Goodbye 2008

Finally the year has come to an end, it has been a roller coaster ride this year with loads of ups and downs both on the professional and personal front...

Lemme see, If I have to appraise the year that was...I can sum it up as follows...

1) For the first time in my life travelled alone (for fun and not on business), generally I am used to travelling in a group with the arragement taken care of by others, this year I managed to plan and visit Birmingham all by myself and had a blast of a weekend with friends who live there...

2) Started writing my blog (I have Vin to thank for this)...major mental block in this regard cleared...

3) Finally visited the Prince of Wales Museum...guys this is a must visit in Mumbai...all the history that is housed here really humbles you...it reminds you that you are nothing but a grain of sand on the shores of time...there were others before you and there will be many more after you, helps keep you in perspective...check out the painting section it is really awesome...

4) Finally drove a car on Mumbai roads...lemme tell you it took a lot of trying...my brother leaving for further studies was the last nail the coffin which actually drove (pun unintended) me to sign up for driving lessons...

5) Lost some serious weight :P... still have a long way to go before I look like Kate Moss...but then every little helps...

6) Made a spot of profit on the stock market...finally made some profits after two years of a losing streak...but still ending the year deeply in the red again...

7) Let go of loads of emotional baggage...learnt to live one day at a time...learnt that you can't have everything the way you want it to be...

8) Completed my collection of Jane Austen books...Yippie...finally :)

9) Gave my first live singing performance(Carols)...for the record it was a hit and I am still trying to get my hands on the recording of the same...

10) Learnt how to play the guitar...long time dream come true...

11) Got my first promotion within the same company...all other promotions in my life were on account of changing jobs...

12) Last but not the least made some great friends in blogosphere...

Guys, wish you a very happy 2009 and thanks for being part of my life, you rock and hope you continue rocking in 2009...

My message for the new year,

If you love something...set it free...
If it comes back...it is yours...
It is does not...it never was!!!

Cheers!!!

Book Review : The White Tiger

Dear Mr Adiga,

This is in response to your matrimonial advertisement in yesterdays Times of India. Yeah, yeah, it was an interview in The Times, but shrewd and calculative me was able to see that you have managed to run a front page matrimonial ad for free. If this candid interview does not result in a shower of matrimonial responses, then I am not sure what will. I hereby present myself as a prospective Mrs. Adiga for I like your style, if you can hoodwink the Times and also win a Booker prize for The White Tiger, you have some serious survival instincts, me like it, me like it a lot.

I seem to be deviating from the point, so from here onwards a book review on your magnum opus The White Tiger it shall be. I have read the book and frankly have not been able to understand as to what is the message you want to give your readers. I grant you that I normally read a book three times to understand it and so far have read The White Tiger just once. But to make me read a book three times it must have something, that something maybe a plot, a conscience, a message or an inspiration. Even crap romance novels have a message, "Love conquers all in the end" or whatever mush, but The White Tiger...nothing!!!

What were you trying to say ??

1) That there is rampant corruption in India, and to make it big you have to grease a few palms...
2) That you should put yourself above others and forget all morals if you want to be someone in life...
3) That foreigners have better souls and conscience than us lowly Indians...
4) The foundations of every big empire is tainted with the blood of the innocent...

All the above happens all over the world, it is a dog eat dog world and it is the survival of the fittest, then why potray an already battered India to the world as such...

Your protagonist comes across as an unrepentant messenger of evil, right from the word go...he sucked up to all the wrong people, did grave injustice to the only man who treated him with some respect, continues to pay silence money...

Chances are I am not seeing the book in the right light...in which case pray enlighten me...

Your Sincerely
Sen

Tagged ! Six crazy things while watching movie:)

Vin has passed on this contagious bug to me. I know I am infected for I see the symptoms, I have started blabbering about the crazy things I do while watching or going for a movie. I am not much of a movie freak (the-song-and-dance-around-trees routine kills me), so the VCDs and DVDs are a boon for the likes of me who can fast forward these bits and get on with the story (which is not there in most cases anyway)...Once in a while when I am in a masochistic mood I tend to make my way to the multiplex to watch movies...I am tagging Div & ,LV heheheh why should I alone suffer...so here goes...

1) Watch back to back duds...this is a phenomena which I have observed of late, this gives rise to another observation that I must be in a near suicidal mood these days, for under no other circumstances will a person watch Indian Jones (dubbed in Hindi) and Don Muthuswamy back to back...can you imagine the suave Harrison Ford talking in hindi, the dubbed dialogues for Indian Jones is something that I will remember to the day I die...a grown man mouthing dialogues like "Mummy kidhar hai!!" etc...etc, is not something you will forget in a hurry...

2) Anticipate when the lead pair is going to break into a song and dance sequence and say(loudly), "Guys not now, please no song, pls pls", I especially remember doing this while watching "Singh is King", there they were dancing and singing "Jee Karda" or whatever crap wearing little or no clothes...practically inside the pyramids...guys how about a bit of respect for the dead...that is centuries of history you are dancing on...and to think I went to watch this movie after buying a ticket, when just the previous day I could have gone for free kills me...

3) Pass Smart Alec Comments...This is my all time favourite pass time at dud movies...We were watching the Tanisha starrer "SSSSHHHH", where a killer is on the loose and he is slowly killing the members of the group..one of the girls whose name was Gehena was killed...the killer drowns her and her body washs up on the beach and the next shot is of her body being washed away again...our heads were already shot thanks to the lack lustre script and my friend N decided to liven up the atmosphere... he quips..."Gehena, pani mein behena" everyone within earshot practically erupted in laughter...

4) Watch horror movies and then sleep for the next couple of weeks with the bedside lamp on...I hate horror movies... I just cannot watch it, I normally watch the build up to the story and then walk out of the room when the really scary bits start...my mum has an interesting way of watching horror movies... she just mutes the TV when the scary parts start...this is really effective...you don't feel all that scared when the sound effects are missing!!!...the other side effects of watching horror movies is that you want company when you go from one room to another :)

5) Weep when the National Anthem is played...this is a mystery that I have not been able to solve yet, tears start flowing from my eyes when the National Anthem is played, it is a saving grace that the lights are switched off...or else people will think that I am crying since I did not want to see the movie and have been dragged to the cinema hall (which is the case most of the time) by force!!!

6) Advertisements, social messages and trailers...I love to watch the advertisements, social messages and trailers that are played before the movie begin, so I make it a point to be there before time, somehow the advertisements seem much more attractive on the big screen!!!

Yuletide Carol Singing!!!

Ok all you anxious people out there, here is the latest on the happenning in my office these past few days...with monthend and year end behind us...we had nothing better to do with our time and hence decided to venture into here before unknown and untapped pockets of latent talent that is hiding in the finance family (you see there is tremendous stress on the fact that we are like an extended family and a close knit bunch, the only thing left is to sing "We are family" before starting work each morning, you know, something on the lines of assembly at school, where we sang praises of the lord, country and school (Yes, my school (smirk, smirk) has a School Anthem, and I still remember it by heart)...

As it is Christmas Time, we decided to sing Carols, the smart ones promptly went on leave, the rest (read EL, myself and a few other unfortunates) "volunteered" to sing and the organiser went off to get the requisite approvals. By the time we did get the approvals it was Monday,22nd December and we just had a day and half to "practice" the shrieks and howls...

Monday, 22nd December 2008, around 8.p.m

We had a practice session, with El in the lead trying her level best to keep the singers in tune...honest we were really bad, there we were seven on us singing in seven different tunes...what with valiant El trying to keep the tempo with her Soprano like voice (she was part of the Church Choir), Saby lending the much needed tenor like voice, the rest of us sounding somewhere between bleating lambs and sandpaper being rubbed roughly on a hard coarse surface...half way into the session Saby doubled over and gave into a fit of uncontrollable laughter...We then decided to stick to the easy ones like, Jingle Bells, Santa Claus is coming to town, We wish you a merry Christmas...after another hour or so of lack lustre singing the group decided to call it a day. We tried to do some damage control by sweet talking V (the organiser) that we should restrict the singing only to the Finance Department, why expose ourselves to the ridicule that will be very liberally laid on us in other departments???, W looked so forlorn, he was like I will never be able to go to the Cafeteria, people will snigger and whisper "Yes, thats him, the Carol Singer", he was also worrying that his stud image will take a beating...But it was too late...V has already dropped a mail to All that a Carol Singing group will be coming to their areas!!! To say that none of us slept Monday night is an understatment....

Tuesday, 23rd December 2008

I tried to sneak out of singing by feigning a stomach pain, El promptly went to facilities and brought me a Digene for my poor stomach!!!...with a "what are friends for"...Yeah right...we had another practice session, the gods were kind to us and we were reinforced by some more people, somehow when there is a large group singing, it does not sound like noise!!!...also with the guitar accompanying us this time it was not sounding half as bad...people who heard us practicing also gave us their inputs and so finally around 5.30 in the evening after donning our Santa caps we were ready to give our first live performance...we tested our singing skills on the Finance Department and were greeted by "Bravos", "Fantastic", "Once More", "Best Hai" etc etc...we sidled up a few of the loudest cheerers and took them with us the rest of the department (Our own Cheering Squad)...after singing at the Corporate Area, KS, Ops and Cafeteria we returned to our desks !!!

Since I have not been able to get my hands on the recording of us singing, please go to this link, it is the nearest sound to us singing!!!

http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=a9SO0xQ6aTw

Enjoi!!!

Christmas time!!!

Ok, so Christmas is round the corner...everyone is in a celebratory mood, including the chaps in my office as the months salary will be distributed before Christmas...yipeee...so that means I start the new year broke!!!

