Bye Bye Bombay - a note to my mumbai folk

Bombay. Yes, Bombay, not Mumbai, is the city i grew up in... or well, i rather tried growing up in. for 25 years now. Yellow lights, cutting chai, vada pava and katta moments... local trains, big red buses, marine drive, bollywood... ramzan at haji ali, christmas at bandra, ganpati-dancing on the streets and insance clubbing nights... there's so much to this awesome city!!! and its all within me now.

But what's the most awesome part of this city, are the people here.

I've travelled across the entire country and i can say this with absolute conviction - the people of my city are the awesomessst people in the country. It's what makes Mumbai incredible.

And what's the best part? my favouritessst people on the planet, are some of the most awesome people within this city of awesome awesome people! :) (yes i've been prescribed an awesome overdose)

This note, is for them.

poorabiei love you.

momChillax amma! One traaaas you are! I know your astrologer said I’ll die this year or the next – but hey, at least I’ll have died doing everything I wanted to. Except winning that goddamn Oscar! Crap! (bt trust me, I’m working on it ;))

dadWe shall party in Bangalore ;)
You are awesome dad. I owe my simplicity and utter honesty to having a dad like you.

snowy. ashmi. swati. and every girl I’m protective of.Two pieces of advice.
One. Though wrong, life is much easier if you start with the prejudice that “all guys are assholes”. More often than not, it is true. Anyone gives you traas, just give me call, breaking a guy’s jaw and restructuring someone’s facial geography always tops my priority list over anything else. I’m just one flight away.

Two. Study, learn and work hard. If your self esteem and friends circle depends on your achievements, knowledge and talents, it lasts much longer and is much stronger than if it depends on how cool/hot/beautiful you are.Most of the “oh I’m so hot and oooh I’m a babe” chicks from college often end up with marriage as the only serious career option. Apart from ofcourse bartending, waitressing, running behind casting directors, and indulging is escapist alcoholism.
Baaki notes, break ke baad.

reema
gahhh! don’t irritate me. go pack your bags.

shabnam
phalo phulo, sada suhagann raho :P you are by far the stupidest girl i know – stupid in a naive sense. You don’t realize your own value and are happy just letting others take decisions for you – partly so that you can say that they did that not you – but trust me, eventually, every decision, is yours and yours alone.
Be awesome. Coz you are.

apeksha

don't worry too much, you'll be just fine. i've been your knight in not-so-shining armor so far, and belive me, 1200 kms dosent call for my resignation from that job :) call me from time to time. and take care.

ketak and sanjeevFatte aur mallu! Banglore jaa raha hoon, swargvaas mein nahi – aur waise bhi, wahan bhi gaya toh bhi bc bhoot bankey tumhaari to maarta hi rahoonga.
Ketak, assure your dad, don’t conflict him – put yourself in his shoes and think. Things will fall in place. And he will let your balls be yours again (someday :P). Tu hamaara tattoo baba hai yaar, chill maar.Sanjeev, nariyal tel bech tu saaley! Tereko jitni gaaliyaan doon kamm hai. Grow some balls. Or borrow ketak’s if he gets them back. Bastard.Miss you guys man!

maria
By far my best artie ever! You, my darling, are awesome! Always remember the note I wrote you and keep away from stupid people. You are way too naïve and talented to be stuck amongst assholes.PS: we’ll keep doing our abstract and random art projects together, so fikarrr not J

lishoy and pankajharamzaado! Mere Art partners ho, dost ho, par sabsey badhkar…. ek number ke kameeney ho saalon! You guys, have ruined it for my future workplace buddies! You guys have set the standards so high, it will be difficult to find friends like you at any workplace in the world! Lishoy’s ‘desktop mandir’ and ‘ask the pankazzz’ episodes at Ogilvy….. damn I’ll miss it yaar!
PS: Keep the “kyaaa baaat hai!” episodes going. I’ll try n do the same till we meet again ;)

samrat and kavish. and charles.

Advertising is a fucking parasite pool. You do eventually find awesome people in it too. But you never expect to find them through such randomly bizzaare ways! I don’t even remember how and when we became friends, but I’m glad we did, coz u guys are awesome.

