Monday, November 16, 2009

Déjà Vu

This weekend I visited Mumbai, which is some 130 Kms from Pune. We(my cuz, my to be brother-in-law and I ) drove to the city and stayed at our another cuz.... Isn't this great about an Indian family- you can always rely upon them, they never leave you!

Anyhow, this was my second visit to the financial capital of the country (the first déjà-vu) and I completely enjoyed it. My first trip to the city had been with my grand-father and had been a complete disaster! I had had hated the trip completely!

This time, I had a heavy brunch at Leopold Café, dessert from the Pastry Shop of The Taj Mahal Hotel, some snacks at CCD at the Atria Mall (where we also saw the Ducati Showroom and the Rolls Royce Showroom) and a heavy dinner at Bademiyas followed by drinks at the Red Box.
The next day I visited 2 of my cousins who live near Powai. It was a fun day and a lovely weekend indeed!

My second déjà-vu, one rather disturbing, was at the Taj Mahal Hotel, rather outside the hotel! I was taking a pic of the hotel, when I was troubled by the police force in the area as I had not shaved and was taking photographs of "The Hotel".
It remeinded me of the frisking I had to undergo at Cannes Film festival, because I have a beard and was not wearing jeans-T-shirt!
I don't even want to get into any discussion regarding this, as I feel it is dismal that even the Indian police has a mind set that a man with a beard is a terrorist! WTF

If you read my itinerary for the 2 days in Mumbai, I actually did not do anything special,nothing atall, yet in the two days that I spent there, I got this sense of power from the city, a different kind of sensation(I can assure you it was not the alcohol)!
It is said that those who get accustomed to the life of Mumbai, do not like living else where.
Why does this happen? Cant be definitely because of the countless slums that are there in the city. The cost of living is also quiet high there, then what is it???

Mumbai- the city of dreams. If you want to live your dream then go to Mumbai, weather in cinema, theatre, corporate world or under world!What makes it so? I think it is the spirit of Mumbai. The city that allows you to be exactly what you want to be, it does not judge you on being different or trying to be different. If you have the wish, the want and the will to make something out of your life, the city does not bind you in its dos and donts, less shackles to break! There is less hypocrisy.
A very wise aunt of mine told me that the city is extremely professional, and I do agree with her. She had explained to me giving example form the advertising world but even the home-delivery guy is smart and professional; he carries the exact change that would be required(unlike in Delhi, where we often hear, " Saab chutta nahi hai").

Mumbai reminded me of Paris, OK definitley not as architecturally beautiful, but the way of life is exactly the same.... laissez-faire!!!!
I finally understood that it is that sense of freedom that people search for and do attain in this city.

I would definitly like to live a part of my life in the city, but would like to live it in comfort. That means I really need to start earning big soon(HR, beware, I am soon going to ask for a raise)


Thursday, November 12, 2009

The week that rattled

This week passed rather fast for me, during which a lot of things rattled... ranging from my notions about Pune to my official itinerary to the trees in the city and my temper!
Let me handle each separately.......

During a late night excursion in the city, with my cuz bro and to be bro-in-law, to eat rabri and kulfi (near the railway station, it was really YUM)followed by coffee and muffins (at Costa Café),

I was told, that many students in Pune (both male & female) do prostitution to earn pocket money, money not used to obtain the daily ration/to help meet the ends, but to enter pubs and and cafés(hard-rock café eg.). I was really shocked. Despite the fact that this concept is not new to me, given that I personally know students in Paris who do prostitution to meet their ends, but most of them are ones who do not get any support from families or belong to families who cannot support their finances! But here, I could not see any rhyme/reason to it.

Abu Azmi was, 2 days ago, beaten in the assembly house because he took his oath in Hindi and not in Marathi. Today the newspapers reported that the MLAs were ready to apologise to the house but not to Abu Azmi! .....
WOW, The political leader of the largest democracy of the world cannot enjoy his Cultural and Educational Right!

The political party that goes around protesting against Valentine's Day, forces boyfriend-girlfriend to get married if caught together and does what not on the name of preserving the sanctity of Indian culture, is the one that did not respect the Constitution of India (something that is much older that most of them and had been written by much sane , cultural and aware politicians) and it is the same political leaders who go about ranting as to how they are preserving the Indian culture that turn a blind eye to the rising prostitution in the city!

