Run Mumbai run...

Bombay’s spirit never stops running. Many times, it is not an option—the roads are crowded, the trains are flooded, and buses are late. You spend so much time in commute that you make fast friends with co-commuters in your fast train.

But the commute to work after a bomb blast doesn’t define Bombay’s indomitable spirit.

The Bombay spirit is defined by empathy. It is defined by citizens who open their houses and become chaiwalas for strangers when roads are flooded. It is defined by citizens who suddenly become traffic cops when a road is blocked by some stupid car that broke the lane.

These people might not offer you food on a thali, all prim and proper, but they will invite you to their houses and tell you “Feel at home—that’s the fridge, go grab yourself a drink.” My idea of Bombay doesn’t believe in charansparsh and chawanprash.

Yes, rapes happen, people are stabbed in broad daylight, there is a big housing problem, and we are grappling to keep our forests in Aarey safe.

But sachhi, I have a romanticised version of the city that is bound together by empathy. All of this comes to the fore in the months preceding the marathon when people start raising funds for causes they heart.

Every year, in December, Bombayittes fill the inboxes of their friends with donation links to their pet projects. And the friends donate, khull ke.

No wonder the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon (SCMM) holds the record for being the highest sporting fundraiser in India.

I am running for Humane Society International India to get hens out of factory farms, where they are kept in dingy cages in inhumane conditions, making them one of the most abused animals on the planet.

It starts young. Every year, young people representing the Nargis Dutt Foundation that helps children in rural areas; Srimadh Rajchandra Love and Care that is building a hospital and college in Dharampur, and Isha Foundation participate in the Young Leaders’ category.

This year, one more hero is raising funds. Jayendran Neelakantan underwent a kidney transplant in February 2013. Apex Kidney Foundation provides help to patients suffering from kidney ailments, who cannot afford the high costs involved in the treatment. The care that Jayendran received from the foundation has inspired him to run in its support.

This is the third time he is running the SCMM. He wants people to know that “Life doesn’t come to an end after a transplant. It’s just a new beginning.”

This is Mumbai. This is Bombay. Or call the city by any other name. It is defined by people like Jayendran, people in wheelchairs, people in the Senior

Citizens Run and the hundreds of people who raise funds and donate to various causes.

That’s the real ‘dil’ of Bombay. That’s home. Like we say “Dil pe le le yaar”.

Activist Harish Iyer shares his entertaining adventures through Mumbai’s landscape