Mumbai local

A gratifying shopping trip & lip-smacking snacks later, we decided it was time to head back to the resort.Inspite of constant nagging from hubby dear, we managed to lose time in shopping and loafing around. By the time wisdom dawned upon us and we decided to head back, it was already too late. The city is Mumbai, the hour, 6:30 PM on a Friday and our mode of commute? The local (train)! ....

Boarding the train at the originating station helped us grab a few seats. As the train started to move, we slowly drifted away into a tired drowse - only to be awoken to shouts from somewhere behind us “Aage Badho, aur aage badho bhai” . Shockingly, the entire compartment was crammed within no time!
I noticed an elderly gentleman navigating through the crowd towards us. He wanted to place his bag on the storage area over our seat. On placing the bag, we expected him to move away and find a place to stand in somewhere in the crowd. But no! He never budged! He stood riveted there - between the row seats facing each other,right in front of us! Very soon, there was a request from an elderly aunty to make place for her, since she was unable to stand. She was supposedly ill. That made four of us on a seat meant for 2 adults.Half-an-hour into the journey and another to go, some of us struck a conversation with the elderly gentleman trapped infront of us. Casual inquiries revealed that this was his daily routine. Apparently, he commutes to work the same way - one hour of standing between people! ...I thanked my stars for not having to go through this ordeal.

From the announcements and billboards in the station,earlier,it was clear that most of the trains were either nine or twelve boogied.I furiously noted that the one we were in, had only nine compartments.As is obvious,my first thoughts were - why couldn't they add more compartments,atleast during the peak hours? What kind of life is it, if you had to stand for an hour to commute to your workplace, in an extremely crowded train,day in & day out? And then, return the same way? Later that day, I learnt that though Mumbai is supposed to be the financial capital of the country, it gets very little attention - in terms of improvisation of infrastructure, unfortunately. Sad, really! I digress,though.

Coming back to the local. Those who have commuted by a Mumbai local during peak hours would have known how hard it is to get into or get out of the train. For this reason, we decided it was impossible for us to get down at our destined stop. Hence, feebly resigned to our fate and made up our mind to alight at the last stop.At that point,the gentleman trapped infront of us, who was listening to our discussion intently, pitched in to help. Luckily, he was to alight at the same station.He suggested we should start planning our exit one stop prior to the destination. That was the trick!

As planned, the elderly gentleman started wriggling his way through the crowd, one stop prior.One by one, all of us followed him, forming a line in which the ladies were sandwiched between the men folk. It seemed as if we were preparing ourselves for a bungy jump!As we inched forward, we could sense some sort of excitment building up in the people around us - who by now, know every minute detail of our "mission disembarkment". I noticed a few keen eyes watching our every move,with bated breath!Soon we heard the train slowing down and then screeching to a halt at our destination.We were somewhere close to the exit, but still not out. That is all I remember. Before we knew it, we were all on the platform and were continuing to move with the human current towards the exit of the station. A sense of achievement engulfed us. We made it! Hurray! We survived the Mumbai local!

We thanked the gentleman who helped us and that is when I asked him his name. Prakash, is his name. The whole experience is going to stay with me in the years to come. Prakash is a living example of the Mumbaikar spirit. Inspite of his daily ordeal,he managed to have pleasant disposition towards total strangers on the train and even helped them! Three cheers to that human spirit! On that note, I bid adieu for now. Merry Christmas!

Our friend - the sparrow

Every morning, at around 8, we have this tiny visitor who drops by to say hello. The little guy is almost punctual every day. He would fly onto the window sill and spend sometime trying to converse with us ... fearless and extroverted, unlike his fellows! Over the time, we started leaving crumbs of biscuits and a little bit of water for this little fella and he made visiting our house, his routine. Our friendship continues...

A while ago,I came across an article that listed the common house sparrow as a soon-to-be endangered species and requested its readers to do their bit in preventing it.Discovering that the sparrow would very soon join the list of endangered species was horrifying. Where are we headed? Rapid deforestation - ruthless felling of trees to expand roads, to create new infrastructure, to build extra luxurious apartments,office,commercial spaces meant very minimal greenery around. The result? Well, drive the most common bird, close to extinction!!
Is man becoming so selfish that he thinks he can very well do away with the other species? Isn't there beauty in balance? Thats what Nature teaches us,doesn't it? Then why are we so overwhelmingly selfish? Why are we bent upon protecting and nurturing just our own species, at the cost of everything else?.....
How would it feel if our kids would have to visit a zoo to get a glance of say a sparrow, cow, goat or a crow! - all them which we could so easily spot around us while growing up?! Think about it...
Habitat loss is a major reason that is driving many species towards extinction. We can do our bit in protecting and nurturing our environment by planting more trees and protecting the existing ones.

Nine nights

Brightly decked up shops screaming out 'SALE' , streets filled with incense fragrance, exotically decorated pandals at every community park and a slight nip in the air - this is the charm October brings in. Come October, one of the biggest Hindu festive season sets in - Navratri followed by Diwali. Navratri (Nine nights, literally) has a special place in my heart. The kind of cheer and happiness this festival spreads - one has to experience it, to truly adore it.

