Baki sab Theek hai…

The following are the experiences I have heard from numerous people, they are not figment of my imagination…….

Poojya Pradhan Mantriji

Namaskar.

Main ek aam hindustani hoon jo roj mehnat karke apna ghar sambhal raha hoon. Pichle mahine hi ghar ke ek sadasya ka mediclaim reject ho gaya, aapke IRDA ke paas bhi gaya, lekin kuch fayada nahin huwa. Ab doston se aur rishtedaaron se paise udhar leke hospital ka bill chukaya hai. Woh roj mujhse paise maang rahe hai. Kuch logg to naaraj bhi ho gaye hai. Baaki sab thik hai.

Bijli company ne rate badha diya. Bill pe likhke beja hai, pehle paise bharo phir complain karo. Kal notice aya hai, disconnection ka. Baaki sab thik hai.

Paani roj subah subah mil jaata hai. Jaldi uthke bhar dete hai. Hamare sone ke liye jagah thi na, bus udhar 3 drum laga diye hai. unn 3 drums pe ek gadha lagake main so jaata hoon…badi chain ke neend aati hai. Baaki sab thik hai.

Kal mere padosi ke biwi ka mangalsutra chori ho gaya. Do saal se paise baccha baccha ke kharida tha. Police station waalon ne usko gussa karr diya…Pata nahin kitni choriya ho rahi hai….itna keemti mangalsutra pehenke nikalte kyon ho….Baaki sab theek hai…

Dhanda chal raha hai, kha peeke, Sales tax, building tax, Professional Tax, Income Tax, Service Tax bharne ke baad, aapke sarkaari karmachariyon ke visit ke paise bach jaate hai…. baaki sab theek hai….

Gaon jaane ke liye train ke ticket nikalwane gaya tha….bees minute line main khade rehne ke baad maalum pada ticket nahin hai….line se nikalne ke baad agent ne ticket karwake diye….thode paise jyaada lage…lekin ticket paanch minute main mil gaye…baaki sab theek hai.

Gaon main hamari jameen Dam ke raaste aa rahi hai karke sarkaar humein paise degi aise maalum pada, main sab kagaz leke gaya, lekin mujhe kahan gaya ke kagaz barabar nahin hai… phir gaon ke aadmi ne kuch paise udhar dilwake cheque dilwaya…jitne milne the uske aadhe to mil gaye….baaki sab theek hai….

Ek builder aaya hai, kehta hai paise leke yahaan se jaao, mujhe yahaan tower banana hai. Woh jitne paise de raha hai, utne main to mujhe yahaan kuch milne waala nahin hai…maine usse manna kiya…lekin ab roj gunde bejta hai….police main gaya tha…woh kehte … negotiate karke khatam karr do…hum baat karre kya….baaki sab theek hai…

Bus…aise hi aapke likhne ka mann kiya…Baki sab Theek Hai!!

Burn like the Sun

I work my ass off but nobody appreciates me….

How many times has one heard this..or even said this about self…One does maximum for office, for family but no appreciation. Just like the sun…its comes out daily…helps in plant growth…helps keep humans alive…but how many time has one heard a word of appreciation for the Sun. There are numerous poetries and praises of the moon.

Yet it comes up everyday…spreads its warmth…and still people like seeing the setting sun and the cool light of the moon. (though practically even the moon light is the result of Sunlight).

We get angry when we are not appreciated…The Sun also along with its warmth many a times heats up things…and we dont like that…Humans are also like that…they work day and night…but dont get any appreciation…they get angry…things heat up …and others dont like that.

But has the Sun complained ever? If it strikes work what will happen is known to all. This entire human race can get wiped out. We humans are just a tiny spec compared to the work Sun does…but we want appreciation.

Best is work like the Sun..without worrying about being not appreciated…spread the light…spread the warmth….you are playing a very important role in others life…but like the Sun…keep burning yourself ….

Statue!!

Today passed Worli Naka four times throughout the day. Few years back a Ambedkar statue was installed there outside the Worli Naka petrol pump with much fanfare, but today on his death anniversary the statue seemed to be totally ignored. It was covered with dust...no garland over it. Just two political hoardings around it...that's all. The point is what is the use of installing statues ..that too in full public view...if they are to be ignored over the years...The first three times I passed it...I thought maybe later they might do something..but till evening ..when I passed it for last time for the day...there was no change in the situation...

Why just this statue, there are so many other statues which are lying in ignored states. Would in not be better to use the money spent on statues to pay for someone's hospital bill, or pay for someone education.

Having Daal Chawal in 5 star hotel

Spoiler Alert : Dont read this if you intend to see the movie Talaash.

I remember had taken a friend to 5 star hotel once. There he ordered for plain Daal Chawal. Well his choice….what can I say.

Yesterday while watching Talaash it brought back memories of that day. Its a brilliant movie no doubt…but frankly did it need a Aamir Khan? He is good…no doubt…but wasted…any actor could have done justice to this role. This is where Talaash falls…because you expect more from Aamir Khan. Again I would say…the movie does not fall short…but Aamir Khan…..sigh!!! It was like going to a 5 star restaurant to have Daal chawal.

Kareena Kapoor…be it her lead role in Chameli…or her Rosy in Talaash…has the perfect ooomph to carry it out. Kudos to her for the small but important role.

Fact is I did not read the reviews or the messages doing the rounds containing the so called “plot” of the movie….but 30 mins into the movie and I told my wife I see a tinge of The Sixth Sense (Bruce Willis) in this movie. I tried to shake off that feeling…but the more the movie progressed the more I was becoming sure of it…and finally it was Kareena who was a ghost….still the climax scene in the Car mirror and on the road….lifted the movie to a right high.

The dead son angle was a waste….maybe if they would have shown some connection between Kareenas case and the dead son trying to help his father..other then passing on the message to move on..it could have helped the storyline…but otherwise once again a waste.

So many times I have used the word waste in this blog, but still I came out of the cinema hall, entertained, my time well spend…without repent….the movie is worth seeing…once…because it is Brilliant, Intelligent cinema…not the usual run of the mill movies which we have been subjected to over the past few months …maybe we were tired of eating those Mughlai Vegetables in the hotel…that we preferred to have a simple Daal Chawal in a 5 star place…..could be…

Brand

Happened to watch the recent advertisement of Godrej Cinthol on Tv. My peeve has always been that Godrej manufactures some mind blowing products, but hardly advertises it.

But come to think of it, its products sell for itself. Godrej Cupboards, Godrej Locks, Godrej office furniture. They are pioneers. Even if one buys any other companies products the first brand that comes to mind is Godrej.

