written on Dec 5,'08
My connection with Bombay (I still feel this sounds better than Mumbai) has been quite strange. I attended a play school here when I was 2.Bombay to me was much of a summer affair. Every time during summer vacations I and my brother would accompany mother to nani's house. I still remember my fights with my cousin over over marbles and cricket. I was fascinated by double-decker buses and thoroughly enjoyed camel rides, pav bhaji and Kalla khatta at the Juhu-beach (I somehow disliked Chowpati). This was the time when Mc.Ds and malls had not reached Bombay.
As I grew, my attraction towards this maximum city started fading. Mumbai (as it was now called ) had no time for me. My cousins were busy with their tuitions, art classes, skating and what not. There were no camels at the Juhu Beach now (thanks to Menaka Gandhi). Even the kala Khatta didn't taste the same. I remember traveling in local trains sitting next to my mother and looking out of the window, reading bill boards and seeing the slum areas and the tall buildings with a certain awe. But things had changed, getting a foot hold in local train was now more of a battle with commuters trying their best to make sure that I missed the train. I was more happy spending my summer vacations playing cricket in Bhopal rather than doing nothing in the overcrowded Mumbai.
26/11 has changed many things along with my perception towards this city. I have not seen the Gateway of India (and now I wonder why my uncle never took me there).I do want to visit this city again but not like I had done in the past, paying visits to relatives' houses. I would like to visit Bombay as a tourist. I would like to sit in cafe Leopald and spend hours at the Gateway of India. I would again like to make my way through the crowded Kandivali station, take a local to ChurniRoad and walk to the Marine Drive to enjoy the sunset. I would again like to go to the Haji Ali and to the Siddhivinayak temple. I would again like to travel by a double- decker and eat dosas at the Anand Bhavan, Matunga. I would like to book a taxi from CST station and get a feel of traveling by a limousine. This for me will be the best way to contribute to an answer that all of us together have to give to the fanatics who were responsible for 26/11.
Let us not confine ourselves to our homes. Let us not be afraid by bomb threats. Let us promise ourselves that we will not break the traffic rules, that we will cooperate with the security agencies, that we will buy platform tickets ever time we go to a railway station, that we will not forward any smses or emails that are meant to create rumours and above all we will not make an opinion about a person based on his or her name or by the version of God he or she believes in.
Monday, January 5, 2009
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Wanna Play ?
This probably is the toughest playground....you win here and you can conquer the world.
Let us not go into the intricacies(it is prohibited). Let's talk business. Here are the rules of the game*:-
1. You will be held responsible for anything that goes wrong and if anything constructive happens..then it is expected.
2. You cannot cheat. It's unethical but if someone else does you are suppose (read forced) to ignore it.
3. Players can join/quit the game at their will (which is subject to prior permissions from the organizers and is conspicuously denied in your case.)
4. You can speak but only the written text. Any diversion from this will be penalized severely.
5. You are not aware of the team for which you are playing for. Your role/team can change depending upon the circumstances and prophecy of the consequences.
6. It is mandatory for you to be a good sport because you are not entitled to win.
7. You always have to be on backfoot. You cannot play aggressively.
8. You can think.
9. You can act but not according to what you think.
10. You can appeal.
11. Your appeal should not be heard.
12. You can read.
13. You have to ignore contentious writings on the wall.
14. You have to play safe even if it means risking yourself.
*Above rules are subject to change without prior notification.
This probably is the toughest playground....you win here and you can conquer the world...but then you have to 'win' here...Wanna play?
Cheers!
********
(You cannot name anyone except yourself)
Let us not go into the intricacies(it is prohibited). Let's talk business. Here are the rules of the game*:-
1. You will be held responsible for anything that goes wrong and if anything constructive happens..then it is expected.
2. You cannot cheat. It's unethical but if someone else does you are suppose (read forced) to ignore it.
3. Players can join/quit the game at their will (which is subject to prior permissions from the organizers and is conspicuously denied in your case.)
4. You can speak but only the written text. Any diversion from this will be penalized severely.
5. You are not aware of the team for which you are playing for. Your role/team can change depending upon the circumstances and prophecy of the consequences.
6. It is mandatory for you to be a good sport because you are not entitled to win.
7. You always have to be on backfoot. You cannot play aggressively.
8. You can think.
9. You can act but not according to what you think.
10. You can appeal.
11. Your appeal should not be heard.
12. You can read.
13. You have to ignore contentious writings on the wall.
14. You have to play safe even if it means risking yourself.
*Above rules are subject to change without prior notification.
This probably is the toughest playground....you win here and you can conquer the world...but then you have to 'win' here...Wanna play?
Cheers!