This year the Finance department (which is viewed as the most boring department, where stiff collared and sense of humourless people abound) has decided to organise a group that will go to every department in the company and sing carols...yours truly has also volunteered to blast the eardrums of the unsupecting public with her singing...though I already warned the organisers that people run for cover when I sing...he just waved it off as a non hazard saying..."if you have the guts to sing, the job is yours"...El is to work on the motley crew of singers( most of us non-catholics) who would be singing carols for the first time(yours truly went to a church school so atleast knows the songs by ear), god bless her!!!...Psst, I intend to take a leaf out of our rock singers book, I hear they lip sync their songs at most concerts, so I will go along with the group and lip sync the song, my only worry is hope the rest of the "singers" are also not thinking on these lines, if they do, we will go down in history as the only silent carol singing group!!!...The Team has also organised something called as a Kris Kringle, kind of like Secret Santa...where you have to buy gifts for someone anonymously, I like this idea a lot...El if you are my Secret Santa, you know what I want gift wrapped :))

I remember one Christmas when I was about eight, the myth of Santa Claus died a natural death, I had just seen some cartoon films where Santa Claus leaves gifts for all children who have been good all year. I was heartbroken that Santa did not send me any gifts even though I had been good all year and also been sensitive enough to kept a clean sock hanging in the wash line outside the house, my logic for leaving the sock outside the house was, that since we in India did not have chimneys, which incidently is Santa's all time favourite route to enter a house, he may bypass our house and not leave gifts!!!

My wish is to celebrate a white christmas before I die, I know, I know, too many movies I hear you guys say, but the image of a cute little cottage covered in snow, with smoke coming out of its chimney, a partially frost covered window through which you can see a happy family sitting around the fire place exchanging gifts, while a Christmas tree with fairy lights and decorations, twinkles away in the corner is my all time favourite Christmas scene!!!

So all you guys out there wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!

The day so far...

I woke up this morning determined to close my blog as I felt I had nothing more to write...but the day seems to have started with a bang, it is just 9.30 a.m. and so far...the water supply to my area has been cut off, due to some work being carried out at the mains( no water today and tomorrow, is the gloomy forecast)...my sister almost got mugged...I got extortion comments from, Ahem, Ahem, a far east country...have a townhall to attend in office, followed by Christmas Lunch ...yippie happy days!!!

My sister works for the Singapore location and has to be in office before six thirty in the morning, as she was travelling in the auto rickshaw (my family is dedicated to doing our bit for the economy by travelling by rickshaw, thereby ensuring income to the poor marginalised class of rickshaw drivers), she felt rather than saw that a motor cycle was moving rather close to her rickshaw. It was on her left, then went to her right, almost like a big cat stalking its prey. Then before she knew it, she saw a shadow like a head very close to her rickshaw door and a hand clamped down on her handbag and tried to drag it away!!!

She screamed, let me assure you I have heard her scream as a child, it is of the variety that freezes the blood in your veins...the jarring scream unsettled the would be thieves and woke up her still in dream land rickshaw driver... the thieves looked the otherway so she would not be able to identify them and sped off, the rickshaw driver transformed himself into a jockey and soon they arrived at her office, the rickshaw almost foaming at the mouth like a race horse...

More later...

Bai Bye!!!

J arrived and declared she spied S2 on her way to work and went on about how different and smart he looked. S2 arrived in office in t-shirt and jeans amid much fanfare (as he is essentially a jeans and shirt person so it is a welcome change!!!)...It turns out it is woman who brought about a se(a)e change in him…his maid servant or bai as they are commonly called in Mumbai has not turned up for work…so the dirty laundry has piled sky high in his apartment and he is having to dress in business casuals for work…

He and his roomies are having a tough time with their maid servant...the last one disappeared without notice and this new one joined on the condition that she will be on vacation in December!!! This reminds me of other bai's and their tantrums…

My ex-colleague was interviewing prospective maid servants to do the laundry at her place, one prospective candidate said she would join provided they paid her Rs.200 a month and that too only if they had a washing machine…my friend rejected her with the following comment, “Now let me get this right, you want me to pay you Rs.200 to switch on and switch off the washing machine!!!”.

My aunt once had a maid who was kleptomaniac, she stole stuff and hid them in her petticoat (a petticoat is a long skirt that is worn under the saree)… this resourceful bai had sewn extra cloth on this petticoat to make a kind of pouch and keep the stolen stuff there!!!...Once she had the audacity to steal large steel vessels, they jangled like crazy in the hiding place and gave her secret away!!!...She was sacked pronto!!!

Not all bai's are mad, crazy or thieves, Gulab Akka who lived with us while I was growing up is a person who redeemed all the aforementioned bai's, she is a gem and one of the rare breed of genuine people. All my childhood memories are linked with her….We were really sorry to see her go, but working as a house maid was hampering her prospects in the marriage market and so she had to leave us to work in an Office setup. She still calls often and meets up at festivals like Raksha Bandhan (she ties a rakhi to my younger brother) Diwali etc!!!

Chicken Soup for the constipated soul!!!

This piece is dedicated to the street foods of India. Finally, today my team succeeded in going for an outing which we have been planning and postponing for months. We went to Galleria for chaat, while we were waiting for the pani puri and dahi puri to arrive we started discussing the various street foods that can be had. What followed was a deep and insightful conversation around the taste and how it varied according to the proximity of the stall to unhygienic surroundings. All agreed that the closer the stall was to a dustbin or the lousier the personal hygiene of the vendor…the better the taste. Most of these foods are guaranteed to give your innards and you the much needed exercise as you run to and fro to the loo, a sure shot remedy for constipation …I might as well go down in history for coining the phrase “Chicken Soup for the constipated soul”!!!

A is a firm believer that the best non-vegetarian food at Mohemmad Ali Road is at the stall closest to the dustbins…The bigger the dustbin, the bigger the crowds at the stall. A normally cruises down the road and pick the stall which has the aforementioned qualities and attacks the food, satisfaction is guranteed!!!

S2 swears by the puchka at Lake Gardens of South Calcutta, the stall can be found just on top of the drains or manhole covers, usually the vendor is sweating profusely, adding to the Sodium Chloride content of the liquid filling. The fillings of the puchkas are made a special mixture of boiled potatoes with a fine blends of masalas, a liberal helping of the aforementioned and other tame garam masalas.,.S2 swears that you get addicted to a particular stall…I am thinking it is on account of the sodium chloride contributed by the vendor…

S1 is a fan of the chaat served between two gutters in his locality, one of the gutter is used as an open air urinal by the vendor, whether he washes his hands is best left unsaid. But, according to S1 this guy manages to sell Rs.5,000 worth of stuff between 3.30 p.m. to 8.30 p.m. daily. S1 also patronises as few stall at Khau Galli in Bhuleshwar, all the stalls or bakadas as they are called are over and between the numerous drains that criss-cross the city.

M remembers the Masala Puri she had when she visited down south, one morsel was enough to set your soul and mouth on fire, she remembers tears streaming down her face as she ate the rest of the dish (good girl that she is, wasting food does not go down well with her) …what happened the day after is better left unsaid!!! She also remembers the Pav Bhaji she ate at a proper restaurant after paying an exorbitant price; the same was served with sweet buns!!!

I remember being adventurous and trying the Bhel Puri down south, the same was served with all the possible sprouts, channas and without any chutneys!!!, I am sure all these health conscious chefs who go about selling low-fat Bhel Puri flicked the recipe from this particular stall!!!

You guys are welcome to add your own experiences with these soul foods!!!

Girls Day Out!!!

Yesterday Vin and I went for a loooong walk…I say long walk because we started at Andheri and ended up at Marine Drive, South Mumbai (alright you can stop giving me those saucer eyed stares, we took a train to Churchgate and then started walking).

Vin sent an SMS asking if I wanted to meet up, I agreed as I had nothing better to do on a Sunday afternoon, other than pick my moms brains and her patience was running thin at the moment. We met at our usual meeting place at Andheri station and began deciding on the agenda for the evening. We had three options, Juhu beach, Bandra Bandstand or Marine Drive. After weighing all the pros and cons we decided to go Marine Drive. We decided to take a fast train as it would get us to Churchgate faster, accordingly we went to the platform and waited from the train. We had to leave a couple of trains as they were too crowded… we couldn’t get a finger in those trains forget our entire bodies. As it is I hate travelling by trains, on weekday I am a typical suburban warrior queen, trying to get in and out of trains but on weekends the crowds are even worse as it consists of families, harried mothers dragging kids, wailing infants etc, etc…you get the broad idea by now…finally we agreed that to maintain our sanity and wellbeing we better take the Andheri Local, accordingly we switched platforms and lucky for us a train was already waiting at the platform. After forty five minutes (it seemed like an eternity) we arrived at Churchgate. Part one of the mission accomplished. Part two being to find Marine Drive. Thing is, I may have lived in Mumbai all my life but I can count the number of times I have been to South Mumbai on my finger tips. Further I always get confused with the roads, Vin, being directionally challenged to begin with, is no help!!! She did put on a fight when I picked one road, saying we needed to go in the other direction, but soon gave up and followed, It was only when we arrived at a circle did I acknowledge that we were on the wrong road (Vin smirking with the I-told-you-so look), we asked for directions and retraced our step back and picked the right road and finally arrived at Marine Drive.

We walked along Marine Drive and on reaching the end of the road we sat down near the tetrapods, looking at the Arabian Sea and the ships which appeared like tiny specks on the horizon. In front of us we could see Malabar hill, the Mumbai Sky line, Girgaum Chowpatty in front of us slightly to our right.