There are many other such products, where you hardly see the advertise, but the product sells on its own. Take the case of Parle G biscuits. When was the last time one saw an advt for Parle G Glucose biscuit?

Or Natraj Pencils, so much competition in the market, but Natraj is still Champion without much advertising.

Ask any office what they use as whitening ink, and they will name Kores.

Dalda Ghee…needs no advertisement…when it comes to Ghee…it is Dalda.

Other than Amul hoardings, one hardly sees much advertise by it, but when it comes to butter its always Amul Butter

These and many other products over the years have built their brands through their quality products and customer satisfaction.

Kudos to them!!

P.S Not a single brand has paid me for endorsing them out here ;)

The feel good factor…

Not on an ego trip…but over the years…have found my certain tweets being mentioned on some site or other. In the past I have always tweeted the link or put it up on facebook…few I bookmarked…but then thought of trying to get them together under one roof. I have lost a few a them…whatever I could salvage from here and there..I am putting them up….also adding a few “replies” from celebrities…

Tweet regarding Saif Ali Khan – Kareena marriage in October 2012 got mentioned in Funny Tweets about Saifeena on Indiatimes.com

Click here to see the site 

Kalmadi arrested due to CWG scam tweet got mentioned on in.com in April 2011

Kalmadi Tweet

Mumbai Rains have always been a headache for me specially when travelling. And I am always trigger happy and tweeting about it. Two of my snaps were put up NDTV

Snap 1

Snap 2

Aamir Khan and Kiran are blessed with a baby….and me like usual shot off the first thing that came to my head….

Tweet mentioned on India Wires Site

Aishwarya Rai gets pregnant and twitter is on fire….tweeted to The Ramesh Srivats who in turn tweets it on his TL with a twist of his humour and also acknowledges me on the tweet..needless to say the tweet caught on like anything…with people sending it across on BBMs and whatsapp…nothing beat the feeling of getting it on the messengers from friends who did not know where it originated from

BayB

King of Bollywood – Shah Rukh Khan replies back

His reply to my tweet

India ke Sirr pe do singh…a tweet sent to Pritish Nandy … and retweeted by him

As I said…have a few more…maybe I will have to search for them on my TL in twitter and facebook…and no this is just not an ego trip…its just getting my collection together :) Will add more once I have more time

OMG -The After Effect

Recommended the movie to many people, discussed it with many. But there is one discussion which I am going to share with you all now...


I was asked a question...Even though Muslim and Catholic religions were included in the Court Case, don't you feel the Onus was more on the Hindu spiritual leaders.

No...our discussion was not anti or pro any particular religion...we agreed to the point that no other religion has that kind of tolerance power. Seriously it true. Had the movie showed a case first against the mosque and church...or included the case along with the first case...the theatres would have erupted in violence instead of whistles and claps.

Ok..so if we Hindus are tolerant then why the riots. All religions are tolerant, it's the followers who are not.

Actually I like the way Muslims come together every Friday for Namaz or the way Christians for their Sunday Mass. It creates a Community feeling. Hindus with their numerous Gods visit the temples at their whims, at their timings. But then such community gatherings are often used to spread a message by those in control of the place where these gatherings take place. Mass messages good and bad are given out.

Somewhere all religions need to learn from one another. Imbibe the benefits...then maybe this world can have peace.

As for the movie, Very cleverly the most tolerant of the three religions was put on the front and by the time those watching the movie understood that this is not anti God or Anti Religion the other two religions were also included. Kudos to the makers

OMG!!

It was after 3 idiots that I was hooting and clapping in the theatre for a Movie called Oh My God!

No it's not going to be as big as 3 Idiots, but here is a movie which entertains you and educates you without boring you.

A movie which you can enjoy with your entire family.

We are God fearing people...and not God loving people...this sums up our relation with God.

After Hera Pheri, I would say this is Paresh Rawals best role ever.

Based on popular drama Krishna Vs Kanhaiya, this movie has a possibility of reaching more audience than the drama, and herein lies a chance to educate our people who follow faith blindly.

All in all ..a must watch movie

ios6 and the Wifi issue

To those facing a problem with wifi after upgrading to iOS6...I have managed to get around the problem in my devices.

If ur ISP requires you to login to ur net(mine requires me to login every 12 hours)....do it from any other non apple device first and then connect your Apple devices to wifi.....the solution is that simple!!

iOS6 for reasons best known to the developers is currently not allowing you to connect to a wifi which does not have a net connection....

One might ask anyways what is a use of wifi without net....I have many apps...thru which I connect my PC and Apple devices thru just Wifi...so I find this bug very irritating...hope to see a fix ASAP

Teacher

Without Teachers Life would have no Class

Owe a lot to my Teachers. Have been lucky enough to have meet so many since I changed my school thrice. Just a day after Teachers Day on 5th September, came across an article of a boy who died after falling from his college.

Prima fascia the Police have registered the case as accidental death. They are investigating if it is suicide. The boys parents are however begging to differ. They call it suicide. The reason for suicide being that the boy was constantly subjected to insults and ridicule by one of his Professors. I am providing the link to the fathers statement at the end of this blog.

It brought back memories of my own experience when in Secondary School. I have a physical problem of pronouncing heavy words, particularly when using Hindi. Our Hindi teacher always subjected me to torture for three years which I was under her. Always poking fun, always picking on me. No it was just not me she used to pick up on, there were many others too. I remember one boy crying in the class, not able to bear this constant picking. After I passed out from school, I even heard that she had a bad experience with a student Suresh Acharya and in the tussle her hand got fractured to the extent of having a rod inserted  and she had to live with it till she was alive. God rest her soul in peace.

Not everybody can take things in stride. There were other teachers, who maintained my sanity during that period. Unnecessarily being called to the teachers room, insulting in front of all other teachers, but the others counseled me well and really appreciate them.

Here too… something similar has happened, I am attaching a link to the boys fathers request for taking action against the said teacher. There are such people everywhere, the need of hour is for the administration to see that sanity is restored and such incidences do not take place.

In the meanwhile, my heartfelt condolences to the parents and family of Prasad Bagaria. They are not wrong in highlighting this picking because a Teacher should also remember not all students are same, but should be treated same.

Statement by Prasad Bagarias father.

Credit where it is due??

You get credit for what you finish, not what you start.

Nice line, its also true. Half baked efforts are remembered by none. I dont agree fully with the above line though. How many times you do start something…and also finish ….but someone else takes the credit.

Take for example a bridge or flyover….the number of people from labours to engineers who work on it….but in the end the Stone laid for inauguration will bear the names Politicians.

