i love you and hate you...

Bombay, where lives are made,
honest efforts are valued
hard work and perseverance pays,
where nobody sleeps hungry.

Bombay, it gave me my identity,
and a sense of self confidence,
liberated me financially,
and taught me to stand tall.

Bombay, the city of dreams,
where glamour and money reigns supreme,
make up and clothes maketh one,
where masks are worn and changed.

Bombay, it snatched my innocence,
stole the trust and faith i reposed,
grabbed my laughter,
and buried my smiles ...

Bombay, i love and hate you,
I have faith, yet fear you,
I have gained a lot and lost some more,
Hope u give me without taking away...

Bombai yedi hai kya???

We cant get rid of the pot holes!!!

Finally, BMC admits that they have no clue how to sort out this issue. I ain't appreciating their incompetence, I am only resounding their for once honesty. No sooner did i give them the credit, that i hear of this new ingenious solution they come up with to help us!! What would we do without these blessed angels.

Since they are incapable of finding a solution to the pock-marked roads of the city, the mayor has announced a project whereby, they will install in all cellular phones an application. This app will indicate the exact loaction, depth and width of a pothole in 10 metres of the stretch of road ahead from where the cell is held!!!!

U read it correctly! So the plan is, that every ten metres, i can look into my cell and check for the next pothole and avoid it. Supah!!

Question: I am not allowed to talk or text while driving, so how do i look into the cell for the app?
Answer: You can stop and check.

Q: How do i do it, where one second stall and i get to hear - BC, MC, lady fu*** driver!!?
A: Pull over to the extreme left lane and then check.

Q: Every 10 mins i will go from right to left and jostle for space between buses and autos / cabs?
A: You are over exaggerating! It is a very viable idea.

Q: What is the expense?
A: Only 60 Crores. (which u and i will pay for!)

My verdict: Saala humko ch**** samjha hai kya???!!!
Whats yours????

Blasts dont scare people.

There is yet another piece of news - bomb blast in Delhi. Yes that is what bomb blasts have become. A piece of news.

I wonder what could probably be the intention of the people behind these blasts. To instill fear i suppose? If that be the purpose, then don't blasts at regular intervals back fire at the mischief makers? What am i saying....?

Lemme explain...

The first time that blasts happened (since i understood what blasts were), ie in 1993, i distinctly remember fear etched boldly in our minds. Mothers did not permit their children to go to school, wives beseeched thier husband to stay back home. Husbands didnt themselves want to step outside the protective cocoon of home. Offices were closed, shops were shut, schools were closed.

Over the years, blasts happened, people died, got injured, political drama unfolded..... the same saga.

Cut to June 2011 bomb blasts in Mumbai at Dadar, zaveri bazar etc... we were watching the television sets, we did check the internet, but we didn't leave from offices. The next day students went to school, we went back to work, life was normal except for those whose kith or kin were victims of the blast.

The fear is gone. It is replaced by sorrow,  a sense of helplessness, anger even, but most certainly not fear!! Have we become a society numb and incapable of emotional reaction? Will someone explain to these people that constant bombing is not helping them or me. May be they see reason? May be they realize the fool hardiness of these constant madness? Just may be......

Bombay, the step child???

Bombay is supposedly the financial and entertainment capital of our country.

I say supposedly financial capital because, today the business growth in places like Gujarat and Bihar is faster than that of Bombay. In fact Bombay has lost a lot of sources of income, textile, sugar, salt etc....  No new industries have come up in Bombay in the last decade gone by.

Entertainment is still Bombay's domain. But that is only so far as Bollywood is concerned. That is too narrow an interpretation of entertainment. Live concerts do not happen in Bombay because taxes kill the organizers. The heritage concerts like Banganga festival or the Bandra fort festival don't hold the same charm anymore. Venues which used to be the perfect ambiance for the concerts till a decade ago have meta-morphed into dumping heaps or cattle washing areas.

As if that was not enough, pubs, discs, and all other entertainment joints shut down at 1.30am. Even a public place like Chowpatty beach or marine drive have cops swarming every 15 mins after 1.30am. A quiet walk by the water body, to clear one's mind has become a luxury which i cant afford.

