Follow your instinct

Mumbai - Part 3

After finishing my high school in Goa, I had chosen to pursue my higher education in an Arts college in Mumbai. It took me several years to understand the real reason why I had chosen to pursue my studies there.

The apparent reason that I had made everyone in the family to believe was that similar college did not exist in Goa, and that going to Mumbai was the only option that will allow me to study what inspired me the most.

My parents were reluctant to let me study in Mumbai. It is a cosmopolite city and being away from family and alone at my age was not safe. Besides accommodation there is a major issue: expensive. It would be a big financial burden to my parents.

I enrolled in J.J. Institute of Applied Arts, for a course of 4 years to get Government Diploma in Applied Arts. This is one of the best institutes in the whole of India where westerners send their children to study.

I stayed in a community club, where my uncle was living. It was the most economic option and it was only a walking distance from the college, passing through the campus of St. Xavier College.

My parents had decided to finance my studies. They would send me money through postal remittances every month; just enough money to cover my food expenses, laundry, and my college fees. The accommodation was almost free, a small amount which my uncle had decided to pay for me as a community member.

The club was generally accommodating temporary travelers or sea-farers from our Goan village of Cortalim. Almost every village in Goa has their community clubs in Mumbai.

It was providing just a bed-space enough to spread a mattress on the floor, which you would fold and arrange in your locker in the morning not later than 7 O' clock. Very strict rules had to be observed by all residents.

During the first academic year, I was advised to apply for scholarship, which I obtained without difficulty. My performance in studies was good. I was exempted from paying fees and I would even receive some money from the government as pocket expense. My performance assured me the same treatment for the next three years till the end of the course, if the conditions were fulfilled until then.

I took part in sports activities, in athletics. I used to do jogging in the morning, run for at least an hour every morning, in the streets of Mumbai, early in the morning when there was less traffic.

During the first year athletic meet, I had two medals, one for 10,000 m run and another for 5,000 m run.

The following year I failed to complete even 5,000 m. I did not perform as before due to lack of negligence in sports. I was not even good at indoor sports like Badminton.

I had developed bad habits of spending time with friends, sitting in the college canteen, drinking tea and smoking.

I had my friend circle made up of students from various social classes and ethnic groups. Some were from very affluent families, like the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, sister of a famous Indian movie star, son of Art Director of Mumbai's most reputed Advertising Agency.

Later, when I used to visit the Jahangir Art Gallery, I had become a good friend of Maqbool Fida Hussein, who had his own section in the gallery with his famous paintings.

But my modest life as one of the poorest students in the campus was unaffected.

Sometimes, some classmates would pay my ticket when the group would decide to go to cinema, or pay my meals when they would go to restaurant, etc. Some were really generous.

Ravi and Shankar were two of my closest friends, and they remained my true friends till the end of my studies.

They were used to receiving lunch boxes from their families every day, as the system exists in Mumbai. Since I did not have my family to do that for me, they would share their meals with me; delicious food that was prepared by their loving mothers.