A cook prepares the mouthwatering dishes in a restaurant…but one remembers only the Waiter who served you nicely.

A team effort in preparing a Presentation is always overshadowed by the person who runs the presentation in front of others

How many times one hears of efforts put by a certain person in preparing dishes for a house party…but in the end…other members who serve the dishes are remembered and complimented( i know the waiter line might sound similar)

Behind every successful Name are a number of unknown names, who have also worked hard, but other than monetary compensation(which in many cases is not there) never get the fame they deserve.

There are many who do acknowledge that there has been a team effort…there are some who purposely take the entire credit….while there are more than that number who always remain silent when credit is been given to them alone…thus leading to Silent is Consent kind of thing and taking the credit.

PS : The credit for the thoughts behind this post goes to a friend who had posted the “You get credit for what you finish, not what you start.” on his facebook status

Whom to follow…

Nowadays I often tell my friends to start a twitter account. Some do…but then they feel lost over there….their next question is whom to follow?!?!?

Now every person has got an individual choice of celebrity to chose from be it movie, tv or sport. Somehow I refrain from advising on whom to follow because of this very reason. I personally prefer following mostly non celebrity twitters…who tweet about their day to day thoughts…no its voyeurism for sure….but I prefer it that way.

Celebrities….they can be categorized into

PR Celebrities : Their tweets appear only when they are launching a particular movie or product. Otherwise you will find them missing for long periods. If the movie is a hit, they will be there for another few days….if its a flop…they just disappear…only to resurface on the next launch

Showoff Celebrities : They tweet about everything…about the script …about the roles…about their car…about their shoes…about their watches….about their vacations….its like reading a movie magazine for free. Then there are celebrities who will put of photos of what they have worn …….. or what they have not worn!!! The latter have a lot of followers to be frank…more for such photos……

Social Celebrities : They will protest about everything….from the poor dog who has come down under some unknown Indians car …. to page 3 parties being cut short by the police. They will compare their high society problems with the 3rd world problems and complain about it ….

Genuine Celebrities : These are the best to follow….they enjoy tweeting….tweet like normal people do…about their thoughts…about other issues..about their movies or products too but in a subtle way(they have every right to )…they voice their opinion…and also respond back…unlike the first three categories…which respond back to only those tweets which are in their favor….

Twitter Celebrities : These are common people like everybody….and they are the best to follow….they have a knack of tweeting….and can be fun to follow too….Follow them…blindly!!!

I would say…just start following people whose tweets you find comfortable to read…you will get the knack of it…

Ek Tha Tiger...Ek Thi Kat

A RAW agent and ISI agent fall in love....excellent plot for a movie...but then Ek Tha Tiger bores u with the love story..there is no action between Salman Khan and Katrina...which seriously would have been more fun...a la Mr and Mrs Smith

To be frank Katrina kicking Salmans ass would have been the highlight of the movie.

But no...half of the movie is about a Tiger turning into a Tom Cat for Kat.

There is no confrontation between the two agents of the two countries who are always trying to pull each other down.

A spy thriller....it had its moments. Like the time both Salman and Katrina are running from the Cuban Police as well as their own agencies...unfortunately the movie makers instead of capitalising on such action preferred to bore me with a love story...

The name of the movie is very apt...Ek Tha Tiger...jo ab karta hai ...meow meow ..for Kat...

Pay and frown

Mumbai…a city which heavily depends on BEST buses and its local trains….a city which cribs that these facilities are overcrowded, not comfortable….a city which has on several occasions been given a chance to travel in style…but no…I would say that these new modes of transport did not fail…Mumbai failed.

From private intercity A/c buses to AC cool cabs….everything has failed in Mumbai. For one Mumbaikarrs know just to crib about being overcharged and at the same time ready to pay and frown in the overcrowded buses and trains.

These private buses and cool cabs were not supported by our Government also. Our Government itself is incapable of providing quality services and when private players try to venture in, they are not helped by providing parking lots and even stops for them.

Pass from under any Mumbai flyover and you will find these buses and cabs rotting away, already having eroded the funds of the entrepreneurs who thought Mumbai could have better services and in turn they could earn from it.

Many might argue that Cool Cabs are still running, well they are , but looking at how they are maintained nowadays says a lot about cost cutting to me atleast.

We want services…we want them at dirt cheap rates…and would even prefer to have them cheap….

Having said that…I know people will use the Monorail and Metro…they will Pay but frown…..

Kya Super Fool Hai Hum

Facebook statuses have undergone a transformation…..now they are being put up as pictures on the walls. Quotes, Jokes…u name it…u start your account and they are right there…staring in you face.

Infact Twitter and Facebook have actually killed the punches, the jokes have been repeated so many times, that they have lost it totally.

Add to it BBM and Whatsapp and the likes….and there u have it…overdose of jokes, quotes.

Kya Super kool hai Hum has taken it further, it is a movie on all the jokes which we have been subjected to again and again on social networking and messengers. I guess the filmmakers decided not to have a dialogue writer and just asked their people to a research on the most shared and liked non-veg and double meaning jokes and asked her characters from the movie to mouth them. And thats that….thats how you have Kya Super Kool Hai Hum.

The movie is good to make you laugh…but then it lacks one basic ingredient…a storyline. Kya Kool Hai hum had the serial killer angle to a give a definite story to the movie, while this one is just depending on the jokes to keep the audience engrossed. The previous movie had its strong characters like Inspector Urmila Martondkar and Dr.Screwwala, but here most characters are like your normal characters from Laughter Challenge Frankly I am sure than many people just did not get the BJ and DilDo la Re punch.

Come to think of it.. DilDo la re has given a totally new perceptive to the original song of Devdas….I will be foolishly smiling the next time I see Madhuri Dixit and Aishwarya dancing to that song from Devdas….after all Kya Super Fool Hai Hum ;)))

P.s If this movie is ever shown on Doordarshan, expect a 30 min movie for sure :)

The Slut?

Was discussing live-in relationship with a friend and then even posted the topic on my community group. As usual the discussion on the community group went haywire and the one with the friend was very vocal.

The mentality of many, with whom I have discussed this topic is that they look upon the female as a slut, whore. I have always argued why dont u call the boy with similar names…never received a reply from them.

Personally I dont have anything against live-in relationships…its a mutual understanding between two individuals. But then why blame only one partner if you are against it.

Forget live-in relationships…even with extra marital affairs…it is always the female who is blamed. Is the man involved in the extra marital affair innocent then ?