While this is true of Bombay, how come the taxes for live performances are 3 times lower in places like Bangalore? How is it that permissions are procured on a one window basis there and not here? How do the delhiites manage to have their joints kept open till the wee hours of the morning?? Why the step-child attitude to Bombay, when the citizens are the highest tax payers of the country??? Why....

ENUF IS ENUF: Is Ganpati the sacrificial goat up for slaughter after being fed?

ENUF IS ENUF: Is Ganpati the sacrificial goat up for slaughter after being fed?

Is Ganpati the sacrificial goat up for slaughter after being fed?

Ganpati Bappa Morya!!!

Some call him Vignaharata, some Ganu, others Sankat harata, many others call him Ashta vinayak. Call him by whichever name, there is no doubt that, he is easily the most liked and most revered God of the hindus!

It is that time of the year when fesitivites, sweets, wishes and smiles engulf the city. Ganu is brought to homes, societies, lanes, nukkads. He is adorned, decorated, bathed, cleaned, fed. Hymns are sung in his honour, prayers are chanted. Basically everything is done to appease him for a day, 3 days, 5, 7 or all 10 days.

Then what happens has often shocked me!! He is immersed in water???? I am sure there is some mythological, religious belief behind this practice. What i dont know. I would be glad to. But the point is, has anyone walked the beaches the next day?

You just might step over His hand or a leg or the stomach, a ear, his trunk or worst of all His face! Its like the potholes of the city. You avoid one, you end up falling in the other. Similarly, u try to avoid stepping on the arm, you might end up stepping on the face!! A stray is chewing on His trunk, carrying it around in its mouth as if it were a peice of a bone.

Has he been fed for all those days ONLY to be stepped on finally??? Is he the goat fed ONLY to be slaughtered???

The bigger the idol, the more difficult it is for the ocean to devour Him, and then He is spat back on shore to be stepped on by those very 'devotees' who paid their obeisance to him a few days back..... Sad.... aint it??

Bombay is after all, all about the heart!!!

Today is Eid! My friends are celebrating after a long month of ramazan fasting. I had my invites for Eid lunch. Biryani, korma, phirni, the works.

My bowels are still sturggling with the deposits in it from the lunch and my phone shows up invites for Ganpati home coming feast tonite. My stomach is grumbling! Threatens to go on strike.

But i saw something amazing, while we helped them prepare the phirni and polish it off, they helped prepare the puranpolis and polish em off!! The muslim boys of my building helped pull the cart on which our ganpati came. the hindu boys were hugging the others wishing them Eid mubaraq. This  conjunction of dates has been happening for the last 3- 4 years. And i have been witness to this similar exchange year after year.

Its beautiful!!!! Then where does the hatred come from?? What does the anger arise for?? Why then should there be carnage or bloodbaths in the name of religion when we can in fact enjoy so many festivities by staying together???

Well for today for this festive season and after this day, for sometime, lets stop finding faults with the city. Its only in Bombay where ganpati comes while sheer korma is being shared!!! For Bombay its about the food?? No its all about the heart!!!

Faith

Two months back a friend and i dreamt and conceptualized the mantra 'jail bharo' to let our voices be heard. Voices against corruption, voices for security and prosperity. We started this blog. Shared our views here, there, everywhere. Couldn't make much of an impact. The idea was to spread the word. I had begun to feel helpless, i was unable to do what we had set out to. My voice was getting sadder and lonelier....

I was out of the country for a fortnight, totally disconnected from the world. Incommunicado, inacessible. No clue about what is happening.

Then when i come back, i find this uproar engulfing the country, this huge human sea of protestors. Pleading for their voices to be heard, fasting, satyagraha, cries of jail bharo! Never seen such a huge voluntary outburst of emotion. We have had enuf and now we want to let it be known that its not acceptable. The correctness or not, of the bargain is a topic for another post. I missed all the action, but a lot more to happen and lots more to do and ofcourse lots more to dream.

But here, the point i am making is of the universe coming together and conspiring to fulfil a wish you desperately desire! My desire was that the word be spread. Spread it has and how!!! I am begining to believe again.....

When security arouses fear.....

