Postcards From J

I've always loved Bombay/Mumbai. Being born and brought up here, it's part of my identity, my DNA. But of late, this city has made me question everything around me. I am forced to throw away any rose-tinted glasses I may have put on. Let's face it. Mumbai is extremely burdened. And it pains me a great deal. And this realisation only hit me last year. My folks have now moved to our native place, South Canara (or Dakshin Kannad). Mangalore, as it's normally referred to even though it's technically not Mangalore city. Anyway, back to my point. I visit at least once or twice a year. Usually, I can't take more than four days of being 'home'. I would miss the Bombay pace and feel like something is missing. Socialising there meant attending five weddings, two funerals, a house-warming lunch, and going to church. Electricity could sometimes be a pain and one would struggle to get a few bars of connectivity on the phone. I'd feel trapped and wait for th...

The heavens opened up last Friday (and also earlier that week) and created the usual havoc that Mumbai gets to face. But hey, most of our city's problems are man-made. Nay, let me rephrase that. Most of the problems here are BMC-made.  The ensuing wet-wet-wet weekend didn't really dampen any of my plans thankfully (watched Man Of Steel and hogged away with friends) but this morning as we drove to St. Michael's Church, Mahim for Day 2 of the annual feast novena, I spotted the sun trying its darndest to break through the clouds. Such a wondrous sight! And as I type this in the afternoon and look at the brightness outside my work window, I say: I'm grateful for the rains but THANK YOU FOR THE SUNSHINE TODAY. ~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~

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...

Hello, hello! I'm back on the blog after two months. In fact, I had almost forgotten about this space... Most of the time away was spent on a project that took me out of Bombay on New Year's Day - an all-confusing (at the start) and then an all-consuming assignment which involved a university cricket tournament. BUT all rants aside, I learnt a great deal during this time - operationally and from a business perspective - and made some new friends in the process. It was just a first step in a new direction for me on the work front. So let's see where it goes.  Physically, I can feel the exhaustion and stress of the long hours put in taking its toll on me. Add to it, an erratic sleep cycle and the weird moods of the Bombay summer. And what have you got? Me writing a blog post at close to 3:00 AM! Meanwhile, some notes from my last two months: - The boys from Jain University, Bengaluru won the inaugural University Cricket Championship. I had the pleasure of intera...

"Kalina?", I yelled as he screeched to a halt.  He nodded while three women and four tiny children kept popping out of his rickshaw. I was too tired to notice the expression on his face. Soon, I was seated inside with my bags - groceries and handbag and laptop bag and lunch bag and office Diwali gift. Phew. "Aap <mumble mumble mumble>?" "Kya kahaa?" ("What did you say?") "Kya aap Hindu ho?" ("Are you a Hindu?") I was a bit zapped at the question. Thinking I had said 'yes', he continued... "Dimaag kharab kar diya. Yeh sab Islam waale... itne saare rickshaa mein baett gaye..." ("They've given me a headache. These Muslims... so many of them occupied my rickshaw...") I cut him short. "Aapka kya matlab hai? Iss mein dharm kahaa se aa gaya?" ("What do you mean? Where did religion creep into this?") Sensing that I was not particularly thrilled...

A little rickshaw gyan for the weekend on the sticker in front: "Tameez se bologe toh Izzat muft milegi." Click to view full size image Rough translation: "If you speak with courtesy then you will receive respect for free." PS: A Google search for the exact meanings revealed that "tameez" is the word for "etiquette or manners" and "izzat" is for "pride".

My ' Rick-rolled ' series is back. And do watch out for at least two more of those later in the week. It's in Marathi, so I'll try translating it (though the flavour and tone may be completely washed out.). It's a graphic image of Shivaji, the Maratha warrior after whom everything in Mumbai seems to be (re)named.  The vertical text reads: " Jaanta Raja " meaning "People's King". The text below, " Baghtos Kaay Mujra Kar ", is actually tricky to translate. Crudely, it reads: "What are you looking at? Dance!" I thought this line was really funny. Hope you enjoyed this Saturday postcard. Off to attend a story-telling session at MCubed Library and then to lunch with old friends.  Cheers, ~j~

The city has been pounded by relentless rain since Monday bringing life to a pathetic crawl. Imagine Goregaon to Andheri by car on the Western Express Highway taking three hours! Yes, three hours. And we were supposedly in the non-traffic direction. But when there's water-logging, it just doesn't matter which direction you're in. It's the famous Bombay monsoon. Hard. Cruel. Unforgiving. Not romantic, these rains at all. (#note2self: sue the movies for making us believe it's so wonderful to get soaked). And it continues to rain as I tap at my keyboard now. Monday was also THE day for an important decision that had to be made. More on that in time to come. Ironically, I had tweeted late Sunday night about wanting to give up something and that I was open to suggestions. Replies ranged from Twitter (hahaha, not yet!) to rickshaws (one day, someday...), from maida to sugar (totally doable, but needs motivation) and from swearing (which I don't do anyway but tha...