Samrat, you are the shit man! Awesomeness, creativity, simplicity and genuineness – you are sarvagunna sampanna dude! I know you’ll be rocking the advertising planet at every award show. And fikkarr not, I’ll be right there too ;)

Kavish – kameeney, tujheyy dhanno banaakey bhagaaney ka plan to cancel ho gaya, parr darr mat, tujhey diet aur work out mail kar doonga. You’ve got the personality dude – you are the REAL kung fu panda! Bring the Dragon warrior to Bangalore sometime!

charie - keep doodling man. i'm gonna buy all your coreldraw doodles and make a billion bucks outta them one day! love your art and your mallu cool vibe! :)

rushi
no matter how much we drift apart, you know I love you baby. You are the bumbling little happy gnome in my life J and I’ll be by you whenever you need me J I’m maybe moving cities, but don’t forget, I rule this planet ;)

kreneta
damn your happiness is addictive! It’s bizarre how I know you and yet I don’t know you. Like at all! I don’t even know why you are on this list! But coz you are, I might as well tell you to keep your happy vibes flowing – it feels like vodka in the air J

sriram, kshitij, ramu, sumay, goldie, siddharth evam mere school ke adhik haraamzaadotum saaley toh contact mein rahogey, chaahey jahan bhi jaaoon. See you in Bangalore bastards.

rohon nag
……..Tollywood? ya Hollywood? Decide karr, phir bataa ;) Oscar toh jeetna hi hai whattefuck! No matter where we go.

Jay. and akshayJam karney mein kyaa jaata hai… bangalore is the music city neways. Just catch a fucking weekend bus and get there. I’m taking my guitar along JPS: jay, hope pick a career that gives you creative liberties or a career that gives you more than enough monies to pursue your creativity. You’ve got more talent than 5 creative morons put together (as seen in THE image)! Make the most of it J

sarika
life is short, make it count. Exploit that talent. use that camera. click some pictures. or you’ll end up forgetting why you purchased it in the first place!

menekaIf I had a foolishness meter – you’d break it! I’ve never seen anyone being so full of potential and yet so foolish at the same time. BTW, when I call a person foolish, it’s a compliment. I’m a fool too. It’s coz u don’t wear any masks. You are honest. And all non foolish people in the world know that the first to be victimized, are always the honest. And it’s up to you to understand that the first prerequisite to being honest, is being strong. Don’t let idiots and fairweathers worry you. You are awesome (and awesomely mad) and you know it J

prafulWe are people endowed with the awesomeness to make great shit happen – and with such awesome power comes awesome responsibility. So haraami, jo hi karegaa, contact mein reh!

sayan
keep clicking dude. hope to see your work get even better with time. we'll stay in touch. even if it's across cities.
PS: did you know what's according to me, the most amazing thing the buddha ever said - "don't take life too seriously" :)

riddhi
you just somehow stuck together. If I look back, I find it amazing how we’ve been friends for so long! And despite the long chats we’ve had, if there one thing I need to tell you – is to let yourself be awesome.

varshaaiyyo! u came to my land. now i go to your land. but yet, we are on the same to same planet, so don't the worries... we'll soon cross paths again :) and let me know how your illustrations and independance is going from time to time :) fessshbookkk helps :)

krishna
from being a person who absolutely hated me, to being one of my best friends – we’ve come a long way J Just want to tell you that you really need to make that switch – you are a writer/creative person inside. The monotonous you is just the self-perception you’ve learnt to accept with time. It ain’t the real you. Go out there and write a killing!

sara, nihal and payaldarn! we don’t stay in touch neways. But for all i know, you guys no matter how much time and space, marriage and jobs, and studies and escapades drift us apart, you guys are my friends. Will always be.

burzin
thank you for your patience. And your knowledge. You’ve been quite an awesome teacher. I owe my copy monster status to you in a biggg, circled with a pencil way J

vaishakhi and mr. makhijathe two people whose wise counsel give me my invisible invincibility cloak. You have been my two most amazing bosses ever. No matter where I am, its you I’ll always look up to J (and to my juniors, I’ll try to be atleast half as good a boss as you’ve been to me J scoldings, and evil ‘I’m so going to kill you pushkar!’ stares included)

manoshimy favouritesssst one and a half persons on this planet. What do I tell you? I can say I wish you find allllllll the happiness in this world. But actually, its pointless, coz I know you always will - coz I’ll be there kicking fate’s ass to keep it coming your way. always.PS: the tattoo, shot gun and the harley davidson bike with the ball chopper accessory deal is still on.

As i've often said... i'm not the kind to miss places and institutions and groups and companies, my attachments are purely to my people. and the best part about that is, no material distances can ever separate them from you :)

so goodbye, but no goodbye :)

love ye, awesomely awesome people of my awesomely awesome mumbai. Let's amke sure we keep this planet rockkinnggg! :D

-Pushkaraj Shirke