Over the past few years, a trip to the by-lanes of Bori Mohalla and / or Mohammed Ali Road during Ramzan has become an annual feature for me.

Owing to the sentiments of the zone, i have always worn clothes which have covered me neck down, full sleeves et all. I never went alone. Always ensured i dragged a specimen of the male specie with  me. Sometimes even two or three. At the back of my mind i knew that, its festive and fasting season. There shall be no problems, the kinds a girl is normally worried about. Yet when i saw cops stationed at every few kilometers, it put me at ease.

In keeping with my own tradition, i visited Bori Mohalla and Mohammed Ali Road yesterday with a few friends. We were hungry and excited at the prospect of good food!! Kebabs, barah handi, phirni, malpua..... mmm.... We began our excursion at the stalls of Bori Mohalla. I was relishing the fragrance of good food floating in the air, flooding my system. The kebabs came and just while i was about to lunge at the plate, something disturbing flashed across my eyes. But what? It didn't register.

After a couple of other stalls, salivating and stuffing ourselves with some more meat, i felt the same pit in my stomach. This time i looked around slowly, trying to put a finger on what was bothering me. And then i saw and it dawned. In addition to cops, who were a regular feature, there were uniformed personnel at every few kilometers. They were either BSF or army, i cant tell. Their presence disturbed me. It meant that there could be trouble. Trouble far bigger and greater than a grope or a pocket being picked. Trouble, the kind where in a second, lives can be lost, laughter can turn to screams of horror or absolute silence. There would still be meat burning, but of a different kind......

The security aroused in me, fear..... Isn't that what it was meant to dispel.....???

I was getting tired and lonely, then i found a hand to hold on this lonesme path

Yes, Mumbai has been sucker punched again. As much by its own as by the bastards who routinely put bombs in crowded places.

by Uday Mali on Thursday, July 14, 2011 at 2:22pm

Yes, Mumbai has been sucker punched again. As much by its own as by the bastards who
routinely put bombs in crowded places. (by Sumit Bhattacharya @ www.rediff.com)

'I don't get it,' wrote a friend, who is in his early thirties, on his Facebook status message a couple of weeks ago. 'Why can't we be out on the streets at night without the cops having to tell us to leave? Isn't it their jobs to keep the streets safe so we can be out no matter what the time?'

I think you will agree that it just about sums up the relationship most of India shares with its police force. For sure in Mumbai, the great city once again bleeding from another terrorist attack.

The Mumbai police had initially declared the terrorist siege of November 2008 as a gang war. Even in Wednesday's serial blasts, till an hour after people were frantically trying to get through loved ones on suddenly jammed phone networks, the brave Mumbai police was busy describing the explosions as an air-conditioner blast and an electricity repair job gone wrong.

These are the same men who can drag you to a police station because the bar you were drinking at is not authorised to serve alcohol. If you ask why the bar is up and running, and why aren't the owners being arrested and how were you to know, your questions will fall on deaf ears till you call up someone high up.

This is the same police force that has had great success busting rave parties -- even those held in remote jungle areas -- and at catching kids 'dirty-dancing' in pubs.

This is the same city where hired gunmen kill fearless reporters in the day time.

This is Mumbai, Maharashtra, where the police use the Official Secrets Act to arrest a journalist who exposes how sophisticated weapons bought after 26/11 for the modernisation of the police force are going bad in godowns that can't keep the rains off.

Perhaps it can only happen in this city, where Adarsh is a joke. A city where unreal estate prices are pushed further up every day even as builders destroy state forests and ecologically crucial mangrove clusters.

Where eyesores called skywalks are built for billions and then marked to be torn down for the metro rail project's phase two. Where billions of rupees are spent on beautifying posh Marine Drive while the teeming middle class braves packed beyond capacity trains and nightmare -- nay, nightmares are shorter -- traffic from the unplanned suburbs.

Mumbai, where some of the world's richest men live. Mumbai, which has the worst roads among India's metros.

Mumbai, which mirrors New York -- down to earmuffs despite a nonexistent winter -- in fashion. Where PhD holders think of their out of state colleagues as migrant labourers. Where you can be denied a pigeonhole on rent because of your religion, your food preference, or your marital status.

