Sleeping damsel in a Mumbai Local!
Train journeys in mumbai..........Well they never cease to amuse me. If am not traveling with friends then am always accompanied by a book or good nice sleep. Its surprising I always get a lovely sleep during my daily train journeys. Trust me nothing like a sleep in a local train. I know all ppl familiar with the Mumbai local train scene will cringe with disgust, but I seem to get of the most fabulous sleep in the local trains. I even get dreams (wierd, Comical, amusing, sad, scary etc. etc.) I usually prefer the ever elusive seat while traveling coz I get the adjoining wall as my support to sleep well. I remember once I hadn't slept thruout the nite coz I was working for my college project. While returning from my coll I was dead sleepy. So the moment I got into the train I dosed off. I wasn't comfy at all coz there were these real plump women sitting next to me. But they were of no bother to me coz I was dead sleepy. Since I didn't get enuff place to sit their I inevitably ended up sleeping,resting my head on one of the lady's shoulder and repeated pleadings from her didn't have any effect on me coz I was too sleepy to be bothered abt her complaints. Ultimately she got so frustrated that she got up and stood thruout the whole journey (35-40 minutes) while I shamelessly slept. It was only tht my destination came that I realised my , my , my ( i dunno wat to call my stupid attitude ) I apologised profusely to her with a sheepish look on my face. Well she took it very well saying that "Cud see that u were very tired and sleepy, I can understand!" I was really touched. Thanked her and Said a good bye to her and got off at my place.

i even have had instances when during peak hrs an old lady offered me a seat saying that college students also need rest. Some times have met some really nice people during my ytrain journeys of course when am not sleeping. But the weird thing is that u sometimes become so close in the short span of abt one hour that u end up talking about many things in life and then suddenly when u get down at ur destination u r become strangers again with just a hope tht ur paths cross again but that many a times never happens. One can at the best just reminisce about it and add it to the already heavy cart of memories.............Chal ciao guys......................good day to all................

hehehehehehheeh
lol! ehehehehheehhehe! hahahahhaahahhahaah
Now if u guys wonder y i'm laughing so muhc, well lemme tell u this. If u all are frequenting paaji's blog, the u all must be knowing the music thing he did for the
british bloggers. (jag didnt mean to undermine ur work of 'art', but i really dunno wat to call it.) Its amazing! I dunno wat to call tht.but some flash art by which if one clicks the butons present there and eminems song appears and a name of a corresponding name of a blog. Well if u dont understand then plzzz do visit it. But hey first listen to this incident. He did something similar to the Indian bloggers as well. This time instead of eminem he chose something Indian aka something Hindi. The song of yeh ladka hain deewana from Kuch kuch hota hain! He placed the list of all guy bloggers in the rite with kajol singing for them. Surprisingly i find my name there. Well he thought tht i was a guy......... heehhehehehehhehehe! lol! ( apparently he had a fren of the name of urs truly in his coll.)

Anywhich ways this incident was too funny and i had a hearty laugh! But seriously guys does this blog seem like a guy's blog to u? This isn't my personal blog as such, so there's no question of all girlie girlie things.
Anyways i am posting a girlie incident which happened today to my utter embarassment. Have a hearty laugh!
My face was looking too greasy today, so decided to apply "Multani mitti" ( sort of a face pack) on my face and i dosed of to sleep in the hall itself. Suddenly somebody rang the bell. Assuming it to be some odd salesman i dint bother to get up. But when mom opened the door it was one family friend of ours coming to meet us after a along time. He had brought alongwith him another friend of his. When i hrd their voice i put my blanket over my face. Meeting after a long time they insisted on talking to me, i was like shucks, wat to do, cudnt have possibly shown my face in tht condition(they wud have run away.............worse they wuid have had nightmares all their life). i talked to them for sometime with my face buried in the blanket. Later somehow went outta the hall with a towel covering my face seriously wishing for a burkha. Everybody laughed their hearts out seeing my pitiable condition.

Sheeeeeeesh! one embarassing incident tht was..........

Bored!!
Sheeeeeeeeeeesh! I am just so bored! I dunno wat to write! wow, watta combo of boredom and writers bloc!!!!!!! Ya, my mind is blank. guys just tell wats ur antidote for this problem.

9/11
Well its been 2 long yrs since the WTC bombings happened. Today on the 2nd anniversary of the bombings Indian media is full with articles, columns covering various aspects of the WTC attack. Even the television media has a variety of programmes.

whatever happened at September 11 was an unfortunate incident and it brought about changes manifold in the world order. The world's never been so unipolar as it is now. America's War against terror saw to wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Both had mixed results. In Afghanistan they managed to eliminate the tyrannic Taliban rule to a great relief of the people. But the main reason or the person for which the war was waged could not be caught, infact Osama bin laden still remains absconding. Secondly Iraq was freed from the autocratic Saddam Hussein but the the weapons of mass destruction which Saddam was accused of possessing were never really found. USA's become a Big Bully.

