Bom Bahai Diaries 8- Inner Peace

Vicky, life is full of twists and turns. Just when you think everything is fine, a sudden change happens and the world turns upside down. Our lives are in a constant state of flux and anxiety. Peace is like an elusive bird that we all seek and hold on to but just when you think that we have it, it flies away.

Sir, there is one movie that I keep seeking often, The Kung Fu Panda. The teacher, Master Shifu, tells Po, the misfit panda, to seek inner peace in order to become the Dragon Warrior, one who will be the best martial arts fighter and who can save the world from evil forces. Peace and happiness come from two sources, having good people around you and being in good places. The major reason for people in this city of Mumbai being always worried is the huge sea of people who are always on the move from one place to another in search of food, fortune and fame. There is no place that they can find that is free where they can sit down peacefully, relax and enjoy life.

You are talking like a philosopher, Vicky. I have also seen the movie many times and now for all the wisdom you exhibit, I am anointing you Master Shifu, the one who will take me from darkness to light, from anxiety to inner peace. Please take up this role for a day and show me the way to inner peace in this mad, mad city.

Ok Sir, but this I will try and do just for a day and no more for you are and will always be my Guru.

Done, Vicky... oops... Master Shifu.

Dear Po, I can think of a few places which will bring down your BP and make you happy. These are four unique places, each will invoke in you a different feel and sensation and will soothe your disturbed nerves. Let me begin by doing the aqua-therapy by taking you around Girgaum Chowpaty. This is one place every tourist to Mumbai visits once in their lifetime and enjoys the splashing waves and the local finger food like bhel-puri and kala-khatta. This place, which is crowded all through the year, truly comes to life on the day of Ganpati Visarjan when the biggest of idols arrive here with their colourful and musical processions for the immersion.

Master Shifu, thanks for bringing me here. This is a good place especially with the cloud covering the sky, cool breeze blowing and the flowing waters of the Arabian Sea will surely have a calming effect on my mind. Unfortunately, the water here appears so dirty . All the waste and plastic stuff that Mumbaikars keep throwing into the sea is coming back ashore with the incoming waves. I am not going to even put my feet in these waters let alone take a dip. And with a hundred thousand people moving around, getting inner peace here will not be easy.

Dear Panda, forget the dirty water and the crowd. Look at the kids playing in the sand, people jumping into the same water and enjoying a cool splash, watch the lifeguards running around rescuing people, enjoy the vendors selling tea, cold drinks, colourful raw mango-kairi and candy floss. There will always be bad things around you, just focus on the good and peace shall fill you in.

You are right Master Shifu. We need to find the beauty in the madness. No place on earth is perfect.

Dear Po, after water therapy, I shall take you to a nature therapy. Mumbai now boasts of a nature trail, an elevated walk on Malabar Hill, in the midst of green trees and overlooking the sea with loads of birds merrily singing their songs that surely will give you what you dearly seek… inner peace.

Thank you Master Shifu. This is so amazing a place, wish it was a longer trail and  there were more birds to see and hear. This experience is similar to what you see when you go to Singapore. That’s pretty impressive. Plus, the greenery and the closeness to nature is so refreshing and unknowingly you smile and sing…. What a wonderful world….

Now that you have experienced two ways to achieve inner peace, let me take you to the third and most important form of seeking happiness…the spiritual way.  Having done a lot of walking, you need a cool break. A drive down Malabar Hills and Pedder Road will bring us you to a junction where we will arrive at a famous juice shop… Haji Ali Juice Centre. Let us enjoy the special mango juice at this place that was started in 1960 by Fareed Abdul Latif Noorani as a humble juice centre for the weary pilgrims and it has now transformed into a food-lover’s paradise that also serves pizzas, sandwiches and rolls apart from juices, shakes and fruit creams. This place remains open from 5am to 1am, with just four hours of sleep time.

Master Shifu, I can already hear a song playing in my head…Piya Haji Ali, Piya Haji Ali, Piya Ho...

Shah-e-samandar ebn-e-haider

Shah-e-samandar ek nazar

Piya Haji Ali, Piya Haji Ali

Piya Haji Ali, Piya Haji Ali

Ha ha!  This means, Dear Po, it is the time for your higher calling. It is low tide now and we can walk to the dargah which is at a little distance from the land. Cover your head with a handkerchief and you can buy a chaadar to put on the Baba’s shroud. This dargah was built in 1431 in memory of Pir Haji Ali Shah Bukhari who hailed from Bukhara in Uzbekistan but had settled down here. Devotees would flock to him as he was very knowledgeable in matters of faith and there are many legends associated with his miracles. Before his death he asked his followers not to bury him at any graveyard. They should drop his kafan in the ocean. His wish was obeyed by his followers and that is why the Haji Ali Dargah Sharif is built at the very site where his shroud came to rest in the middle of the sea where it perched on a small mound of rocks rising above the sea.

Master Shifu, this place is so crowded. I am sure even today people come to this shrine to seek Baba’s blessings and hope that their wishes would come true.

Yes Po. These are matters of faith and beyond the realm of science. People throng the place irrespective of age, religion, caste or creed. They all come here in search of Baba’s blessings.

How are you feeling now Po? Hopefully the inner peace in you is making its presence felt?

Yes, Master Shifu, but I am wondering what else can be the fourth path to inner peace. I cannot imagine anything beyond these three therapeutic places.

The final frontier is good food. So far, I have been taking you to places which are already well known and hence are crowded. But now, I shall take you to an old eating place which does not even have a board outside. It looks dilapidated and deserted but the food there will surely make you happy. This is the Sarvi Restaurant at Nagpada. Started by Haji Gulam Ali Sarvi in 1920, this place serves the best kebabs in town. Some say that the Irani Kainchi Kebab they make over charcoal grill is better than the famed Tundey Kebab of Lucknow. The writer Sadat Manto used to come here and often write some of his stories based on people he saw and met here. I read somewhere that the Bollywoord actor, Boman Irani, frequents this place the same way as his father would do. Come, let us go there and check if truly this place brings you the ‘inner’ joy! Let’s order for a couple of plates of kebabs because you can’t stop eating at one and have it with the special deep fried and crispy paranthas.

O My God… this place is truly the place to find ‘inner’ peace. The pieces of kebabs have reached deep inside me and every inch of my inside from gullet to stomach is feeling happy. Every cell in my brain is dancing.

Hope you’ve had enough happiness for a single day. Actually, the city has much more to offer.

Thank you, Master Shifu, for this excellent wholistic experience of water, nature, spiritual and gastronomic means of achieving complete inner peace. By the way, I want to tell you of something that happened a few days ago. A few young boys and girls, who worked with me at my last place of work before retirement a year and a half ago, invited me over for a dinner. It was great meeting them and listening to their stories. One of the boys gave me a box with the best jamuns packed. He bought them specially for me from his home town in Saphale. These were clean, hand-picked, big, juicy and the best jamuns we had ever had in all our lives.  Another girl couriered me a box of sweets that her in-laws had brought for her. The balushai and soan paapdi from Farrukhabad were out of this world. I had tears of joy in my eyes seeing the love and affection these kids still had for me.

Sir, this is wonderful. So now the search for inner peace is complete. Today you moved around the city for places associated with happiness and the love of the people is something you experienced with the youngsters who made you feel special. You are and always will be my guru, Grand Master Oogway!

Vicky & SS