Famous words of wordsworth " How green was my valley"/ I also saw the movie titled same when i was child. I dont even remember the cast and the story, but faintly remember, the movie echoed sentiments of wordsworth truly. Being born and brought up in Mumbai I always felt proud of being a part of most progressive and prosperous city of the country. It was always a feel of being one up, it could be BSE climbing or generation of sunil gavaskar to sachin tendulkar or annual union budget lecture of nani palkhiwala or lata mangeshkars pedder road residence or the most famous siddhi vinayak, Mahalaxmi, Mount Mary, Haji Ali or ever efficient local trains and BEST and lastly not to forget the never say die Mumbai spirit, this and so many of such things made me feel proud of being Mumbaite. Being out of Mumbai for over a decade, childhood memories always throw up lovely coast line, a lot of Mango trees in our area at Borivli, a slowl and steadily growing city. That was atime when mad rush towards Mumbai had not commenced. My elder brother used to take me for a cycle ride, and mother would caution...."Dont go to this area after 5 o clock because it becomes dark and you may loose your way in jungel"..actually mango forest near LIC colony area. Though it was a tru concern of mother, factually the area would become so lonely after dark and we would return home at the earliest. All weekends used to be full of cricket matches organised between colonies or wadis located neaby.........we children would have our own heros in our teams and would venomously support our teams. Winners would celebrate for a day and life would be back to normnal........travelling by local train and reading through the pages of Mid Day and Afternoon used to be a daily ritual. Thoes news papers actually do not carry anything meaningful but would definately take you through your journey...i still miss the mid day cross word.....diwali used to be a fun filled four days....most memorable would be day of Saal Mubarak when we would visit practcally every house in the colony....life and people were truly simple and attached to each other........I dont blame any one for Mumbai  being the way it is today. The blasts from 93 onwards, emergence of number of serious scams, floods of 26 Jul and uncontrolled growth has some where missed the soul of the city. Everytime I visit Mumbai I spend my maximum time surfing channels and avoid moving out. Roads have become dirty/ crowded and pot holed. Everytime i go, I see a new building, new Mall in my area, a new hep trend, a new fashion, a new car on road.........but this doesent make a person like me happy, who tries to search for old pals. Where have they gone...? I still remember, a time when 1971 war broke out, the lights out siren would go during a pakistani air raid. we brothers/ sisters all young children would hide oursellves in dark bedroom under assured cover of my mother...on one of the nights when the light in the opposite building was not switched off my mother showed a courage to leave us alone in the bedroom and broke windows of that flat by a strike of stone..ofcourse neigbours were apologetic.....but today i guess under stress of growth and survival has forced people to leavel life that is less attached, with how do i care attitude..........but when u see upsurge of Mumbai spirit during events like floods last year, 1993 Mumbai blasts and train blasts........and the way the entire city showed up during ganesh pooja and navratris this year.......one feels the emotional chord of Mumbai is still alive and My city is still alive and has a great hope. I guess its too early for me to say "How Green was my valley.................".