Bombay food

I haven't written anything about Bombay in a while. Not that I am left with regular readers for this blog would would know that I used to write about Bombay every now and then. Bombay or Mumbai - to me both are the same. Bombay is just a habit as I have known that city by that name for years. It's that weird habit and attachment you have with old names. Maharashtrians have this tradition of changing the name of the girl after marriage. Your name, your identity that you held for years suddenly changes overnight. But her family will always relate to and call her by the old name. Same is the case with this city. Some people act like its khadus sasural wala and force everyone to call it Mumbai. Stupid analogy, yeah. But you do get the drift right?

Anyway. There is this very typical thing about Bombay. Like if someone goes to Haridwar, you ask them to get you a bottle of gangajal, when I travel to other cities, people ask me to get vada pav for them. Yes we do get vada paavs here at every corner, and they are tasty almost everywhere; but getting them at 5 am is expecting too much even from Bombay. And if you are a gujju, then the list includes thepla dhokla too. 

Yes. Vada paav. The best ones I have had so far is at Ashok's vada paav near Kirti college. If you are from Bombay and haven't had vada paav there, what are you even doing in this city bro? Then you get this awesome vada paav outside mithibai college. I guess their butter layer in it is thicker than the paav.then you have datta vada paav across Bombay and express way, dattaguru at panvel, Joshi vada paav in Pune. But yes, all these can be missed, but not Ashok Vada Paav. Go and eat that right away.

Misal. Another maharashtra specialty. Again, you can hardly go wrong with this dish. It's mostly spicy and has gujju farsan in it. It's so spicy that you can't make out any other taste. And it tastes the best with paav. Probably the best misal place in Bombay is mamledar misal in thane. (I know thane is not Bombay, but for food we can adjust this much.)

Then you have thaali pith and kothambir vadi. Thaali pith is maharashtrian version of thepla. And kothambir vadi is another dish with coriander and besan. You either steam and serve it or shallow/deep fry it. It tastes superb either way. Some people ruin it by adding shengdana to it. This state people add shengdana and vataana to every damn thing. Anyway, coming back to these two dishes, again you cannot go wrong with any. And you get amazing ones at any maharashtrian food joint. Datta again being the best place to have it. And Sapre.

Sabudana vada. And Piyush. Place to go is Prakash in Dadar. Sabudana vada - I am sure most of you know. Piyush is liquid Shrikhand. If you are not a fan of sweets, it will kill you. It is extra sweet. And then you have jhunka bhakhar. Again a dish made of besan and bhakri - roti of different/mix grains. Earlier you had Jhunka bhakhar kendras across bombay. It was a kind of food chain. Now you see fewer of them around, but they are still there. The best one I knew was at nariman point. It was a sea facing joint behind NCPA. College time regular joint. They served the tastiest parathas and sandwiches I have ever had anywhere. It shut down. Again something you really really missed if you lived in Bombay a decade ago and never been to. Then there is puranpoli too - sweet roti. I hate it so I can't tell you where you get the good ones.

I must have missed out on quite a few dishes and places. Food everywhere is unlimited. You have plenty of varieties at almost all the places and in all the states. Almost all of us can write/talk about it all the time. All of us have favourite places to eat out at - restaurants and street food joints. Bombay has so many khau gallis. Most of them are in gujju areas. Bombay is full of gujjus anyway. But you still can't miss out on Maharashtrian food. If you visit Bombay, read this post. You don't have to meet me now. Hah.

Joyrides

I can name at least 10 people right now who hate the city they live in. They hate the pace, lifestyle, people, weather, culture, infrastructure, job opportunities or any other reason - they are living there as they don't have any other option as of now. The moment they find the right kind of opportunity and favourable circumstances, they would move there. But how many of them get really lucky?

There are so many stories around us of lost dreams, of those who do not live in their dream place because they want to earn. It's about people who go to a different city, to chase their dreams, or to find new ones. To survive, or to hide. To remain in their comfort zone or to move away from it. Most of us are stuck in a monotonous working life we hate but cannot do without. Imagine just staying there all your life. This idea may sound absurd to us, but a generation before us lived for this. Rather, most of them.

