called Vasudev come from Shirdi. He went on to tell me some interesting facts about ME! .... nothing really deep still not something just anyone could tell on meeting me just a minute ago. He even gave me some advice on do's n dont's and said that he would give more details but not on the road like that. Intrigued, I asked him how he knew all that, to which he answered his kind had the knowledge of 'manashastra' (human psychology). Of course as expected, he then asked for some 'daan' (fee). I excused myself out of the situation to carry on with my day ... but he did take some space in my mind for a while - If these people could just read you in one look, how easily they could use this information - to their benefit or to ours?? How would they fare had they been in management? ;-) hehe Imagine your manager reading you like a book and using that data to get work done from you ... Ooh! Scary!!
Monday, December 21, 2009
Messengers of GOD
I was leaving for work and I see a Vasudev in my building doing his morning rounds n singing out song of the Lord for all of us ... Lookin at his complete get up, I was pretty attracted by his bright white n orange attire topped with the hat comprising of peacock feathers et all... It would make for a good picture. Clicking away without permission seemed bad manners and I asked him if I could. He didn't seem to mind and I was happy at getting a good shot. At that he started conversing with me telling me that his kind 
called Vasudev come from Shirdi. He went on to tell me some interesting facts about ME! .... nothing really deep still not something just anyone could tell on meeting me just a minute ago. He even gave me some advice on do's n dont's and said that he would give more details but not on the road like that. Intrigued, I asked him how he knew all that, to which he answered his kind had the knowledge of 'manashastra' (human psychology). Of course as expected, he then asked for some 'daan' (fee). I excused myself out of the situation to carry on with my day ... but he did take some space in my mind for a while - If these people could just read you in one look, how easily they could use this information - to their benefit or to ours?? How would they fare had they been in management? ;-) hehe Imagine your manager reading you like a book and using that data to get work done from you ... Ooh! Scary!!
called Vasudev come from Shirdi. He went on to tell me some interesting facts about ME! .... nothing really deep still not something just anyone could tell on meeting me just a minute ago. He even gave me some advice on do's n dont's and said that he would give more details but not on the road like that. Intrigued, I asked him how he knew all that, to which he answered his kind had the knowledge of 'manashastra' (human psychology). Of course as expected, he then asked for some 'daan' (fee). I excused myself out of the situation to carry on with my day ... but he did take some space in my mind for a while - If these people could just read you in one look, how easily they could use this information - to their benefit or to ours?? How would they fare had they been in management? ;-) hehe Imagine your manager reading you like a book and using that data to get work done from you ... Ooh! Scary!!
Friday, August 28, 2009
Pool ol green souls
I was waiting for the train n across the tracks I see this tree that was butchered just so that our trains can pass by without causing any harm to us humans. I agree, that the trees need to be cut so that they don't come in the way of trains, cause any harm to the commuters n more importantly, there is no reason for fire due to the tree extension to come in contact with the electric wires any any sparks. But we should be considerate to at least cut these greenies nicely so they look in good shape! Is this fair that we butcher them so roughly that they look as if bleeding?....Monday, August 24, 2009
My encounter wid an uloo
I suddenly heard our watchman say “Ulloo hai… Ulloo hai”. I was shocked to hear him call someone an idiot out loud early on a Sunday morning. I looked out of the window to checkout wat was going on… The watchman & an aunty from upstairs were looking at the guava tree in the society compound. On changing the angle of my nazar, I could see the “idiot” on the tree. I had mistakenly taken the reference of ulloo translated to English as an idiot. The watchman had been referring to the OWL on a branch of the tree telling the scared looking aunty that the alien on the tree was only an owl. Apparently, aunty had spotted the bird and not having recognized it, raised an alarm for the watchman to check.
I shifted my eyes back to serene bird perched quietly on the V of
the branches of the tree. It had shades of brown-gray on its wings. The face outlined by a thin white lining made by its feathers with 2 small eyes on either side of the beak. The face not as conical as in the case of most other birds looked like ours, the beak takin the place of r nose.
