Dear Mumbai,
How are you?
I am coming to you after 3 and a half years so I don't know what to say or how to feel about it. I remember how at one point in my life you were a dream to me, then you became a home and then, a total stranger. Today, we have met again coincidentally and I have come to you with a bag full of memories.
It is hard for me to count how many times I thought of coming back to you but was afraid you would not be as welcoming as you were before or maybe it was not in my destiny simply. And when I accepted it, here I am, in Mumbai, still too weak to go outside, scared to go see places that were once used to be my favourite. That walk at Marine drive, that exuberant shopping spree at fashion street, that blissful sunset sight at Gateway of India, that TIFR promenades, those roof-top restaurants of Colaba. I am afraid, I might feel something for which I have trained myself for days, months and years to be apathetic about.
Now, as I am standing at the airport with a feeling of numbness due to the void you left in me from the last time we met. But, it doesn’t really matter now. All I hope is that you stay as you were before, with your perfect weather and crazy rains. Your monsoons always got my attention and I miss that. I “live” in Germany now, rain there is so lifeless and can bear no comparison to what you offered. This feeling of missing something you used to be so close to gives me heart-ache occasionally. But one thing that I have learned from you only is that life goes on and one should move on with it like you never stopped in all these years be it, day or night, summer or winter, heart-ache or no heart-ache, you were always dynamic, hasty, exciting and enlightened.
I still remember the day when I had taken a train from Mumbai Central station to my hometown Agra thinking that soon I am going to visit you again but neither of us knew that it was the last time I was in Mumbai. I was never given the chance to say good-bye to the city that I liked the most. So, consider this as my good-bye which I clearly deserve. Goodbye Mumbai! You have given me one of the best times of my life and yes, I won't deny one of the worst times as well but, both are the part of my life so I embrace them and you still hold a special place in my heart. All the best to you, keep Inspiring everyone like you always do.
Love,
Just a fan
Context: I hold a rich history with Mumbai city and I had left Mumbai in Feb 2016, since then I have never visited it. This letter was written in November 2019 when I was traveling to Bangalore from Frankfurt via Mumbai to attend a friend's wedding.