********
(You cannot name anyone except yourself)
Friday, December 7, 2007
Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi
Far from the congested alleys and cacophonous markets when you step on highways there is a completely different world waiting for you. But it is amazing to notice that each highway offers more or less the same panorama .Same petrol pumps, identical road strips , sign boards just differ in contents otherwise the style is the same and the most important aspect of this different world it's citizen the Truck waalas (we all who travel once in a while are just like tourists).
Myriads of times we see trucks passing by and think it was just facsimile of one that passed previously. It hard to differentiate between the trucks. Most of them are painted red, have this antenna kinda thing attached to the bonnet usually wrapped with red cloth which has some religious significance, and then they have this silver number plate with vehicle no. written in black (this is on the front side at the back it is yellow) , if you have ever been into driver's cabin you would have notice numerous small idols and lots of stickers on top of the glass, even the way they are sticked does not vary too much usually in contiguous fashion and one with greater importance placed separately to specify its significance. You will never find a water bottle instead will see a big water container for the purpose. Not going into the tools and all. Sideways, they are painted in three colours white at the top, red in between and then orange or green at last. But the best thing about them is the quotes that are written at back of the truck on wooden plank that is tied to chains.
Whenever a truck passes by I try my best to look for the caption at the back of this monster vehicle. While most of the time you will find them same sometimes you will get reward for your search. The most commonly used tags are:-
"Buri nazar waale tera mooh kaala"
"Maa ki dua"
"Fir milenge"
The one that I liked the most and have found it just on one truck goes like this
"Buri Nazar waale tere bhi bacche jiye
Bade ho kar desi sharab piye"
I later came to know that truck owner had a small liquor shop so that's great way to create customers. You bless your foes and get their kids as customers.
We have frequent encounters with truck waalas in Bollywood movies and they always depict them as jolly characters invariably having a great vocal chord. Well, I haven't met a single truck driver who sings while driving. At times they are as jolly as Parikshit Sahani in Kaala Pathar (one of my favourite movies) but they are never as cool as Shahrukh Khan of Chalte-Chalte. One movie that showed a different but close to real side of truck drivers was Dushman Chacha starring Rajesh Khanna. Then we have movies such as Gadar and Mama Bhanja (starring Randhir Kapoor) where truck drivers are heroes of the community.
These men live in two different worlds one with loads of disturbance and is moving aimlessly and one which they drive on their on own. Always wanting to beat the scorching heat, chilly winds, turbulent rains, intruding check posts, fellow trucks and most important of them all the deadlines. Reaching destinations just to plan for another voyage, meeting close ones just to tell them about yet another parting and igniting the engine just to shut it off on reaching the destination this is all they do and in the process they gather knowledge that none of us can ever achieve about the "Real World".
Myriads of times we see trucks passing by and think it was just facsimile of one that passed previously. It hard to differentiate between the trucks. Most of them are painted red, have this antenna kinda thing attached to the bonnet usually wrapped with red cloth which has some religious significance, and then they have this silver number plate with vehicle no. written in black (this is on the front side at the back it is yellow) , if you have ever been into driver's cabin you would have notice numerous small idols and lots of stickers on top of the glass, even the way they are sticked does not vary too much usually in contiguous fashion and one with greater importance placed separately to specify its significance. You will never find a water bottle instead will see a big water container for the purpose. Not going into the tools and all. Sideways, they are painted in three colours white at the top, red in between and then orange or green at last. But the best thing about them is the quotes that are written at back of the truck on wooden plank that is tied to chains.
Whenever a truck passes by I try my best to look for the caption at the back of this monster vehicle. While most of the time you will find them same sometimes you will get reward for your search. The most commonly used tags are:-
"Buri nazar waale tera mooh kaala"
"Maa ki dua"
"Fir milenge"
The one that I liked the most and have found it just on one truck goes like this
"Buri Nazar waale tere bhi bacche jiye
Bade ho kar desi sharab piye"
I later came to know that truck owner had a small liquor shop so that's great way to create customers. You bless your foes and get their kids as customers.
We have frequent encounters with truck waalas in Bollywood movies and they always depict them as jolly characters invariably having a great vocal chord. Well, I haven't met a single truck driver who sings while driving. At times they are as jolly as Parikshit Sahani in Kaala Pathar (one of my favourite movies) but they are never as cool as Shahrukh Khan of Chalte-Chalte. One movie that showed a different but close to real side of truck drivers was Dushman Chacha starring Rajesh Khanna. Then we have movies such as Gadar and Mama Bhanja (starring Randhir Kapoor) where truck drivers are heroes of the community.
