Hanging out in Mumbai: Spoilt for choice, but starved for time

Hanging out with friends in a city that is starved for time and spoilt for options is slowly becoming a calculated art. How do you get people from different parts of Mumbai and its suburbs at one spot and ensure that they are punctual too? Difficult, since it takes effort to catch-up in this city. So unless you’re staying in close proximity to your friends, say bye to an impulsive meet over a cup of coffee.
Things are not so bad though. Mumbai works hard towards catching up. According to the Quality of Life survey done by DNA and AZ Research, around 35% respondents said they catch up with friends either once or twice every week.

Take 27-year-old Thane resident Amit Singh who works in Chembur. In between working as a communications manager at an IT company and adjusting to life in a new city, he also travels to Dadar and Bandra, at least once a week to meet his friends. “I don’t mind travelling a long distance to meet friends. If I don’t, time just flies and suddenly I realise that it’s been a month since I met them,” he says, adding that he travels that long only after ensuring that everyone will be present. Singh is just one among many Mumbaiites for whom meeting friends is an essential activity.

Once a week is still minimum. About 23% of the respondents said they meet three to four times a week. Ankita Kanabar, 21, who stays at Charni Road, says that her frequency of catching up with someone depends on “how close I am with that person”. Since most of her friends live nearby, meeting on days when there is less traffic is a breeze.

Most people who live in close proximity to their friends, tend to meet every other day or night, depending on their commitments at work or at home. Gaurav Choksi, 24, who lives at Nepean Sea Road makes it a point to meet his friends everyday after work, generally post 8pm, either at Zaffran in Crawford Market or at Mafco at Breach Candy.

“Since we are all connected through Blackberry phones, it is easy to co-ordinate. Whoever is the first one to get done at work informs the others and the plan is made,” he says. Generally his group hangs out for an hour or so, before heading home. For Choksi and his group of friends, going to the suburbs is a complete no-no, considering travelling takes too much time.

Despite that being the case, travel time also serves as an opportunity to catch-up. An hour or less is enough for people, as long as they get to travel with their friends. Like Julie Sam, 20, who works at a recruitment firm in Malad and waits for her friend Naomi on most evenings. “We get one hour to travel home together after work, which works as a great stress buster.” Sam generally catches up with her colony friends every second day, usually in the neighbourhood itself, even if it is for a task as mundane as going to the laundry together.

However, time is also a factor that proves to be a hindrance when it comes to catching up with friends. With work hours become longer and people working overtime, managing to extract an hour out of their hectic schedules has become an art many would want to perfect.

Which is why, weekends are generally the easiest time for people to meet. Yashwant Naik, 27, a web promoter from Nalasopara, who travels to Dahisar every Sunday, puts it, “Sunday is the only day when I can be sure of meeting friends since everyone has a holiday. We have a ritual where all of us meet at our favourite tapri (tea stall) and then either go trekking or for a picnic.”

As for his friends who stay in the main city, he has lost touch with them, thanks to the distance which separates them. “They stay quite far from where I currently live, so catching up regularly is not possible. I usually meet up with them only during when there are public holidays.”

Although the city loves to hang out, fatigue and stress play a key role in how they do it — especially for working professionals. At the end of a hectic day, most people would prefer just relaxing at home, rather than stepping out again. “Even though you have enough time in hand, after a long day/ week of work, you feel like being alone — watching TV or lazing around with all the time you have,” says Kanabar.

The fact that ‘me time’ is not a myth is corroborated by Singh. “If time is not a constraint, then fatigue compels you to stay put and relax at home.”

Whatever be the reason, and however little the time, people still take an effort to go out and meet their friends. In Mumbai, that is just one way for them to keep a hold on reality and sanity.