In our society when a man breaks off his live-in or extra marital affair and returns back to the family…he is “Subah ka bhula, Shyam ko lauta” and if a female returns back she is subjected to a lot of names and in most cases not accepted back in the family.

We live in a MCP society actually….

The Positive and Negative of it…

What is Plus without a minus….

What is positive without a negative…

What is Good without a bad….

What is Life without a death…

What is Happiness without sadness….

What is Victory without a defeat….

What is pass without a fail…

What is High without a Low….

What is Right without a Wrong….

What is Love without a Hate….

Without the negativities…we will never appreciate the Positivities….the fun, the adrenaline, the high, the appreciation all will be lost to us…We got to learn to take the negativities with the positivities….

Silence….

A child is not breastfed by its mother until it cries – Anonymous

Silence is not understood by everybody. Expressing ones thoughts, ones feelings is very important. Unless things are discussed there is rarely a chance of solving the issue fast.

Silence is often misunderstood as arrogance. People feel that the person is not approachable.

Silence is often misunderstood as Non-dependency. People feel that the person is self dependent…can handle own affairs.

Silence is often misunderstood as Self-sufficiency. People feel that the person has got all one wants

But all said not everybody is vocal about their issue. Not all feel that everything needs to be discussed with others…for different reasons….maybe not wanting to trouble others…maybe ashamed to discuss…there can be many issues…

Sometimes Silence can have adverse results…and by the time one realises that matters have worsened by remaining Silent, it is too late.

Silence is not golden…that can be assured….

It is not easy for people who are not vocal….but remaining silent is not going to help at all…..

Whats in a Name???

Whats in a Name??? Everything in this modern world. Parents have to think a lot nowadays when naming their kids. After all the current generation of kids dont want to spend their lifetime with a name which they dont like!!!

Think about it…can anybody name their kids Laloo or Rabri anymore? The kids will run away from school on day one!!!

Take the case of my own grandfather….with due respect to him….but will any child today be ready to live with a name as Lalchand.

Kids today are much smarter…and they certainly will object to any non urban name in school for themselves.

Certain names were a norm in the yesteryears…. but not anymore. One wont even dare think of naming their kids Amitabh, Mithun, Phoolan, …they just dont fit anymore into the urban lifestyles!!

Cant imagine kid with names like….Rakeshchandra….Harishchandra…Sudhakar…Champaklal…Hiralal…Maghanlal…Chaggan…

Gone are the days of religious names…Saraswati..Hanuman(yes i know of 2 people living with this name!!!)…Prathna…

The point being..nowadays Names are to be very carefully selected….else be ready to hear a bit or two about it from your kiddo!!!

Of Facebook Relatives and mobile numbers…

So when one has free time, s/he starts marking Uncles, Aunts, Cousins on Facebook. Set up the relationships. Not bad till one starts receiving calls for a certain relation from collection agencies.

The social network boom has got almost every person hooked on it. And Bank and Credit card defaulters better beware. Collection agencies have now started tapping Facebook to find the elusive persons or have started contacting the relatives for recovery.

Now how do they contact the relatives? Simple thru their mobile numbers which have been posted on the profiles!!!

Read a few newspaper articles about such incidences. Got to know of one such incidence yesterday thru a cousin. Infact read one article in the newspaper in which a Collection agency agent befriended an elusive defaulter on Facebook, arranged for a meet, where he found that the real intention was to recover his dues.

Ones intention of setting up relations is not bad, but cant certainly get you in trouble if your relative is that elusive defaulter…….

But yes…posting of mobile numbers should certainly be thought of again!!!

Sources :

http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_that-sexy-facebooker-is-a-recovery-agent_1478225

http://www.ndtv.com/article/cities/recovery-agents-harass-defaulters-kin-on-facebook-134654

http://www.goanewsonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6830

Western Express HIGHWAY(?)

Having been driving on the Western Express Highway of Mumbai since past 9 years now, I consider myself somewhat an expert of that road. So much so that I thought of writing this blog and also trying and making the Traffic Commissioner read this.

I have seen the highway grow…from a plain road to flyovers, from bottle necks to wide roads. But still its not enough. The traffic jams just do not reduce. Infact its a shame to call it a Highway anymore.

So let me rant off my wisdom…if anybody is interested…

I simply dont understand what is the use of flyovers when there are traffic jams at the exit ends…either because of Nakabandi by police(currently observed daily at the north end of Andheri flyover) or because BEST busstops are hardly 100 meters away from the end of the flyovers(south end of Malad flyover). These busstops dont only create a traffic jams because of buses stopping there, it also because of rickshaw drivers and other vehicles stopping there trying to woo the harried bus travelers who are getting late because the bus has not come in yet.

One more observation I have made is that the beginning of flyovers are being used by private buses as a collection point. This leads to a bottleneck thus leading to slowing of traffic.

We are a major city with no facility of immediate removal of breakdown vehicles or vehicles involved in accidents. Neither have we demarked any service lane to move such vehicles. Some vehicles are allowed to be repaired right in the middle of the road, which is one more reason for the jams.

Driving slow in the fast lane is one more headache. There are various kinds of drivers in this category…the rickshaw drivers, the busy on the mobile drivers, the lady drivers. They take pride in keeping the lane ahead of them totally empty, leader of the pack of the long line of cars behind them. The busy on the phone drivers are still ok as they wake up from their slumber moment the call is over and speed up again…the remaining two…less spoken of the better!!! Our Traffic department knows of only asking for fine for overspeeding not for underspeeding.

Oh forgot the old uncles, who are out there in the fast lane to protest against the fast cars. No matter how many cars overtake them, they drive at their own leisurely speed, reminding us of their times when cars never used to touch even 50 KMPH!!! ( I dont think they understand my sign of middle finger also )

Dedicated public crossings seem to be decided not by the traffic departments, but by the public and the local politicians. Dividers disappear overnight, barbed wires are effortlessly cut to create a new gap for the local public to cross. Forget public crossings, at some places U-turns appear overnight creating trouble to the cars.

Sigh!! I can go on and on and on…..

I know the traffic department alone is not to be blamed , even we as the citizens are responsible for most of this mess. But then when rules are implement strictly( and not just to pocket the money by enforcers), things can change….but who is going to bell the cat….

Booooooo K

Recently saw a hoarding in Mumbai, about some school claiming to be the first in Mumbai to have iPads instead of textbooks. I scoffed at the idea, thinking this is just another one of those ultra rich stupidities.

Cut to yesterday, when I went to buy my sons school books for the new academic year.  Was actually shocked to see the total amount I had to shell out for the books. The book seller was telling me that these books are still ok, one schools three books cost more than your sons all the books.

