Kala Ghoda festival just concluded, in Mumbai. My sister and her four year old daughter – my niece, Chinu – religiously followed the festival. Yesterday was the last day of the festival. I was there for few hours.
Instead of events, I spent time wandering around. At about 10:30 or so we were about to get back to our car, parked near Westside at Kala Ghoda. My sister looked at a temporary shop of Rajasthani necklace. A flute seller hawker came to us. My niece has already bought a flute, I started seeing flutes. This flute seller was very good with playing flute. He taught us a few thing, in fact he played a raaga and told us its composition Aroh Avroh. Than he told us how to play with different notes and how a Sa, can be played differently.
My sister came after a while and she made a very strange yet meaningful observation. She said – “Look at the irony of life. Look at the display of Westside – Gourmet. They have displayed exotic foreign brands, especially of hard drinks. Just on the footpath of this display this woman is selling traditional necklace, this fellow playing so wonderful flute and the overall cultural festival of Kala Ghoda. We are literally at the crossroad.”
We observe rarely, every moment we are at a crossroad. The decisions we make or the market places we obliviously cross in our routine. I have crossed Kala Ghoda numerous times, yet never observed what my sister told me. Few of my friends started their business, they make tough decisions all the time, they cannot be unmindful about their decisions. I know what tough time an entrepreneur goes through in the initial years.
We are at crossroad; how often we realize it?
2 Comments
Rummuser · February 11, 2014 at 1:07 am
My late wife and I used to love to eat at the Wayside Inn in Kala Goda. I wonder if it still functions or whether progress has swallowed it up too. We used to go there to the Jehangir Art Gallery and the book / record shops.
India is indeed at the crossroads come this election. Kala Goda is really a T junction and not a crossroad though!
KRD Pravin · February 19, 2014 at 7:14 am
Wish I had met her. What I feel is – she must be the happiest woman on earth. You must have made her life interesting, humorous as well as a very thought provoking.
Yes, indeed India is at crossroads and Kala Ghoda is a T junction. But I did not mean at cross road literally 🙂 for Kala Ghoda.
On India – whoever is going to be in Govt; for next two years problem will be tough economy. Our policies are more driven by what policies US makes… see tapering. So effectively next Govt is going to be in soup for at least 2 years whoever he/she is.