Today morning I got a pleasant surprise.
I was struggling on the road outside Dadar Station to catch a cab to my office at Shivaji Park. None of the drivers were ready to go as I did not have a change of fifty (it's a minimum fare from Dadar (W) to Shivaji Park). So, in all the desperation that I had to take a cab to work, I bought a bottled of packaged water to get myself a change of cash.
And as I turned back, I saw a vacant Taxi approaching. I showed out my hand and it stopped. Even before I could complete saying "Shivaji Park", the cabbie said it.
This was followed by the following monologue from him:
"Aapke kapdon pe likha hai aapko Shivaji Park jana hai.
Aapke bag pe likha hai.
Aapke chashme pe likha hai.
Aapke to poore chahre se tapak raha hai Shivaji Park, Mayor Bunglow, Veer Savarkar Trust"
I couldn't help but laugh with him and admire his friendliness.
He went on to tell me how he daily watches so many of my fellow office colleagues lined up on this road and often drops them (and amuses them with his banter).
He even knew the best route.
It surely was a good start to a mundane Monday!
Showing posts with label Mumbai Meri Jaan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mumbai Meri Jaan. Show all posts
Monday, October 18, 2010
Thursday, September 09, 2010
The 10 Rupee fix
My 7 year old rampyaari, My TVS Victor, has been a subject of my neglect very often.
The poor thing also falls victim to Mumbai Police's strategy of ever-changing no-parking areas.
Some months back, me and my colleague decided to go to the near-by Naturals Icecream Shop taking a small break from office. I parked my bike at the place where I have been parking it over the past 2 years. We had a lovely double scoop each and came out only to find the bike missing. Seeing policewallahs and a towing van on the road outside gave me the idea as to what would have happened. Needless to say, I had parked my bike at a newly identified no parking zone and it was happily towed away by the sincere Mumbai Police.
It was with much mehnat mashakkat that I could retrieve my bike. What an ordeal that was!
With this episode over, I realised my pyaari raampyaari was making a kind of gumpy sound when I raised the acceleration. First, I ignored it but then had to figire out as to which bolt was loose. To my dismay, I found that the front mud-guard (the semi cricular covering over the front wheel) had developed a big crack and was about to split into two pieces. Must have been due to the manhandling by the towing van gues, I rationalised.
While I had no intentions of buying a new mud-guard, I decided on taking it to the nearby road-side mechanic to fix it. He looked at it and happily announced that it needed a replacement. Nothing else will help. Determined to not to buy a new peice, I decided to return. As I kicked the bike to a start, this intelligent chap came up with a very ingenious idea. The chutki mein chipyae, FeviQuick! What a quick fix (the pun is indeed intended). And I must say a pretty durable one also. And the price..... Rs. 10 ONLY! That is damn damn cheap by any standards, given that a new one would have coosted me atleast Rs. 600.
I have been happily driving my bike eversince and had almost forgotten this incident.... Now that I have to transport my bike to Faridabad, I am again worried that it might lead the crack to resurface.
But then as they say, in India we have a jugaad for everything. Am pretty convinced that there will be somebody in Faridabad, ready to offer me his quick fix!
The poor thing also falls victim to Mumbai Police's strategy of ever-changing no-parking areas.
Some months back, me and my colleague decided to go to the near-by Naturals Icecream Shop taking a small break from office. I parked my bike at the place where I have been parking it over the past 2 years. We had a lovely double scoop each and came out only to find the bike missing. Seeing policewallahs and a towing van on the road outside gave me the idea as to what would have happened. Needless to say, I had parked my bike at a newly identified no parking zone and it was happily towed away by the sincere Mumbai Police.
It was with much mehnat mashakkat that I could retrieve my bike. What an ordeal that was!
With this episode over, I realised my pyaari raampyaari was making a kind of gumpy sound when I raised the acceleration. First, I ignored it but then had to figire out as to which bolt was loose. To my dismay, I found that the front mud-guard (the semi cricular covering over the front wheel) had developed a big crack and was about to split into two pieces. Must have been due to the manhandling by the towing van gues, I rationalised.