Now to think of it, seriously iPad or even a tablet will be a better option. Atleast the kids can use it for 3-4 years, ibooks can be loaded on them. Saves me money, saves paper, saves trees.

Aakaash an initiative by the Government of India failed, for whatever reasons, low cost, low production, whatever …but not a bad idea. Technology has progressed, we should also progress with it.  Maybe schools should adopt this system of iBooks.

Till then I will continue being spooked by the spiralling cost of text books. Whenever I see my sons textbooks….they seem to be scaring me by saying Booooooooooooo ….!!!

The Highway Robbery…..

Everybody keeps asking me how I liked Dubai/Sharjah. Frankly the thing which impressed me was not the Infrastructural Highway but the Internet Highway.

Seriously we Indians are being taken for a ride when it comes to Internet Speeds out here. I experienced broadband, Edge and 3g speeds out there….we are nowhere close to those speeds. We are paying from our noses for 3g speeds here in India but somebody should really run a audit check on the speed which they are providing to us. What we are getting is bullshit. First the government sees a chance to earn black money in the auctions and then it does not even ensure we are getting the speeds which we deserve.

This is Internet Highway Robbery, which we are not even aware of, because majority of us have not experienced what good speeds really are….

Traff*&ked

Being a Mumbaikarr I know how bad it can get when you are stuck in traffic. A two minute distance takes not less than 15-20 mins to cover sometimes. Sometimes the car is just stuck there in the same place. One cant even move in any direction.

Yesterday was stuck for nearly 20 mins at the same place. While there I could hear a faint siren of an ambulance. Now I am not sure if the ambulance was on its way to pick up a patient, or on its way to drop the patient to a hospital… or if at all in line of duty. But yes…began to wonder what would happen to a patient in case stuck in such traffic.

Why just get Traffucked on any road…imagine getting stuck on the road to an important hospital. Take the case of Hinduja Hospital at Mahim. A school in its vicinity with its all ultra rich students coming in cars occupy the road and create jams over there for almost half an hour in the morning. These car owners care a damn about traffic rules, cutting across the lanes, taking U-turns from where ever they feel comfortable. I have seen parents just park their cars and talk to other parents without caring a damn about the traffic situation. I shudder to think of a medical emergency patient getting stuck because of this stupidity. I am being told that there are other schools also, where similar situations occur daily.

Forget ambulance, what if there is a medical emergency to a driver or a co-passenger. Are we equipped for such eventualities?

Surely not. Our State Government has funds to build a stupid monument over the sea. But they have never planned any air lifting medical facilities in Mumbai. This is one facility we need badly in Mumbai, not just when we get Traffucked on the roads, but also in case of disaster management. Is anybody listening????

The Shoulder

How many times have we leaned on a Friends shoulder while talking. Carefree…without asking him or her.

How many times have we used a friends shoulder to fire our gun….and s/he never minds.

Whenever we felt like crying our friend’s shoulder is always available.

Important work to be done the friend never shies from the responsibility, or complains about the burden.

And last but not the least….It is that very shoulder which carries you to the cemetery in the end……

Friends….They are my shoulders :)

Indian Ail Lines

Invest and keep in Airlines on the sharemarket. In future it is going to be the most important and most used mode of transport in India.

This was a piece of advice given to me by a Stock Market Investor around 7 years back. But the current situation with most of the Airlines makes me wonder if the future of Airlines is good in India.

India is one of the fastest growing economies. Air travel is now acceptable to even a common person as train travel. One hardly finds seats empty in Airlines. Then what is it that Ails our airlines in India?

Why are there problems with Air India, Kingfisher, Jet…you name it. All are in problems?

Some blame it on Government policies. Some blame it on compulsion to fly non profitable segments. Some blame the airlines for diverting funds.

For me the issue is too complex to understand. Government says privatization will help the ailing National Airline. On the other hand Private players are in a soup. So will privatization of Air India help, when private airlines like Kingfisher and Jet are asking for help from Government? All seem to be flying around in circles.

In all this the people who suffer are just not passengers, but also the staff, who have not been receiving their salaries on time. Irrespective of the huge amounts they receive, it is obvious that their expenses will be as per their income. And now that the income has reduced or stopped, they are facing hardships.

It has become a bad Ailment for our Airlines, with no clear policy … hopefully time will heal…till then grin and bear….

P.S There is no typo or mistake in the title of the blog….

Missed the Bus?

Happy to see that young Akhilesh Yadav is going to be the new CM of UP. He is one good example of not missing the bus.

Seriously, I am not much into politics, but even a layman can understand that the Political Bus never waits for anybody. L K Advani gave up his chance(for whatever reasons) to Atal Bihari Vajpayee and has till date not been able to catch the bus again. Age and the changing political scenario is going to make it very difficult for him. Even if his party does manage to pull up a miracle in the next Elections, there are many PM candidates in the wing, and he might find it difficult to stake his claim.

At state level, Raj Thackeray himself proposed the name of his cousin Uddhav, who till then was not interested in  politics. He missed the bus, and today has formed his own party. He might be doing good in terms of politics, but if he had the bench strength of Shiv Sena, it would have been a different ball game altogether.

The biggest loss in missing the bus currently I feel is Rahul Gandhi. If now his party loses the next Elections in 2014(if there are no mid-term elections), he will lose the chance to become the PM for the next 5 years. A very Important bus to miss, considering his age now.

The game is simple….climb the bus when you have the chance, dont think that there are many buses behind…hit the iron when it is hot……

Sachins Ton…Century of Centuries

I found it quite interesting, lately one of my old blogs, Sachin’s tons a jinx??? I dont think so….. ,written in April 2011 has suddenly generated a lot of interest and jumped in my most read blogs of all time to be in the top five.

Not surprising since people love Sachin. I personally feel that this interest is more because of his current predicament of not being able to score is 100th100 or Century of Centuries.

Again social networking sites(yes currently a place to speak your mind out) are very harsh on him. Jokes, Criticism, are the order of the day.

But spare of a moment for the Guy. Scoring 99 centuries is also not an easy task. And if he is not able to score his 100th one, one must also note that even the other team mates had a bad performance in the Australia tour or the tour before that.

Some say Age factor……might be, but at least he is trying, some say he should retire…sorry boss you are not the right person to judge that. Criticism from an ex cricketer…boss aapka jawab nahin, how could you forget that you had delayed your retirement for that elusive wicket for the records

Let him be, let him enjoy his game, it is not that a person who has scored 99 centuries, should score a century in every match. His century will come, the Century of Centuries, and he will reach a Pinnacle which no cricketer has been able to reach, and will be able to reach for a long time to come…but there is a Day for that….lets support him even otherwise….

