Salaam Bombay and all that...

For the first time since I finished engineering in 2000, I am unemployed. Today was my last day at work in what turned out to be my longest job till date. And based on my future plans, may be for a while.

I am leaving Bombay/Mumbai t'row and won't be back for a while. When I make a brief visit it will be to participate in the Mumbai Marathon 2012 on 15th Jan - which brings us to my career change.

I am moving to Bangalore to become a running coach among other things.

Things have been a whirl in my life. After a few days of random fever, I got diagnosed with jaundice 3 weeks ago and had been resting & recuperating mostly at home in Bangalore. While that has ensured I haven't run a mile for over 3 weeks, I am hoping to be better in about a month when my first batch of trainees begin training for the Mumbai Marathon.

It is one strange feeling of relief and panic about the lack of steady income - not to mention a notional pay cut of over 90%. And being in bed being sick is not helping matters. I have also lost over 2.5 kg in 2 weeks of being sick, although I am getting better now.

Amongst various memories that will bind me to Bombay will be one from this evening - that of this elderly Bengali lady at Mumbai Central who blessed my new venture, wished me a good bride and marriage and generally wished me a good life, only since we shared a taxi, one that we struggled to get. Leaving Bombay is emotionally harder than leaving my job. I have not liked any other city outside Bangalore as much. I will miss the taxi drivers and their stories. I will generally miss the buzz of Bombay and of course the mad rains. It is the city in which I started writing, harbouring ambitions of writing for a living. I also met Jerry, my friend for the last year who vastly contributed to the enhanced quality of my life in Bombay. And then of course my running pals from Shivaji Park & elsewhere. And how can I forget the trains and Ganapati? It is also the city from which I took my sabbatical to fulfil my life's biggest dream, till date. Now I am embarking on something even bigger.

Only time will tell.

Adios dear Bombay. We shall meet in the new year