After I had looked my fill, I couldn’t hold myself back. I went in to fetch my camera to click a few pics of the bird. After I got my shots, though not completely satisfied, I went on with my tasks of the day, wishing I had my friend’s pseudo-SLR to take a close up…
Every time I walked into the room, I went to the window to check whether it was still der. N every single time, it was! It even rained after a while, not just drizzled, but the bird just sat there not moving at all. Gradually it looked as if it fell asleep sitting right there dripping in the rain, unmoved.
The day went by… and the bird just stayed der. Even the thought of calling the emergency service for injured birds crossed my minds. But I decided to wait on until nightfall as owls are known to be disoriented during daytime.
I even came across a couple of lil kids from r society calling it an “ulloo-owla”… guess they didn’t know ulloo in Hindi meant owl in English … just heard the elder kids talk abt the bird in the two languages and picked up the words… It was pretty cute really :-)
Lookin at the bird even got me thinking where the phrase “ulloo ka patha” originated from; also if the other meaning of ulloo (idiot) had anything to do with the bird. I gotta google on that next…
Finally post sun down, I didn’t see it in the place where it stayed all day. It must have taken to its route finally. After a couple of hours though, I saw it on the same tree a lil to the right of its original position. This got me thinking about its well-being. At just that moment, it spread its wings wide open and flew away towards East. Now I’m not sure if it went away its healthy way or just a few meters away to the next tree. But I wish the winged wonder a happy n healthy future.
It was amazing how we awaited the elephant-headed god on Ganesh Chauthi n came across an owl!!
KAMINEY friday night
The media had rated this movie so highly, we were all amazed an
d thot we should go for it. So Friday evening, we 8 colleagues booked on-line tickets for Kaminey @ Hub, Goregaon 9.45 PM show. After dinner from an eatery near by, we reached the screen in time for the movie. But our high expectations were slowly and surely let down. The movie turned out to be quiet a disappointment.
After bidding adieu to the 2 who live further North in the suburbs, the 6 of us hopped
into the car to head back home. I along wid the chauffer took the front seats n the 4 guys crammed into the back seat. Well it was gonna b short crammed drive – just had to drop off 3 of them @ Andheri. So v started n suddenly, one of the guys shouted out Sea-link… he had not be
en there yet n almost pleaded we go for a quick ride. He even agreed to pay for the toll charges of the return trip. We finally gave in to his request n turned right to go over the freshest architectural marvel in amchi Mumbai. It was a clear night with no spec of clouds in the mid-monsoon season. The suspension bridge was lit up against the dark sky. It was a beautiful drive, we thoroughly enjoyed.
By the time we reached the Worli end, the plans to go further ahead to Marine drive & the Gateway were already laid. Wow! I couldn’t have imagined the evening to take this turn – literally! Empty roads all along were really inviting. It took us hardly any time to reach the far end of the
Having spotted a buggy, we parked the car 
and took off on the majestic tonga decorated with huge multi-color balloons. 3 of us, me included took the main seat. 2 sat facing us n r Money-Man took the well-deserved seat next to the pilot. After all, had it not been for him, we would have gone to bed feeling sour over the waste of time n money on the damn movie. We opted for the ‘bada’ round and enjoyed the ride though we thought was really short. 
But well – abhi to sham jawan hai... We still had lots to explore in the night. So we got off only to be in for a shock. We were charged a whopping 550 bucks for that miniscule round! He was kind enough to give a discount of 50 just for us. Even considering the late night charges, this was ridiculous. After some exchange of words, we made mandavli at 300 n r money-man was more than happy to oblige.
We set r foot on the pavement of marine drive along the beautiful sea face n the brightly lit Queen’s necklace was beaming to welcome us. We started our 
walk crossing each gem slowly takin in the cool night air. It was fun walking over the katta. Of course r pro photographer took ample shots that u can c scattered around. We reached the other end of the Marine drive with all sorts of crazy ideas for pics. On the way we tried 
in vain to search for any eateries open at that hour.
