Religious weekend

I recently got back from a super-religious trip planned by my dad. We went to practically every temple in our native village and a few others. I was initially really not keen on going, but in a way I realise that it was nice to see where I come from atleast once before I leave for London. I obviously did not enjoy the religious part of it. My thoughts on that in my next post perhaps... but the travelling bit was wonderful. So this is a brief note on some interesting parts of my journey...

We were waiting at plaform no.5 of Thane station to catch the late night Siddheshwar express to Solapur and we were standing patiently next to this food stall at the far end of the plaform.....Thats when I noticed something




I wasnt carrying a camera, so this picture taken from my phone isn't good, but notice that greyish blur somewhere near the bottom of the white plastic bag in the top compartment ? THAT blur is actually a hyper-active mouse. I was shocked !!!!! Then within a few seconds I saw another one happily nibbling onto the packets in that upper glass compartment. I couldnt resist. I had to go and tell the person running the stall.

Me (in a very low tone) : Bhaiyya, aapke oopar wale compartment mein 2 choohe hain.

Him : Haan madam. Maloom hai. Kya kar sakta hai hum ?

Me : Aapko maloom hai aur aap kuch nahi kar rahe ?

Him : Kya karega madam ? Hum nikaal ke bahar fekta hai, phir bhi waapas aata hai.

Me : Abhi to nikaal deejiye naa. Nahi to kuch chooha marne ki dawai daal do wahan pe

Him : Kaise madam ? Galti se dawai khaane mein ghus gaya aur customer mar gaya, to mereko hi pakdenge naa ?

Point

Me : Acha, to jab jab ho sake nikaalte rahiye aur ek "mouse-trap" wahan par daal deejiye ( I didnt know what the Hindi word was for that)

Anyway, I didnt know what more to say to him, my train was arriving on the platform. My advice to you - Unless you intentionally want to fall sick, dont bother eating at stalls like these. Who knows, there might've been more mice in there...


Anyway, I couldnt sleep the entire night in the train coz some idiots were snoring away to glory. Not one, but three people were snoring...It was very rythmic, no doubt, but so very disturbing. No sleep.

Reached Tuljhapur the next morning. That's where our 'kul-devi' is. Visited the temple....Took hours n hours to enter the sanctum sanctorum and it was a completely un-religious, un-spiritual experience for me. If anything, I was horrified, because people were throwing away banana peels inside the temple as if it were a garbage dump and there were paan stains everywhere. If this is what it means to be religious, then I do not want any part of it. Some pictures from the Tuljha Bhavani temple :





A lot of people do this at this temple. It's some form of devotion I guess. I've never been inclined to do so. My idea of prayer is quite different from this.






I do not like the way they slap the haldi and kumkum onto your forehead. Even if you do manage to form some sort of connection with God inspite of the crowd, the paan stains, the banana peels and the waiting, this completely kills it. My connection with God at this temple = Zero

This is what Tuljhapur looks like :





Nice town. I like the cows sitting right in the middle of the road...

That very evening we headed to Bijapur - my native place.



Paan stains on the inside of the bus that I was travelling in. Is it really so difficult to understand that spitting is disgusting ?




The landscapes however were beautiful. I felt great simply looking out of the window. I love this one especially...all the greenery with the sugarcane fields in the background.




A few pictures from Bijapur :







Buffaloes...It's very easy to spot them.










Little black pigs. I think they're adorable !!! They are all over the place. You can find them everywhere and if you're not too careful, in your house too ;)




Check out the spelling :)




Auto rickshaws run without meters in Bijapur.




Cows lazing around in the middle of the street :)


I like these pictures, not because they're funny or anything, but because they remind me of a simpler life. It feels nice to be free of complications, rules etc etc once in a while. I wouldn't advocate too much of it though.


Some other interesting pictures :



The glittery things that you see on that suspended tray are slippers. It is believed that these slippers were actually worn by Hanuman at one point of time. This is in one of the Hanuman temples in Halagani.




It is said that you should wish for something and then hold this stone with both hands. If the stone turns to the right, your wish will come true. If it turns to the left, you wish will not be fulfilled...And if it doesnt move, it implies that your wish will come true but after a long long wait.





I loved this !!! This was a Shiva temple in Shivgiri with this huge structure. It looks really elegant and dignified.