To get to this end we had to walk past the now forlorn looking Trident and Oberoi Hotels, but the pavement opposite the hotel was bustling with activity, it was almost as if nothing had happened there. The crowds were unbelievable, given that it is just the 14th of December and is just two weeks after the tragedy!!! The hawkers selling, ‘channa jor garam’, bhutta, chips, water, juice, chats and what not… it was just amazing…just two Sundays ago the place was ringing with gunshots and now it is ringing with the crashing waves and giggles of college girls and shouts of glee from children flitting about like butterflies!!!

We sat there till it grew dark, we could see the city transform… it was almost as it she were changing from her dull work clothes into some zippy happening clothes ready for a night about town…gone were the dull buildings and in their place we could see tall shining minarets, the lights on Marine Drive were also shining, living up to the name Queens Necklace. The crowds were denser still…no one seemed to want to go home…reluctantly we decide to leave, but not before we had tucked in some delectable food at Shiv Sagar, which is a small but very famous, vegetarian eatery near Marine Drive. We reached around seven but the place seemed deserted, given its reputation as a gourmet magnet we were surprised, the guy at the gate assured us that in the next fifteen minutes there would be no place to stand here… we took his word and cornered the best table for ourselves and waited, and true to his words the place filled up, there were people hanging off the rafters in less than fifteen minutes!!!

We ordered Hot and Sour soup, Veg Pulao, Paneer Makhanwala and buttermilk. Vin also wanted to order a palak dish with rotis, but better sense prevailed and we stuck to the original order.

They waiter placed some plates in front of us and the usual pickles, onions, chutney, raita etc, I attacked the raita with much gusto serving myself a huge helping (later I realised the plate I used to eat the raita was actually meant to be used as a base for the soup bowl), the waiter who saw how embarrassed I was smiled and kept murmuring “koi baat nahi, hota hai"!!!, but made sure he kept the other plates far away from me on Vin’s side of the table, in my defence I want to say that there were half a dozen identical small plates on each table!!!

The soup was heavenly, this was followed by the main course, as we were tucking in we realised the kids on the next table who were waiting for their orders to arrive were much more interested in what we were eating…Vin and I started praying that the food arrived on their table a.s.a.p., it came to such a state that we were contemplating hiding behind paper napkins…finally the food arrived on their table and we started staring at their table as the food they had ordered was definitely much more appealing to the eyes!!!

Don’t miss the opportunity if you ever get a chance to eat at Shiv Sagar, the food is absolutely to die for, Vin and I have decided that we will visit the place atleast once a month (P.S. I am in love with the Hot and Sour soup). By the time the bill (less than Rs.300!!!) arrived we could barely move (the portions are pretty huge), It was getting a little difficult to suck the stomach in and walk like a lady, ultimately had to give in!!!

Vin declared she was walking all the way to Marine Lines station and then looking at the expression on my face hastened to assure me that she was joking.We arrived at Churchgate like two drunks, both of us seemed to be in some kind of a high…Vin wanted to throw some rubbish she had in her purse, but there was no dustbin in sight, we even had a crack at Knock Knock jokes…honestly there must have been something in the water…here goes

Knock Knock
Whose there ?
Where is the dustbin?
What dustbin ?
The thing that civilised people use to separate the crap from the non-crap…
Oh, so that’s where the non-craps live these days…

I know this is not making any sense…but both of us were in splits at this joke!!!

Finally we took the Borivali fast train and reached Andheri around 8:45 p.m., ending our day out and the “Walk”!!!

"Sen"sational News!!!

OK, I am doing this because, Vin forced me to...thing is, my post "R ki shaadi" just got published on http://www.simplymarryzine.com/!!!, you guys have already read it, but can't help but give you the link to see it at this professionally managed website :))...

http://www.simplymarryzine.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=495&Itemid=96

It began with an innocent mail from the editor that the post was very much like the content which they are looking for their site and with my permission, she would like to republish it with my name and picture. I practically fell off my chair, I mean, here I was forcing my friends and colleagues to read my blog and out of the blue, I am getting published in a e-zine of the Times Group no less!!! When I say force, it is literally what I do, I stand at their desks to ensure that they read it and also bug them till they post comments on it :)) ...EL, R, N, S2, P...You guys know what I mean right :)...

I quickly sent a mail accepting her kind offer and ask her to publish it under my pen name "Rita O. Sen"...."Senorita"..."Rita O. Sen" get it ???, but declined to give my picture...so the post is up at the site with a "dummy picture" (thats what the editor called it) of this gorgeous girl, poor thing got her lot linked with me, the things you have to put with when you are a model!!!...The resemblence with me ends at eyebrows and to some extent the hair...with regard to the rest, I can safely say, you know those ads, where they say, before using blah bhah product I was like this and after using it I am like this...I am like the "Before" person in advertisement and she like the "After"!!!

Goodbye

The receptionist at my office passed away on Sunday, the exact reason is still not clear but it is rumoured that depression claimed her, no older than late twenties or early thirties...she leaves behind two young children. I can picture her in her smart suit, smiling, attending to the constant stream of visitors and chatting with the security guards and housekeeping staff in the lobby. A kind word and a kind smile for everyone. Never once did it ever occur to me or to anyone else that she suffered from depression.

I try to rack my brains as to when she join the company, in my memory she was always there somehow all the other receptionists seem to have faded away. Over these years I remember wishing her a "Good Morning" at 1.00 p.m. in the afternoon (my logic being, since I work the UK shift and it is morning in the UK, the greeting is correct), she always responded with that infectious smile. The next memory I have of her is of one traditional day at the office, she was dressed in the traditional dress called Jyensyem, consisting of two ankle length pieces of cloth gathered at the shoulders. EL and I, though we were on "Hi" & "Good Morning" terms with her, made her get up from her desk and twirl around so we could see the pretty dress from every side... To say that she looked pretty is an understatement!!!

I regret that I never asked her name, I always wanted to but never did, kept putting it off to tomorrow and now the day will never come...my colleagues tell me her name was Nicola...meaning "winner of the people"... If only I could turn back time, talk to her, get her confidence, maybe this tragedy could have been averted...

Dear Nicola,

May the road rise up to meet you,
May the wind be ever at your back,
May the sun shine warm upon your face and the rain fall softly on your fields.
And until we meet again, may God hold you in the hollow of his hand.

You are deeply mourned by all whose lives you have touched and will be sorely missed...

Sincerely
Sen

Awards!!!

Karthik, you have inspired me to write about my friends, lemme start with Vin, I have known Vin practically all my life... we lived in the same society, went to the same school, same college (being the intelligent one she took up Science...but thats OK I have the looks...hehehe)...she is my two am friend.... I know that if I am in trouble and call her at two in the morning she will traipse across town to rescue me... over the years we have had our share of ups and downs...but I guess it is Karma, we are meant to be friends...She is so talented, the way she draws...I have been trying to get her paint for a while now... everyone who reads this pls pls pls join the cause and support me in bugging her till she take up painting and starts believing in herself... believe me she is good at it and should not let the talent go waste...

It gives me great pleasure in giving this award to Vin, in addition to having the coolest blog,she is also the coolest person I know, sweetie, cannot think of anyone better than you for this award my one and only chuddy-buddy!!!

Time!!!

What do you do when every action comes to naught
You get defeat in all the battles you have fought
Sadness envelopes everything like a stifling smog
The future seems covered with the densest fog

Can someone show me the way I need to take
I have reached a point where I really cannot fake
Emotions, Actions and Thoughts at cross-roads
Time to take stock, let the truth come clean from the shadow of the shrouds.

R ki Shaadi!!!

Last Wednesday my colleague and good friend R got married, I am sure he is at peace right now...we in office have been ribbing and troubling him about his wedding for well over a year now. As Mr. & Mrs. R enjoy their honeymoon, let me narrate the events as to how the "team" managed to make it to the wedding and what transpired there and how we got back and how I got infected with conspiracy theories...I better warn you this is one long post with fine detailing of the events...

2nd December 2008
10:30p.m
N: So we meet tomorrow morning, will pick you up as I am planning to bring my car
Me: That would be great, J is also coming with us as she comes from Borivali, so we can pick her up at Andheri Station and proceed...but are you sure you want to bring the car ??
N: Yeah, I have no problem...

11:30 p.m.
Finally dukan band for the day and A and I leave, the rest of the gang have left at 10.30 p.m.(official time), A & me linger back..being the slow pokes that we are...we are running to catch transport as it leaves in 30 seconds...
A: So, we meet at the wedding tomorrow..
Me: Yep...have to go and unearth the saree that I am planning to wear tomorrow...

12:15 a.m.
Sen Residence
Me with my head buried in the cupboard, Mom hovering in the background...
Mom: Why can't you be a little more organised, you knew about this wedding for over six months now, why this last minute rush to find a saree and blouse...
Me :( triumphantly emerging from the cupboard with saree and blouse) Found it!!!

1:15 a.m.
Sen and Mom in ZZZZland

3rd December 2008
8:54 a.m.
EL calls on cell phone
Me in ZZZland...cellphone on silent...

9:15 a.m.
Mom: Wake up, you have a wedding to attend...
I wake up, was in the middle of a very disturbing dream that one of the journals is not getting uploaded no matter what I did...when the haze clears, I realise that it is only a dream and it is a brand new day with no mistakes...with this happy thought in mind and a song on my lips I check my mobile phone...there is a missed call from EL's sister phone (whenever EL is at home she always calls from her sister phone, she claims it costs less and that her sister does not mind)

9:16 a.m.
Call up EL on her sister's phone...Sister picks up, being the motor mouth that I am, I step into top gear and launch into the programme for the day as soon as I hear a "Hello"...realise later that it is her sister who took the call (in my defence I would like to state that their voices are similar)...I apologies (well-mannered chick I am)...EL comes on line...after calling her the Stingy No.1 etc...etc...ask her why she called?
EL: I think will also tag along with you guys, N is bringing her car right ?
Me: Yeah, she is, lemme check with her, and I will call you with the details
I ring off...