The Smartphone – A pain in the neck

Here I am sitting and typing this with a collar belt around my neck. Bad pain since past 2 weeks. Doctor attributes it to my work hazards, I personally attribute it to my smartphone usage. Social Networking, messaging, scheduler on the phone, notes on the phone, ebooks on the phone, birthday lists on the phone, send and receive emails, for everything my head is bent staring at the screen.

While being driven around in my car, on the way to the office, on the way to my clients, on the way to my home, my head is bent, staring at my phone, doing something, and if its not any of the above, then playing a game.

Doctor says neckache is the most common complaint he gets from most of the younger generation(happy to hear that he still considers me as one of the younger generation).

Come to think of it, you see a group of youngsters around, half of them have their phones out and eyes on the screen. Exchanging music, exchanging snaps, etc etc

Even their interactions, though together in a group, is more on their phone messengers, private joke about the discussion going on…

Our life is now controlled by smartphones, gone are the days when we would know the telephone numbers of our friends in our head, gone are the days when birthdays were remembered mentally…for everything you have a smartphone, who needs to remember. You need not put up sticky notes on the office board, just type it into your smart phone…

Need dictionary, its available on the phone, need to search anything..use the phone browser, any app you need is available.

But then its affecting my health atleast for sure…a pain in the neck. Right now…I am not able to bend my head to see it…because of the belt around my neck….but still ..holding it in line of my eyes and doing my work…addiction..Sigh!!

Angel in the Cloud

Here I am … sitting on the cloud….. confused …sad…wondering what my near and dear ones are doing. Wondering how will they get in touch with me again. I want to go back….back to all the fun and frolic….back to wiping a tear shed by someone….back to wishing a Happy Birthday to someone….Back to POKE someone !!!!

 

Yes Poke!!! .. No I am not dead….I just deactivated my Facebook account yesterday.

 

And now here I am missing it.

 

Infact the feeling might be similar to dying…I really dont know if one who is dead faces the same feelings, but yes, I am worried on Day One…worried that I might miss out a lot.

 

Facebook addiction for me has been very bad, so bad that twice I have tried to detox myself from it, but was back on it with all my time whenever I have competed my self set detox period. So decided to permanently deactivate my account(though Facebook has been kind enough to inform me that I can just reactivate by entering my user name and password again )

 

Come to think of it, did I not have a life before Facebook. Were not my friends in touch with me on phone, on email. Then why think that this is the end of life. For those whom we really mean something have other ways of being in touch always. There are a few for whom I believe my posts are just like the newspapers they read in the morning, to be informed, to be amused, to be entertained. Apologies if anyone finds this offending. I have nothing against such people, because it was I who was posting , they never asked me to post thus.

 

Anyways…now here I am sitting on the cloud like an Angel…singing my lonely song…..till I get over the feeling ……..

Present Tense

You are doing everything right in the Present. You are unstoppable. Your Future is shaping as per your Ideas. Then….BANG!!!! Something from the Past crops up…..you start wasting your Present to correct it, you know in your heart this is going to delay the Future….

Happens…happened with me this week in terms of work….a few bad decisions in the Past suddenly decided to pop up, began working to correct them, but surely took away a lot of time, my Present time and set me back.

Sorted it out, but thought me a lesson, never forget your bad decisions of Past, and while working for a better Future, work on correcting the bad decisions simultaneously in the Present.

Currently to sort out my Past, I had to make a few decisions, which like I said will delay my Future plans, but have decided to work towards correcting that too in my Present work…..Currently my Present might be tense, but want to assure that in Future all of that is Past…….

Musings Of Life - As I perceive: The Green Thing

Musings Of Life - As I perceive: The Green Thing: It all started with a mail chain that got fowarded and set me on memory lane. Initial story as below:  Courtesy Little Green Blo...

Confused Human race….

When we are kids, we want to grow up

When we are grown up, we want to be kids again

When we are in school, we want to be in college

When we are in college, we want to be in school

When we are single, we want to get married

When we are married, we want to be single

When we dont have kids, we want kids

When we have kids, we dont want kids

When we are living, we want to die

When we are about to die, we want to live….

Confused race … arent we?

Keep pedaling the cycle….

Happened to meet a friend’s dad after ages. Now about to reach 70, his zeal for life is amazing. A very successful entrepreneur, my wife asked him why doesnt he retire now, considering that his two sons are also doing good, he refused to retire.

He says,

“I enjoy my work, I love my work, Its like riding a bicycle, the day I stop pedaling, the cycle will fall off.

I like meeting new people, discussing new Idea’s, which in turn I discuss with others. If I retire, I will not be able to do this, will not be able to discuss new topics, and then people will get bored of me, because I will just keep on sharing my same old past experiences. I like to move on, to new things.”

Amazing thoughts, which have made him very very successful…may he keep on pedaling his cycle….and wish him all the best for his future projects also…

Potty karro Saaf karro….

Come  Mumbai elections and the hopeful candidates who already think that your property is their Jagir start using it more for their election campaigning. Setting up tables near your building gates, putting up hoardings, visiting your premises at odd hours, asking for votes.
Last week was so bugged to see that at least two political parties had used my Housing Society Lift as a Notice Board to stick their campaigning stickers. Infact had even twitted about it.

Jayant R. Gajria @jayantgajria

Dear Political Parties, My building lift is not an Election Notice Board to put up ur candidates stickers. #fail

8 Feb 12

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Today again one more  tweet caught my attention….here a Car Windshield Glass was used to put up a Sticker!!

PoojaS @PoojaSolanki

Vijaya Kanti Dhulla... What gives you the right to paste your face on someone else's car windows? Seeti party #sucks pic.twitter.com/SFzyYxxH

14 Feb 12

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These candidates, they put up stickers, hoardings etc all over and once the Elections are over, for the winner they are replaced with Congratulatory Hoardings and for the Losers, conveniently forgotten.
Why just elections, even otherwise, such political hoardings displaying congratulatory messages during religious festivals are conveniently forgotten and left for the Municipal Corporation of Mumbai to bring them down at the cost of tax payers money.
I have my doubts if these culprits are fined. Its like Potty woh logg karre…Saaf koi aur…aur saaf karne ka paisa bhare koi aur….!!!!

