Mumbai. I think this one word is enough to make a mark, to evoke a reaction; to say 'I live in mumbai' brings with it a lot of things- crowd, hype, struggle, ambition, no-nonsense, fast, busy, smart, and vast. My first week in mumbai has been overwhelming; the city leaves you more in awe than frustration- it gives me a high!

Maharashtra presents a marvellous range of greens during the rainy season; the black soil and the equally dark tree-barks sit in perfect contrast to them- wonder how it would look if I smeared the painting with a long stroke of red?

There are so many natural filters in any given city- and each present a very different shade of the city. For example, you can easily trust anyone on the road at 6 30 am on a weekday- only those seriously interested in sport, health or academics will be on the road then- and they're not thieves. If you want to be kidnapped, walk on the same road at 2am. If you want to ask for directions, ask the ones who look like they don't have the time to answer- not the ones who could give you an hour. You can talk to anybody in the park at 7am on a sunday- but shut up in the same park at 9pm; better still, DON'T go there. It's really funny, how the same place provides us with such a range- and how the city actually asks for its inhabitants to be inconsistent! Life, they say, is multilayered.

On my fifteen minute walk to work, I pass a porsche showroom and a satya paul studio. Cool, eh? :)