Time to move on

Certain places have an iconic aura attached to them. Fort in Mumbai, Connaught Place in Delhi, Parry’s in Chennai, Dalhousie in Kolkata- the list is endless. One such iconic place that I got lucky to be associated with for last 16 years is Juhu. What comes to one’s mind when the very name Juhu is mentioned? Chowpatty or beach, Pav bhaji, bhel puri, Prithvi theatre, Amitabh Bachchan, ISKCON temple…… one can go on and on. When I moved to Mumbai some 17 years ago, we started life at Four Bungalows, Andheri , but soon shifted to Juhu to a larger accommodation and in proximity to our daughter’s school, which was Maneckjee Cooper. Some 16 years later, when our young school going daughter is already grown into a beautiful lady, a mother of a sweet little and relocated to Johannesburg, it’s time for us to move back to Four Bungalows, albeit to a dream home of our own!

When I told them of my Juhu coordinates, people envied me for my proximity to beach, film stars and other glitterati. But I hardly ever went to beach after the initial euphoria, seldom waited to see the film stars, saw very few plays at Prithvi, ate more Pav Bhaji at restaurants than at the beach, yet the luxury of having all that close at hand was always available. While excitement of shifting to our own, well furnished, designed to our taste home is inevitable and moreover our new residence is just about 2 Kms away from the current residence, somewhere deep in the heart is a tinge of sadness of no longer be able to call ourselves Juhu residents. After all, only a lucky few get to reside at such an iconic place and 16 years is significant period of one’s lifetime.