The city of private paradises and public hell. Where frightening armoured cars now pass you by if you want to catch a late night kebab at Bade Miyan in Colaba.

Mumbai, which makes dreams come true. Mumbai, that must pay the price. Where pigeons flying helter-skelter means a bomb blast, or a gunshot. Where images of blood on the streets always seems like a rerun.

Mumbai, that must go to work the next day, no matter what.

Wading through dirty water when the rains routinely make a mockery of the municipal corporation's annual monsoon preparedness. Wading through debris when terrorists routinely make a mockery of the police's perpetual preparedness.
Wading through traffic pileups caused by political rallies.

Yes, Mumbai has been sucker punched again. As much by its own as by the bastards who routinely put bombs in crowded places, police nakabandis -- the Mumbaiyya term for street checks -- be damned.

Yes, Mumbai will get back up and trudge back to work, uncomfortably numb. Not for its famed resilience, but simply to survive.

Have i become a crib crab?

Yesterday, a friend commented that i've turned into a cribber. All i do on fcaebook or here is crib about what the city has turned into. My efforts to argue that, i am complaining because i know we deserve better and we can get it, were all in vain. I was even told that i havent been forced to stay here. I should leave the city or country if i dont like things here.

Instead of letting the evening with friends turn nasty, i posed a question. Tell me one thing with respect to which you have seen improvement in the city in the last 10 years (and pls don't say bollywood) That was where the discussion stopped.

But the comment kept nagging me at the back of my mind. And i now want to pose this question to an open forum:

              "Tell me one thing with respect to which you have seen improvement in the city in the last 10 years?"

Lets try and find something to praise about our city. Traffic, security, infrastructure, business, education..... any sphere. A comparison with the other metros would be even better, if you could do that. Have i missed out something about the growth of the city that others have seen?

Brick by brick....

Today's newspapers said that the Municipal Comissioner is actually under pressure to cancel the tenders issued in  favour of the tainted contractors. The board opposite the Mantralay has also come down.

On television they showed how Anna's burning of the Jokpal Bill was applauded and supported by 67% of the citizens. My back also feels better :-)

In a completely disconnected conversation, someone said that the BMC Building and Repair Board has directions to go strictly by the rules and give no concessions of any sort for any project, no matter where the file comes from.

I know i am not the cause for any of those, yet somehow i feel a sense of pride, a fulfilment of some sort. I am certain you do too! May be it is because we see the light at the end of the tunnel. May be coz it is the begining of the end. End of unbridled corruption in every sphere of our life. 

This is only the first of the baby steps. Hopefully we will be able to re-build our city of dreams. As someone said 'brick by brick'. I am an optimist and i would like to believe we shall live to see that day.... 

Respected Mr. CM, You already have a brain dead state. Are you looking for a physically immobile one as well??

Courtesy Rohini Behl and Shahid Basheer

Respected Mr. CM,

You already have a brain dead state. Are you looking for a physically immobile one as well??

Your party and all others have over the years made the citizens of this once upon a time live and hopeful city 'dead'. Dead, coz it has lost its faith, conscience, the verve and energy. Dead because you and yours have successfully shattered its dreams and aspirations. The middle class educated population, tax paying people could not be bothered during elections. For them it s a choice between a holiday and a day to elect the devil or the deep sea. Which of course suits all parties. Then they get illiterates by truck loads who are drunk or smoked and elections are won!

Now that you have a brain dead state, (which all parties milk to the last drop), you will not stop, will you? You are anxious to get people maimed or killed. There are attacks after attacks on the city. what do you do? Form committees and .....?

How many reports have you seen of potholes on the roads of the city, including the flyover you inaugurated. What have you done? Do u know the count of the people who have broken their backs (including me) owing to the potholed city?

Are you aware of the number of people who have lost their limbs thanks to the unconcerned attitude of the authorities. Dumpers driving over people, railway stations and railways have become the messengers of death. First it was blinding commuters with stones and now it is crushing them under trains coz of the banana peel which the conservancy staff did not clean? Have you forgotten that misery of the lady who could not use a washroom at a station when she was most in need of and had to be hospitalized for lack of sanitation at stations??