While in school, Navratri meant 10 days of break from waking up at 6 a.m. every morning. It also meant shopping, new clothes, visiting friends , eating delicious food everyday in the name of God. The meaning more or less remained the same to me over the years, except that the 10 day breaks are replaced by a long weekend. An article I stumbled upon recently, threw open a different perspective on Navratri.While reading the article, I told myself to blog about it without fail. So here goes! A few excerpts from the article: Navratri is observed to celebrate the victory of spirit over inertia,pride,shame,craving and aversion. The first 3 days of Navratri are attributed to 'tamo guna',signifying depression,fear and emotional instability; the second three to 'rajo guna' characterised by anxiety and feverishness and the last three days to 'sattva guna' that pertains to calm, peace and dynamism. Though Navratri is celebrated as the victory of good over evil, the actual fight is not between good and evil.It is the victory of spirit over inertia and negative tendencies... Navratri is the time to reflect on and renew the inner depth of our lives. I shall leave you with that. May the true meaning of Navratri sink in and may we all rediscover a humbler and more peaceful side in us. Dussera Subhakanshalu!

It happens only in India!

If foot-over bridges in a completely uncrowded area are completed before flyovers at crucial choke-points, where else would it be?

If slight rain washes away roads and leaves behind huge swimming pools,where else could it be?

If commuting to work feels like an adventure ride, maneuvering around pot-holes, rain-made lakes and heedless,selfish riders ...
If following traffic rules is frowned upon....

If private construction is rampant & fast while public infrastructure creation, sluggish...

If a country with 70% of the population under the age of 30 is ruled by a meagre 10% who are aged above 70?...

Where else can there be corruption at every single rank of administration? ...

Where else would the governing body keep mum even on being aware of the malice of the neighboring countries? ...

Where else can be it?

Sigh!

Mera Bharat Mahaan!

Top Chef !

I'm no Tarla Dalal or Sanjeev Kapoor. Mine is all practical and quick cooking. However, sometime back I purchased a vegetarian recipe book authored by Neeta Mehta. It was an impulsive decision which I never repented. I remember going through the pages of the book soon after getting home and wondering if I would ever even try atleast one of them. That was then. Now, I proudly reveal that I have tried 7-8 recipes from this book and none of them have let me down.

The other day, I came home ravenous. Paneer danced around in my thoughts. I decided to make something out of paneer. Why search for exciting recipes when Neeta Mehta is at your disposal? After a quick reference, Kadai Paneer was chosen. To my dismay, the recipe appeared to be quite elaborate. Neither did I possess the patience nor the energy to prepare this dish. But that dint deter me. 'It will be my adaptation of the recipe' was the thought that refueled me. With new found energy, I started chopping the ingredients. Where the recipe said 6 cloves of garlic and 1/2 inch of ginger, I used the ready-made ginger-garlic paste. The step which required red-chillies and dhaniya to be roasted and then ground, was replaced by a ready made masala. This way, including some, excluding some steps from the original recipe, my own adaptation was born.

And to our delight, it turned out to be quite nice. I totally relished it. Unfortunate that I could not click any pictures. Alas! if only all our energy wasn't focused solely on devouring it!

The Racquet

On our drive back home, while waiting for the signal to turn green at one of the traffic signal posts, we spotted this guy making rounds with a racquet in hand. It is a common sight at traffic signals. So common, that if you are a newbie in the city,you wonder if Hyderabad is such a sports fanatic place. Well...in a way, it is. Hyderabadis with this racquet, do play a game or two every evening - no ball/shuttlecock required! The opponent/ball/victim is the mosquito! Yes, to the uninformed, this is no ordinary tennis racquet - its a deadly weapon that electrocutes the evil mosquitoes! Now isn't that quite an innovation?

Alright, coming back to where I left - So, curiosity got the better of me and we purchased one of those bats. I could hardly wait to get home and put this masterpiece to test.
Once home, there was no time wasted - the bat was immediately unpacked and employed as a mortal combat weapon on the tiniest winged being spotted.A few hours later, as the initial fancy wore out, I realized it was time to bed. The next morning, when the maid noticed the number of flies,mosquitoes and fruit flies on the floor, she gave me a puzzled look. I returned an innocent glance and said nothing, inwardly amused at the achievement!

Raavan

We watched 'Raavan' last weekend. I was looking forward to watching this movie from the time I first heard about it. Mani Ratnam, AR Rahman, Abhishek Bachchan - yes a trio very tough to resist! There is something else which made Raavan even more irresistible for me (pun intended ;)) - and that is, the modern day adaptation of Ramayan.
Ramayan holds a dear place in my heart. Don't ask me why - because I do not know the answer. Be it the influence of grandma's mythological fables
or the very popular TV show (Ramayana) ,that was telecasted those days ...I cannot put my finger on it.

As a young girl, I remember being enamored by the subject. When in a mood for mythology, I'd pester my father with questions like - whether Ramayan really took place? Why is Ram considered God? The possible dates of Ramayan, the possible setting, the place where it took place, did Raavan really have ten heads and many such questions.
He would patiently try to answer them all. Though he acknowledged that the account of Ramayan is exaggerated, like many other epics, he believed it did take place. "May be Ram was the leader of a tribal clan , may be it was not monkeys but monkey like tribals that helped him find Sita, may be Raavan wasn't as bad a person", he would speculate. May be? Such conversations often left me in an enthused and stimulated state of mind...

Excited I am even now, after watching Raavan. Not because it is such a masterpiece. Nor did the performances of the cast sweep me off my feet..no! But, may be because I found this adaptation of Ramayan closest to what I have imagined it to be. It connected to my thought process. Believing that the legend most Hindus consider sacred is not an exaggerated , overrated piece of fiction but a true life story (with may be a little bit of exaggeration) has a lot of joy associated with it. There is some kind of peace, hope and contentment which I'm not able put into words. I believe ... maybe, its the romantic in me!