9:17 a.m.
I call N.
Phone rings for a long time... and someone picks up...I am little cautious after the EL fiasco...
Its N's mom.
N's Mom: Hello, N is in the bath, can I take a message for her...
Me: (still preoccupied) NO!!! ( a little too abruptly), then I realise I sounded too rude, I try to make up..."Could you please let her know that I called and ask her to please give me a ring, auntie?? "
I ring off...feeling a little too sheepish...

9:18 a.m.
I call J, am multi-tasking just now with brush in mouth.
Me: (muffled due to the frothy toothpaste in my mouth) Hello
J: Are you brushing your teeth?
Me: yeah, just a min.
J: (choking on giggles) what time are we meeting?
Me: N is bringing her car, so can you meet is somewhere in Andheri -E, we could pick you up on the way at XYZ place.
J: OK, meet you there are 11a.m.
I ring off.

9:45 a.m.
N calls me.
N: Hi...do you know where exactly the venue is??
Me: Nope, no clue, it is in Vile Parle near the station...
N: I am having doubts about bringing the car...we don’t know the venue...
Me: Yeah, let’s can the idea and travel by rickshaw, I will let EL and J know about the change in plan.

Accordingly I let EL and J know of the change in plans, EL decides to come directly to the venue and J to meet us at Andheri Station.

10:00 a.m. - 10:45 a.m.
I get into the saree, after I am finished there are so many pins all over my saree to keep it in place that it would put Elizabeth Hurley's famous SAFETY PIN dress to shame...apply my make up...and just in time as N arrives to collect me...I manage to totter on my 3 inch heels to the rickshaw and start breathing only once I am ensconced safely in the rickshaw.

11:15 a.m.
We arrive at Andheri station...but no sign of J...she calls that the train has just arrived at Andheri...will meet us at the rendezvous point in 5 minutes...we cool our heels, sweating buckets as it is sweltering hot and nothing like what December should be... we spy a florist and buy a bouquet of roses for the newly weds(later we realise that present were "compulsorily in blessings only")...

12:15 p.m.
After traipsing all over Vile Parle East as we had no clue where the venue was, we arrive at the venue....and head for the lift that will take us to the hall...
We are waiting for the lift to arrive, another guest also waiting for the lift get a call on her cell phone...and we are treated to a very good example of how people talk Marathi in English...or rather speak in Manglish...
Manglish speaking Guest: (speaking to someone on the phone) Hello, where are you, just now, I am outside the lift, just now (this is a literal translation of the Marathi line “Tumhi kuthe aahaat aata, me liftchya baaher aahe aata”) notice the use of “just now”.

J, N & I are stifling giggles.

The lift arrives and all of us get in and finally arrive at the hall, EL & S1 are already there and informs us that the newly-weds have gone off to change. We are asked to hit the buffet lunch.
We decline, as the truth maybe that we are interested in the food but decorum requires that we wish the newly-weds or at least wait for a sometime before we attack the food. The others proceed for lunch and soon we are surrounded by a group of people tucking into Puris, Veg. Kolhapuri and Basundi. J looks forlorn as she has not had breakfast and after a while gives in and hits the lunch table with much gusto. The photographers and video cameraman arrive to capture the lively scene of people eating food. This is something that I really don’t understand, why the wedding album is not complete without a dozen or so gross pictures of people eating food, the ones that make it to the final album are normally really horrid pictures with people with open mouths looking like fish about to gobble smaller fish.

The Newly-weds arrive and pose for pictures, R blushing more that his bride and we have a field day making him even more uncomfortable.

A, P, M & S2 arrive, Much to our amazement S2 heads straight for lunch counter...finally the rest of us also grab a bite.

All look at me and comment “You look different”...no one has the guts to spell it “You look ugly with your hair flying wildly all over the place”...EL is brave enough and comments, “you should have applied gel”...I retort ”Yeah and look like I have no hair on my head, I would rather go around looking wild like a savage than BALD”, you see I have very thin but wavy hair and even a drop of oil in it make me look bald so I avoid oil and gels of any kind like the plague...

1:00 p.m.
We finally go on stage to meet the newly-weds.
R introduces me to Mrs. R...
R: Meet Sen, she is P’s sister (my brother, R and R’s wife all worked together in the same company, R left it and joined our current company and my brother left it for further studies, R’s wife still works there)
Mrs. R: (Smiling) Oh!
Me: Hello, how are you ??( A nanosecond later I realise that this is a foolish question)
Me: (thinking aloud) what an idiot I am, what do I mean “how are you”...I mean to say “Congratulations”...

By now R & Mrs. R are laughing at me with much relish. You see, when I put my foot in my mouth, I ensure it goes all the way down my throat...I back track from the limelight and step straight on EL’s foot, poor thing stifled a scream as my three inch heel made contact with her foot.

After the mandatory picture is clicked, we make are way off the stage, me apologising profusely to EL all the time. We head straight for the lift, only to be told this lift is to be used only to come up and cannot be used to go down!!!...But the liftman was nowhere in sight, El and I decided that to come up the lift has to go down, and it will suffer no injury if we were in it on its downward journey, thus we took the lift and arrived on the ground floor. The rest of the gang had already collected there and are waiting for us, there were 10 of us we split as oldies in one car and young ones in the second car and headed to office.

I was travelling in P’s car, now P knows I hate Himesh Reshamiya and made sure that he played all Himesh songs on full blast, as he knew I jolly well could not jump out of the car. It is in this car amid the Himesh Reshamiya music, that my mind was contaminated by EL and P with the conspiracy theories ....

Disillusionment and faith

A few facts were brought to my notice that I never in my wildest imagination could think possible...


9/11 terror attacks conspiracy theory - I even checked this out on the internet...there is a movie , over 2 hours long, called Zeitgeist, which gives a very convincing account of the so called 9/11 conspiracy theory. I have not yet seen the movie but have been told it is compelling - This film have some amazing footage of the crash sites - both at the Pentagon and of united 93 - on which there does not appear to be any evidence of a plane being involved in the crashes.

This fuels speculations... this is not a place to discuss this complicated issue... but I am disillusioned, what state would do such an act to its own people...With the terror attacks in Mumbai, tongues are wagging that some forces in India tried to do some thing akin to the terror attacks in US for their own ulterior motives...this had left me disillusioned all of Wednesday...I kept pondering on the issues all day with a spillover of the same into Thursday...I kept thinking what is the point of writing about it when everything is a conspiracy!!!...I had decided not to write anything on this issue going forth...when it dawned on me that tongues wag...they have in the past,they are wagging now and they always will in the future too...It is not in our control to stop them...what is in our power is to ignore them and follow our purpose...I can think of two stories that my mother told me when I was little, they are very relevant to this scenario...let me recount them for your benefit...

Once upon a time a colony of frogs lived in a large well, as it happened one summer was exceptionally hot and the water in the well began to dry and the frogs decided to leave the well and look for an alterntive place to live. They began climbing to the top of the well, no matter what they did they began slipping back to the well because of the slimy walls...some of them managed to climb out but others began losing hope after numerous failed attempts and quit and consigned themselves to a slow death. Finally a time came when all the frogs except one gave up. The lone frog kept trying, inspite of his fellow frogs telling him to quit, the more they told him to quit the harder he tried to get to the top, finally after one tremendous burst of energy, he made it to the top!!!...when someone asked the frog why he continued to climb up when all were advising him to stop... it dawned on the astonished group that the frog was deaf...when he saw the people talking to him asking him to stop he thought they were actually encouraging him to keep climbing and thus was able to make it to the top!!!!

The second story....
Once a farmers donkey fell into a deep well, the well did not have any water and the farmer did not have money to hire people to pull the donkey out. So, he decided to bury the donkey alive by filling up the well with mud. He called the villagers and asked them to help him to fill the well. The work began, at first the donkey cried piteously when he realised what the farmer and villagers were doing. But then it became quite, and the farmer was surprised to see that as more the mud was thrown on top of the donkey, the donkey calmly shook it off his back and climbed on top of the collected mud...thus climbing higher towards the rim of the well and freedom....finally the well was filled in and the donkey joyously jumped out and walked free...

The reason why I have narrated the two stories in to jut make a point that just as the frog in the story did not listen to the naysayers we must not listen to negative influences and believe in ourselves and rise in life like the donkey, using the dirt or whatever is thrown at us in a positive way...

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step...so my fellow Indians...step forward...let us begin our journey towards a better India...

After Shocks!!!

The terror attacks are behind us but the political circus continues.....

1) RR Patil comments that such small incidents happens in big cities...the clown must have been watching Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jaayenge non-stop last week...nothing else will induce a man to say such a tacky dialogue out of that tacky film in context of an attack which has left the nation traumatised. Mr. Patil, wake up, there are more important things that a Dy. Chief Minister should be doing other than depriving hardworking bar girls of a livelihood and making such crass statements.

2) Moshe turns two, his grand parents and other relatives wants the Israeli government to issue a visa for the nanny who saved him, so that she can enter Israel, all of a sudden Israel is safer that India...