Imagine being in such a profession or job for years, earning enough every day to survive for the next. Save some money for contingency, take a loan when there is an emergency and you don't have enough money. Recently I met such a man. He is an auto driver. I was travelling from office and we were stuck in a traffic jam which is nothing new if you live in Bombay. There was some wedding going on near Kokilaben hospital. We started talking about it whether it was legally allowed to play band baaja right next to the hospital.

Now, I have this habit of conversing with auto waalas and cab waalas. Their stories always amuse me. And this guy asked me a very valid and smart question which you do not usually expect from them. (How judgmental of me!) From that we started talking about how Bombay was before and how it is now. How the lonely areas are full of buildings, how a useless site has one of the first and largest malls on it today, how civilisation development depends on malls around that area these days and such. I have been living in this city for 16 years now and he has been riding for last 24 years. 24! He knew about Bombay roads more than any autowala I have interacted with. I had to go to a cafe that was located on the Oshiwara back road. I just gave him the name and he told me what was around the cafe, in that area, which other cafes, restaurants, salons and banks were there in and around that area. Yes I was amazed. He was a Bombay map.

Since the ride was short, I couldn't talk to him much, but it was an experience worth mentioning, sharing and writing about. And completely opposite to the one I had a few hours ago, same day.

Republic day was a working day for me. I taught for five hours on that day. While going to the class, the cabwaala suddenly asks me - what is there today? Did we become independent today as well? He was an old man, must have been in his 60s. His question shocked me. And shook me. That realisation of how ignorant one is today - maybe because of lack of knowledge or opportunity - one doesn't even know the difference between independence day and republic day. I explained to him about the importance of that day. This journey was of ten minutes, which I spent in the explanation. There was no time or opportunity to ask this man about anything else. I asked him twice if he had heard the words like - Ganatantra divas, Sanvidhan, Prastavna, Dr. Ambedkar etc. He did know some things, didn't know some. I told him that our constitution that gives us voting right came into effect on that day. "Hum toh Panje ko (Congress) vote dete hai. Saalo se dekhte aaye hai unhe." - he replied when I asked him if he ever voted.

I love to interact with these people. But not always that you find decent men. Many of them give you dirty stares when you are sitting in the auto/cab. They keep staring at you through rear view mirror. But some of them are really helpful too. They won't say anything if you don't have sufficient change to pay them, or you make them wait, or roam around streets while looking for an address. Some behave as if they are doing a huge favour on you by dropping you at your destination. But most of them so far have been nice. There have been plenty of conversations with them. Their stories have always been amusing, and inspiring. Most of them have been honest. And helpful.

This city is one of the best cities to live in because of them.

Silence after the storm

There is silence after the storm too. And that's exactly what my blog is experiencing right now. Last week one post went viral on the internet. That resulted into a lot of page views, comments, followers and e-mails. Sadly this came at the wrong time, when I was really busy. Nevertheless, I did read all the comments, replied to a few mails. And like everything else, this too died down. Now the blog is back to normal. Well almost.

I'm was in Delhi last week, enjoying the summers there. It's just so hot and sunny all the time that you feel like staying outdoors. No really. After experiencing Bombay monsoon, any other season is a good season. Flight passed through the storm which was not too bad. After spending two whole days in floods kind of a situation and not so smooth flight, sunlight was a huge relief.

During my stay there, my timeline had some 'Rains in Delhi' updates. Erm, it was just drizzling, but well just like how we Bombay people exaggerate our so called winters, Delhi people talk about monsoon. One thing is there, the more I visit the city, the more I like it. Though I'm scared all the time when I step out. I prefer to roam around in cabs/car, which I wouldn't do if I'm in Bombay. I travel alone at 1 am here, which I cannot even dream of doing there. 

But still there is something about the city that makes you like it. Maybe it's the wide roads, or lush green surroundings, or probably the lack of numerous skyscrapers - it's a good city despite of having some flaws, like any other place. It's amusing how drivers drive on the wrong side of the road just to avoid taking a long ride for the next U turn and nobody bothers to stop them, how people overtake without bothering about their vehicle or life, still it accepts you like you belong there.

And yet it doesn't entirely feel home. I have plenty of friends there, but I feel lonely after a couple of days. Maybe because I'm not familiar with the city, or maybe because I don't feel secure there; it just doesn't feel like the kind of city I can live in. But it's definitely a city I can stay in after Bombay and probably Pune.