I have tried experimenting with embed tweets in this blog…but did not succeed much..will learn and rectify soon

Interesting Number Plates

How often we find some interesting number plates, no I am not talking of a series of number, but the way the numbers are made to mean something.
Here I will try and put forth the number plates which I have seen either myself or in photos….DO NOT MISS THE LAST ONE ;)
4141 in marathi font to read दादा (brother) in marathi

8055 written in such format that it looks like BOSS
4129 written in marathi font to read दारू (alcohol)

One of my cousins car has 6C in its number and she loving calls it Sexy

 

7171 written in marathi font to read नाना

 

 

5171 written in such a way to read SAI

This one takes the cake B491 !! meant to read Badava!!

 

 

This was provided by a reader in the comment…but the link is not clickable so am adding it to the main post….Thanks Hiren

 

There are many more….but was not able to put up all….maybe next time….or maybe you could add your own :)

Disclaimer : All Images courtesy Google 

Bhaag Bhaag……

Idhar daud hai, udhar daud hai, yeh jina yaro daud hai, koyee aage hai, koyee pichhe hai, bas bhagam bhag hai daud hai

While going to my bank, happened to see school children, women, men just run…run for the bus….running across the road, running on the footpath, lest they miss their bus. I just stepped aside and let them pass. This gave me an opportunity to look around and see that almost everybody is running…either for the bus or to reach his or her destination on time. Even I for one was walking at a brisk pace to reach my bank, though now that I think of it …I really did not need to.

So what is that makes us run…run for standing ahead in the queue, run to catch the bus, run to catch the train, run to reach our goals, whom are we competing with? Certainly not the people who are running ahead, behind or besides us, but we are certainly trying to compete with time. Time…one that waits for no one. And what will we be winning in the end. Nothing…we will just be just losing the time and opportunity to pause and look around us , to absorb the beauty of life around us. We are running in our lives, trying to earn, and in return losing out on quality time to be spent with our family and friends, before we reach a retirement age.

I paused today…I waited there on the side for a few seconds, if not minutes, and saw the hurried looks on each and every passerby…everybody just running at his pace…racing against time…bas bhagam bhag hai daud hai….

"Poor man runs for his daily food,
While a Rich man runs to digest his daily food"

Sell yourself on the Blog…

Not an apt title, but thats the first thing that came to my mind. A friend wanted to know how to be a successful blogger, how to ensure the maximum readership, frankly I have no answer to that, because I myself am not aware of my position as a blogger. I believe in “Dance like no one is seeing you…blog/tweet like no one is reading you”.

But then why the title of the this blog??….If you start any business, you first have to sell your product, and then the product should be good enough to sell itself.

Similarly for your blog you will have to market yourself, and there should be no shame for that. Else how will the readers know that there is a new blogger. And then the future success as a blogger will depend on the quality of the content of the blog.

Nobody can define what content you can adhere to, variety is the spice of life. But nothing wrong in trying. I like reading a lot, blogs are one more source for me to carry out my passion. Every writer has his/her own style of writing, I might or might not like the blog, but then respect the sentiments put by the person in writing his ideas, emotions and putting it up publicly.

Just go and start selling your self to begin……blog your heart out…..

Death and the organized mind

To the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure – Dumbledore (J K Rowling)

Came to know of two deaths recently, one of a person who had crossed his 70s and one who had just crossed his 40s. My sympathies to the family of the second one because he has two school going kids.

Why no sympathies for the first one?? Because he lived to such a huge age? No….not for that …but because I happened to read his farewell letter to his family. Yes, a very beautiful farewell letter and that too now now but 18 years back.

18 years back, he had organized everything, and was ready for his next great adventure. Though (like he himself wrote in the letter) , not everybody would agree to his way of handling certain things after his death, but was laughing and amazed at such clear thoughts. I am not sure if the letter was written at a time when he might not have been well, but the clarity of thoughts certainly prove otherwise.

Death is inevitable. It can come anytime, anywhere, out of the blue. It is upto us to organize ourselves before our death, so that certain things or people are taken care of. When we have time, when we are clear in mind, organizing at such times will certainly help.

This letter was in no way a Will or distribution of assets….but it was distribution of love and thoughts, and ideologies. My personal interacting with this gentleman has been very minimal, infact might have met him hardly twice or thrice in my life, but my respect for him has certainly grown manifold.

The mellow Akbar – Hritik Roshan

Whenever the name of Anarkali comes up, since childhood I can think of only one scene from the movie Mughal E Azam…..one of the best actors Prithviraj Kapoors booming voice shouting SALIM!!!!

Cut to Jodha Akbar, where Akbar is played by Hritik Roshan, so smitten by love of Jodha, it actually looked pathetic to me.

Seriously I have grown up reading what a great person Akbar was, then Prithviraj Kapoors rendition of the role had created a different persona about the kind of person Akbar might have been…and Hritik just screwed it up by playing a lover boy Akbar.

Infact he has got such soft voice, I cant even dare think of the way he might end up saying SALIM if the movie Mughal E Azam was to be remade with him Akbars role. It might end up like this character played by Deepak Malhotra in the movie Lamhe-starting Sridevi and Anil Kapoor, where he said “Pallo” in an otherwise serious scene, in such a way, the entire theater was in splits!!!

Agneepath….Lacked Amitabh Bachchans fire…..

Saw Agneepath, the remake one obviously. Found the movie stretched too far to the point of being bored…maybe I did compare it to the Original Amitabh Bachchan film which actually rocked.

This movie had its moments…it was dark to begin with, Sanjay Dutts looks have been nicely worked on, found Hritik Roshan too mellow again( can never forgive him for playing the role of a romantic Akbar in Jodha Akbar….but thats for another time maybe..another blog ), Rishi Kapoor has played a role par excellence, but did not quite get the reason for other characters for being there.

Priyanka Chopra is totally wasted, and like any other Bollywood film, where dozens around her die in a gun fire immediately, she had to speak to Hritik before kicking the bucket…WTF!!!

Vijay(Hritik) and his sisters relationship initial scenes reminded of Anil Kapoors – Jeevan Ek Sangarsh. But then in Jeevan Ek Sangarsh they played a proper misunderstanding between the duo where Anil Kapoor is taken as a eve teaser. Here nobody bothers about it. Sad…

The place where Dinanath Chauhan is hanged on a tree, somehow reminded me of the Lion King Scene where Simba is held high by his father.

And one thing I did not get is why did Hritik have a Hijro ki fauj…anyone?????

Overall I thought the performances were good, but the story lagged behind….

Living within ones means

There is an old saying in Hindi….”Pair itne hi failane chahiye jitni chaddar ho”, to which lately I am hearing a retort….”To kya….hum chaddar badalkar badi chaddar odh lenge”.