3) The Rat who also doubles up as our Chief Minister steps out of his house on Sunday for a picnic at the Taj with his actor son and Ram Gopal Verma in tow. Ram Gopal Verma, known for making "realistic" films no doubt joined in to collect "inputs" (sic) for his next film. Ritiesh Deshmukh(I hope this is how he spells his name, dont want to get numerology wrong) tagged along no doubt hoping for leading role (sic) in the film. If Mr. Verma makes the film and it turns out something on the lines of "RGV ki Aag" or whatever crap the name of the Sholay remake he made and names it something like "RGV ka Taj" all of India will want to turn fidayeen for a change and want to strangle him with our bare hands!!!

4) Kerala Chief Minister waltz into Bangalore to offer condolences at Slain NSG commando Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan residence, hoping for some free publicity. The brave Major's even braver father refuses to accept the condolences and ejected the former out of his house with a firm statement that no politican should enter his house. According to a TV report he told the Chief Minister "Get out of my house, you dogs". Hats off to you sir!!!

My father what goes!!!

This is a disease that seems to be endemic to the Indian Subcontinent. This refrain is almost like the national anthem these days...the chalta hai attitude...the one thing about this disease is that it affects the rich and the poor, the leaders and the followers in equal measures. It has come to the fore in the recent past against the gory background of the firings at various locations in Mumbai.

Let me recount some of the instances, most of the below relate to the media...but it is not meant to be a rant against the media....I have nothing against the media...but guys, how about some responsible journalism for a change!!!...

1) News channels hounding the freed hostages...I vividly recall, the Times Now reporters hounding a Polish National who has just been freed, the poor guy kept repeating politely "I have promised commissioner not to say anything" but the reporters persisted like a pack of dogs, throwing stupid questions at him, hoping he will say something ...anything...atleast Arnab (the guy sitting in studio) had the decency to look embarassed at the way his reporters were behaving, the reporters were all for anything goes, so long as we get a sound byte from him...then they would keep crowing about how they were the first to report it...

2) When they were not hounding the freed hostages the media was busy trying to get inside information from the police and army as to the next move...freely giving out strategic information...showing footage of our commandos landing on the rooftop...was this necessary ??? this was indeed incredible...and the worst part being that they were successful in getting this information most of the times...information that I am sure in other nations would be kept closely guarded till the operation is over....I mean what kind of idiot gives out information which is likely to be used by the terrorists...for instance read the following, this is one of the reporters of some channel, for the life of me I cannot remember the name (I went into shock when I heard what followed next), reporting live from the Oberio "We have just received information that the police have managed to move some of the hotel guests to a safer location...they have now been moved to the REGAL room!!!!"... I rest my case...if this is not a chalta hai attitude... nothing in this world qualifies for it!!!

3) VIPs who made their presence felt...by visiting the Taj and giving free sound bytes to the mediapersons whether or not the media was interested in listening to them...the kind of crap that they were saying made ones blood boil...in the first place VIPs should not come anywhere within a mile radius of the place...as it is the police were grappling with the terrorists...then these vultures descend there and the police have to ensure bandobast for them...infact I was hoping that the police and army would shove atleast one of them into the corridors of the Taj to experience the situation first hand and also as a warning to any other so called VIP who has the burning desire to make his presence felt...

We win again!!

Finally the Operation Cyclone at Taj comes to an end, with the TV channels showing a terrorist being shot whilst jumping out of a window, they continue to alternate this shot with the shot of the terrorist lying prone on the ground with one of his legs in the air, then they pan to the Army, police, NSG commandos shaking hands with one another...whilst in the background the Taj continues to burn...

Yesterday Oberoi Trident Hotel and Nariman House were secure again...but not before we lost some more innocent lives...commandos were air-dropped at the Nariman House to help secure the place...The Operation at the Taj continued... VIPs dropped by to give sound bytes to the media...Ratan Tata lamented about the sad state of infrastructure...When the Oberoi was cleared of the terrorists as many as a total of 30 hostages were found dead in the hotel raising the toll in the worst terrorist strike against India to over 160 including 16 security personnel. The toll at the Taj is still unclear...we will know the extent of the damage sometime later today...

The Mumbai Mirror carried front page news with a picture of the cocky terrorist walking at CST, carrying ammunition and guns as if he is walking in his backyard...when caught he “pleads" for the doctors to save him...such galling impunity...after killing scores and injuring many more and causing emotional trauma to the country...he wants to be saved!!!... Yes, Doctors...save him...he cannot die so easily...he ought to be dissected in public...a millimetre of his body cut at a time...his screams of agony should ring in every corner of the world...sending a strong message that India will not tolerate any more nonsense of any kind...I know this is gruesome thinking...but I can’t help it...this is my space...this is what I am feeling at the moment...anyone who wants non-violent methods can go elsewhere...

Since 1993 when we had the serial bomb blast we have been hearing of plans... plans and more plans...governments come and go...plans are made ...remain in blueprint...never to be actioned...the resilient spirit of the city tested time and again...serial bomb blasts in 1993, the city bounced back, bomb blasts in trains 2006 - the city bounced back, Terrorist firing the city...we have bounced back...but does this mean that the city bosses take advantage of us...when will we see better infrastructure...when will we see autonomy given to the police...what really gets to me is that the terrorists literally SAILED into Mumbai...such cheek...But the question remains will all this teach us a lesson ??

Krishna Ni Begane Baaro!

This devotional song in Kannada has been playing in my head all day today....

Krishna Ni Begane Baaro!
Begane Baaro, Nina Mukhavane tooro!

Loosely translated in English this means, Krishna please come fast... please come fast and show me your face...

Here the Lord Krishna's mother is calling her child to come to her fast, stop hiding and show his face. Given the scenario in our country, the context in which I would like to use this, is the one role played by Krishna in Mahabharata...he became "Saarathi" or charioteer to Arjuna and guided him when he lost his will to fight in the battle field. The need of the hour is a Krishna who will help is find our way in this battlefield at a time when we are slowly losing our will to fight in the face of the degeneracy of politics, apathy, rampant corruption...each one of us at the moment is like Arjuna who has lost his will to fight...we do not vote because we think "Oh, what is the point, we have to choose between two crooks, anyways!!!"...we do not stand up for our rights...just bow our heads and look the other way when we see something wrong. Gandhiji’s principles have been badly distorted out of context. I am sure he meant well when he said, “Hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil”...but the way things are progressing is taking it a bit too far!!!

Take what is happening in Mumbai at the moment...I have been following it closely on TV all day...this entire thing is like a badly made Bollywood potboiler...bad guys come by boat...take hostages in the poshest hotels...good cops die...governments silent, there was not a peep from the state government till sometime in the afternoon....news channel having a field day, disclosing all the strategic plans and giving a live telecast of what our police and commandos are doing and while they are at it reminding the viewer that "we got this information first"...the world shocked at the way things are being handled...England's Cricket team gets an excuse to rat it from the country after the Indian Team beat the crap out of them and they are citing "security reasons" whilst trying to cancel the rest of the tour...

The Chief Minister holds a press conference and sleep-walks his way through it mumbling something about there being no hostage situation, claiming that the people have just locked themselves into the rooms...all this when the news channels have been screaming themselves hoarse since last night that the terrorists have taken 40 foreign nationals hostage...then our PM comes on AIR around five in the evening...what in heaven’s name has he been doing all day!!!...this address should have come last night... latest by the early hours of morning!!!!...the address should have been something on the lines of boosting the sagging morale of not only our heroes (the army, police and NSG) who were fighting for our safety inspite of the loss of their chief officers, but also to the nation as a whole...but what do we get out of him...he goes on to condemn the attacks...some more incoherent mumbling about reforms on some crap policies....saluting our fallen heroes, stricter Anti-terrorism laws... but no talk as to what is he going to do next...the whole thing proceeded from him like he was talking about some blasts that have happened in another part of the world!!!

This is what is missing in us at the moment...the passion...but, I refuse to lose faith in the Indianess that is an unshakeable part of our mental make-up...one day or the other this Indianess which is hiding behind cowardice and apathy will come to the fore and I know in my heart that day is not far...it is in desperate times like this that a HERO emerges...This is why I say what we want now is not only a HERO but a "Saarathi" like Krishna... who will guide the HERO in the right direction... and lead India to her rightful place in the world scene!!!

Jai Hind!!!

Attack on Mumbai

10.15 p.m.
I was finishing up at work when I first heard about the attacks. A co-worker received a call informing him that his brother had been shot at in Colaba. It was not clear then how he got shot, speculation was rife then that maybe it was some gang war and innocent people are getting injured in the cross fire. As far as I know he worked at one of the poshest shops in the poshest hotel in town. He was not the kind to go walking in streets frequented by the gangland baddies. My colleague and I left the office both praying that his brother has received a mere flesh wound.

11.00 p.m.
I reached home and find my mom glued to the television, which was relaying the following news items:-
1) The Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) under attack.
2) The Taj Hotel under attack
3) The Oberoi Trident Hotel under attack
4) Cama Hospital under attack
5) A taxicab blow to bits in suburban Vile Parle
... the gory pictures splashed on all the news channels...Cameramen panning the entire area held hostage by the terrorists...TV Correspondents talking nineteen to a dozen

11.30 p.m. ish
As we watch, fresh developments take place...Terrorists hijack a police vehicle in a desperate attempt to escape from CST... when the van reaches the area teeming with the police and newspaper crews...the open fire at point blank...injuring many.

12.00 a.m.
Reports come in that there are two terrorists aged around 20-22 years (I am shocked and appalled, such young boys who should be in college, at the most spraying graffiti on the walls not spraying bullets into random strangers)... The terrorists walk in to the Oberoi Trident and ask all except foreigners to leave and take about 40 foreigners hostage. Five of the hostages escape and tell the media about these developments.

12.30 a.m.
My mind is still reeling from the shock as I try to go to sleep.