I ask this question to myself a lot of time - where do I really want to settle down? I was brought up in a small town before shifting to Bombay. I wasn't a fan of a slow small town life, but at that time I hated Bombay whenever I visited it. It was way too crowded. And noisy. Then I shifted here. All alone. And the city accepted me as if I always belonged there. It taught me its way of living, its roads and directions, its good and bad parts - everything.

I have seen and lived life here. The city knows me, but I'm yet to know it completely. It will take me lifetime to get to know it, and still it will not be enough. And I'm glad about it.

PS: As always, ignore the header.

Mumbai v/s Delhi

Had I written this post two years ago, I would have attracted at least 100 bashing comments on this space. But these days, even the most controversial topic gets a mere 100 page views, which means 5 comments which are from people I know very well. Some time back, I used to nag them and force them to read my post and leave a comment. But these days I have stopped that too. When I get a new comment notification which is once or twice a day, I remember it then that I had written something one two days ago.

Earlier, my routine was - switch on laptop, log in to gmail, open blogger, moderate comments, check dashboard, read the new posts, comment there and then start the daily work. But these days I open blogger once in two three days. Comments can be directly moderated through gmail. This means the workaholic lazy me doesn't bother to check the blogger dashboard at all.

Anyway, this post is not at all about how pathetic you think I am or how awesome I know I am; but it's about a war.

Now, whenever I think of a clash between two rivals, the first few things come to my mind are- India and Pakistan cricket match, Australia-England cricket match (though it's not as popular as India-Pakistan, but observe Tony Greig closely when they clash and you will know what I mean), Nadal-Federer clash, Manchester United-Chelsea chash, SRK-Aamir clash - the list is entertainingly superb. One such rivalry is between Mumbai and Delhi too. Worse than some of the encounters mentioned here.

It so happens that Mumbai and Delhi are two of the biggest cities of India. I have no idea how the war started between the two, but it doesn't take long for any of them to make fun of the other. Some of the things are hilarious, some claims are superb. Delhi is called as the hub of rapes, while Mumbai is supposed to be one of the safest cities.

Now I have not lived in Delhi for more than a week, thus I cannot really comment on it, nor am I gonna speak high of Mumbai just to make this post controversial, but all I am going to write about is whatever funny, amusing and insulting things about the cities written at different places.

This year around, Mumbai saw winters. Real winters. The temperature dipped down to 8.5 degrees. And it has been too windy because of which it becomes impossible to commute by an auto without a jacket. Many people posted about how cold it was in Mumbai. Of course Delhi people thought that Mumbai guys were exaggerating and they couldn't take the little cold. It has been around 3 degrees in Delhi. But what they failed to see was that we have NEVER ever seen the winters. We sweat 24x7, 365 days. It's impossible for us to survive without fans/air conditioners. For us, this WAS cold, damn cold. Sitting in your house in Delhi wouldn't have given you any idea, nor visiting this place after staying in 3 degrees.

One funny remark I read on this was - Mumbai people, what you call cold is "let me go out in full pants instead of shorts" for us. To which someone replied - yeah, your floods are drizzle for us, big deal. I was laughing my heads off after reading this remark. How funny it is when people want to prove how superior their city is.

Another one was about summers - when someone said that Delhi people are so unlucky. They can neither come out during day in winters due to extreme cold, not in summers due to heat strokes. A night, only men can move out as ladies get raped. The counter attack for this was the murders and underworld of Mumbai and how pathetic the crowd and eve teasing was in Mumbai too.

But what took the cake was the Metallica concert which got cancelled. How people attacked one another at that time. Mumbai people calling Delhi guys irresponsible while Delhi guys calling them unfortunate not to even have had a concert there.

And the clothes - Delhi people are more brand conscious than Mumbai people. Mumbai people are more helpful and friendly than Delhiites. Who is more cool, who spends more, amazing Delhi weddings, paani puri vs golgappa, batata vada vs bonda, kanda vs pyaaz and what not. Phew.

But it's still always amusing for me. I really don't care about how superior or inferior my city is. The only thing I don't like is that people overreact most of the times. They can't take a joke on themselves. And if I was as popular now as I used to be, then you would have known what I exactly meant.

So people, peace. This is just an observation. I do not intend to hurt anyone. I love my city as much as you love yours. Read the post neutrally and you may, just may like it in spite of my awful style.