While I had no intentions of buying a new mud-guard, I decided on taking it to the nearby road-side mechanic to fix it. He looked at it and happily announced that it needed a replacement. Nothing else will help. Determined to not to buy a new peice, I decided to return. As I kicked the bike to a start, this intelligent chap came up with a very ingenious idea. The chutki mein chipyae, FeviQuick! What a quick fix (the pun is indeed intended). And I must say a pretty durable one also. And the price..... Rs. 10 ONLY! That is damn damn cheap by any standards, given that a new one would have coosted me atleast Rs. 600.
I have been happily driving my bike eversince and had almost forgotten this incident.... Now that I have to transport my bike to Faridabad, I am again worried that it might lead the crack to resurface.
But then as they say, in India we have a jugaad for everything. Am pretty convinced that there will be somebody in Faridabad, ready to offer me his quick fix!
Wednesday, December 03, 2008
A quick musing!!!
Why does it need to be tagged "the 9/11 of India"?
Why can't it be "26/11 of India"?
Do we really need this comparison? Is the fact, that this was a heinous act of crime in its own right not sufficient?
Why can't it be "26/11 of India"?
Do we really need this comparison? Is the fact, that this was a heinous act of crime in its own right not sufficient?
Tuesday, December 02, 2008
Arrey... Kamaal hai!!!
"Arrey... Kamaal hai".. how often would we have used this phrase, and more in concatenation with another phrase "Ek to chori, oopar se seenajori"..... But then who would go and tell this to the CM of Maharashtra, "Shri Vilasrao Deshmukh" Who has, who had the audacity to take his entourage for a terror tourism trip at the scene of Taj carnage and massacre.
How on earth could he think of tagging along his good-for-nothing son, Ritesh (now spelled as Riteish, to bring good luck to his doomed career; which unfortunately would now be doomed forever if the people of India excercise their disposition) and the equally good-for-nothing director Ram Gopal Verma to the scene which would have witnessed the biggest and the most horrendous terror attack on the country.
Jo kiya, so kiya but at the end of it all, how boldly he is making statements "Arrey Kamaal hai.... we gave you the footage on goodwill and you are stretching things..... (or something of the sorts, but Arrey kamaal hai is what I am sure of)" One look at the face of the beloved CM during his recent press conference would have cleared us of any doubts of his love and respect for fellow citizens.
Did I write "Fellow Citizens"..... guess no politician in this god-foresaken country would be considering the aam aadmi even close to that term. To them we are the lesser mortal beings and in bade bade sheheron mein to yeh chhote chhote haadse hote hi rehte hain.
Wonder what the Patils and the Deshmukhs would have to say if their residence or the Mantralaya would have been the focus of the attack. That being the case, this would have been another big attack on the democracy of this country, after the Parliament attack. And did I say "Democracy".... did someone not tell these demigods of the society that democracy is a system of governanceof the people, by the people, for the people....... Wish at least some of our politicians had not been the school dropouts then this much sense would have prevailed!!!!! Not that those who have degree from the Howard and Cambridge Universities of the world are doing some wonders..... Bhai kamaal hai!!!!
How on earth could he think of tagging along his good-for-nothing son, Ritesh (now spelled as Riteish, to bring good luck to his doomed career; which unfortunately would now be doomed forever if the people of India excercise their disposition) and the equally good-for-nothing director Ram Gopal Verma to the scene which would have witnessed the biggest and the most horrendous terror attack on the country.
Jo kiya, so kiya but at the end of it all, how boldly he is making statements "Arrey Kamaal hai.... we gave you the footage on goodwill and you are stretching things..... (or something of the sorts, but Arrey kamaal hai is what I am sure of)" One look at the face of the beloved CM during his recent press conference would have cleared us of any doubts of his love and respect for fellow citizens.
Did I write "Fellow Citizens"..... guess no politician in this god-foresaken country would be considering the aam aadmi even close to that term. To them we are the lesser mortal beings and in bade bade sheheron mein to yeh chhote chhote haadse hote hi rehte hain.
Wonder what the Patils and the Deshmukhs would have to say if their residence or the Mantralaya would have been the focus of the attack. That being the case, this would have been another big attack on the democracy of this country, after the Parliament attack. And did I say "Democracy".... did someone not tell these demigods of the society that democracy is a system of governanceof the people, by the people, for the people....... Wish at least some of our politicians had not been the school dropouts then this much sense would have prevailed!!!!! Not that those who have degree from the Howard and Cambridge Universities of the world are doing some wonders..... Bhai kamaal hai!!!!