Today Morning

6.00 a.m.
My sister leaves for work (she supports the Singapore region, hence needs to be in office before 6.30 a.m.)

6.30 a.m.
My neighbour knocks on our door to inquire whether my sister has left for work, urging us not to send her to office since there are terror attacks on Mumbai. We inform her that she has already left...

7.30 a.m.
The newspaper arrives, "IT'S WAR ON MUMBAI" the headline screams
1) 8 places attacked,
2) 78 killed,
3) 900 injured,
4) Top police officers die in the firing
- Vijay Salaskar -Celebrated Encounter Specialist
- Hemant Karkare - Anti Terrorism Squad Chief
5) Disturbing photographs
- photographs of the two terrorists looking at the police and newspaper men,
- a gun wielding terrorist - the young man actually appears to be grinning,
- charred remains of the taxicab,
- a policeman giving water to a child that is covered in blood...

8.30 a.m.
I am still trying to work up the courage to switch on the television as I know that the images and news on TV will be far worse than what is reported in the newspapers. Finally I switch it on, the first image that appears is of the area under the dome of the Taj Mahal Hotel engulfed in flames, the Fire Brigade is trying to bring the inferno under control. Firing still continuing... National Security guards, Black Cat commandos called in and have taken up their positions...

9.00 a.m.
Some of the people who were trapped at the Taj Mahal Hotel freed and taken to safety...reports that the NSE and BSE to remain closed on account of the terror attacks...reports come in that the sea route was taken by the terrorist to get into Mumbai....

10.00 a.m.
This has set me thinking...is this a message...a crude joke by the terrorists...that whilst the Indian Navy is protecting ships in the Gulf of Aden our own waters and shores are not safe... the terrorists have calmly and brazenly sailed into the heart of our financial capital and taken the city to ransom...all I hope for is that this situation is over before the day is out!!!

More later...I have to get ready to go to office...this is my response to the terrorists, we Mumbaikars may be down but we will never be out!!!

Purani Jeans

Yesterday I met up with my college friends after ten years, before you start calculating my age based on the aforementioned ten years, let me clarify that I am thirty, graduated in 1998, I was put one year early to school you see, which means that I started kindergarten at the tender age of three and play school or nursery at two!!! In her defence my mom say, "you should not have been the hyperactive kid you were!!!" But I digress, now where were we, ah yes, the reunion!!

It began with an innocent call from this friend with whom I have not spoken to since we left college, we shall call her Pallavi (names have been changed to protect identity), we got talking, exchanges gossip, who married whom, who is still single(ready to mingle??), where is the rest of the gang, who is in touch...etc...etc..etc...

Then we rang off with the usual line “We must meet someday”... “yes sure, we must, lets meet next Sunday” responds your truly...the date is fixed and I hang up the phone knowing that this plan will never materialise next week... it will go up in smoke like such plans usually do...so it was a pleasant surprise when within five minutes another college friend whom we shall call Sagar (name changed to protect identity again) calls. “Hey Sen, it’s just seven thirty, why don’t we meet today ??”, now I am in a dilemma, thing is I have a curfew, you see...Cinderella’s godmother allowed her to enjoy the ball till 12 midnight but I need to be home by 10p.m....latest by 10.30p.m....but the joy of meeting old pals won and I set off...we decided to meet at a central location, Inorbit Mall, Malad, I reached half an hour before time so spent the time browsing through some books at Crossword, Do I see Sanjeev Kapoor quaking in his boots...Sanjeev, relax, I did not buy any more cook books..Your recipes are safe...for the time being that is!!!

Finally they arrived at nine, after the usual “you have put on so much weight,... but it looks good on you”..."you have greyed...but it adds character to your face” kind of remarks we settled down at Cafe Coffee Day,... and shared some more gossip, the kind that required more of a face to face kind of setting!!!

One thing led to another and soon we were calling the others in the gang who were still in Mumbai to see if they would like to join us...we called Kiran (name changed to protect identity)...he lives in the vicinity and said he would join us in fifteen minutes...then we called Jay (Name changed to protect identity again)...as luck would have it he too was in the same area... so by the time it was 10 p.m. all five of us had downed some good cappuccino, talked about old flames, new flames, fiancées, wives, girlfriends, boyfriends, jobs, taking nineteen to a dozen and made future plans to continue with these meetings.

Even though each had changed over the years, I am glad to say that each being well settled in life, one is Account manager at an Insurance Major, another a well-known photographer, the third looking after the training and development needs of a Software giant, the fourth in the Pharmaceutical industry and yours truly in Finance. It was as if we have never been apart, the years just dissolved, we were back in college, sitting at our adda, bunking lectures, talking about Guptajis (this place has the best vadapavs in Mumbai), the canteen, the Khandar, the professors, how we celebrated birthdays, went on picnics, competed with each other to get better marks, our fights and patch-ups, facing the world and standing up for the other member of our “group”.

The memory of these few stolen moments with my friends will remain with me for a long time. The past is History, Future is a mystery and Today is a gift that is why it is called the Present. I have learnt that this Present, this precious time, is much too precious to be wasted; I really feel that I have lost ten years of my life by not keeping in touch with my friends. I should have reached out, talked to the people I care for sooner, I should have realised that it is not worth pandering your ego over a small misunderstanding which nearly ruined a great friendship!!!

But as Omi said in OSO, “Happys Endings, picture aabhi baaki hai mere dost”...All is well that ends well, we are back together and that is all that counts in the end!!!

Next we plan to meet at Jays’ wedding !!!

Yipiee...am I looking forward to it???...You bet I am !!!

Random Questions!!!

Listed below are a few questions that torment me no end...I will be eternally indebted to anyone who can give me a satisfactory answer...

1) How does the Share Market work?

Do I really understand what is happening in the market... or does anyone other the ones with insider information understand it, OK to some extent the effect of global cues I understand, for e.g.: If US markets sneeze the SENSEX gets a cold, but the rest is as clear in my mind as murky water...as far as I see it, it swings one way and the next moment it swings the other way...much like what Navjot Singh Sidhu famously said...'Pitches are like wives, you never know which way they will turn'... I say this applies to the markets as well...honestly, come on show me one person who has never made losses and only minted money off the share market and I will clean his toilet for a month!!!

2) What fuels the hell fire?

Now really the hell fires have been going forever and no one ever heard the Devil complaining about fuel shortage!!! If somehow we could locate where exactly hell is and what fuels the place...fuel crisis will be a thing of the past!!!

3) If and when I go to hell and I am put in boiling oil to pay for my sins, what happens once I am fried to a crisp?

Come on anything that is put in boiling oil, even if it is slow fried, it has to turn to crisp at some point or the other, have you ever thought what happens after that...are they then removed from the flame, put on a conveyor belt which takes them to the packing department to be resent to somewhere ??

4) What was there before the Big Bang?

First a little background courtesy http://www.big-bang-theory.com/

The Big Bang theory is an effort to explain what happened at the very beginning of our universe. Discoveries in astronomy and physics have shown beyond a reasonable doubt that our universe did in fact have a beginning. Prior to that moment there was nothing; during and after that moment there was something: our universe.

I am quite OK with the Big Bang theory as the start of the Universe, I am totally with it but what I am not OK with is that space or “nothing” as this theory postulates just cannot go BANG, there has to be something that went BANG, now that I have said it that there was something that went BANG, what I want to know is whether the thing that went BANG was the only thing in existence at that point of time or was it a part of something even bigger, which in turn was part of something bigger and so on...

5) Why is everything that is good for health, bitter, tasteless and utterly unappetising?

I mean, honestly WHY can’t chocolate, cheese, white bread, sugar, fried stuff etc, do wonders for your heart and help maintain a trim figure( It goes without saying that I would have the world best figure if this were the case), WHY does KARELA, DUDHI etc, the thought of which effectively kills your appetite have to be beneficial ??

6) Why is it that when I do a wrong thing the whole world is watching, but when I do it right there are no spectators?

This is something that I really want an answer for, honest, how many times have you found yourself in a situation where you did something foolish and felt “Oh God, let the earth open up and swallow me!!” you had half the city population ogling at you, but when you did a kind and noble and I-deserve-to-go-to-heaven kind of act there are no spectators!!!

7) Why does the mobile phone with the worst and loudest ringtone always go off at a no mobile zone?

This is really something that I have observed, if I have been fidgeting with the mobile phone and set a really sad wailing kind of ringtone, that very day for some reason or other I will happen to be visiting a place where cell phones are not allowed and a long lost friend who has never called in over two years or worse a person who has dialled a wrong number will call me and my phone will have found its way to the most inaccessible part of my handbag!!!

Zarra Hatke, Zarra Bachke, Yeh hai Bombay meri jaan!!!

This is going to be an unabashed account of living in Mumbai, I wear my heart on my sleeve where this city is concerned...I love Mumbai !!!

Ae dil hai mushkil, jeena yahan,
Zarra Hatke, Zarra Bachke, Yeh hai Bombay meri jaan!!!

Johnny Walker has immortalised Mumbai(erstwhile Bombay) with these lines...I just want to chronicle a few aspects of Mumbai as I have seen it over the years...

1) The pedestrian is king
Q) Why does a Mumbaikar cross the road?
A) To prove to the world and car-driving population in general that he is king.
Have you ever seen a hardcore Mumbaikar cross the road? He will choose a spot where the traffic is especially bad and step right in the middle of it and put his hand out, something similar to a politician acknowledging the teeming crowds at a rally during election time and stop the oncoming car, no matter that the driver has to step on the brake and come to a squealing stop. Dare the driver glare at the pedestrian, all he gets in return is the equally dirty look which means how dare you drive the car, can’t you see I am crossing the road!!!