Then, we needed r car to proceed n none wanted to walk back. I took this opportunity to jog! Well half of us have registered for the Half Marathon n its high time we start r practice. R photographer still treks a lot n has gud stamina 
but r chauffer & me better gear up. So the 2 of us jogged all the way back to the car parked over a kilometer away. When we reached the car, I had the satisfaction of jogging a km without a break – thts not at all bad for starters. With extra vigor of the jog, we drove ahead to pick up the gang n headed for the
Gateway.
I gave complete justice to occupying the front seat by adorning the role of the navigator at this leg of our drive giving perfect directions for our current destination. Yet again we parked at the far end of the road n strolled back to the Gateway with one eye on the epic Taj. Again r money-man was prompt when I wanted a cuppa coffee, though I spared him by taking it by the roadside n not in the TAJ. The small glass of warm coffee was perfect by the cool night.
R chauffer was soon behind the wheel of his red wagon zooming on the wide free roads, to take us back home. The drive was so smooth that we reached Bangnaga exploring the straight road. Taking a U-turn to get back on the way to the sea link, we were stalled by a Pandu n asked for the car papers. After showing him all that he asked for, he requested to c the PUC cert. Now this we didn’t have n he didn’t leave us till we warmed his hands wid a 100 ki patti!
After that short pause, r drive was fullon until we reached back to Bandra. It hardly felt like a drive from town to Bandra for it took just around 20 mins. Wow! Can u imagine that on the streets of Mumbai! This is where we dispersed to head home.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Hell of a heavenly evening
Can u imagine the vocal chords of Suresh Wadkar & tabla from Jakir Hussain together ... Wat a lethal combination. Yes.. It actually was .. heavenly .. We were still in that heaven when we walked out to where we had parked our car, only to be pushed into hell... R cars missing! We look hither thither to check if this was the right spot. Could it be a lil further? Or may be a lil behind? Nopes .. this is just where we did leave it a lil over 3 hours ago. In fact the guy standing there then even assisted us to park it correctly and took 50 bucks as charges for safe keeping. N now.. its... gone!?!
The first thot that came to my mind was this could be a major plan to steal away cars parked here. Definitely we could not be the only ones wid rotten luck this evening. Shanmukhanand Hall @ Sion does not have a parking lot. So the road is where u leave ur stallion - easily accessible for anyone to just pick up n go. The vast capacity of the hall, almost full, has ample number of cars parked in every corner near by...
Next step: search for the nearest police station n report the missing car. Then: hope n pray v r lucky enough to get it bak... Just as we were taking the path to the police station, I heard some male voices - again something about a car is it? I turned around ... They appeared to be a father-son duo. "Is your car missing too?" I got a positive reply. Though sad the news, it helped me uplift my spirits a wee bit - We are not alone! .. The traffic police chowky was close by .. n we brisk-walked there. May be they just towed it :-|
When we blurted out our cars missing, the pandu there very coolly - as if nothings even gonna affect him - says yes .. "yeah check if your car is in front here; the cars had to be towed out as the public of that locality made hulla-gulla" Now hello .... theres not residential blgds der - which public? wat hull-gulla? We damn well know this is all plain money makin business!
Well there was relief to see r car right ahead across the street, unscathed. Only a tire was locked by the towing clip. Next nother officer tells us the towing charges were to be borne by us before he could release r car. Now that was expected. He was even ready to give us a receipt Wow!
Slowly there were others who had walked up for the same problem. I must have seen some 10-15 car owners come asking for their car. Hmm good business for the hour Rs. 300/- per car n Rs. 100/- additional in case u dont have ur license.
The process of actually verifying your license, making the pauti, opening the locks n finally releasing the car was taking its own sweet time. But the uncle who we met first got it done! When it was our chance, on giving him out car number, the officer tells us to check it as he didnt have it noted in his list. Whos he kidding? Its our car! He shud b the 1 checking his list! When he was convinced, its him who shud b doing the checkin at his end, he called his punter - sum lad by the name of Santosh n told him to check r car number. But as he was the same guy opening up the locked car for others who had successfully received the pavti on making the payment, we had to wait till he was free. Then he checked r car, noted the number n finally made his entry to the chowki. In nother 15 mins, we were done.