Hi there! This evening, I'm off to Mohammad Ali Road and its environs for the annual food extravaganza during Ramadhan. Here are a couple of old posts I had done on the experience in the past: My first trip ever:  Fasting, Feasting .  Last year's iftaar tweet-up: Eat Street . And Fast Food - a favourite photo of mine (not from a technical perspective, but for how it eventually turned out with its limitations). Today, I'm accompanying a new group - most of them known via Twitter - to the southern corner of the city. It's Friday night, and I'm expecting it to be a bit crazy with the crowds. So, let's see how it goes. Will try and update this post on Monday or so. Not tonight or the weekend because I'm off to Kolad for an  overnight   'adventure' trip tomorrow. I was supposed to take it easy this week, but the social engagements have just been piling up one after the other since Monday. I really need to learn the art of saying NO...

Of late, I've been disturbed with how Bombay/Mumbai is turning out to be. I love the city to death (appropriate, no?) but increasingly I'm running out of reasons to defend my love for it. They say it's the city where dreams come true. But whose dreams? The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer.  And those in between? Well, we are basically fucked.  The common man - or woman - is helpless. Everything seems to run in this vicious circle. People give bribes, people take bribes. People want a corruption-free system but are forgetting we are the system. If we don't stand up for what is right, if we don't speak out against injustice, then who will? The politicians? Judiciary? Police? But who put them in those positions in the first place? Think about it. Maximum City, can you magically revive yourself? Any more of this disillusionment and I will give up. Sincerely, ~j~

... and feel so helpless after reading this: http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/extraordinaryissue/entry/why-i-love-mumbai And to think I posted this photo on Instagram just yesterday... When did my city go to hell? Or rather become hell. RIP, Bombay. RIP, Mumbai.

23 days into the fifth month of the year, and I'm wondering where did the days go. And I also realise that I haven't blogged at all this May. Largely, I've been busy with domestic duties and a few social engagements. You'd be surprised to see how much housework can take out of you! May - when flowers explode with colour! In other news, we had a really wonderful writing class at MCubed Library a few weeks ago. And you know what? I discovered that I could write a bit of fiction (meaning something that didn't get inspired by my own life experiences). And that really thrilled me no end. I'm feeling horrible, though, for not doing a round-up of that and the previous meet-up of DD's Travel Writing Bus. Maybe I should combine the two in one post? Maybe. Fingers crossed. And then, earlier this week, a few of us dropped in at I-Bar at Bandra Reclamation (never knew it was packed with so many F&B outlets) for Music at The Big Mic - a platform fo...

My mother is an avid reader. Has always been for as long as I can remember. Her funny sitting position perched atop a chair or the sofa or even on the floor with any reading material is an enduring image in my mind. That love for the written word has probably been passed down to me genetically and I remember how we'd devour all the newspapers and magazines that were borrowed from our old Goan neighbour, Cajetan Menezes (God bless his soul!).  Uncle Cajee used to work with The Times Of India and had a free-flowing supply of not just the daily broadsheet, but also magazines like Femina and Filmfare and those amazing Indrajal Comics. As a child, I never really had access to a lot of children's books. They were far too expensive to keep buying and the only ones we "invested" in were the massive 22-volume hardbound World Book Encyclopedia series (still have the full set!) and a few books that some travelling nuns sold to us at our doorstep. Some books came by way of ...

Walking around Bombay certainly has its rewards. Like this little gem we found on the sidewalk of a badly traffucked (Twitter term for being stuck in terrible traffic) lane of Bandra last weekend: Massage Raju! Was that a title? Or a sentence where "massage" is a verb? Ewww... And then S used G's phone to call the advertiser in question who said something about doing "chest massages" which left us in splits. Maybe madame can update us on the actual conversation sometime soon...?

At the cemetery of St. Peter's Church, Bandra

April is already here! Just imagine... three months of the so-called "new year" are already done and dusted with. Time just doesn't seem to like us human beings, no? So little time, so much to do.  Anyway, in another attempt of making the most of the little free time I get, @culturelites and I decided to go rambling around random lanes of Bandra. Our route was short, but the Saturday turned out to be extremely enlightening and fun.  What our day was like in a nutshell: Visited a cemetery, plucked mulberries at a transit camp, almost walked into a celeb's home, prank-called someone, and learnt math today!!! — vodkaholic (@vodkaholic) March 31, 2012 Watch out for some notes and photos in the next post. This is a crazy week! *goes back to email wars*

Time flies. Last week at this time, SV and I were making a mad dash to the airport. We were heading to Goa! And boy, were we late!  I had had a crazy three days prior to that Thursday at work, and didn't have much time to pack. Heck, I didn't even have time to get my eyebrows done. And that day also marked the civic elections in Mumbai, so I had to exercise my franchise amidst getting a zillion things done. I was busy on my laptop sorting out work email from home (I was officially out of office on 16th and 17th + the ensuing weekend) and trying to ensure I could leave with my sanity intact. Finally, just after noon, I rushed to vote, and silently started panicking seeing the long queue at my polling booth. Just before my turn, I received a text from DD telling me to have a good break... How thoughtful!  The finger inked, I rushed to the one place I hate but can't avoid - a 'beauty' parlour - to get my eyebrows done. More rushing. Lunch was a blur. And gues...

While this is *not* my current state of mind, there have been some things over the past few months that have bothered me a great deal.      To those irritants - people, events, circumstances - the clear and graphic message on the rickshaw above is dedicated to you. Cheers!

Rick-rolled returns after a little over two months. And this one seems like a continuation from the previous Rick-rolled post .  This one also says, "Shararat Mat Karna" and that bare leg was quite a tease against the copy. What do you think?