Thats all for now. I have one other temple to visit in Basar which will be a few weeks from now. That would officially complete my religious adventures before I leave for London...4 weeks more to go :)

Bomb blasts, fuel price hikes, bedroom mishaps, my internship, Georgia and more

I've had a rather interesting day. I woke up, fell off of my bed, got a nice big cut on my right arm and then well, started working. I'm into the fourth week of my internship with CCS. It has been a mixed experience so far. I feel like I'm losing out on a lot of coffee-table discussions and debates with my fellow interns and its a little lonely working alone in Mumbai... The good news though is that I finally have a research guide - Mr.Ajay Shaw. I met him recently and dicussed my project. He has been very helpful and easy to talk to. It feels nice to have someone to discuss my topic with. I'm a little stressed out this week. Mid-term submissions are just around the corner and I'm wondering if my work so far is good enough. The direction of my project now basically depends on a crucial piece of information that I need to extract from the BMC. I'm hoping I can accomplish that before the end of this week.
In the meanwhile I was zapping through news channels to see how people reacted to the hike in fuel prices. News channels like Aaj Tak are giving crappy news. They're accusing the government of exploiting people. Honestly, I dont think they've done their research. The fuel price was inevitable....And this message is for the reporter who presented the 10 pm news on Aaj Tak - The government DOES NOT make a profit by supplying fuel. In fact it offers a lot of subsidies... And the Rs.23 that you said they earn per litre isnt lying idle in government coffers; Its being used for other developmental projects !!!


Today I met Ivane for coffee. He's going to be my future course-mate at LSE. Interesting guy - Georgian by origin, schooling in Greece, adolescence in London, parents in Russia... I had a wonderful time with him discussing things as diverse as the ring on my finger to US politics. I decided to make him taste some chaat bcoz he wanted to know what mumbai street food was like. I thought Talao Pali would be a good place to take him. In the middle of this I received a phone call from my dad updating me about the bomb blast at Gadkari Ranagythan in Thane. Scary !!! I would have been in that very area with Ivane had we left slightly early.

As I type this, the clouds are thundering outside and I can hear the gentle pitter-patter of rain outside my window. The smell of wet soil always puts a smile on my face. Monsoons are here. Next year this time, I'll be busy nerding around at LSE and so this year's monsoons are extra-special. Like Shruti said earlier, unlike the European rain, OUR rain has character :)

Numbers

110 days till I leave for LSE
60 days for my 22nd Birthday
40 days for my internship to end
10 days for Hyun min's arrival
5 days for my mom's birthday
1 day to meet Ivane

And so it begins...

My orientation kit has finally arrived... After 7 whole days !!! My summer research internship with the Centre for Civil Society (www.ccs.in) has begun... I've decided that I'd constantly update my blog on a weekly basis to discuss my progress at this internship. This week hasn't been very fruitful actually. My orientation kit arrived SO late. I still haven't been assigned a research guide and I've simply worked by myself on a topic that I haven't even finalized yet. As of now, the topic that has caught my attention is "The impact of privatization on water management systems in the K-ward of Mumbai" . I have to thank Sonal for helping me narrow down to this topic. After hours of research over the internet, I have fallen in love with this issue... In fact I'm surprised that I never expressed an opinion on this issue before. Maybe this is where CCS has played a bit of a motivating role. Its whole ideology is to encourage people to think about current issues that affect us and do something about it because only when you have a proactive population and strong public opinion, can change happen. One more day left for week 1 to end. Hopefully something better next week :)

I'm IN

I'm IN. The London School of Economics & Political Science beckons !!!!! My dad is perhaps more excited than I am. He told me that when I was much younger, I always used to say that I want to go to LSE. I don't really remember that, but it's really happening now. I still have to worry about scholarships and funding though...so I'm not exactly going "Woooooooo Hoooooooooooooo", but I'm happy. I'm glad I took a year off. I can still remember what it felt like a couple of months ago, not knowing what the future held and having to give "acceptable" answers whenever questioned. I always used to wonder if it was the right decision and now I can see it is. Not just bcoz I have a confirmed offer of admission, but simply bcoz it has given me more time to reflect on things and think of people and issues that really matter to me (I know, I know, sounds very philosophical. It has also given me time to unwind, especially after last year's hectic study schedule. I have so much time to do things that I've always wanted to...:):):):):) And I cannot thank my friends enough...... Harini who keeps asking me "life's difficult questions" and eventually ends up giving me the answers herself :).... Anuj, Shruti, Preeti, Mallika, Aaraatrika, Ena, Rakhi and so many others who just helped in some way....And my brother, who went crazy when he heard the news and who is now earning and who has now promised to set aside his entire salary for my use alone :)I guess I'm done with all the emo-ramblings... Hopefully something better for my next post...