US claims to be the global policeman, But America's war of terror is not for the whole world, its just for America. America at present is focussing all its energies into nabbing Osama and destroying the Al-Quaeda network. But Al-quaeda is just one of the major terrorist organisations. there are 12-13 terrorist organisations which are active and are carrying out their activities in the rest of the world. But terrorist organisations like Jemaah Islaamiah (responsible for bali bombings) are still active and kicking. And the response of US is thanda. Also when India is continuously being attacked by various terrosits organisation with so many different names, India is asked to show restraint. And when one World Trade center is bombed, 2 countries are bombed. Talk about hypocrisy. India could have bombed the living daylights out Pakistan especially after Indian Parliament was attacked but it was asked to maintain restraint. C'mon what the hell! I condemn the attacks but somehow the sympathy is diminished. The American attitude is sickening. It seems that American blood is more important than Indian blood."The attitude of Apna khoon, khoon; Unka khoon Paani" is astonishing and revolting. Also when i read articles like "how so&so person has still not coped up and how New york, America still reels under the after-effects of 9/11 attacks, i am like such stories should be carries out everyday in our papers. Everything seems so frivolous. I know a tragedy is a tragedy is a tragedy but somehow somewhere I just feel so cynical.

Herd Mentality Or Business Acumen
I pass through this lane everyday while going to my college. This lane has a string of hardware shops (about 6-7) lined next to each other.
In the same lane, one can find many fast food eateries, which are again situated next to each other.
Mumbai has Linking road, Fashion Street where one can get trendy clothes for real cheap prices. Here one can find shops selling same kind of stuff lined next to each other.
Hindi Film Industry is getting ready for one of its busiest weeks coz films worth Rupees 50 crores are releasing simultaneously.
Bangalore’s Avenue Road once had nearly 30 theatres situated next to each other. The road was famous for the number of theatres it had.
The lane next to my house is a busy street. One can find a string of general stores (about 5-6) lined up (u guessed it right) next to each other. In addition, in the same lane one can also spot 3-4 STD booths situated at the same place next to each other.

Well……..the point I am trying to make is how does business prosper when u have the same kind of shops situated next to each other. I have always wondered how business thrives in Linking road and Fashion Street. Apart from cheap stuff, I guess there’s more to it. Bangalore’s Avenue street now no longer has 30 theatres. Many of them have closed down, many of them have been shopping malls etc. this is not the first time that a string of hindi movies are ready for release simultaneously or back to back. Many a times they have always suffered losses coz each of the movies always tend to make a dent on other movies’ businesses. The audience obviously gets divided. But there have been instances when Aamir Khan’s Lagaan and Sunny Deol’s Gadar released on the same day, but both went on become major hits. But if they had postponed their releases such that neither clashed with each other’s release, mabbe they might have achieved even better success. Who knows! During one of the discussions in my class my professor just happened to mention that the main theory behind the presence of the ubiquitous shopping malls at so many places in the country is that with so many shops under one roof a consumer tends to buy soething or the other ultimately benefiting the shop owner in the end. She also related this example to the success of the Linking road and Fashion Street. But I think this method is not always fullproof. Whaddya guys think coz I am a bit confused…………..

BLOGSPOT, BLOGGER.......WAKE UP
This is ridiculous. Blogspot, blogger should sue them. if u still think its ok. Chk this out. I am mighty pissed. The most irritating thing being getting a pop up window asking me to bookmark www.differentstrokes.blogpsot.com. grhhhhhhhh

got to know about this from Anand


psssst....... they are re-directing all the sub-domains to their domain in this page. u (blogspot user) might also be a victim!!!!!

Mumbai- Stop-stare-go to work
My city, My place, Mumbai. I am writing this post after reading articles, columns etc. talking about the resilience of Mumbai. Yeah, its indeed amusing that immediately an hour after the blast at gate way of India, life went on as usual. Few days after the blast Indian Express editor, Maharshtra Chief Minister SushilKumar Shinde strolls on the promenade in front of the taj hotel ( outside the hotel the bomb blasts took place) with Indian express editor in chief interviewing him. He is accompanied by only some plain clothed policemen. The stock market goes up by nearly 150 points a day after the balsts. Its amazing that there is no panic, no tension visible in mumbai. Life goes on as usual. Mumbai is known for its businesslike approach and mumbaikars are known for their spirit. I am sometimes just awe struck by the attitude of the people here. I was at the college when i hrd about the bomb blasts. There was a general buzz in the classroom and when we came to know that 2 simultaneous blasts had taken place, it really unnerved me cause it reminded me of the 1992 bomb blasts. I ventured out of the college anticipating tension but it was just life as usual. I saw frenzied activity only in the televison channels. The city was normal as if nothing had happened. There was no call for bandh too. Infact when a guy from my class told that he will not come to college the next day cause he anticpated trouble because of the bomb blasts he was laughed at. His concernes were valid but he was given this "are u mad" kind of a look.

