Mumbai is vibrant

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, the Art of Living guru, and I were stuck in peak hour evening traffic. Motorists honked impatiently, the signals blinked with jaundiced eyes, traffic policemen whistled shrilly and gesticulated wildly. His Holiness sat through this, on the passenger seat next to the driver, in utmost calmness. He had just addressed the Press Club on a 'Stress-free mind and a scam-free nation'. Now he was driving to Kavita Khanna's house on Malabar Hill. He is in Mumbai the whole week. And somebody with a lot of imagination planned an itinerary that took him from Thane to Borivli, Nerul to Lokhandwala, Powai to Andheri, for music and meditation, puja and gyan, so that he could preach inner rejuvenation and social transformation. Last time he was here, was after 26/11, and Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar had talked to me about terrorists; before that, when Maharashtra was facing severe drought, he had expressed his concern for suicidal farmers. Now, he gazed out at the sea off Marine Drive and talked about Mumbai. Read more