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Mumbai Meri Jaan
"ऐ दिल है मुश्किल जीना यहाँ ..... ज़रा हट के ज़रा बच के यह है बॉम्बे मेरी जान...." went the last track of this movie Mumbai Meri Jaan.... Quite an impressive attempt by the director. I wonder if it would not also have been pertinent if the director would also have added the following stanza from the same song " ऐ दिल है आसां जीना यहाँ, सुनो बंधू सुनो मिस्टर यह है बॉम्बे मेरी जान"
I do not want to rate this movie. I have always had a bias in favour of those movies that are off-beat and this movie I believe was precisely that, else the hall would have been running a houseful . Two characters which I felt very moving were that of the News reporter (Soha Ali) and the high-paid desh bhakt professional (R Madhavan). May be Kay Kay Menon, Irrfan Khan and Paresh Rawals' characters could also have been made more powerful if the movie was of a smaller duration. Nevertheless, if nothing else, the movie does leave you more observant of your surroundings.
Today morning while travelling I noticed a Police constable talking to a private taxi driver. then the driver digged out something from his pocket, possibly his licence and what would have entailed thenafter is something that we all can guess. I have not picked up today's newspaper yet and am sure it would also have something that I could relate with the movie. Guess it is the effect of the late-night show... by the time the day passes by, I would soon be back to my normal self.
What I find quite amusing here is that the movie in itself is a big paradox. The movie sort of portrays media in a bad light. I may sound a bit outrageous if I call today's reporting as Journalistic Voyeurism but that is what today's news channels are. the are the biggest possible reality shows. If we look at it from another angle, even this movie was supposed to "entertain" us by portraying what would have been the plight of the bomb blast victims. Never-the-less, I rate it as an honest effort from the director to portray life's realities.
The final note from me on this:
After the movie had its "The End" (sadly, they don't have this appearing anymore as the movie ends) a friend of mine quite pertinently noticed that why is this movie "Mumbai" meri jaan. Had it been Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Banagalore for for that matter Bhubaneswar the meaning would not have changed. I guess this is a movie about India. That Indian spirit which has kept us going for generations..... this again reminds me of a couplet from Iqbal
"यूनान मिस्र रोमा, सब मिट गए जहाँ से, बाकी मगर है अब तक नामो निशाँ हमारा... कुछ बात है वह हस्ती मिटती नहीं हमारी... "
I do not want to rate this movie. I have always had a bias in favour of those movies that are off-beat and this movie I believe was precisely that, else the hall would have been running a houseful . Two characters which I felt very moving were that of the News reporter (Soha Ali) and the high-paid desh bhakt professional (R Madhavan). May be Kay Kay Menon, Irrfan Khan and Paresh Rawals' characters could also have been made more powerful if the movie was of a smaller duration. Nevertheless, if nothing else, the movie does leave you more observant of your surroundings.
Today morning while travelling I noticed a Police constable talking to a private taxi driver. then the driver digged out something from his pocket, possibly his licence and what would have entailed thenafter is something that we all can guess. I have not picked up today's newspaper yet and am sure it would also have something that I could relate with the movie. Guess it is the effect of the late-night show... by the time the day passes by, I would soon be back to my normal self.
What I find quite amusing here is that the movie in itself is a big paradox. The movie sort of portrays media in a bad light. I may sound a bit outrageous if I call today's reporting as Journalistic Voyeurism but that is what today's news channels are. the are the biggest possible reality shows. If we look at it from another angle, even this movie was supposed to "entertain" us by portraying what would have been the plight of the bomb blast victims. Never-the-less, I rate it as an honest effort from the director to portray life's realities.
The final note from me on this:
After the movie had its "The End" (sadly, they don't have this appearing anymore as the movie ends) a friend of mine quite pertinently noticed that why is this movie "Mumbai" meri jaan. Had it been Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Banagalore for for that matter Bhubaneswar the meaning would not have changed. I guess this is a movie about India. That Indian spirit which has kept us going for generations..... this again reminds me of a couplet from Iqbal
"यूनान मिस्र रोमा, सब मिट गए जहाँ से, बाकी मगर है अब तक नामो निशाँ हमारा... कुछ बात है वह हस्ती मिटती नहीं हमारी... "
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