About festivals and Kids

It's festive season all around Maharashtra. At least in Mumbai, people are celebrating. Loud music is playing at every corner. An NRI friend called me and became so damn nostalgic after hearing the loud music that he didn't even realize that he was on phone with me! But well, I can give him that liberty when he is already missing the Ganesh Utsav in Mumbai. 

I visited a few friends' too who had Ganeshji at their places. It's always amusing to see the decorations, enthusiasm and spirit of Indians when it comes to celebrating any festival. This time around, Ganesh Chaturthi, Eid and Jain festival (Paryushan) fell on the same day. Each and every corner of the city was decorated with lights, there were smiles everywhere and no rains. Now, it's difficult not to feel happy in such a festive mood. Yes, the heavy rains, gloomy weather and bad mood turned all happy happy thanks to the festivals.

But the happiest and most enthusiastic person is my niece. She is too young to even know the difference between human and God, but still, each time the music plays, both her hands go in the air, and each time Aarti starts in the neighbourhood, she starts clapping. If she sees Ganeshji, or any other God, she lowers her head and folds her hands. She does the same when we switch on the lights. None of these has been taught to her. She does it after observing people. This has made all of us very careful. We make sure we do not shout at anybody or or use bad words (we anyway do not use bad words, but we do not even use the words idiot and stupid), we talk to her about everything and she even understands quite a few things! Phew!! Kids today are damn smart!

But my mother has taken her "understanding" to a different level altogether. My niece is now a days hooked to some TV serial called Utaran (pardon the spelling mistake, if any!). She becomes so very happy the moment she hears "kya hoti utaran"! I didn't know what to do about it, so I got her hooked to wavin' flag by K Naan :P She even enjoys CID (which I love watching) and Cricket. She is not an avid viewer of TV though. She watches it for a few seconds. If she smiles, that means she likes it, if she throws tantrums for no reason whatsoever, it means that you are supposed to switch off the television as she does not like the sound of whatever is playing!

Any age group, kids are very smart these days. I happened to visit a mall a few days back. There were many rides like train, horses, cars and such rides, but the maximum crowd was near the bungee jumping board for kids. Kids were going mad there. First they were crying for their turn, and then they were crying to come down. I made a friend click a few photographs of that place. I use a non-blackberry business phone with no flash in the camera. Thus I had to ask him to click those snaps :)

Above: the empty train and Below: the empty horse ride

Ah, the kids gaming zone had the heart game too. Aim and win :D

Toddlers also wanted to bungee jump :)

Monsoon Effect

How strange it seems when your mood changes as per the weather. If you live in Mumbai, you will surely be able to relate with me. Last ten days have been really gloomy for most of the Mumbaites thanks to the rains. There is traffic, mud and darkness all around you. Even if you love showers, you will for sure feel depressed in this weather. The sun plays hide and seek more often these days. A bight and sunny afternoon turns lifeless within seconds, making you feel low and depressed. But, as they say, in Mumbai, we do not even have time to notice our own mood shifts. We tweet about bad weather and move on to doing our regular stuff, but it does affect us. The mood is snappy, or quiet or irritated all the time.

Yes you guessed it right. I am in a not so good mood. Weather is playing a big part in my mood to be honest. Thanks to my profession, I have work in extremities. Either I am working the whole day and night and still have a lot of work pending, or I am busy doing nothing at all, which includes occasional spans of lazying around and talking to 2-3 close friends on gtalk. I even enjoy reading blogs. I read a lot, but when it comes to commenting, I comment only when I have anything to add to the post. This reminds me of something I have been pondering upon for quite some time.

I am close friends with a few bloggers who happen to be very popular on blogsphere. They are I, S and G. Now, all of us read and comment on the posts we feel are good. We do not comment for the sake of it or to receive those comments back. But everyone cannot be so good as us right? It will be crazily insane (if such a term exists) to expect anybody to be like us. So, the best way out is ignorance. We ignore those comments which ask us to comment back on their blogs, we even ignore mails and tweets from such people. It will happen as it's a part of this blogworld right?

Ah, this post is turning out to be more of a cribbing post. But you cannot help but to crib thanks to the dull weather. There is no light outside my window. Thanks to the ongoing repair work at my place, we all are sitting in one room, thanks to the unexpected showers once in a while, we are surrounded by clothes drying around us, furniture scattered everywhere and my niece is not keeping well too. Ah, the weather has got into all of us it seems.

