“I will be back, back soon, new year’s eve maybe”; I said, as I took the stairs that led me outside, it was an emotional moment for me to bid adieu to the place that has helped shape me, the place where I took refuge when the demons inside me were up in arms, the place which provided me with the much needed comfort and solace, the place which made me fall in love with myself and also with people around me. I had been a loner all my life, grabbing a drink all by myself was never an issue, I had always enjoyed my own company, but this was one place which made me see life through a different lens. A place, I proudly call home, my second home, my home away from home – Urban Mantra, to me it has never been a pub, it never will be, it will now remain a emotion I’ll carry with me, within me; wherever I go.
I had never imagined a place would go on to mean so very much that I would one day pen a blog dedicated to it, I have lived a considerable part of my life staying away from home, lived across five cities, a couple of metropolis and been to many such places which served me a drink, this place though was different; very very different.
I, first visited the place when I was down in the dumps, depressed and battling crises in my personal and professional life, the place then seemed like my escape to freedom, a route out of the chaos my life was surrounded with. As the visits became more frequent with time, it went on to become a huge part of my life, my existence and a route out of the my existential crisis. I would sit on a particular table which I would get myself reserved and switch myself off, it did take time though for the place to make it’s impact, a couple of visits maybe. They say, ‘happiness is contagious’; and rightly so, I would find myself on a different plane every time I walked up the stairs and entered the place, it led to happiness and opened the doors of hope for me.
The music they played also had it’s effect, never had I been to any such place in the city where I would get to listen to music that suited my taste, I could shuffle the playlist too, play songs I felt like listening to, no other place would have tolerated anything as such. The live bands and the live music scene thrived there, I would often end up singing along, shouting and screaming the lyrics, without caring a dime about what impression I would be making. Isn’t such behaviour normal when you are at home? Yes, it was my home after all.
The owner who would earlier take my calls to reserve the table gradually went on to become a dear friend, he to me is now family, perhaps amongst the few people I know in the city, a huge pillar of support he has been, from encouraging my comic abilities to ensuring the right kind of music was played, he has been a constant source of motivation. “Ek gig yaha bhi karna”; he had said after I returned from Gurgaon, someone trusting me with such words of encouragement, it did mean a lot. The staff and the manager had never let me down with their service, be it serving me an extra drink even after the closing hours or packing me a bottle of beer so that I could keep my demons at bay. They would never mind my freakish behaviour, what else do I call them if not family? My family, away from my family, my own people.
I made friends for life there, an elder sister who’d cook ethnic meals and ask me to come over, we would indulge in chatting over how the food scene in the city sucked, made friends who would add their glitter to my life. From silly conversations over a mug of beer to dancing on retro tunes, this place did weave it’s magic upon me, as I now look back; it did bless me with sanity and a renewed mental vigor to take on life, pulled me out of depression and put me back on track.
If a place could be magic, could have a healing effect and could induce such positivity: it had to be mantra, my Urban Mantra.
With me now set to bid goodbye, I know what I’ll miss the most about the city, I hadn’t fallen in love with it, but this place changed all of it. If there’s one thing that will pull me back here, it’ll be my home, away from home: Urban Mantra, hell, there’s a hell lot of happiness inside. I’ll take the stairs, and walk in again.
abhishek purkayastha 