What are you doing to this city??? But actually, why am i complaining of such distant issues!! You seem to be as blind as the citizens you are trying to disfigure. Right under your nose, this huge hoarding across the main road opposite Mantralaya, from Friday last week till yesterday that i know of.  (see pic above) All despite your circular of no illegal hoardings!! Is this hoarding legal?? It does not seem to bear the requisite permissions displayed on it!!

Mr. C. M. Sir, will i get a response ever? When will we get what we truly deserve??

The power to change is ours and ours ALONE!!

Citizens of upmarket locale Juhu, in the western suburbs of the city, are a happier lot today with slightly better living standards that the rest of us. Last year they chose one among them as a candidate for corporator's elections. He got elected. Being a citizen of the locality himself, he understands the difficulties of the people. He took up a lot of issues and did a good job. The people now feel that they are part of the democracy, that they have a say in the system.  

The reason is that they chose to take a diversion from the system, YET all along staying within the confines of the system. We have to vote. We cant hide behind the grouse saying each candidate is worse than the other. Choices are either we get a candidate of our own or we register a no vote.

Both have grave immediate disadvantages but could change things for the future. To get one of us to contest elections is per se not difficult, but, unless enough and a lot more is done to create awareness, our chosen candidate may face the consequences, a banker candidate from south bombay faced last year. On the other hand if we do our ground work well, i am certain we can pull off an easy victory. We can also have good governance. We can be a part of the system, our system.

In the no vote system, getting a 1/3rd no vote of the total population who actually went to ballot, could take l....o....n...g..... But in hope we shall live.

Issues are ours, problems are ours, lives are ours, the power to change is also ours and ours ALONE!!!! Lets make an attempt to make that change.

Ek saala pothole aadmi ko apahij bana deta hai!

I had suffered 2 slip discs a few years back. Went through hell. Hard core physio therapy, traction and heat treatments helped my spine regain its lost strength. Ever since i have been sacrificing my sleep, waking up at 5:30am every morning or every alternate morning to be able to practice yoga so my back can function well. And i did well. Began considering myself some kind of an expert on back issues and would dole out unsolicited advice that too for free, if i saw someone wince with pain.

Yesterday i had to go to Wadala for an errand. Was returning home in an auto at about 9pm. The rain Gods were very pleased with us and it was pouring down. The autowala had been warned to avoid potholes and unnecessary jerks. He was driving as carefully as one possibly could. Nevertheless there was a street where there were either no streetlights or not lit. The left tyre of the auto went into a pothole. I got off, the autowala yanked the auto out and we were on our way further.

Reached home and had tickets for a movie. Didnt feel upto it. My back had begun to hurt. But i went. By the next morning i was in such grief, that i couldnt get off the bed. With tears in my eyes, i managed to get myself up, i couldnt stand for more than a few minutes. I sat down, couldnt stand up again. But i had to come to work. So applied some pain relief, put a belt around my back and came to work. Have spent the whole day in pain.

Spoke with my doc. He says the pothole has in all probability triggered off the dormant ache and trouble. I have been advised ten days bed rest!!! I want to know:

Why is the government so callous about our well being?
Do not these politicians, bureaucrats ever face these issues?
Why is it that when i toil hard, honestly pay my taxes, i still do not get a decent road home?
Why is it that year after year, millions and billions of rupees spent, yet the condition of roads only deteriorates in this city?
Why are the Delhi roads in good shape?

Who will ask these questions? Or worse still, will anyone reply? please???

black & yellow - public convenience or public trauma??

Been out of the city for the last 5 days. Had a nice holiday. Was dreading to come back to my own city. Not looking forward to getting down to the grind again. Come Monday morning, i woke up feeling as if i'd been punched in the stomach. Put it down to Monday blues. As the morning progressed, it occurred to me i wasnt ready for the jostle the city puts me into.

And rightly so, got into an argument with an autowalla coz he refused to ply me to the station. Reason- too much traffic!!! Then when one did, he wanted 10 bucks more!!