2) The city never sleeps
This is true...No matter at what time of the day or night, come rain or shine, there are always people around, you never feel alone, I remember returning late after attending the Kala Ghoda Festival, at something like 12.30 am there was a traffic jam at Andheri station !!!

3) Roads are just dried out river-beds waiting for the monsoons
Roads, especially the lanes and by-lanes, are nothing but glorified dried-out river beds waiting for the monsoons to turn them into torrential rivers. As Jerry Pinto once commented in his article in the Times, when the cuckoo watches the Public Works Department workers scampering around to fill the potholes before the onset of the Monsoons it laughs so hard that it falls off the tree. The situation is so bad that this year an enterprising Radio Station ran a contest with the grand prize being a boat!!!...The participants had to prove that the water logging problem in their area was so bad that they have no way to access their homes except by boat. Not sure which area won, but I am absolutely outraged that mine did not!!!

4) Walls are meant to be used as spittoons
Walls (especially the staircase ones) are meant to be used as spittoons for expectorating after eating paan. I am sure the paan-eater thinks he is contributing to the beauty of the city's landscape by spitting strategically at the walls. Frescos Mumbai style I say!!! I read somewhere that the first impressions foreigners have after seeing the red paan stained walls is that there must be loads of people dying of tuberculosis.

5) Train friends, Bus friends, Building friends, Office friends, School Friends, College friends etc..
All these categories of friends are only possible in Mumbai. School friends and College friends are self-explanatory hence I will not elaborate on them. The next set of friends is office friends, the colleagues who work alongside you, people with whom you actually spend more waking hours than with your family members. In Mumbai commuting is a big challenge, on an average you spend about two hours a day commuting to office and back. If you take the same train or bus at the same time over year, you meet familiar faces, get to know them, their entire family histories and they know yours. Friends who are there for you when you having a rough day to offer a sympathetic ear and a shoulder to lean on. Friends who will save a seat for you if you come late, get worried and call you if you don’t turn up one day.

6) Life goes on...
No matter what happens the city bounces back!!! Come rains, bomb-blasts, riots or whatever is thrown at it, it is business as usual the next day. It is in a constant state of flux, the most enduring image of Mumbai is that of Churchgate station during peak hour, trains arriving every few minutes, scores of people getting in and out of trains, if that does not humble you, nothing will!!!

I could go on forever....

INS Vikrant

There was a chapter in our English text book on INS Vikrant and thus began my lifelong romance with her. Now a little history lesson for those who do not know this great ship, courtesy Wikipedia.

INS Vikrant (formerly the HMS Hercules (R49)) was a Majestic-class light aircraft carrier of the Indian Navy. Her keel was laid down on 12 November 1943 by Vickers-Armstrong on the Tyne and was launched on 22 September 1945.Completion work was carried out in Belfast but construction was suspended after the end of World War II and she was laid up for possible future use. Her pennant was changed from R11 to R49.

In January 1957 she was sold to India, and construction was completed at Harland and Wolff with an extensively modernized design, including an angled deck with steam catapults, a modified island, and many other improvements.

The Indian High commissioner to the United Kingdom, Vijayalakshmi Pandit, commissioned her as INS Vikrant on 4 March 1961, while she was still at Belfast, Northern Ireland. The name Vikrant was taken from Sanskrit vikrānta meaning "stepped beyond", i.e. "courageous", "victorious". Captain Pritam Singh was the first commanding officer of the carrier. She formally joined the Indian fleet at Bombay on 3 November 1961, when she was received at Ballard Pier by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and other high-ranking dignitaries.

The Vikrant's initial airwing consisted of British Hawker Sea Hawk fighter-bombers and a French Alize anti-submarine aircraft. On 18 May 1961 the first jet landed on board, piloted by Lieutenant (later Admiral) R H. Tahiliani.

In 1965 Pakistan claimed that it has sunk the Vikrant. At that time, however, the ship was under refit in dry dock.

During the 1971 war, the PNS Ghazi submarine which was sent to the Bay of Bengal to sink INS Vikrant itself sank off Visakhapatnam harbour. During the war the crew of Vikrant earned two Mahavir Chakras and 12 Vir Chakras.

Vikrant was India's only carrier for over twenty years, but by the early 1990s she was effectively out of service because of her poor condition. Even following major overhauls she was rarely put to sea. She was formally decommissioned on 31 January 1997 and is preserved as a floating museum at Mumbai. She is the only World War II-era British-built aircraft carrier to be preserved. The museum is open to public during the Navy Week celebrations every year and this year I am determined to pay a visit.

Wedding Bells!!!

Now that I have your undivided attention...I can relate my experience at the Muslim wedding I attended yesterday :))...

This was the first time that I attended a Muslim wedding, we were from the bride's side, you can say we are family friends, as my dad and brother treat our car as member of the family and the bride's father is and has been our family mechanic (car doctor) for as long as I remember.

The wedding was due to begin at seven, and unlike our weddings when there is a mad rush to get the marriage done and dusted and the bride and the groom tied to each other within the auspicious muhurtam (I remember attending one of my cousins' wedding and since the groom's side arrived late, there was a mad rush to complete the saat pheras within the auspicious time, it looked like a scene straight out of a comedy film), here everything was at a leisurely pace, but since we did not know this we reached there at seven on the dot so that we dont miss the nikaah which the invite specified would be at seven sharp after the namaz-e-maghrib.

When we reached the venue the groom had not yet arrived, about 30 minutes later the groom arrived complete with band baaja, there was much dancing going on, everyone in the baraat including the groom danced :)...the band was from Punjab and had Bhangra dancers, so managed to catch some authentic Bhangra which is a rare treat, the men dance so gracefully!!! The wedding began sometime after eight, and was a beautiful ceremony, except that the bride was nowhere on the scene throughout the wedding. She came only after the wedding was complete and the groom was declared a married man!!!

I assume it was a holy man who presided over the ceremony, he said many verses in Urdu and Farsi, some of which he made the groom repeat, then he called on all in the audience to join him in prayer for the bride and groom. He prayed to the heavens to shower graces on the newlyweds and bless them with a lifetime of happiness and prosperity.

As you all know by now, Garfield and I have one thing in common which is our love of FOOD, FOOD, FOOD!!! The food at the wedding was absolutely outstanding; every dish had a distinctive taste and was well made. The only part which I would have liked to change was the one where the bride's father followed us around and heaped food on my plate, and I had to sneak to a corner to hide from him so that he does not put any more stuff on the plate, else I would have exploded of over-eating. The food was of the variety "pet bhar gaya par dil nahi".

What touched me most about the wedding was that the family members went out of their way to make us feel comfortable; this is one experience that will linger in my memory to my last day!!!

Centre and the poverty line

Dear Mr. Prime Minister,

The last week has been an eye-opener of sorts; first of all I am positively above the poverty line and so is my bai (household help, superwoman, who single-handedly manages to keep many urban families together by taking on the “top work” thereby alleviating the mistress who can now go to work or catch her favourite midday television sob story).

I read in the newspaper last week that the Centre in an affidavit to the Supreme Court said that a person only needed to earn Rs.454.11 and Rs.327.56 in urban and rural areas respectively, to be classified as being above the poverty line. I decided to do a bit of investigative blogging for a change.

Now, my bai works in about 10 households and rakes in Rs.300 for every chore, for eg: she charges Rs.300 for swabbing the floor, another Rs.300 for washing clothes etc), on an average I believe she earns anything between Rs.3,500 to Rs.4,000 a month( I did not dare ask her the real number, for it would be a good excuse for sobbing about the inflation and asking for a pay rise, and yes, thanks to the news channels, and the extensive coverage , these days everyone is an expert on what the inflation is, where the stock market and the country as a whole is headed), now I know for a fact that she pays Rs.2,000 as rent for the “kholi” (which means room) in the slum that she lives in. That is 50% flat on rent, then to get a gas cylinder she has to shell out about Rs.340, given the sorry state of civic amenities in the slums if she falls ill that is Rs.100 on medicines, so she has Rs.1,560 to buy food, which is about Rs.52 a day, she is well above the poverty line!!!

OK, Mr Prime Minister, this is the case of a well off person comfortably over the poverty line, let’s talk about a person just on the poverty line or a border line case, say living in Mumbai and earning Rs.600 a month. Let us track his monthly expenses, we assume that this money should be sufficient to buy him “roti, kapda aur makan” , the basics, since he earns Rs.20 a day, the only food he will be able to afford in Mumbai is “vada pav” - the burger of the poor, this costs Rs.5 per vada pav so he spends Rs.10 straight on food, now that the roti issue has been sorted, the rest of the money should buy him clothes and a place to live, where in Mumbai will he get a room for Rs.10 a night ??

If you go to the market Mr. Prime Minister, which I am sure you do not, you will realise the Tomatoes are Rs.28 a kilo, potatoes are Rs.20 a kilo, onions are Rs.24 a kilo and every other self respecting vegetable is above Rs.30 a kilo. Fish and other non-vegetarian items are also crazily expensive.

My mother remembers when she got married and first arrived at her sasural she chided the fish monger for charging Rs.5 for three mackerels, she had told him “where well you keep all this ill-gotten money”... now we have to pay Rs.50 for three. Or for that matter, my grandfather bought all my mom’s wedding jewellery for Rs.3,500, given the rates today, I am sure in the near future it will be every above poverty line father’s dream that his daughter elopes...

