ideas if the job in hand is not yet done to perfection but then this is Mumbai, you can’t complain about work pressure or irregular work schedules, you can’t complain if you are asked to achieve something practically infeasible, you can’t complain if your boss’s or colleague’s educational qualification surprises you, you can’t complain if your colleague is misogynous! To be successful here in Mumbai all you need to do is ideate, be proactive and forget about your work life balance.

This is one place where community matters the most yet you must succeed in a diverse environment. Just like Marwaris in Kolkata the strongest community here in Bombay are Gujratis. I remember a friend saying that in India if you are working in corporate sector most likely you are working under a Jain, so very true, nobody understands business better than Jains (Marwaris, Gujratis, Rajasthanis, Sindhis, Kutchis, etc., even Parsis are half Gujratis!) and Bombay is the live example of that very fact. They are driven by the passion to grow, to make it big, to unleash the power within and in order to achieve their dreams they will break every barrier and rule.

Work hard, party harder! That’s the philosophy of a typical Mumbai corporates. There are two kinds of events that take place here in Mumbai namely meetings and parties. Even if it’s not okay to eat non-vegetarian in a party since you belong a vegetarian community but it’s completely okay to consume alcohol, as it’s “pure-veg” and comes with that green sticker! Apart of these there are extravagant weddings where you are very cordially served pure vegetarian food (apart from Bengali and Punjabi weddings!) and yes of course there is NCPA Mumbai where you get to watch interesting live International and national Music, Dance and Drama shows and there are other open air shows where Bollywood celebrities perform live.

Conclusion… the awakening

“Mumbai’s infectious. Once you start living in Mumbai, working in Mumbai, I don’t think you can live anywhere else.”

 Never thought I would be staying any more than two years in Mumbai but it’s been half a decade and I’m still celebrating life in here!

It’s not yet over friends… “Picture abhi baaki hai mere dost…” stay tuned for the next instalment of this article.

Filed Under: Places Tagged With: Bombay, India, Mumbai, Mumbai Mirror

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Hello There…

I'm Kamalika, a techpreneur & startup mentor, blogger, hobbyist photographer, Netflix & Kindle indulgent, food connoisseur, Starbucks aficionado and former Disney employee ...next

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