These men live in two different worlds one with loads of disturbance and is moving aimlessly and one which they drive on their on own. Always wanting to beat the scorching heat, chilly winds, turbulent rains, intruding check posts, fellow trucks and most important of them all the deadlines. Reaching destinations just to plan for another voyage, meeting close ones just to tell them about yet another parting and igniting the engine just to shut it off on reaching the destination this is all they do and in the process they gather knowledge that none of us can ever achieve about the "Real World".
Friday, November 30, 2007
Mr. Feynman U must have been joking
At times you get inspired by what you see, hear or read. You try to imitate things that leave mark on your thoughts. At times you get things right while sometimes you land up in complete mess.During Diwali vacations I was reading this wonderful book about physicists Richard Feynman. I was truly amazed by the way he thought. Observing each and every thing with immense scrutiny, trying new things and applying commonsense to solve even the most difficult of problems. A true genius he was.
Now, two days before Diwali I was suppose to fix up a series of holders as few of the holders weren't proper. All I had to do was to call an electrician and give him the series and then collect it from him in couple hours of time. Simple enough, right. But then came Mr. Feynman. I thought why not try it myself after all I supposedly will be an engineer some time from now. What I didn't realize that it was not ICT engineer's domain that I was stepping in (quite true, till now I haven't done anything that an ICT engineer would do or I still don't know what they are suppose to do or are they suppose to do anything?). So, here I was with series of holders and dozens of bulbs checking each of them .Everything was fine till I tested 3 of them but then it was boom bam bam bam boooo...(a bulb broke).......aaaaaaa (cousin shouted) and (dhamdham dham dham dham...)I zipped to turn off the main switch downstairs and when I rushed back into the room it was smoke all over the place. In short I turned a series of holders which was not properly working to not completely working. So, my curiosity landed me in complete mess. I was exaggeratedly counseled for next next half an hour and then to cool my counselors down I told them that it was nothing but a few crackers before Diwali :P.Next day dad called up the electrician and then we had a brand new series for Diwali this time. It looked great on Diwali night :).
Now, two days before Diwali I was suppose to fix up a series of holders as few of the holders weren't proper. All I had to do was to call an electrician and give him the series and then collect it from him in couple hours of time. Simple enough, right. But then came Mr. Feynman. I thought why not try it myself after all I supposedly will be an engineer some time from now. What I didn't realize that it was not ICT engineer's domain that I was stepping in (quite true, till now I haven't done anything that an ICT engineer would do or I still don't know what they are suppose to do or are they suppose to do anything?). So, here I was with series of holders and dozens of bulbs checking each of them .Everything was fine till I tested 3 of them but then it was boom bam bam bam boooo...(a bulb broke).......aaaaaaa (cousin shouted) and (dhamdham dham dham dham...)I zipped to turn off the main switch downstairs and when I rushed back into the room it was smoke all over the place. In short I turned a series of holders which was not properly working to not completely working. So, my curiosity landed me in complete mess. I was exaggeratedly counseled for next next half an hour and then to cool my counselors down I told them that it was nothing but a few crackers before Diwali :P.Next day dad called up the electrician and then we had a brand new series for Diwali this time. It looked great on Diwali night :).
Friday, September 14, 2007
These days...
I know what are the paths to walk on but then they are too many . They seem to run in parallel yet giving me illusions that somewhere ,sometime ,somehow they will reach the same destination .
I decide to chose one of them only to find others more alluring .Then sometimes I change course ,sometimes I move on ,sometimes I remain stagnant .
I have seen dead ends and decided to stop until I saw jets flying over me .I was stuck in middle of the road until I was able to apprehend the signboard .I decided to halt until I found that I was just a few miles short ...
Friday, September 7, 2007
3 Bs
*ring
B1 - The Ingenious Stooge
B2 - The Manager
B3 - The Public Relation officer
B4 - Bugger One
B5 - Big Bugger One
J1 - Rakshash (Ghost)
J2 - Devi...naam hi kaafi hai
Written & Directed by - Sivaji
After analyzing networks across the world and untangling themselves with subtle threads the three B's (1,2 and 3) decided to focus on task that Sivaji ordered .Though the mission was nontrivial but this probably was a great opportunity for Company B to settle their scores against their arch rivals 'Devi & Associates' .The task could have been over well before it started with a click if any of them had a gf (all three of them are 'forced' members of All India Lukka Society).
Daunted by past defeats they were desperate to turn tables this time .B1 who wanted this mission to be appearing cumbersome at least took latter Bs(2 & 3) and exposed them to grueling realities and made them work just like RajBabbar did in his movies(finishing his homework under streetlights).
Stakes were high this time and so were the hurdles .Not only they had to beat the Js but also take care of the two Bs.So, 3 of them started their work sometime around 1 o'clock and were doing it well until they found whole ambience glistening .They were quick to guess that FC had been transformed to a sanctum by aura of "devi" .Just to feign the world that she was indeed one of the mortal souls she came along with a devil .