Enough of sad things already I guess. Ganesh Utsav starts from tomorrow. Many of my friends and neighbours have Ganeshji at their places. Thus Sunday is going to be the day for paying a visit to their place. I am kind of looking forward to it. It always feels nice to meet old friends who are busy in their lives once in a year. Luckily, the festival is falling over the weekend. Thus everyone will meet at the same time. This will even mean more pollution and traffic, but well, as they say, God is exempted from everything. I am even invited at my Muslim friends' place to celebrate the occasion of eid. An eventful weekend to look forward to this time around. If I happen to click images there, then will share on this blog. But for now, enjoy a few random clicks:

Monsoon effect at Andheri Link Road

Almost everywhere on the roads,this is a common scene

Work never stops. With or without umbrella

Even with a plastic bag on the head for that matter

A scene at a Government office at Bandra

Somewhere on the Western Express Highway

My Solitude

Like I said in my previous post, today was indeed a hectic day. Though it was not an all nighter last night thanks to my net connection which conked off at around 3ish, but I got up by 6:30, and again, did not sleep in the noon, I am yet again sleep deprived. The workload has increased to say the least. But blogging rejuvenates me always. The reason behind catharsis posts back to back here. I need to cleanse my system by venting out everything. And there is no better place than a blog where you write and people read and comment. They make you feel nice by showing that they are with you. How those unknown bunch can make you feel good just by saying two words - "take care".

As I mentioned, my day started pretty early. I left for town by 8 and reached by 9:30 for a 10:30 meeting. Reason was simple - I preferred an hour wait to two hours travelling alone in bad traffic. The smart me had fixed up the meeting at tea centre as I wanted to enjoy the amazing breakfast and super amazing tea out there. Now, I enjoy my solitude the most. I love eating alone, going for a movie alone or travel alone or even stay alone for that matter. I as such do not need a company to say, pass my days or years. I stay with people as they need me. Errrrrrr, too conceited right? I am a loner that does not mean I cannot stand crowd around me. I can live alone too without worrying about anything else. And my mother gets really scared whenever I mention that. And I purposely mention it to scare her.

Now, those of you who are regular here, I am sure they are aware about my love for tea and tea centre. Apart from amazing varieties of teas, you get very good breakfast there. With the familiar chattai curtains and bell, after a long time I felt as if I was at the place I really enjoy. If you are a lawyer, you will know exactly what I mean. I have clicked the bell picture as well.

After a good enough breakfast, now it was meeting time. It must have lasted for around an hour. I had another 40 minutes before I leave for home. I decided to go and sit at Marine Drive - the place where I spent most of my youth (have I become old?). Sun was not at its brightest, breeze was pretty much mild and the sea was calm enough too. I must have gone and sat there after years. But like always, I felt depressed. Sea usually depresses me. Whenever I sit there, I get all negative thoughts all the time. This time around it was no different. I got negative thoughts only, along with some nostalgic memories. 

In my 12th standard, we had gone to marine drive one afternoon. There was low tide that day, thus water levels were pretty low. First time ever we spotted shore there. We just jumped on those rocks and went down. That was one of the most memorable visit to Marine Drive. I was remembering that as well. Those good old college days, those small small dates, those hang outs etc. all suddenly seem so special after attending a boring meeting as a geek! I will not talk about depressing things at the moment, but I shall leave you to ponder over a few images that I clicked. Now I am not so good at photography as few of my fellow bloggers like Gautam, Insignia, Guria, Merlin, Kavi, Shilpa Garg and such. And I didn't even have my camera with me. All I had was a geeky looking business phone.

Click on the image to see the crabs crawling on those rocks

So many times I have sat at that end point..

Yes, I am in love with these rocks..I keep clicking them

That's that for today. I am very tired, so I don't think another all nighter is possible right now. But yes, if the days continue to be so busy and depressing, then you will see here me more often. See ya :)

Mumbai Rains

Mumbai is one of those rare cities in India that has two seasons in a year - Summer and Monsoon - both in their extreme states. Once in two-three years we get to experience winter for a few days. Summer is really bad here. The moment you step out, you are drenched in sweat even before you reach the main gate of your building. I am now used to this humidity so much that if I go in some other city and I do not perspire, I fall sick thanks to my stupid psychology that the heat is not coming out of my body as I didn't sweat even if it was too hot!