So an hour after we fell straight into hell from heaven, we were slowly getting back to mother earth. We reached home soon not as quiet high as the show left us, but also neither as low as sight of the missing car got us. We were happy to have been a part of the awesome concert, n finally get back home in r car in perfect shape :-) Alls well that ends well. As for the corruption in our police department, can we do anything about this??
The first thot that came to my mind was this could be a major plan to steal away cars parked here. Definitely we could not be the only ones wid rotten luck this evening. Shanmukhanand Hall @ Sion does not have a parking lot. So the road is where u leave ur stallion - easily accessible for anyone to just pick up n go. The vast capacity of the hall, almost full, has ample number of cars parked in every corner near by...
Next step: search for the nearest police station n report the missing car. Then: hope n pray v r lucky enough to get it bak... Just as we were taking the path to the police station, I heard some male voices - again something about a car is it? I turned around ... They appeared to be a father-son duo. "Is your car missing too?" I got a positive reply. Though sad the news, it helped me uplift my spirits a wee bit - We are not alone! .. The traffic police chowky was close by .. n we brisk-walked there. May be they just towed it :-|
When we blurted out our cars missing, the pandu there very coolly - as if nothings even gonna affect him - says yes .. "yeah check if your car is in front here; the cars had to be towed out as the public of that locality made hulla-gulla" Now hello .... theres not residential blgds der - which public? wat hull-gulla? We damn well know this is all plain money makin business!
Well there was relief to see r car right ahead across the street, unscathed. Only a tire was locked by the towing clip. Next nother officer tells us the towing charges were to be borne by us before he could release r car. Now that was expected. He was even ready to give us a receipt Wow!
Slowly there were others who had walked up for the same problem. I must have seen some 10-15 car owners come asking for their car. Hmm good business for the hour Rs. 300/- per car n Rs. 100/- additional in case u dont have ur license.
The process of actually verifying your license, making the pauti, opening the locks n finally releasing the car was taking its own sweet time. But the uncle who we met first got it done! When it was our chance, on giving him out car number, the officer tells us to check it as he didnt have it noted in his list. Whos he kidding? Its our car! He shud b the 1 checking his list! When he was convinced, its him who shud b doing the checkin at his end, he called his punter - sum lad by the name of Santosh n told him to check r car number. But as he was the same guy opening up the locked car for others who had successfully received the pavti on making the payment, we had to wait till he was free. Then he checked r car, noted the number n finally made his entry to the chowki. In nother 15 mins, we were done.
So an hour after we fell straight into hell from heaven, we were slowly getting back to mother earth. We reached home soon not as quiet high as the show left us, but also neither as low as sight of the missing car got us. We were happy to have been a part of the awesome concert, n finally get back home in r car in perfect shape :-) Alls well that ends well. As for the corruption in our police department, can we do anything about this??
Monday, July 6, 2009
My drive through the Bandra Worli Sea Link
The Bandra Worli Sea link is ready n open to public.... Wow! Every1 is speakin abt it ... On the openin day, 1st July, I just went upto Shivaji Park @ 10 PM to have a look ... The bridge looks awesum .. The main cable tower is so magnificent .. All lit up .. Wow! But then wat else do i see... Traffic jam ...Too many enthusiasts all lined up in der cars glittering yellow n red right upto the Mahim cause-way... Well... Having taken the view within, I left for home.
Saturday early morning, a beautiful tune wakes me up ... Then it suddenly hits me my phones ringing ... my friend has decided to wake me up .. but so early .. wat time is it ... 6 AM … huh!?! All groggy I pick up the call.. "Wanna drive up the sea-link?" N im wide awake ... Sure, y not ... This is gonna b my last chance to go enjoy a drive on the latest marvel without paying a toll since I had planned for an overnight trek later in the day...
All ready, I wait for Anu to cum pick me up in her silver i10. The sky is full of clouds - no sun - but not too dark .. It may not really rain while we enjoy r drive.. Cool! Here she cums n off we go....