Not a bad idea, but then one needs to spend extra dough on the “badi chaddar” and also maintaining that “chaddar”

The point being…while you are being asked to live within your means, think wisely before putting your money in something which will increase your expense. It is easier to say we can do it….but implementing it in the right way and coming out of the mess is very important, you shouldnt be digging a grave so deep that you die in it.

I have always said, people wear masks, and why not, how many people would be interested in seeing your troubled faces daily. A smiling face to fight off the current situation is always good. But then when that Mask becomes a Lie, when you start using that Mask as a shield for influencing, or gaining certain favors, it is time to stop.

Time is a big turner, it can change without you even knowing it. But to tide over that time, during financial difficulties, is very important. That is where the saying comes in. The length of your bedsheet can change with time…when times are tougher deal with your expenses accordingly, when times are better, deal with your expenses but at the same time remembering that you cannot predict your future.

Just random thoughts today, which I am not sure a reader might agree or not…but nevertheless…posting it on the blog…..

Am I ever serious....???

A friend asked me "Are you ever serious. All your posts on social networking sites are so funny". I retorted back....if i start posting my problems, will you follow my posts? Sorry for being crude mate...I know u are going to read this and understand.

For me being on a social networking site is like physically sociallising. One doesnt carry his troubles to a party or a social get-together. One goes there for enjoying. Ok you may discuss your problems on and off..but then there is a time and place for everything.

I do put up my serious thoughts....but then sometimes...what might be serious for me...might be light hearted humour for others, and when they comment back in  good humour..it lightens up the  mood further. So there you are. I am serious also..but open for nice and light chat, wherein the mood does not remain serious. One can even put it as ..... Online socialising is my de-stress media.....

Again recently I was asked what do I get from posting so much on Facebook and Twitter..my reply was simple, I know that somewhere someone might be smiling on reading this, not necessary that I get a like or comment for that, but it makes me happy...

P.s This post was lying in my drafts since more than a year...posting it today while cleaning my drafts :) The last para was added today....

Cost of owning a car

Technorati Tags: Car,EMI,Loan,expenses,fuel

Got a mail stating that my Car Insurance is expiring soon. Made me once again realize how fast a year flies. Also reminded me of the words of a Gentleman who has been a guide to our family since years.

Once we both had purchased our cars around the same period, if I remember correctly this was around 12 years back. We were both discussing our respective cars when his words of wisdom started flowing in.

According to him, the best way to purchase a car is on installments, for according to him, where else will you get a loan at such a low rate of interest and also benefit in your taxes. However he had a word of caution over there. While getting the loan is easy, one should also have other factors in mind. According to him, in two to three years, you need to change your car battery, then depending on your usage change the tyres, annual expense of maintaining and servicing the car, normal expenses over wear and tear of the car, annual premium of Insurance, the worst case scenario of major accidental expense on the car, and last but not the least….the fuel expenses.

He said one should average these all costs over five years of usage of the car and add the amount to the EMI to understand if one is making the right choice while going in for the loan or no. The car should not become a white elephant for you.

Well buying a car is the easiest thing ever today….but do calculate the actual Cost of Owning the Car……

Heads I win…Tails you lose….

The Govt of India thru the Delhi Court is slowly tightening its grip over Google, Facebook and the likes. While it was able to control the print and television media, it had offlate found itself unable to muzzle the general public opinion.
There are two sides of every story like there are two sides of every coin. What the Govt of India is interested in is keep the people of India limited to only one side ..their side.
Its like minting coins for India with only one side, but the problem is that there is still a blank side, and this blank side will be left to the imagination of many. Atleast with the two sides of the story, one could understand the facts and then decide which side is up or right.
But with the action being taken now the Govt is trying to tell the people of India… Heads I win…Tails you lose…

My experiment with the new Facebook cover picture

Crossing the Limits

Was just passing by Worli Seaface and saw a couple in a liplock(though it looked more like the boy pumping in air in the girls mouth), but more than that it, the sea in the background reminded me of the word 'Maryada' (Limit) which was once told to me by a lady who was travelling with us on the same route once.

She said that like humans who should remain within their Maryada or else lives will be ruined, so does the sea.

This sometimes calm sometimes ferocious sea remains within its limits. We human beings pollute it, throw things into it...it will calmly take a few things within itself or just rejects it back by washing it ashore. It never protests. Never shows its anger of how things are thrown into it. Silently it is bearing reclamation. If this sea was to cross it Maryada and reclaim what is rightfully its think of the destruction it will cause, the lives it can ruin.

These words were spoken before 26th July deluge which we experienced in Mumbai. Stuck overnight it really looked like the sea is trying to reclaim its place back between the seven islands which comprised of Mumbai. Thank God its still not crossed its limit, though we Humans are crossing all such limits and taking aways its space.

Kudos to the Mumbai Police

After having spent nearly 8 years at a stretch celebrating New Year Eve in our building parties, this year a certain action by some members ended as a boon to me.

This year I decided to take my wife and kids to Gateway of India to see the revelry at New Year Eve. Many people who heard my plans were warning me against it…too much of crowd…

drunk revelers, traffic, drunk drivers on the road while coming back home.

But finally we did land up at Gateway of India, and were in for a very pleasant surprise. The Mumbai Police had segregated the area around Gateway of India into two. Family Enclosure around the main structure of Gateway of India and Stags on the road outside Hotel Taj. They were putting in excellent efforts in seeing not a single stag was allowed in the family enclosure. Unluckily for boys who were expecting to see some eye candies, their plans certainly were not going as per their expectations. This ensured that there were no untoward incidences like eve teasing etc.

Even the roads were much safer, Police stationed at important accident spots, ensuring that we did not face any trouble by drunk drivers.

Kudos to our Mumbai Police who instead of Celebrating New Year Eve, were out there ensuring our safety. Hats off to them

 

New Year Greetings to all

Dear All

I wanted to send some sort of holiday/new year greeting to my friends and colleagues, but it is difficult in today's world to know exactly what to say without offending someone.

So I met with my lawyer yesterday, and on her advice I wish to state the following :

Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low stress, non addictive, gender neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday practiced with the most enjoyable traditions of religious persuasion or secular practices of your choice with respect for the religious/secular persuasions and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all .

I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2012 , but not without due respect for the calendar of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make our country great (not to imply that Britain is necessarily greater than any other country ) and without regard to the race, creed, colour, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wishee .

By accepting this greeting, you are accepting these terms:

This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal. It is freely transferable with no alteration to the original greeting. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for her/him or others and is void where prohibited by law, and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher.

The wish is warranted to perform as expected within the usual application of good tidings for a period of one year or until the issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wisher.

Best Regards

Name withheld (Privacy Act)