But the season i really hated here was monsoon, until now. Reasons - how many of you have heard of 26th July floods in Mumbai? If not, then click here to see the photographs of that nightmare. Mumbai drainage system is the worst. Whenever there is a continuous heavy down pour for five hours or more, the trains stop as the railway tracks are flooded. You may find stand still traffic almost everywhere, a 30 km journey takes more than 3 hours, roads are muddy and dirty, if you travel in a local train or a bus, then people even stamp on your feet, clothes with their wet and muddy chappals and sandals, you have to be very careful while standing anywhere as an unannounced umbrella wire may get poked in your eye and such.

But the monsoon in Mumbai is at its best when you are at Marine drive enjoying the rains. Just take a walk near sea side, water drops drawn you in their beauty, while waves touch your soul deep inside. Usually sea depresses me, but not during monsoon when it's at its wildest and best. Bhutta wala, chai wala, chana chor garam wala and such make their presence felt too. You cannot stop yourself from buying those things and relish on them while it's raining.

I never appreciated rains so much in my life until now. These days, suddenly I have started falling in love with the monsoon. The rain drops lift my spirits instantly. Like a child, I feel like going out there and get wet, play in the rains, make paper boats, take a long walk or a bike ride. It sometimes feels very strange to see how our perspectives suddenly change.

Have you ever had garma garam Mirchi Bajji with spicy garlic chatni while getting wet in rains? Try it out. Your eyes are watering, but the rain water soothes you completely. Go out there and have an ice cream. It tastes ten times better. Just stand at Marine Drive and let the waves kiss your cheeks. You will never want to leave that place. Take a ride around Queens Necklace, Colaba and Fountain at midnight. You will be the luckiest if it's drizzling. Go out there with your loved ones, family and friends. Live your life to the fullest for that glorious day. Live each moment, experience each rain drop, feel each wave. Trust me, it feels like heaven...

(Not only) Public Transport

Lacs of people commute by public transport - be it a local train, bus, auto, taxi, metro train or a tram. And like I always do; I will be writing about Mumbai. 

Public Transport is more than a lifeline of Mumbai. Everyday, more than half of the Mumbai travel by the local trains and BEST buses to and fro. If you are visiting the city for the first time, and if you happen to be on any of the stations during the peak hour; then God save you!

But for us Mumbaikars, the day we do not see this crowd, we get nervous. Even on a Sunday, we expect to travel standing with hardly any room to stand or without getting stamped on your feet! I have travelled for eight years by local trains; and enjoyed every minute of it. If you travel by the same train each day, then you usually find your "9:27 local Train Group" who reserve a seat for you, or give you their seat to sit for a while, chitchat, sing song and such other activities happen within the "Group".

And the Mumbai city Autowalas. I am sure they will throw more tantrums and weight around than our celebrities! You have to be born lucky to get an auto each day within five minutes. But you know, Mumbai autos and cabs are used not only for the public transport; but other objects get the privilege too, to be a passenger and take a ride.

Again, like always the spirit of the city surprises me. In one of my posts, I had mentioned about what all kinds of work people do for their living. Two men were changing the hoardings under the sun without worrying about the height factor!

Commendable job they do. But another set of people who carry more weight than they can pull of on their cycle or push cart.

Ain't they amazing? Last, but not the least - there are nice autowalas too around. Like the one who took me around the Mumbai suburbs this morning, without complaining once about the waiting time for which he did not charge me anything.

All I could say was "Thank You"!

Being Human

Since last Monday, there has been only one face across all the news channels and newspapers - Ajmal Aamir Kasab! I had almost started believing that he is some sort of a hero; but luckily his death sentence was pronounced and he was awarded capital punishment under five counts! This case was indeed a rarity in "Rarest of the rare" case!

A landmark Judgment - some say; while some believe that it is "inhuman" to kill somebody and capital punishment should be abolished as many "Foreign" countries have done this too. First and foremost thing that really makes me irate is that we always follow others but we never take the lead! We have to certain things only because others are doing it. We must abolish capital punishment only because other countries have done it. Great! Then why don't we attack on Pakistan when other countries did it too post 9/11?

And there goes those wonderful arguments by our "learned" Human Activists. I happened to watch a few debates about the morality and humanity issues relating to death penalty. The arguments were:

To kill someone is inhuman and immoral. We cannot be like them!

