Mumbai - the Aftermath...

I ventured out to see if I could go and see the damage that the terrorists had done to my Mumbai. On entering the cab and stating my destination, my cab driver turned around and looked at me as if I was mad, and reconfirmed, "Madam, Regal hi jaana hai ? Sab band hoga!" I replied by telling him to try his luck and sure enough traffic was not allowed beyond Regal cinema.

I got off and started walking towards the Taj hoping to be allowed through the now visilbe barracades. Unfortunately I was not allowed beyond a point, so I stood and took some pictures after which I walked to Leopold Cafe and took a couple of pictures from my mobile.

Mumbai - The Aftermath....

The deserted Colaba Causeway Road...

A glimpse of the Victorious Taj

An Army truck at Bade Miya's

Media outside the Taj

A glimpse of the Taj

The Leopold Cafe.. where it all started...

The Leopold Cafe.. notice the broken glass...


Metro Cinema - back to business


Though things are moving on, the Subway still remains closed at Metro..

Mumbai - Safe once again!!

“Forgiving a Terrorist should be left to GOD…
But fixing their appointment with GOD is entirely our Responsibility!”
- Indian Army

“Hamare liye kuch bhi mushkil nahi hai” this was the reply given to one of the journalists by our NSG Commandos after they had finished Operation Cyclone at the Taj hotel today morning. This one sentence is the one that makes the difference and makes my heart swell with pride for our defense personnel. As I write this post today, it is with a very heavy heart as this is one post I wish I never had to write… I stay in South Mumbai, very much near the terrible terrorist attacks – in fact the shooting at Metro Cinema was just outside my building… it has been a nerve wrecking 3 days.

The number 1 question in my and everyone’s minds is “WHY?” but I know there is no answer to this, as who can understand the twisted and warped minds of terrorists?

Being a South Mumbai resident from birth, the recent happenings have hit nearer to my heart….. I used to go to the Oberoi’s for a late night cup of coffee with my girl friends, a place completely safe and beautiful which will now be linked to terrorist attacks. The Taj – one of THE monuments of not only South Mumbai but of whole Mumbai started going up in flames. As the fires engulfed the corridors of the Taj, tears welled up in my mother’s eyes as she saw a heritage building that she has seen all her life, visited all her life, lived near all her life be damaged by senseless terrorists. The attacks at Leopold Cafe, Nariman building, VT station, Cama hospital, GT hospital, Vile Parle have been as scary and have captured my attention for the past 3 days. I don’t remember being glued to the TV set for so long waiting for news that all is fine.

The murdered Rabbi’s son turns 2 today but has none of his parents to hold him as he cuts the cake, the Taj’s GM’s two young sons and wife were charred to death, the shaken and disturbed looks of worried relatives as they wait for news, our defense personnel who lost their lives, the fact that the terrorists had beautifully planned this “military like” operation for over 6 months – these and other incidents have shaken me. The number of deaths of innocent people for no reason at all makes me want to personally torture these terrorists – will I get my wish??

I would like to end by saying that I am proud of our NSG Commandos, our police force, our Marines who have fought for the last (almost) 60 hours to bring normalcy back to Mumbai so that I am alive today to say I am proud to be an Indian, proud to be a South Mumbai “townie”!!

Stupid Questions anyone?

Have you ever come across someone asking you or you asking someone stupid questions to which there is only one obvious answer? Like the time when your best friend calls you at 3 in the morning to speak to you and her first question is “Were you sleeping?” Hello! What else would one be doing on a week night at 3 a.m.???? :-)

I did something like this a few days back. After working late, as I approached the station, I ran into my “morning train” friend and innocently asked her “Are you going home?” to which she answered the obvious answer “Yes!” After getting onto the train we realised what a stupid question I had asked her and we spent a good 10 minutes of our travel time giggling away like two school children much to the amusement of the ladies in the compartment.

This made me think of the other stupid questions that we ask in our everyday life which on retrospect brings a huge Smile on our faces! :-)
“Are you hurt?” after seeing a bloody knee on a little boy’s leg..
“Did I wake you up?” when you call your friend at 4 a.m. in the morning..
“Are you awake” when a mother shakes a child awake..
“Are you feeling hot?” after seeing your friend’s face streaked with ringlets of sweat..

And these are the sweet, stupid nothings that give our life the much needed injections of smiles! So, go ahead make someone's day - ask a stupid question!

50 and counting!

As I looked at my blog today, thinking of my next post, my eyes strayed to the right hand side column and I saw that I had written 50 posts till date (this being the 51st!). Wow! That is an achievement for me as I never felt that I would have lasted so long!! I remember when I started blogging and I had these numerous questions thrown at me, asking will I continue to write after a while… will I still have thoughts to pen down.. Won’t I get bored of this “blog” fixation? Well all I can say is I am 50 posts old and still blogging!!! :-)

This blog has helped me improve my creative writing, has helped me put my thoughts into words and has polished my English too!