What a Day !!!

Well....today has been an amazing day !!!!!!!! To begin with a very Happy Republic Day to all my fellow Indians.....I didn’t attend any flag hoisting ceremony today coz I was busy remembering my speech for the finals of the A.D.Shroff Memorial Inter-collegiate Elocution contest.....something I’ve been nervous about since September ever since I was selected to represent our college..... Anyway, the good news is....I stood second…and I was awarded a cash prize of 5000 rupees (can u believe that !?!?!? ) and the biographies of Mr. A.D Shroff and Mr. Nani Palkhivala........God, its been a crazy month....just 20 days earlier, during the eliminations, I thought I wouldn’t even stand a chance coz the speakers were sooooooo good....and now I’m elated.....coz believe it or not, out of the 500 odd speakers in my age group in Mumbai, I’m second best !!!!! Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyy !!!!! It’s a wonderful feeling !!!!!

I really really have to thank a lot of people for this actually..... firstly my dad, for making his silly predictions every now and then, my mom who never understood the humour in my speech and yet she told me to go ahead with it just bcoz I thought it was funny (luckily a lot of people laughed while I said it...phew).....Anuj, you have to take back your words now, My sense of humour is not non-existent !!!!! It’s just dormant !!!!!

I cant forget to mention Preeti and Shruti who must have heard my 5-minute speech an endless number of times trying to help me perfect it in every possible way.....same goes for Ena, Rakhi and Aaraatrika as well !!!! And yes Kartik and Vinay who’ve been sooooo sweet all this while....sending me best wishes and listening to all my gibberish while I was all worked up....Geeta kept saying “you have to win”....god, all the pressure....!!!
And yes, Rajam maam of course..... for giving me proper points and having so much of faith !!!


Wow....ok.....so after that was done, Shruti, Preeti, Sanjana and I decided to watch the movie ‘Just Like Heaven’...It's been ages since I watched a movie and today I just couldn’t say No.....I loved the movie.....its one of those romantic and mushy movies that you can keep on watching and u can dream about it later as well....I bet Shruti will :):):)

Then we went to enjoy the Mumbai Festival and walked till the Gateway of India, saw a dance show...it was sooooooo nice....there were palmists, artists, open-air buses, vendors and everything that one can imagine.

I don’t think people can quite understand the spirit of Mumbai unless they live there for a long time. You see, for me, Mumbai is not just a multi-cultural city....it’s a Lifestyle....something you just cant get enough of....I’ll post more on this later on.... For now, I just want to enjoy a good nights sleep, which I’m sure I’ll be denied next week………Thanks once again guys !!!!

Apologies

My most sincere aplogies to all those who've been hoping to see some pictures of manori. I know I promised that they'd be ready by sunday....but I haven't been keeping well for the past few days....I'm on my way to recovery and I'll upload the pics as soon as I can.

Manori Magic

As of this moment, my heart’s filled with mixed emotions…. On one hand I’m so grateful for having the friendship of such wonderful people over the past one month while we were planning Twister 2005 (I’ll post an entry about that later)...And on the other hand....I’m terribly sad that it’s over.....

After what I believe was one of the most exciting, stimulating and enjoyable events ever, we all decided that as organizers, we deserved an outing. So we packed our bags and set off for manori beach near malad for a nice little picnic....

The 12 of us (Anuj, Kartik, Shruti, Preeti, Nazneen, Rushabh, Amit, Harshal, Meenal, Punit, Gaurav and myself) had such an amazing time out there.... We played dodge ball, cricket and even volleyball (although Shruti and I really suck at it) on the beach. We also made a sand castle and we had sooo many ice-golas that I cant even remember....

Shruti’s weird love or rather preference for petrol was enough to keep us entertained ....hhahahaha....and Anuj’s enthusiasm made it so much more enjoyable….One thing that I’ll remember is that I played doctor to Preeti, whose nail was almost detached from her toe......something I guess I should be proud of....

Anyway, the most memorable part of the day for me atleast was watching the sunset from the cliff....God, how invigorating !!!! There’s this thing about sunsets....It always gets me into a reflective mood.... And as I sat on the cliff watching the sky slowly change from a bright yellow shade into tones of purple and orange, I realized how amazing this entire journey has been. When we conceptualized the event “Twister”, I never thought that I’d get so close to those whom I’ve worked with. I still remember the first meeting that I had attended and how formal I was..... and today formality isn’t even an option. This post is dedicated to all my seniors and colleagues who worked meticulously on Twister. Anuj summed it all up in one line....he said “this is one of the defining moments of my life in college”....And I said this to Kartik already that this friendship and this experience will be counted as one of my sweetest memories as a college student.