A television channel reported rampant partying at the happening discs in Mumbai. The attendance was full. This was on the day when the twin bomb blasts took place. Now this is definitely not resilience. This is an extremely insensitive attitude. Apathy if i can say. Mabbe all this stems out from the fact not a big deal was made out of the blasts. I dunno.

But no one can say that Mumbai doesn't have an heart. when Indian express reported of a bunch of kids who became orphans due to the blasts, help poured from all corners.

Also I think that the 'chalta hain' attitude which is so characteristic to we indians helps us to over come incidents of such magnitude. It seems that an average mumbaikar has become immune to incidents like this. But one can also see this line of resilience being crossed resulting into insensitiveness.

Me back!!!!!!!!
Well this is too Narcissistic a title to have"Me back!" But what the hell, i dont care coz i am happy that i have at last got time to blog again. This is one of the longest blogging breaks i have ever taken. The previous one i took did not make any difference coz there nobody noticed it except for a few. But this time there's a difference.....Lotsa ppl noticed it and again if i may add ppl missed me;) hehehehe! Now i guess i should stop right here and do what i do best i.e. Blog! ;)

Lotsa things happened in the span of 10 days! Most prominent being "The mumbai bomb blasts" Its scary that its been happening at an alarming regularity. But at the same time Life in Mumbai goes on as ususal. he greatness of the people and the city here is that "Nothing can bog them down! I love and admire this city for its spirit and am glad that i belong to this lovely city.

There has been an ample media coverage for the blasts. Afetr watching the telecasts i was unhappy. 2 reasons:
Aaj Tak which is one of the highest watched News Channels in India came out with an absolute blooper declaring that "there have 4 bomb blasts instead of the 2. the additional one being somewhere near Marine lines and Near Mumbadevi Mandir. I initially saw Aaj tak and almost panicked. But later when i saw NDTV 24X7, I got the info that only 2 bomb blasts had happened and they also reassured us that the info is correct and there is absolutely no need to worry. I was absolutely confused. I didnt know whom to believe. then later it was confirmed that there were only 2 bomb blasts.
Now Aaj Tak being such a reputed channel, it was very irresponsible on their part to misreport like this. Thousands of people tune into Aaj Tak for news. They have all been misinformed now. Ina away the channel has been instrumental in rumour mongering. If there wouldn't have been immediate clarification by other news channels there would have been wide-spread panic. The credibility of the channel is doubted now. Aaj Tak in a quest for being "sabse tez" doesn't allot time time to verify facts. Also this is not the first instance of misreporting by Aaj Tak.

Also I was absolutle grossed out seeing the Blast footage of Aaj Tak. It was disgusting. I agree Bomb Blasts can't be a pretty sight. But with so much blood around it can be very depressing and gross. Lemme give u a example. During the WTC bombing did anyone see a drop of blood, a songle dead body? Absolutely not coz none was reported. I think that Indian news should emulate the aspect of honouring and maintaining the "Dignity of the dead". Again in the quest to be "sabse Tez" and first they have resorted to such measures. But i guess its high time they realised their responsibilities that comes as a part of being a news channel.

Another shcoking revelation but something which we all knew. If u r wondering what i am talking about click here

Anyways seeya and see forth!
(psst........waiting for lot of................comments from all ya guys!)

15 August
Today is India's Independence day.

Here's wishing all the Indians throughout "A Very Happy Independence day"

Raksha Bandhan
Well yesterday was raksha bandhan. I somehow feel lost on every raksha bandhan everyyear. Coz i am the only child. Always wanted to have an older brother. Well i somehow don't have any "mooh bola" brothers and very firmly I dont belive in tying rakhis just for the heck of tying them. Coz i belive in the sentiment behind tying rakhis and not the ritual tying rakhis per se.
But guess what i had a great day today! i am the member of a youth organisation. We as a part of a project visited "ASTITVA", a home for mentally challenged people and tied rakhis to the mentally challenged guys over there. Felt so nice............... It was an emotionally rewarding experience. It feels really sad when i see their condition. They inhabit in a world which is their own. Some of them were so happy seeing us, they were overjoyed when we tied rakhi to them, but i think they were more happy by the fact that we treated them with lotsa sweets and chocolates. Some of them were in real good mood that day coz their sisters and family members had visited them. One of them was dancing with joy coz his sister was getting married. One of them spoke so well with me in english that i was shocked when i heard that he was a borderline case, an euphemism for a mentally unstable person. It was an absolute humbling experince which made me thank god for the fact that i was not one among them. Will visit them often............Anyways seeya!
Love, Shobha