As we cross the Mahim causeway i see the suspension bridge to my left Im gonna b on it within a coupla minutes... We get on to the Bandra reclamation, n there - the sea link cable tower is right ahead of us ... n we are already on sea link.. Crossing the toll plaza without having to pay the high toll charges :D
Since only 1 side is ready for use, we currently have 2 lanes in each direction. The left most lane already sports quiet a number of cars parked n people posing here n there to be clicked on the great shortcut n others just enjoying the view
On the other lane towards Worli, we go as slow as 10 - 20 kmph so as to enjoy the drive, while we look around. We were soon under the huge cable tower... Wow wats looks like thin strings from Shivaji Park are really huge tentacles coming down from the tower body to hold the bridge sturdy Wat architecture! But soon it’s behind us n I can see it only in the rear-view mirror. Not too far away from the other 2 smaller cable towers we finally find a spot to park. We just step out of the car n the first thing tht strikes is the police towing vehicle :- We need to move on :-( So get back in the car n enjoy the rest of the drive on the magnificent bridge. Turn left to come out on the Worli Sea Face n park nearby.
It’s so cloudy that I can’t even see the main cable tower. The 2 smaller ones are visible through the mist. But as a view, it doesn't really luk that great now ... Earlier WSF was a beautiful promenade by the sea side, waves lapping up wid calming sound ... wow ... But this moment it’s the BWSL that comes in view ... with its innumerous pillars .... Now could they have not made it with 2 big cable towers n much less number of pillars? Then it would have been so scenic, is it not? hmmm... Nevertheless
These days wid cell cams n digi cams .. people just luv to click everything they can catch ... Even on this side there were people clicking away .. specially this 1 group of guys posing in the silliest of poses... We had a few good giggles ;-)
Moving on we decided of having a nice morning walk along the WSF ... enjoy the open sea beyond the sea link as long as the part connecting to Haji Ali doesn’t come in the way :-) Enjoying the cool breeze by the sea along with the sound of the waves ... no sun coming out of the clouds ... we began r leisure walk. A couple of meters down, pitter patter the rain cooled us further... Wow perfect! but we had no idea that the rain had better plans ... as we moved further away from r car, the rain only started comin down more n more heavily. With only a few drops here n there, it had now got to be a proper continuous shower ... we were all wet. Thankfully having left all delicates like cell etc in the car, we had nothing to fear ... We gals completely freaked out in the rains, drenched n dripping till we took the about turn. On the way we saw other enthusiasts, either just getting wet like us enjoying the showers or others sticking to their exercise regimes of morning walks completely protected by rain-cheaters or just feeble umbrellas .... On the way back we even caught an old woman in her loong blue raincoat walkin down the promenade with the help of her walking stick. There was also this uncle seated on one of the many seats facing the sea, with an umbrella to protect him from the rains. We further noticed he was chanting some mantras. B-)
When we finally reached the car, we were apprehensive about wetting the car seats ... but we had no other option n no plans of leaving the car there. So we hopped in, and started looking for the U-turn to get bak on the sea link. But looks like the traffic police had already planned for people like us So we had a long drive just to get to the shorter drive on the sea link.. There was already so much water logged on the road thx to hour-long rain .. It felt as if we were sitting on the EsselWorld Splash ride ... the water jumped on either sides of the car to heights enuf to drench the people in the neighboring cars .. But there was no scope for that as there was only 1 line of cars :-D
We finally got back on the sea link ... If it was cloudy before, this time it was so misty, there was no scope of seeing anything ahead It was as if we were traveling in clouds ... The silver color of the car in front of the windshield melted away into the mist .. We could not differentiate in the 2. It was a rather nice different feeling ... as such of floating in the middle of nowhere was wonderful ...The fog was so heavy even the cables came into vision one at a time ... this was completely enjoyable n definitely much better than a drive on nother sunny day. .. But like all good things, soon the joy ride was over and we were on Bandra reclamation... Soakin in the experience of crossing the awesome sea link n the beautiful rains the morning gave us a fresh start for the weekend.
