I have been in the ‘Maximum city’ for more than 3 years now and amongst the many surprises that the city still spring, the most amazing is its resilience and the capability to ‘move on’, come hell or high water.

And come monsoons, this spirit is put to it’s most arduous test. Being a Bengali, I have grown up romanticising rains. The beauty of a rain-soaked morning best enjoyed from your balcony with a steaming cup of Darjeeling tea and a book of poetry with Tagore’s rain songs playing in the background- Rim jhim ghono ghono re boroshe (the rhythmic pitter patter of rain falling continuously). The rains in Kolkata were a respite from the sweltering heat, a luxury that can be relished from the comforts of your home. Nothing but a far cry from the larger-than-life avatar of Mumbai rains.

Mumbai rain is beautiful too, but in a grown up and real sort of way. Mumbaikars love the rains but know that they have to get on with the business of life. There is hardly any time for people to pause and reflect on its poetic surrealism. There are trains to catch and deadlines to be met, deals to be struck and destinations to be reached. Nothing can come in the way, rains or no rains.

Of course, people do celebrate, you can’t miss the colourful umbrellas along the sea side as couples brave the shower to drench in a love-soaked morning or Mumbaikars rejoicing at the Nariman Point promenade as the Arabian sea swells menacingly with a heavily overcast sky looming across the horizon.

Time and again the city has been brought to its knees with floods and calamitous situation, but you will not see Mumbaikars buckling under unnecessary panic. The incessant rains still give me the creeps and I prefer working out of home daunted by the nightmares of gaping potholes, falling trees and collapsing footbridges, but a Mumbaikar can hardly be contained. With their raincoats on and their umbrellas firmly clasped, they will be up and about with the same alacrity that you will observe on any ‘normal’ day.

And the definition of ‘normal’ aka Mumbai style was taught to me by my maid.

Incessant rains, waterlogged roads, transport system choked, high alert declared, panicked parents checking continuously, amidst this disaster-struck feeling, I asked my maid, ‘So much rain, is this normal?’, ‘It is like this only Didi every year. We are used to it. Everything is normal’, beamed my English-speaking Goan maid who showed up every day to work braving all cautions and alerts. And that stuck with me. Come what may, ‘everything needs to be normal.’ The raaz of this perennial normalcy in the conundrum of life is an unruffled spirit that epitomises the spirit of a true Mumbaikar.

Some of the life lessons that Mumbai monsoons have taught me are:

1. Life has to go on- Mumbaikars rarely sit at home! Rain or no rain, hit the road come what may. Take everything in your stride and simply get down to work.
2. Tolerance is the key- Mumbaikars have truckloads of patience and oodles of composure. You will hardly see them raising a brow. Be it crippling traffic or waterlogged streets, they remain unperturbed in most situations which are considered alarming by us.
3. Embrace unpredictability- Everyday might not be the same. But there is a method in the madness. It is this unpredictability that renders a unique charm to the city and keeps its mystery alive. At least to the ones who are keen to look for it.
4. Help thy neighbour- In times of crisis, Mumbaikars never fails to open their homes and hearts to strangers and good samaritans come out on the streets to rescue people stranded on the roads. All of these in a day’s work!

Rain or no rain, nothing can daunt the indomitable spirit of Mumbai. However momentous
the magnitude of the catastrophe is, life simply goes on here. Period.

So next time when you are all messed up in the head and seeking for an elusive oasis of ‘normalcy’, you know where to head to!