It made me question, has my english-medium education from a premium institution (one rather (in)famous for many such incidences) and a 2 year stay in a country where sexuality and its expression are very open failed to 'modernise' me. Am I as hypocritical as a politician from one of the political parties where it is OK and acceptable if it occurs in Paris but not digestible if it happens in 'The Land of Cultures and Customs- India'.
What is it that gives me different levels of acceptances for the same situation?

Next thing that shook this week was the vegetation of Pune. Pune received rains for 2 continuous days with very strong winds. My office which is a manufacturing plant has a stainless steel roof, and thus magnified the sound of the rain drops and the raging winds. However, I am not exaggerating, the winds were strong enough to uproot many trees causing the Pune traffic to become horrendous as compred to the normal state of being the worst!
And due to the all above reasons, my temper was on a high and rattled in the office!

However, I am really looking forward to the drive to Mumbai tomorrow. Hopefully the week-end there will raise my spirits and rejuvenate me to go to office in a good mood!


Thursday, November 5, 2009

Accident Ho gaya.. Rabba rabba......

pre-requisite knowledge for the post: 1.My office is on the outskirts of the city and I have to drive a highway to reach it.
2. And ofcourse, my previous post about introduction ;)


What to post next had been been on the back of my mind for some time. Juggling between the beautiful moon that I see now every eveing and its comparison with my pics taken in Paris, my report of my family's sweet, home-made love incidence or another learning from the life, I finally have a winner, my own "Tryst with Destiny".
I had an accident today, that could have turned really bad, but I escaped with nothing but a dent and a dislodged headlight.
As I was driving to office, my nose started bleeding and 'I think I was loosing conciousness' (coz I do not remember it) when I became totally aware with a loud thud. I had just hit a bus and that that very moment a SUV,speeding towards me, was just meters away from me. I did manage to not completely go into either the bus or the SUV. However I did manage to bump into the bus from the left. Subsequently, I decided to stop and wash my face. And as I glanced at the speedometer I was at around 100 Km/hr. God forbid, had it not been a bus, and had been someone on a 2 wheel drive, I would have completely knocked them off/kiddled them.
I consider myself luck that I escaped the incidece with no major loss.
But then, I definitly need to go and visit a doctor, and get my nose and BP checked!
Till then, phir milengey !

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Introduction

I have been asked many a times if I had a blog, to which I always said no! However, it wasn't until today when my to-be brother-in-law asked me the same that I decided to actually start one. Actually, I wouldn't contibute this start entirely to him, every time that I have been asked the question, I would always get an inkling to start one, but then somehow I wouldnt. It was this long due lingering thought and the series of events this week (less work at office, availability of internet right in front of me and me having nothing to do between the time between my washing machine finishes its cycle and I go to bed) that I finally decided to start this blog.
I am doing this not to follow the crowd, or to be cool or to do the "in" thing.... but just because I had always enjoyed expressing myself-wheather in words, actions or any any other means of expression.

I doubt that I will be exressing great poitical views or using some great high-funda english in this blog, truth be told, I am sure that will not happen. But as the title and the url suggest, yeh meri nazar ko shabdon main zahir karne ki koshish hai; mere vichar, meri ichhayen aur meri bhawnayen!


This is my first post, so I must would like to give a little intro about myself. I am a simple middle class person, trying to live lif 'my way', hoping and wanting not to hurt people along the way. I, like many other people have had a not so stable childhood, and thus I have a huge emotional void; which some people call as emotional maturity, at times..... but the matter of fact is, I am still a toddles as far as relations, emotions and feelings are concerned and I AM PROUD OF IT. It allows me to be utterly pure in my dealings.

My last week has made me confirm that however well you do something, there will always be somebody to find a fault in it. After all, when Lord Ram was been given ber, it was his own brother Laxman who had doubted the intentions of Shabri.
It feel that it should be one's thought process, feelings and intentions behind the act that need to be pure and selfless.

Soon I will have my camera with me, and hopefully I will be able to take some pics to express my self in a different and a more colourful way!
Till then, I am posting a pic that I found yesterday on the net, and feel it is cool