Bombayish

So, I met someone the other day. (No, not that kind of someone, though this someone was sitting next to that kind of someone).

The someone I'm talking about is a Mumbai girl, the thing about her however, was that she used a lot of expressions and had a lilt in her voice that definitely came from being in a lot of pubs in the greater London area. She’d just got back from the UK. The guy next to me asked her, so where are you from? I find that that’s quite a popular question in this part of the world.

She replied “Bombayish".

I used to say Bombayish too. In fact, it took me at least 2 months after returning to give up on that one.

A brief aside:

I had to leave London ignominiously due to a long and rather complicated f*** up with visas. I'm a non-commercial, creative individual. Lawyers pulled this way and that, and told me more about what I wanted to hear, than actually telling me that the following argument would not work. "He's a nice guy, really talented, he's doing good work, he's got great friends, all of whom think London would be a poorer place without him, he's very well educated, so really, don't you want him to stay here, please, pretty please?"

She was in week 3 of the geographical transplant. I’m currently in month 5.

Here’s a brief idea of the phases I went through when asked that ubiquitous question: "So, where are you from"?

1. "I live in London".
   Translated: All my stuff is in storage, in the UK, I have no visa, and I'm here now hoping like hell that I'll bump into the British Ambassador on the street and he'll say "we need people like you, come with me, right away! Oh! And bring your passport! Actually, don't bother, just a photo, here's a diplomatic British passport for you, oh, by the way, do you want a Virgin First Class ticket with that?"
2. "Oh, I used to live in London, but I'm here now figuring out what's next."
   Translated: It looks like I'm going to have to stay here for a while longer now that the UK home office has just changed their criterion for people like me YET AGAIN. So I may as well start to do something whilst I'm here. But please, London London London! Anything to get me back to London. Oh, during this phase, I still wait for the British Ambassador to serendipitously arrive. Except now, I picture her as a hot single 27 year old woman who decides I'm the hottest thing since sliced bread, and that it would be a crime to British women to not have me in the service of her nation.
3. "I'm from here, I've just come back."
   This one is not so bad really. Just trying to see where I fit in, who I can work for, what I'll do. I take a lot of trips from here to Trivandrum, Bangalore, Delhi, Ooty, since they're so cheap (You see, I still think in Pounds here) and any other place I feel like whilst I don't really deal with the reality of return in any proper way. Oh, and can I get a job that proves I can earn a shit load in any 12 month period please? Because then I've got a real recourse to getting back to the UK just in case I still want that option (Option? OPTION? That IS what I want!). This could also be considered as having a backup plan in case the Ambassador isn't that hot, or doesn’t think I’m hot, both of which are entirely possible.
4. "I'm here visiting the family for Christmas and New Years"
   Or the "Shit I've regressed back to really needing to be there rather than here" phase.
5. "I've moved back to India. I hear it’s really happening".
   This is the genuinely beginning to come to terms phase, I'm meeting people, they all think that I can actually do a lot of good here with the skills I've got, this may not be so bad after all. This one is good, you open up to the Idea of India; shining, poised or otherwise. Suddenly, standing for the National Anthem in the cinema when I go to get my Hollywood fix has a little more significance than just, “Oh, the movies about to start” I wish they'd change that thakela print though. This stage doesn’t preclude the fact that London is still sorely missed, friends are sorely missed, but it’s nice, to finally feel the gears engaging with Mumbai. The desire to solve how to go back to the UK is not as strong,

Phase 5 is where I'm at now. When others come, I'll let you know. I think Bombayish is around phase 3, but I was quite impressed that she'd reached it by week 3 of being back. It really did take me a lot longer.

Funnily enough, the someone sitting next to the other someone was from this whole new generation of Indian youth - 25 somethings, never lived abroad, studied here, got their first big jobs here, and are either flush with money, influence, access or a combination of the three.

She just made her big life move – huge move. From where to where? Delhi to Mumbai. This was her big adventure, her big foray into other worlds? Baffled, I asked.

“Don't you think of going to the west? To the US, the UK? Even out east, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Thailand?

I mean, it was such a big thing amongst my classmates that - to a person- each and everyone of my standard friends from sarkari school are now in America or the UK.”

Her response,

“India's the place to be! Why would I leave.”

Wow. Apart from being much impressed by this someone, I'm now thinking, what does she see that I haven't yet? I’m looking forward to having an eye opening experience. She might just help me forget all about the hot British ambassador. ;-)