Friday, November 28, 2008
How Dare They!!!
Wats been going on in r beloved city is utter rubbish ..... What the hell are they doin and how dare they!!! This cannot be just taken with a pinch of salt and forgotten so easily....
Often Mumbai, the city that never sleeps is said to be a very forgiving city that moves on in life come what may .... Be it any kind of terrorist attacks ... train blasts or serial blasts or shoots round the city .... Be it by outsiders, neighbours or insiders ... Be it on the name of religion or revenge or helping locals or destruction and bringing us down .... the city has always taken it lightly .... People are often seen putting it all in their past and treading along with their lives ... Back to work on the same ol routine the next day, the next hour, the next minute .....
But is this city really that forgiving??? Or people are just forced to put up with this shit! People are here in this dream city from everywhere in the country ... to build the castles in their dreams for real ... to make a success story ... to make a living ... How can you expect them to just stay home over something that went wrong somewhere due to some fools .... They have to report to work ... "papi pet ka savaal hai" they have to earn .... N this face of majboori has been known as the face of courage!
But this time all was left far behind .... A bunch of "terrorists" come to the city through waterways, bagged with ammunition enough to last for over 48 hours! Hundreds of innocent dead! My first question is .... how do they get so much of arms and ammunition? Yes there no checkin in the hotels but they definitely got it from somewhere... is there no checking anywhere ... at any entry point? How were they not caught? They didnt fire all the personnelle that came in their way - the media would definitely not have let them get away with this silently and we would have got to know.... So the next pointer ... corruption? But at which level and how many?? Again not completely possible ... So how the hell did they get so much of arms in .... They must have surely planned this over a long time with good amount of training and dry-runs in advance ....
We cannot measure how much we have lost .... The best of the police force, intelligence, the best of the staff of our best hotels ... One of the most beautiful structures in Mumbai, the heritage Taj Hotel has burnt over and over in countless blasts.... The elite, rich and tops in the Taj n Oberoi at that time ...
This is high time the government put things in place rather than money in their pockets. We need a secure city to live in. We need the peace of mind to work towards progress. How long can we just forgive and forget? No! No more!
Often Mumbai, the city that never sleeps is said to be a very forgiving city that moves on in life come what may .... Be it any kind of terrorist attacks ... train blasts or serial blasts or shoots round the city .... Be it by outsiders, neighbours or insiders ... Be it on the name of religion or revenge or helping locals or destruction and bringing us down .... the city has always taken it lightly .... People are often seen putting it all in their past and treading along with their lives ... Back to work on the same ol routine the next day, the next hour, the next minute .....
But is this city really that forgiving??? Or people are just forced to put up with this shit! People are here in this dream city from everywhere in the country ... to build the castles in their dreams for real ... to make a success story ... to make a living ... How can you expect them to just stay home over something that went wrong somewhere due to some fools .... They have to report to work ... "papi pet ka savaal hai" they have to earn .... N this face of majboori has been known as the face of courage!
But this time all was left far behind .... A bunch of "terrorists" come to the city through waterways, bagged with ammunition enough to last for over 48 hours! Hundreds of innocent dead! My first question is .... how do they get so much of arms and ammunition? Yes there no checkin in the hotels but they definitely got it from somewhere... is there no checking anywhere ... at any entry point? How were they not caught? They didnt fire all the personnelle that came in their way - the media would definitely not have let them get away with this silently and we would have got to know.... So the next pointer ... corruption? But at which level and how many?? Again not completely possible ... So how the hell did they get so much of arms in .... They must have surely planned this over a long time with good amount of training and dry-runs in advance ....
We cannot measure how much we have lost .... The best of the police force, intelligence, the best of the staff of our best hotels ... One of the most beautiful structures in Mumbai, the heritage Taj Hotel has burnt over and over in countless blasts.... The elite, rich and tops in the Taj n Oberoi at that time ...
This is high time the government put things in place rather than money in their pockets. We need a secure city to live in. We need the peace of mind to work towards progress. How long can we just forgive and forget? No! No more!
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