15 minutes passed listening to the pious preachings but soon devi disappeared in style similar to that of Frodo Baggins and so did the devil.Every thing was going well but distances are seldom covered without hitches and B2 was quick to spot the first one .B4 chitchatting with Manu bhaiya .If B4 had spotted the other Bs the consequences could have been catastrophic .The working rate would have dwindled the same way that sensex did in early 90's .But God helps those who hide themselves .3Bs decide to halt the process till their subject kin departed from the battle field .
Now it was just a matter of coup de grâce before three dwellers could have attained tranquility but then movie without a twist is seldom remembered and the twist was waving at them from distance of 50 mts .The smiles were replaced by melancholy faces in span of few seconds. But B3 was up to his
task just as an agile cat is while preying for rats .Just as a good PRO he didn't allowed B5 to make any relation with the project and literally took him for a walk .
Just as candle flames flitters just before dying off B5 was back again but not for long .It took just one sentence from otherwise quite B1 to make them see his back .The next few minutes saw them talking in numbers and they finally completed the mission .Neither any of them threw their arms in air nor they took off their T-shirts
like Dada but satisfaction on their face and sleep in their eyes was clearly visible .But like fairly tales they didn't lived happily every after .Actually it was just the beginning of worse time to come as they all were being forked for continuous 3 days ...
Ps:-
1. The Devi design failed miserably .The group members were boasting heavily about the work done by Gudadi ka lal Truck driver from past few days before they were shown the ground realities by Sivaji's Assistant .
2. The members of B and J companies nearly went into coma after seeing design by another South Indian company .
3.Now for all those who have taken pain to read the passage here is the time to gain. Identify all the characters and win a free trip to Sivaji's office .Please post your queries about the competition as comments .
B1 - The Ingenious Stooge
B2 - The Manager
B3 - The Public Relation officer
B4 - Bugger One
B5 - Big Bugger One
J1 - Rakshash (Ghost)
J2 - Devi...naam hi kaafi hai
Written & Directed by - Sivaji
After analyzing networks across the world and untangling themselves with subtle threads the three B's (1,2 and 3) decided to focus on task that Sivaji ordered .Though the mission was nontrivial but this probably was a great opportunity for Company B to settle their scores against their arch rivals 'Devi & Associates' .The task could have been over well before it started with a click if any of them had a gf (all three of them are 'forced' members of All India Lukka Society).
Daunted by past defeats they were desperate to turn tables this time .B1 who wanted this mission to be appearing cumbersome at least took latter Bs(2 & 3) and exposed them to grueling realities and made them work just like RajBabbar did in his movies(finishing his homework under streetlights).
Stakes were high this time and so were the hurdles .Not only they had to beat the Js but also take care of the two Bs.So, 3 of them started their work sometime around 1 o'clock and were doing it well until they found whole ambience glistening .They were quick to guess that FC had been transformed to a sanctum by aura of "devi" .Just to feign the world that she was indeed one of the mortal souls she came along with a devil .
15 minutes passed listening to the pious preachings but soon devi disappeared in style similar to that of Frodo Baggins and so did the devil.Every thing was going well but distances are seldom covered without hitches and B2 was quick to spot the first one .B4 chitchatting with Manu bhaiya .If B4 had spotted the other Bs the consequences could have been catastrophic .The working rate would have dwindled the same way that sensex did in early 90's .But God helps those who hide themselves .3Bs decide to halt the process till their subject kin departed from the battle field .
Now it was just a matter of coup de grâce before three dwellers could have attained tranquility but then movie without a twist is seldom remembered and the twist was waving at them from distance of 50 mts .The smiles were replaced by melancholy faces in span of few seconds. But B3 was up to his
task just as an agile cat is while preying for rats .Just as a good PRO he didn't allowed B5 to make any relation with the project and literally took him for a walk .
Just as candle flames flitters just before dying off B5 was back again but not for long .It took just one sentence from otherwise quite B1 to make them see his back .The next few minutes saw them talking in numbers and they finally completed the mission .Neither any of them threw their arms in air nor they took off their T-shirts
like Dada but satisfaction on their face and sleep in their eyes was clearly visible .But like fairly tales they didn't lived happily every after .Actually it was just the beginning of worse time to come as they all were being forked for continuous 3 days ...
Ps:-
1. The Devi design failed miserably .The group members were boasting heavily about the work done by Gudadi ka lal Truck driver from past few days before they were shown the ground realities by Sivaji's Assistant .
2. The members of B and J companies nearly went into coma after seeing design by another South Indian company .
3.Now for all those who have taken pain to read the passage here is the time to gain. Identify all the characters and win a free trip to Sivaji's office .Please post your queries about the competition as comments .
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)