There’s this guy I’ve been observing crashed out on a bench at the park on my morning jaunts of late. He seems to pick the same park bench every time. No idea who he is or where he comes from, but my guess he’s a homeless South Indian. He always smells of cheap booze, but he never bothers anyone. When I pass by the park again at nine on my way to the office, he’s gone.

I’m a pragmatist, and I know all about the thousands who arrive in Mumbai every week to try Lady Luck. And I also know that the fabled woman doesn’t smile on each one of them. Pay a little closer attention while boarding your evening local back home and you can spot them.

Desperate faces, overwhelmed by the slow shattering of a dream and shell-shocked with the surplus of inputs this city provides for the uninitiated. They stand there, visibly clueless about what to do now that the interview didn’t pan out the way they had anticipated. Their clothes, hurriedly bought cheap off the shelf in some Tier III city, are grimy with the sweat and dust of cost-effective Mumbai commuting.

Sometimes they approach you, asking for bus fare back to where they came from – some godforsaken small town or the other. Sometimes you can see them in stand in STD booths, their beaten faces hung in defeat as they give the bad news to the people back at home. And sometimes – more often than not – you find them racked out gape-jawed on park benches and roadsides, wasted on hooch and deep in oblivion.

Strangely, Mumbai has means to capitalize on both the successes and the failures. Let me explain:

“In an attempt to earn more revenue, the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport Undertaking (BEST) has finally approved the commercialization plan of its 27 bus depots in the city. Presently, of the 27 bus depots in the city, the Andheri (West), Chembur and Seven Bungalows depots have been taken up for commercialization in the first phase, while the bus depots at Kurla and Oshiwara will be follow in the second phase. According to the plan, the BEST will also rent out space for opening of liquor bars in these depots…..” (Afternoon, January 11, 2007)

Let’s all hear it for the city of endless opportunity!