Yes, to kill someone is inhuman. but to kill an inhuman is human or not? A person who killed 62 people that included men, women and children without any remorse; his intentions were to kill as many people as possible and sacrifice his own life in the deed if needed! Not even once his hand shivered when he shot a nine year old girl who is still recovering from the bullet injury on her leg!

I want to ask those activists; "If you had lost your only son of 25 in the attack; or your mother or pregnant wife; would you still have maintained the same statement of not killing a terrorist? Would Kasab still be a HUMAN for you?"

Capital Punishment will not serve as a deterrent for criminals. Award them a rigorous life imprisonment.

And what good will that do? Terrorists will get scared if you are going to lock them up for life? Will that serve as a deterrent? And how much money will the State spend behind their security? A normal person works hard to earn bread; so that he can eat twice a day. The terrorist will do the same thing - work hard and eat four times a day.

There will be a day when our plane will be hijacked or our people will be made hostages by terrorists. Their demand will be to release Kasab or they will kill our people. Then what will the state do? Sacrifice another 200 lives or release the person who has already killed 62? Oh yes I forgot. To kill is inhuman. We cannot endanger 200 lives; so release Kasab!


Kasab must stay alive; so that we can take out more information from him. He has not yet revealed all the secrets.

Do they know that interrogating a convict is illegal? The state CANNOT ask him a single question to the accused as our Constitution of India has provided an accuse a right to remain silent under article 20(3)? I wonder who appointed these people as spokespersons for Rights Commission?

By killing Kasab, we are closing all the doors of his reformation. He is only 21!

Reform a person who joined LeT - A terrorist organization voluntarily. He was not brainwashed, nor was he forced into joining it. He joined it as he wanted to become a terrorist! After his training period got over; he was given an option to either go and stay with his family for a few days; or stay in the camp. Many of his colleagues left for home and never came back; while Kasab preferred to stay back in the camp. He did not even feel for his family. What reformation you will do to him further? And does he deserve it really? You should reform the person who regrets his acts and not the one who did it without any guilt or regret or fear!


I think it's high time that we realize that certain acts and certain people cannot be changed by showing humanity. They need to be punished. A person has been convicted and awarded a death penalty under five counts. Isn't it a sufficient enough case to consider his case an exception in your so called Human Rights Books? I know killing Kasab will not help much as he is a small fish in the large pond full of crocodiles; but don't you think our State cannot let go of him only because he is a small fish? The same small fish killed so many. How can we finish the master minds if we forget and forgive these small people who eventually make a big difference?

If my wish to kill Kasab makes me inhuman; then I am happy being one!

PS: The post is based on my views completely. You may disagree to it.

The city of Surprises

There are some places which you can't stop raving about no matter how much ever you read or write about them or visit them. They simply take you by surprise each time you are exploring those familiar lanes. They have something to offer always. But the city that you are living in, or the roads that you travel by each day - they take you by surprise? Hmmm, a bit difficult to believe right?

Actually, it is not so difficult if you live in a city like Mumbai.

They call it a City of Dreams. The city that can take you by surprise each day, each moment you live in it. Be it the ever increasing population that explodes in the train each morning; or the various political party people protesting. The serial bomb blasts in the local train that fails to stop the city; or the arrest warrant against Raj Thakrey resulting into a "Bandh".

Biggest of the things does not stop the pace; while a small thing makes us look for covers; we can do without food for a day, but not without the local train or bus. We respect our servants more than our family members; praying to God means singing Bhajans aloud in the train compartment; and comfort means getting a space to stand in the train without getting your foot stamped even once.

Still we love this city. We cannot live anywhere else if we have lived here once. And we cannot save ourselves from the surprises it throws at us. City with such an exploding population; the kind of jobs available for a normal man to survive; the efficiency they have to execute them is mind boggling to say the least. Like for example see the image below:

You will see two men sitting on the top of the hoarding. They are changing the poster and putting up a new one. Two men - one poster; one huge poster; sun is burning their back; the poster frame is hot too. Still they are working; working for livelihood.

We are blessed with a very comfortable life if you look at them!

I am yet to get over that scene and a new sight is waiting for me. Our very own BEST. It was my second ride after at least six years; the first one being a few days ago. And I had for sure failed to notice a few changes the last time in all the excitement of travelling by a BEST after so many years.