Earlier the trip from home to the station cost me Rs.15/- The reason to not ply then was that they get no return passenger meaning not enuf profit. Gradually, the costing went up to about Rs.25/- but by then there was way too much population in the locality. They chose passengers by the distance. Now "too much traffic"!!!

They ply autos for God's sake!! What do they expect on feeder routes??? Even flights have air traffic issues these days!!! Its exasperating. And their uncouth behaviour and language is an additional irritant. All of this on the first morning of the week!! 

Change i have been told, is imminent..... When will this change, i wonder!! Sigh.....

Value or price??

What is the value of a corpse??

To a medical student - a lot. He learns on a cadaver.
To an organ donee - priceless. He receives a new lease of life.
To a family member - invaluable. It provides him the much needed object of release of emotions!

How will u react if i say - Rs.35000/-

Yes that is the price a private undertaker tagged to a dead body of a victim of the blasts last Wednesday in Bombay. Whilst the relatives are still coming to terms with the sudden, unfortunate end of life, as if, to have to go through a million and one formalities for the release of a dead body from the morgue of a government hospital was not enough.... Having to pay Rs.35000/- to transport the dead body home after embalming (which is not privately permitted in the first place)! If this is not extortion what is? That too, when the government circulars provide free embalming and transport for bodies of victims of terror attacks.

Who do the relatives go to and when?? At that time, all that the old parents want is to be able to see their son/ daughter one last time. For the widow to be able to touch the face of her beloved before he's gone forever. For the children to hold and cry over their parent whom they'll never be able to hug again!!

Does one endeavour to bring the body home to them or get into the red tapism of the authorities to secure free transport. Isnt it easier and more prudent at that time of the hour to pay the price of what is invaluable????

i am numb!!!

I dont know if the numbness is the aftereffect of the blasts last Wednesday, or due to the apathy of the administration or the Oh so short memory of the public!! I just feel so lost and sad....

A friend was witness to the blast at Zaveri bazar. She described the bodies or should i say parts of bodies she saw strewn around, smoke all over and inside her lungs choking her. Her only thought at that time was that of 6 year old daughter.

I feel sympathetic towards the chief minister who makes a public statement that 'his officers could not gather intelligence because the best refuse to take up the intelligence department as its not lucrative enuf" and yet states intelligence hasn't failed!!

I feel scared when i think, that tomorrow God forbid i am the victim of the next blast, nobody absolutely nobody could be bothered to find out who was responsible and why it happened?

Has human life become so inexpensive? Are we really 'cattle class' now? Fed only to be slaughtered?

Where lies the problem?

As a student of marketing, I was taught to address an issue - find out the root of the problem.

Problem is - why this city??

There are about 26 states (the last count I remember). Each state has about 25 districts if not more. And each district, cities. 4 metros and many other progressive cities. Then y is my city a target? I wonder.....

What is it that about Bombay that makes them wanna destroy it?
Is it because the stock exchange is here, are they jealous that Bollywood is here?
Or is it plainly because the city embraces all kinds of people from all walks of life with equal warmth. Irrespective of your caste or creed and gives them a fair opportunity? Is that what they wanna do? Destroy the indomitable spirit? Break the spine? Paralyze the city forever and use it as a poster of their achievements?
Are we gonna allow it to happen..........? None of us want it to happen. We all are angry, we all want to do something about it. Lets begin with finding out 'why us'??

I was Bombay!

• • I was Bombay!
    The city of dreams, the city of miracles....
    I never slept, i gave opportunities......
    I let girls walked free and tall no matter dawn or dusk....
    I was Bombay!
    
    I was Bombay!
    a sunday on chowpatty or juhu.....
    a walk on marine drive.....
    dandiya, eid or ganpati, i have seen em all......
    I was Bombay!
    
    Now i am not Bombay.
    there's fear, despair, hatred and pain....
    I am being called the dying star, the city that was....
    I have been shot at and bombed,
    I am being ravaged and milked dry....
    Nobody walks free any more....
    uncertain whether ill be around the next day....
    I have become Mumbai, but i still want to remain Bombay!
    
    I want to be able to dream again,
    to live and let live......
    I want to be able to smile again,
    I am tired of being bled......
    I want to be Bombay again!
    I want to make miracles again,
    I want to be Bombay again!