Ganpati Bappa

Having lived in Dadar for almost 30 years since my birth, I have had the privilege of viewing the Ganeshotsav year after year, each year fascinating me more and more. Attending Ganeshotsav at my friends residence, participating in the revelry accompanied with it, going for the visarjan at the Beach behind our residence, sitting on our building terrace and viewing the sea of humanity and the Idols popping the sea was my yearly ritual. During the last days of Visarjan, when most of the bigger idols were brought for visarjan was always spend sitting at the Shivaji Park Maidan “katta” and enjoying.

After shifting to Kandivali, since my residence is not on the main road, I miss the processions, the fun. I have tried and made it a point to accompany the Visarjan of my building people, but something was lacking. I was missing my friends, my Shivaji Park. This year, by Gods blessings, we managed to keep the Idol at our residence. The atmosphere for 2 days at our residence was rightly described by my grandmothers as “a wedding atmosphere”. The stream of guests, relatives, family and friends was something which kept us charged.

My heartfelt gratitude to all who made me get that one feeling which I was missing since last 6 years. I am eagerly waiting for the next year….with the words on my lips “Pudchya Varshi Lavkar Ya”(Come early next year)

Kaminey---Indian Pulp Fiction

Rarely one gets to see such a movie in Indian Cinema. There have been dark movies like Satya, or other low budget movies. But this movie takes the cake. Its a superb movie, makes you sit glued throughout, lest you miss out on something, slowly picking up on its sub-plots and finally entwining them together. Shahid Kapur has played a role of a lifetime after Jab We Met. There unfortunately he was overshadowed by the fiery Kareena Kapoor, but here he has a “double” chance to prove he can act. Dhan Tan Nan is a head banger song, and fits in the movie so nicely, its not the thrown in kind of a song we see normally in Bollywood movies. Many people would get confused with where the story is heading, but such was the case with Pulp Fiction. I would say this movie is the Indian Pulp Fiction. All in all I would say, got a see a good movie after a long time.

The unknown face

Being on the social networking for so long, I have set one rule for myself, never to add an unknown face. I dont care if my number of friends dont go up. I am quite happy with the limited people I have. This is how I am trying to protect my privacy and also my friends whom I have added.

Many a times, one receives request from people about whom you have never heard of, friends of friends, who are maybe trying to set a record of having the maximum number of friends in their account. I have always confirmed with the “mutual friends” about their identity and to my shock have discovered that even they have added only because they are sharing the same person with “mutual friends”. This trend is very dangerous and can lead to a lot of complications.

A number of times I have also mailed back these requesters asking them to indentify themselves more clearly. Some have sent back their identities, some have accepted the fact that its a case of mistaken identity. But one person whom I have lately corresponded has not only managed to raise my anger level, but has also gone to the extremes of accusing me of accepting friendship only on face value. I have refused the request, but the reply has certainly bugged me and on enquiring I have discovered that this particular person has an habit of criticizing people, coupled with the fact that that most of the persons friends have no inkling about the true identity.

Social networking is about socializing but while doing that we should not forget that we should behave in the same ways as if we are meeting in a civilized society. We do get oddballs over there also, but then we are facing a oddball with a face. Not someone who is creating trouble while keeping the face hidden. I am not ready to accept this unknown face, and will never ever do so.

Harry Potter and the Half hearted attempt….

Those who have not seen the movie, may please avoid reading this :)

I was very eagerly waiting for the movie Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, so much so, that I booked tickets for first day last show. But boy was I in for a rude shock. Infact for people who have not read the books and depend on the movie, there is lot left to be explained.

I found the movie too loveydovey. Ron’s character was very good, but then there was no need to go overboard with Von Von.

The book centers around Dumbledore showing Harry the life of Voldermort, to prepare him for the battle ahead. There are numerous memories of Dumbledore in the book. There is Voldy’s mom, father, uncle. None have been shown in the movie. The Horcruxes have hardly been discussed. Guess its the battle of Hallows over Horcruxes which has won in the movie.

I feel J R Tolkien was right in his lifetime by putting up a ban over converting his Triology – The Lord of the Rings, into a movie, because he felt that it will be injustice to the book. Had the book be made into a movie then, it would have been a disaster without its special effects. Though now with the modern day graphic wizardry the movie was upto the mark. Harry Potter series is a fresh, hardly a decade old, and has got the advantages of being made into a good movies series, but somewhere there is too much of deviation from the original books. And for me it is killing my interest.

The graphics are good, the beginning is good and so is the ending with Dumbledore in the cave. But then thats it. It was really stupid the way Harry is not immobilised. It is stupid that the very person he has been terming as an enemy….Snape…..asks him to keep quite, while Snape goes up the Astronomy Tower. What is the director thinking of? And what is J K Rowling thinking of?

A few stray thoughts…..

With the recent rains in Mumbai city, we are yet again facing hardships by way of flooding , traffic jams, slow or no trains etc. Year after year, we are facing the same problem with no solution. So much of water everywhere and still we are facing water shortage in Mumbai. Why cant this very water be diverted,purified and recycled!!!! Why crores of rupees are being spend on taking this water to the very sea….which we are afraid of at high tide!!!!!!

Coming to sea…..once I had the chance of listening to a lady ….she said….we throw so many things into the sea……garlands, coconuts,waste….we immerse idols every year. But has anybody noticed that the next day, the sea just rejects accepting this material and throws it right back onto the shores. It never accepts what is not rightfully its own. Mumbai was initially an island city of 7 islands. Constant reclamation of the sea led to unification of one major city called Mumbai. The way the sea does not accept what is its own…it has given away part of it. What if one day it claims its rightful place!!!! Currently we get to listen to, read that in the future sea levels will certainly be rising in and around Mumbai. Is this what the lady meant to say? With flooding in 26/7 we certainly saw a version of 7 islands. Will we wake up now and stop further reclamation?

The best example of reclamation is the current wonder of Mumbai the Worli Bandra Sea Link. Recently a political party created a hue and cry for allowing Motor cyclist sto use the link. Currently Motor cyclists are banned on the link. In Mumbai we have one more wonder, the JJ flyover. After it was constructed, it has cut travelling time from Byculla to VT, from 1 hour to just under 10 mins. But the length and the curve of the flyover has led to many accidents on this stretch and the maximum involving Motor bikes. There have been instances where the riders has even fallen off the bridge. At least there there is an assurance of getting the body of the rider in case the fall is fatal, but what about the sea link? We are all well aware of how efficient our naval police is!!!!! Who is going to ensure that speed limits will be maintained by such riders?? The politicians who led the rally? I dont think so…..