Flavor of city

Every city has its own culture or what I call “Flavor”. When I moved from South of India to Mumbai in the year 1994, I was wonder struck by the unique “Flavor” of Mumbai.
It was very strange for me to watch people jump on to the train when it arrives empty and even when there was no crowd on the platform! Mumbaikars always had this habit of catching the train in a hurry! When I observed the hand bags carried by the public, it struck to me that I am totally out of sync with the rest of the population. Every one carried slender bags or brief cases to fit easily on the attic of the local train and to easily glide past the crowd.
Even the hand carts in Mumbai were of slender type not frequently seen anywhere in India. They are designed to wade through the crowded streets and alleys of Mumbai fort area.
Needless to mention, Mumbai is full of eateries, including restaurants and roadside shops and sandwich wallahs. “Mumbai burger” i.e. the ‘vada pav’ stalls are the higlight of the city. Due to this flavor,life in Mumbai is still orderly amist disorder found every where!
Similarly, when I landed in UAE, here too, a few things struck me; such as the habit of vehicles giving way to pedestrians, especially to ladies, even if they cross the road at undesignated places.
The list continues with, Vacum cleaned roads, parks, neat and clean public conveniences, Restaurants keeping hand washing solution and tissue papers without any limitation, besides provision of special chairs for children.
And, roads designed for differently abled persons, watchman for each building having very important role with respect to the management of the buildings!
Not to mention, Malls, well groomed locals, a number of video and DVD shops, attractive Roastaries, and Pizza corners.
This flavor makes me think that orderly life has become order of the day.

Note: This one appeared in "Gulf Today" 13th february,2010 edition on page 2