Bombay; My Surrogate Lover

The effortless seductress

Yet another Sunday, yet another week and soon yet another month.
I feel like the shy boy-next-door in love with the girl he watches from afar every day, the girl whose routine is embedded in his being, the girl whose idea he loves and the girl, who in spite of this intimacy he knows nothing about.
Bombay is my idea of that unrequited love.

It has been a little over three months since I moved in to this city. And it has been a love-hate relationship since then.
Was it the over-rated (or not) lust towards Bombay?
Is it that every day survival here seems harder than a successful attempt at CAT?
Is it that settling here makes me feel "I have arrived"?
Is it that moving around the city makes me feel like I'm a nobody?

How can a city elicit such emotions in a human being who is used to changing addresses every two years? Further, how can the same city elicit the same cocktail of feelings in the thousands that call it home every day?
Bombay is the sultry nymph with a galore of roadside Romeo's on one side fighting for a glimpse of her affection, and a row of jilted lovers on the other side hoping to find a way back to her fluttering heart.

Bombay is such a woman. She is unapologetically, wholesomely the woman I want to be.
She is beautiful. No, not the lush greens of Kerala beauty, or the rugged arid lands of the West charm. Not the beauty that comes with the history that embodies Delhi nor the naive old school charms of Calcutta.
But Lord she is beautiful. She is beautiful beyond definition.

Bombay is strength. Her strength lies in the fierce fire she stokes in everyone's bellies. Resilience is her middle name.

Bombay is fast and impatient. And the only way to deal with this woman is to be at her pace and yet patient at the same time.

Bombay will throw her tantrums, and drive you against the wall. And the moment you're on the brink, she will win you back with a sprinkle of love here and there.

Bombay will be tirelessly on your mind, even if she is not on your tongue at all times.

Bombay will become a part of you. So innocuously innocent at first and then, even before you know it, she will have your heart and soul in her clutches, leaving you writhing and pining for more sweet surrender.

Bombay is the poster girl of effortless seduction.

Bombay is the eternal surrogate lover.

Art We There Yet?

“Even if you do not come up with a picture to remove world poverty, you can make someone smile while they are having a piss – Banksy”

It was a usual sweltering Kochi afternoon and I had just about gotten done with the exhibits at the Biennale. Roaming around the streets, looking for a place to eat, I magically led myself to a lane completely covered with street art. Yep, right there in the middle of the fishing nets and beef curry, were multiple artworks by Guess Who (BBC dubbed them as the Indian Banksy, though they aren’t the first ones to be monickered that) and the Hamburg based street artist Tona, in their own (not so) subtle way trying to prove a point about the status of street or rather public art in India.

And Kochi is not the only city. From Mumbai to Bundi (honours on guessing which state it is in!), Bangalore to Assam, Pune to Delhi, these street artists over the last few years have slowly but surely begun to make a mark on the artsy Indian subconscious.

At a time where street art and India don’t sound like they fly together, St+Art India Foundation, is making inroads in changing the perception. First of their kind street art festivals were held in Delhi and Mumbai which saw artists from all over the globe fly down to make the cities more interesting looking. From Ranjit Dahiya painting the yesteryears’ movie stars, to Daku’s typography, trance inducing geometrical art by Seikon to tongue-in-cheek anti-establisharian Tyler, there are several unexpected walls and crannies waiting to be discovered.

While a lot of street art is usually expected to be about political activism, proving a point against societal conventions, most of the street art you’ll see around is an effort to relegate the status from street art to public art. To make art for a cross section of the diaspora, art that one doesn’t have to pay for, or be able to enjoy only with cheese and crackers. The effort primarily is to introduce the public to a new medium of expression and the response till now has been nothing short of what was expected ; massive curiosity as pedestrians slow down a little every time they cross one of these artworks.

We may not followed Banksy all the way to Gaza, but sure have managed to garner a few following eyeballs.

I wrote this piece for the Bizarre Culture here.

Check out the youtube video on the "Indian Banksy" here