A mountain that became a jungle

I came to Mumbai expecting to be in a jungle. I anticipated the glowing screen staring at me over long hours with a constancy of insane and endless deadlines.

The large plate glass windows showing the rains billowing like mist over a verdant mountain—in Powai, caught me seriously off-guard. The little cataracts, after rain, bounding over a massive rock face looked like something out of a movie or a video game. Not something you pass everyday when you enter the building.

Then, one night, I stepped out of the air-conditioned dream into the muggy night and looked at the 'city' twinkling at the 'mountain' like Xerxes' army must've at King Leonidas and his 300.

The mountain lost it's serenity as the city looked back like a sea and reminded it of how much of it was born out of the swallowed mountain.

The memories of the mountain were now like a diorama and I had just pivoted towards the audience's stare. Or, was it the other way around.