But these 50 posts would not have been penned if I hadn’t received support and encouragement from my readers and friends! So, THANK YOU! to one and all of you! Sounds like an Oscar acceptance speech – doesn’t it? ;-)

Crush that light!

Poof! Off goes the light at the end of your cigarette. Yes, the smoking ban has arrived!! The papers have been following this story for the last 10 days with the implementation finally happening all over India last Thursday.

So, is this good or bad? From a non-smoker’s point of view – it ROCKS!! But from the smoker’s point of view – it SUCKS! :-) There have been varied reactions to this ban, some have supported it blindly, some have supported it in a 50-50 way and some have ridiculed it. My reaction? Well, I think I fall in the middle reaction bracket ;-) I support it in principle as I feel that the ban will help people like me getting saved from being passive smokers.

I wonder how it will be to step into a pub or a disco where I can actually "see" the people around me without a smoky halo around them! Or sit in a restaurant without coughing on the cigarette smoke from a nearby table... Though to be fair to all my smoker friends there should be a little more places where they could light up and enjoy their 5 minutes of nicotine fix :-)

Cheers to the Government for this initiative!

Jaane tu, maan gaye Mughal-E-Singh is King… Rock On!! – A review of sorts…

Against my better judgment I have been exposed to the Bollywood side of life in Mumbai! Over the past couple of months I have seen a few Hindi movies which have left me wondering if I could get back the lost time of my life!! Though the last movie was good and I thoroughly enjoyed it! :-)

Jaane Tu – a college romance, way too sweet for my cup of tea left me wondering why oh why they made a movie where there was a funeral for a pet and a song to make the owner smile after the funeral!! I mean hello!! Is anyone listening? If you needed an excuse to have a song (which Hindi movies rarely do!) just make the heroine sad and get the hero to sing to her anyways! The only commendable performance was of Prateik Patil and that gave me the much needed oxygen to sit through the movie!

Maan Gaye Mughal-E-Azam – a really really really stupid movie!! The movie had the saddest dialogues that I have ever heard BUT if you are in the mood to watch some real stupid Hindi flick by keeping your brains out at the door then maybe just maybe you will be able to sit through this weird contraption. Though I must say that Mallika Sherawat has worked on toning her body and is looking really good in all the songs!

Singh is King – the only thing that kept me alive through this movie is that I watched it at home (and could do other stuff) and that it had fun Punjabi dialogues in it. Akshay Kumar as a sardar – not awesome acting but his turbans were tied very well!! Katrina – well the less said about her the better… and it had the usual hindi movie ending and the usual girl going back to the hero.. Well, whatever appeals to the masses!

Rock On – 4 guys, out of which two were HUNKS ;-) one was a cutie and the fourth looked like he was on drugs! The music rocked and kept me humming the whole day long, so much so that the main song of the movie is my phone’s ringtone! The story wasn’t fantastic; the acting was decent, though the female roles in the movie made me wonder what were they doing??!! All in all a decent movie, with good music is what kept me wanting for more…

Chalo Police Station…

How many times have you wanted to say this to the “intentionally” deaf and irritating rickshaw and taxi drivers? How many times do you think – I should report him? If you are like me who travels everyday via the local transport in amchi Mumbai then I bet you have definitely thought of this once a month at the least!!! :-)

And the day dawned that I made up my mind to do just that! Today!! As usual I was “begging” the passing rickshaw drivers to stop and take me to my destination – a regular morning exercise, when I realised that there were suddenly a number of them refusing to go to the same destination not only to me but to other stranded passengers too. Turning to my colleague, I stated that we should just get into and sit inside one of the black and yellow coloured beetle shaped contractions without informing them of our destination.

As one of them approached I jumped into the auto and stated my destination to which the driver turned and said “Nahi jayega! (will not go)”. By then I had reached the last strand of my patience and I told him that if he didn’t want to take me to my destination then to take me to the nearest Police Station where I could make a complaint against him. With sarcasm he said, sure, he would take me to the police station. As he started his vehicle, he began to give me an explanation about why he would not be going to my destination – apparently the clutch of his auto was giving him trouble. I replied that if that was the case then, why was his meter showing “For Hire”? To this he replied that the meter had no connection whatsoever to the situation. If this dialogue had happened in a calm manner maybe I would have stepped off and looked for another rickshaw, but the driver thought that he could get away by speaking arrogantly to a female and that is something that I would not accept!!

So, I proceeded to the Police Station, wherein when I went in to register a complaint I was received with politeness and a ready helping hand. At the moment I was registering my complaint, the haughtiness vanished from the driver’s demeanor and his tone dripped with sugar as he tried explaining his point of view to the police inspector who was kindly ignoring him till the formalities with me were completed. After my complaint was registered the police officer went a step ahead and being a complete gentleman stopped another rickshaw for me to continue to office. With a smile and a huge thank you I stepped in and made my way to work.

As I made my way towards office, I felt a sense of pride that I had stood up for my rights and was not reduced to dancing to the whims and fancies of the rickshaw drivers! So don’t get trodden over by the uncaring and rude drivers, just go ahead and assert yourself and say “Chalo Police Station!!” :-)