I still remember our Barista meetings, the late night chat conversations with Shruti and also how annoyed we used to be when Anuj and Preeti always turned up late. I’ll always remember Nazneen for being such an angel and Kartik who’s been such a gentleman. Without Abhishek, I don’t think we could’ve had so much fun.....Even Rushabh and Meenal who really really slogged till the last day....Harshal, Punit, Aarti and Sameer who worked so hard on the Mockstock event.... One image I’ll always remember is that of Sameer and how frustrated he was the day we had to shoot the video and how all that frustration eventually translated into a wide satisfied smile when the video turned out to be so good.

I’ll never ever forget the people I met and the bonds that were created. It’s one memory I’ll always hold on to. Thank you so much for making this sooo special guys !!!!!!!! I love you all

Boring blog ???

Ok...I admit it...this blog is getting boring... At the same time however I'm getting busier. There are a couple of huge posts lined up in the next week...So 'patience' is the key word to all those who're wondering what I've been upto.

And TK.... you got one thing wrong. I have infact written a lot about a guy b4. You can read your testi over and over again till you belive it. It's the longest I've ever written. :):):):):)

Gotta rush now. Don't worry. The longer the wait, the better is the reward ^_^

Exam Blues

Sorry guys.... No more posts atleast for the next 2 weeks. I'm in the middle of my First term exams and my sleep-cycle is completely out of order. This morning when I came home after writing my Economics paper, I officially hadn't slept for 23 hours....and now as i type this, I have just woken up from a deep slumber of 11 hours. (Yaaaaawn)... I have to get back to my books now. I can't believe that my life's just about books and coffee...Until next time

RAIN SCARE !!!

Phew !!! That was close…well almost…. It’s something I can boast about in front of my grandchildren. Yupp, I survived the Mumbai floods TWICE…!!! Twice ??? did I just say twice ??? Well, just a little secret…but the second time wasn’t really a flood. Today, while we had just enjoyed another bull fight (our debate competitions) in college, it started pouring outside. We all presumed it was normal rain and would subside in half an hour or so. In the middle of teaching accounts to three of my friends, we all suddenly realized that it was the beginning of another nightmare…well almost.

The water level outside our college in Matunga (near DP’s) had reached my knee. It was a familiar feeling, especially after 26/7. It rained for about 2.5 hours non-stop…And while Shruti was in a state of controlled panic, Anuj had major concerns about his car. Finally after 3 whole hours, 7 of us squeezed ourselves into Anuj’s car. And although King’s Circle was highly flooded, yet we took another route and managed to avoid all that chaos. I reached home at 6:30, thanks to Preeti’s home and my dad’s car. Phew !!! That was close. Why is it that no other area got flooded ??? How come in a matter of hours, we were all half under water ???

Well, after the 26/7 floods, the whole of Mumbai is on high alert. Even the slightest rainfall now gives us goose bumps. Even now I stand by what I had said earlier. The rains weren’t exactly the problem. It’s our poor drainage system and the lack of proper waste management.
What exactly is Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh trying to prove by enforcing a complete ban on plastics ?? Does he want to wipe out several industries who rely heavily on plastics as a raw material ??? Or does he want to provide a major setback for the packaging industry ?? Or does he just want to prove (very unsuccessfully though) that he is an aware, responsible CM who understands fully why the 26/7 disaster occurred ???

In a recent letter addressed to the CM, even the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) and various plastic manufacturer associations stated that only 1% of the municipal solid waste in Mumbai is plastic. The reason why all our drains are clogged is actually due the remaining 99% of unmanaged garbage created by the indifference of some nonchalant Mumbaikars. Nobody really cares while throwing out an empty packet of chips from the train window. Probably that’s the reason why the train services were the first ones to collapse.

All I’m saying is, India still doesn’t have a concrete waste management policy enforceable by law. Once we have that in place and with efficient implementation, disasters like 26/7 can be avoided. And this is a message that goes out to all Mumbaikars…. STOP littering like the whole of Mumbai is a dustbin. It will come around and bite you in the back. If I ever see anyone in a train throw out a wrapper from the window, don’t blame me for my actions. It’s because of your indifference that several Mumbaikars like me had to undergo that nightmarish experience of 26/7.

Several astrologers have predicted that Mumbai is yet to see 2 more major disasters in 2005 and this time due to “Fire”. What are you planning to ban now Mr. Chief Minister ???? Matchsticks ???