The first thing I spotted was a couple of 14" LCD TVs. And my usual belief and typical attitude made me think that they might not even be working. Then there was a cctv camera. Now a BEST where you spot more fights for the reserved seats than pick-pocketers; you do not expect a camera.

But it was indeed there. And thanks to 20 odd news channels; I had even seen once how the camera caught a man stealing 1 lac cash from one of the fellow passengers! That's Mumbai. Plastic bag will carry so much of cash and the mode of transport will be BEST.

To my greatest surprise; the TV worked too. That too; only one ad that featured John Abrahim was being played again and again!

Time has indeed changed. So has the city. The population keeps on increasing; new faces pour in each day so are the new jobs. But the city still runs ten steps ahead of you. It is difficult to keep up the pace. You are taken aback by the surprise each time you come out of your house.

The city of Dreams has indeed become a city of surprises too!

Kala Ghoda Arts Festival, 2010 - Part 2

Kala Ghoda Arts Festival (KGAF); as people say; is an experience you cannot easily forget. It stays with you for a long time. Those who missed reading the first part, can click here.

KGAF is all about Arts. Artist from various fields showcase their talent here. Various musical shows, plays, films etc. is performed on this stage.

I was unfortunate to be there in the afternoon; and the shows started by 4 pm; I could not see a single performance thanks to my so called busy schedule. But few amusing things made the visit quite an amusing one. For instance; this huge bell:

And the artistic nest made of golden wires:

Apart from such artistic beauties, there was a dedication to our ancient beliefs about Mannat (wishes). A young couple is spotted there. The guy is tying the thread to the wish board while the girl is all smiles.

In the Hinduism, it is believed that tying a thread to the tree leads to fulfillment of wishes. Since the trees are scarce now, people are satisfied with a wooden fence which is made of that auspicious tree.

There was one stall that offered small children to showcase their talent too. They were given a brush, colours and plain white T-shirt. They drew mountains, birds, sun, flowers, rivers and such. Some simply stroked the brush randomly; while others copied them and trying to do better.

The same stall offered hand made sketches too - the real one and not the computerized one that looks like a hand made sketch. I got mine made too. Though it does not resemble me much, but I still like it.

There are many things to be shared; many photographs to be displayed; but I do not want to bore you people. Hope you enjoyed this virtual journey as much as I enjoyed the real one that had ragda patties too with the Arts.

Ragda Patties Image Source: http://jugalbandi.info/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/ragdapattice1.jpg

Kala Ghoda Arts Festival, 2010 - Part 1

The roads of Mumbai have huge hoardings of the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival (KGAF). Name of the sponsors are more evident than the name of the event. Black and White theme of the posters with a colourful surf excel logo look quite interesting.

My numerous visits to Colaba and none at KGAF has left me curious - space management is the question I have been thinking about; which is answered as soon as I reach there. Whole place is transformed completely. Shops and restaurants have moved two steps backward to make space for the colourful stalls; each corner has something to offer - from food to eco-friendly Tees, bags, wall pieces, paintings, artifacts, jewelleries and such.

Among these colourful stalls, we find the Kala Ghoda (Black Horse). This Black Horse has a different story to share altogether.

The Drought

I am tired.
There is a change happening around me, which has speed. There is a drought of pure and honest thoughts. Creativity has dried up, relationships are breaking apart like hollow branches, responsibilities are too heavy to sustain. Minds are lost in the dry jungle with no freshness; only dry creepers entangling everything around. Humans have the power to change it, but the power is in DROUGHT. We are waiting for our wills to act, to break the shackles and free our self. Waiting for the shower of freshness which is only possible if we are greener from minds and hearts.
I am tired.
There is a change happening around me.
Which has speed.

I am fast. NO. I was fast.

- Yuvraj, Dipali, Rishi and Santosh

There are many messages about saving our earth. Many images that move your heart; leaving you wondering about what we have done with our planet and what we still are doing.

Extensive use of plastic will soon take over our trees too; if at all there will be any remaining then.




Domnic Anthony insists on installation of the earth with this unique concept!



Plastic is a demon..



Save the Earth..

And the image that left me really curious. I spotted it when I entered the KGAF. I do not know the meaning behind it. If any of you has visited KGAF and know the meaning behind it, please let me know.