Postcards From J

This is beginning to annoy me a great deal... The guys who collect toll money at the Aarey Check Naka (off Western Express Highway, Goregaon East) have started dispensing candy when they are short by one rupee in change. The toll for rickshaws entering the colony is Rs. 7. So if you give the chap a tenner, you will get back a receipt with a two-rupee coin and a Parle Melody (a childhood favourite, by the way). While this business of giving candy instead of chillar (change) is a common practice (at least) in Bombay's mom-and-pop stores, why do I feel cheated when the toll guys do it? ~j~

So @MissMalini ran a Twitter contest for Tigre Blanc Vodka sometime ago where she tweeted: Today is a day for #OpenLove ! Tell me what occasion you would crack open a bottle of Tigre Blanc to celebrate and win a whole case! — MissMalini (@MissMalini) March 22, 2013 As with most things on the internet, I tweeted my reply to her and forgot all about it. Imagine my surprise when she announced me as one of the winners. :) My 1st #OpenLove Tigre Blanc hamper goes to.. *drumroll please* obviously @ vodkaholic :) enjoy your parents 37th anniversary & bros 6 month! — MissMalini (@MissMalini) March 23, 2013 I received the hamper a few days ago and you know what? Hands down, this has got to be the most awesome-looking prize I have ever won. Thanks, Malini and Tigre Blanc! Pictures: Cheers! ~j~

This is what our trains should be. EMPTY! So, this morning, I left at 7.45 AM to drop my kid sister E to NM College for her tutorial classes farewell party which was supposed to start at  8.30 AM!!! (I've heard of after-parties that go on till the wee hours of the morning. But who the heck starts a party, even for kids, at that hour?) We took a rickshaw directly and I dropped her and her classmate there, and took the same rickshaw to Ville Parle station nearby to board a train to Goregaon towards my workplace. As I was climbing down the stairs to the platform, I noticed a small crowd forming in the middle of the stairs. An elderly man lay flat on the floor and apparently he had had a heart attack. There were quite a few people around him trying to revive him, and honestly I don't know how I could help. So I did the best thing I could: not crowd the stairs like everyone else. I think they called the station master and all that. But he was unconscious. While waiting for t...