Sincerely,
Sen

Stolen Tags :)

Ok guys, I also join the bandwagon.. let me know what you think of me ...and Yes, Scattered thoughts, I did not know how to and was too embarassed to ask :))

1. Who are you?
2. Are we friends?
3. Something I have and YOU want?
4. Give me a nickname and explain why you picked it.
5. Describe me in one word.
6. What was your first impression of me?
7. Do you still think that way about me now?
8. What reminds you of me?
9. If you could give me anything what would it be?
10. How well do you know me?
11. How do you see me in the future?
12. Ever wanted to tell me something but couldn’t?
13. Are you going to post this in your blog and see what i say about you?

Latest in the string of culinary disasters

Ok guys just back from the kitchen and ready to regale you with this week’s culinary disaster (Pic attached). To begin with let me confess I am a weekend cook, thankfully for my family the rest of the week my mom is head chef. This way they gain enough energy over the week to stomach the sometimes divine, sometime not fit for dogs food that I dish out over the weekend.

The recipe on my radar for this week was "Rajasthani Panchmel Dal" straight off my cooking guru Sanjeev Kapoor's "Khazana of Indian Recipes" which I am sure if he reads this post he would wish that this was one treasure that was hidden from me...but alas, I discovered the book on my monthly trip to Crossword.

So I read the recipe, it seemed simple enough, easy-peasy and was confident that this one could not go wrong, but as you read further you will realise that events proved otherwise.

The recipe required five types of Dals, "Panchmel" you see, but there was just one type of dal at home so, I improvised.

The next step was to ...Wash green chillies, coriander leaves and peel ginger. Make a paste of ginger and green chillies. Chop coriander leaves. The washing bit I successfully completed, then messed up, I made a paste of coriander, green chillies and ginger and ended up with coriander chutney instead of the ginger and green chilly paste which was what the recipe required.

I was faced with the dilemma of throwing all that away and preparing the paste per requirement or improvise again, the lazy bum that I am, chose the easy way out and improvised.

The rest of the cooking was fairly satisfactory, but have no heart to call it "Rajasthani Panchmel Dal" any more, so have listed the recipe for "Mumbaiya Dal" instead. It turned out pretty edible. They have a valid point when they say "Necessity is the mother of invention" ...

Mumbaiya Dal

1 cup Tur Dal
3 medium Tomatoes
Ginger 1 inch piece
Dried Red Chillies 3
Green Chillies 2
Coriander leaves small bunch (part for paste and part for decoration)
cumin seeds 1 tsp
cloves 4-5
red chilly powder 1/2 tsp
coriander powder 1 tsp
cumin powder 1 tsp
turmeric powder 1/2 tsp
garam masala powder 1/2 tsp
Oil -2 tbsp
Asafoetida - a pinch
1 cup water
Salt to taste

Pressure cook the dal till soft. Keep aside.
Make a paste of the chillies, ginger and part of the coriander.
Heat oil, add asafoetida, cloves, cumin seeds and red chillies, fry for a while.
Add the chilly-ginger-coriander paste and fry till oil leaves the sides.
Now add the cumin powder, chilly powder and the coriander powder and fry again for sometime. Add the tomatoes and cook till the oil leaves the sides.
Add the cooked dal, water, turmeric powder, garam masala powder and salt and cook for a while. Add the coriander leaves and stir for a while.
Serve hot with rice or chapatis.
P.S. While waiting for the "oil to leave the sides" dont get your head too close to the pan, the frying process let off small jets of the material that is frying, a bit of it got in my eye and nearly blinded me!!!

Lemme know how you like this dal...Bon Appétit :)

Equal Opportunity Embarrasor!!!

Since I have embarrassed all and sundry by now, I think it is time to post a few of the bloopers I have made over time to try and make peace.. so here goes...

The first incident that comes to mind is of yours truly about six or seven year old. We speak a dialect of Malayalam at home which does not have a script so letters are invariably written in Kannada. My mum was born in Mangalore, Karnataka, but did part of her schooling there; the rest of her time in school and college was in Mumbai, so she is multi-lingual and can read and write four languages. I obviously did not know all this then and thought she only knew Kannada. My mum was busy writing letters to relatives in Kannada (These were the days when trunk call were terribly expensive and Internet was unheard of)...I stood watching her for a while and then commented maybe I should learn to read and write Kannada, to which she asked me why did that think that was necessary, to which I responded, when I get married and go away and want to write her a letter I would need to know Kannada, else how would she be able to READ!!!...P.S.-I know of this incident, as this has become a long standing joke in my familial circle and to redeem myself I did learn to read and write Kannada...

The second incident is me about thirteen years old, at that time power failures were relatively common in Mumbai. Once when there was a power failure in our area, we decided to go to the Juhu beach which is about a fifteen minute drive from our place. We dressed in a hurry and grabbed slippers and reached the beach in no time. I vividly recall, I was wearing a white top and a mango coloured skirt (this was brand new and I was very proud of it)....when we arrived at the beach I saw people staring at me...I attributed this attention to my lovely new skirt and basked in the glory for a while...we went to play in the water and removed the slippers which we kept in a heap, and stationed our parents as guards...when I came back to claim my slippers... no matter what I did I could find only one of the pair... of the other there seemed to be no sign...after a few minutes it dawned on me that all this while I had been wearing two different slippers!!!

The third incident I have already listed on Vins blog, this is for all those who came in late.. so here goes... this is hurled at me every time my aunts, uncles and cousins congregate... I was about eight years old then and answering the phone was a big passion...this person called when my dad was in the shower... what I wanted to convey to him was that my dad was having a bath and he should call later... it came out as mixture of hindi and english in these words... "woh abhi phone pe nahi aa sakte kyonki woh bath kar rehe hai"... and the guy goes, "theek hai mujhe bhi unke saath baat karna hai!!!!"...it was a saving grace that my mom came to my rescue...else I would surely tell him "aap apne ghar me bath karo !!!"

Ah, the Innocence of Childhood!

Now that I have successfully embarrassed my "old ancestors" now is the time to embarrass the siblings and assorted kids in my area!!!

The following incident highlights how advertisements influence kids!! I am really going to need Z category security after this as it related to my brother, and the stud that he is, this will not do his reputation of a chick magnet any good :)... the only reason I can chronicle this here is because he is saat samundar paar at the moment and by the time he comes back I have time to find my way back into his good books :)

Ok, so here goes, when we were kids, Hindustan Lever ran ads for the shampoo "Clinic Plus" where a girl shampooed her hair and when she walked her hair would sway and there was blue halo around her hair, my sister and I managed to convince my mother that we needed to have that shampoo and so the bottle was duly arranged. That evening we had shampooed our hair and all was well, except that my brother seems to have a perplexed expression on his face, he asked us to "please shake your head", we did as told, but still no go...after much cajoling he said, "In the ad the girl has a blue halo around her after shampooing her hair, you guys have been ripped off, no such thing around your head!!"...

The second one also has my brother in a starring role :), a big shoe giant had introduced a new kids line of shoes with some very catchy name (though I have forgotten it now, old age you see)...the advertisement had kids wearing the shoes and walking not only on the floor but on the wall and even the ceiling...my brother made a very careful case as to why he absolutely must have a pair of those particular shoes... the case was decided in his favour and a pair was arranged for him...I have no words to describe the depths of anguish felt by the poor child when he realised he had been ripped off and that the shoes only allowed him to walk on the floor and not on walls and ceilings!!!

Now it is time to embarrass the assorted kids...There is a tree right opposite my house and every summer it has tiny yellow flowers, which fall off the tree and there is a perpetual carpet of yellow flowers under the tree...now the kids in my area are connoisseurs, they will not pick the flowers that have fallen down, they will stand under the tree and wait for fresh flowers to fall and then run to catch it before it touches the ground, the way in which they catch the flowers makes for some interesting watching, given that the flowers are about half an inch in size, you would expect them stand like a fielder on the green with his eyes on the ball, ready to catch, but noooo, they have their hands spread wide apart like they are expecting a jackfruit to fall into their arms!!!

Technologically Challenged

Ok since I already let it slip that I am technologically challenged.. would like to share a few memories of what Bertram Wooster would call relating to the "old ancestors"or "old flesh and blood" who were/are similarly afflicted.

The first gem that comes to mind is relating to my grandmother (dad's mom)...the Television had just been introduced in our home and the whole neighbourhood used to congregate in the evening for the one hour or so telecast by Doordarshan(the good old days)... there used to be a program(still running on Local Marathi channel, I guess) called "Aamchi Maati, Aamchi Manasa". This program is basically for the farmer population and gives tips on farming and the like...when the credits roll at the start of the programme they show shots of green farms, flowers, fruit laden trees and happy farmers.... there is one specific shot which shows a mango tree laden with green mangoes or "kairi".... my granny watched the programme for a couple of months and one day commented... "Poor tree... the mangoes just don’t ripen on it!!" It took a great deal of explaining to get her round to understanding that it was just an image that is on TV...and that we are confident that fruit ripened on that tree and was duly eaten by all with much relish...

The second on that comes to mind relates to my uncle, "All Out" liquid mosquito repellent had just been introduced and the place where he lived was fairly infested by those critters so we bought him one of those machines, the same was duly sent to him but we forgot to send the liquid bottle to be fitted in to the machine... the next sunday we visited him and he was absolutely gaga over the machine... this, he said, is an invention to beat all inventions... according to him not one of those critters came anywhere near him since the machine was in his posession... we really had no heart to break the news on him that the machine was worthless without the liquid... this proves that mind controls what we feel :))

The third one relates to my dearest mom, I get my loathing for all things technological from her...it is hereditary honest!!!
This incident took place around the time cellphones were first introduced in our home and my mother happened to be holding one of the cellphones when it rang!!!
The look on her face was one of sheer terror as if a time bomb was in her hand and the countdown has reached the final sequence of 3, 2, 1..... :)