I have just reached home in Juhu. It's taken me 2 1/2 hrs to travel 7kms. Yes you got those stats right ! Why ? Bec today is chhat......a Bihari festival. And every Bihari in town must head to Juhu beach.
Now I've lived in Juhu for 25 years, and till the last 5 the only Puja/festival celebrated was Ganapati. But now be it Durga Puja, Basi-Eid, Chhat, every festival and community ends up at Juhu Chowpatty ! And traffic and cleanliness of our neighbourhood is destroyed. Forget about the stuff dumped in the sea and the trash on the sands.
Why is it that we as Indians have zero tolerance for others when celebrating festivals ? Why can't we put ourselves in the other person's shoes ?
Be it spraying someone in an open rickshaw with colour on holi when he/she doesn't want it, to gleefully bursting crackers in the middle of the night even when you know your neighbour has had a newborn or someone is asthmatic to hijacking the right lane of the road with pedestrian traffic on these chhat type festivals with a "do what you want, we will walk everywhere we want" attitude..........why do we do this ?
And the less said about the planning by the authorities in curbing noise, pollution, crowds, giving people traffic advice the day before, the better.
think about any of our "Festivals". Think if some poor old person or little child having a serious health ailment needing emergency medical attention. Or someones house on fire. Now think if the location of these people's houses was......
a. Chowpatty on Ganapati
b. Mahim on Eid
c. Juhu on Chhat
and now tell me........what odds would you give those people ???
I'm not being mean and saying don't celebrate these age old festivals. But think of everyone else your inconveniencing. And therefore be tolerant.
And as for my ?. I'll give you a solution too. If I was chief of Police, I'd station a Ambulance and Firetruck every Kilometer depending on the festival and pocket of city that it affects.
Its time "celebrating" stopped being selfish and all about "I'm having fun" damm everyone else and more about the entire community/neighbourhood/city.
Well atleast that's my 2 bits on it !
Friday, November 16, 2007
Sunday, November 4, 2007
Life comes a full circle....almost
Last night I was at a close friend's house warming party.
It was great seeing him in his newly re-furbished house, cuddling with his girlfriend with whom he looks so much at ease, happy with his work and role there and just the overall all feel good factor.
Cut back 15 years ago when we were a bunch of 16 odd year olds I remember his Dad passing away. And then in an EXTREMELY cruel twist of fate his Mom passed away barely a year later.
I remember being very disturbed at the time with this low blow so to speak. There were tough days and difficult times after that but slowly I think its gotten better and built up to this one moment.
Hence last night it was great.....to see him all happy and things all around looking up. All the very best Dude ! You deserve it.
It was great seeing him in his newly re-furbished house, cuddling with his girlfriend with whom he looks so much at ease, happy with his work and role there and just the overall all feel good factor.
Cut back 15 years ago when we were a bunch of 16 odd year olds I remember his Dad passing away. And then in an EXTREMELY cruel twist of fate his Mom passed away barely a year later.
I remember being very disturbed at the time with this low blow so to speak. There were tough days and difficult times after that but slowly I think its gotten better and built up to this one moment.
Hence last night it was great.....to see him all happy and things all around looking up. All the very best Dude ! You deserve it.
Saturday, October 6, 2007
In the name of God
As yet another Ganpati festival gets over, I'm yet again confronted with a sight I'm used to for the past 2 decades of living by the sea. Thousands of dead fish strewn on the beach. The result of all that plaster of paris, oil paint, garlands, confetti et all put into the sea.
And the sand strewn with plastic bags, food wrappers, rotting flowers, confetti, thermcol. The trucks will come again.....and again scoop away a layer of sand to be thrown away in some dump. The very grains of sand that nature has taken hundreds of years to create.
Do you know that as a 6 yr old playing on the beach I used to collect seashells by the bucketful. Take a walk down Juhu beach today. If you spot more shells than I have fingers you will know how I feel.
And this year the "band baja" has been more. Lot more people on the beach. More lavish celebrations......fireworks, bigger idols, mobile music stations on handcarts, the works.
The newspaper too has been filled with the details.....which is the biggest idol, which mandal collects the most money, which film star is linked to which group, who is getting which DJ to "spin" Ganpati music on the truck from the mandal to the sea.
And in all this I wonder.......would it be so bad to have a little clay idol, with no colour, one that is prayed to religiously everyday, and immersed quietly in the sea following the age old tradition and with tranquility ?
Isn't it the thought that counts ? The sincerity and all that ? And last time I remember isn't ego, pomp, show of wealth, causing nuisance to others the very virtues that God denounces and we seem to exhort every time we celebrate a large festival ?
So next time you pat yourself on the back for having immersed a larger idol than last year and burst that 1 lac "laddi" on the beach and expect blessings remember this. There are thousands of fish, crabs, prawns et all who are wishing just the opposite for you. Infact I won't be surprised if they are hoping really bad things happen to you. After all they are God's creatures too.
Hint: Next year try to have a little clay or natural idol. Pray sincerely. Be thankful. I'm sure God won't mind that the idol doesn't have all that toxic oil paint on it and a plaster of paris interior. Infact the one may just be that little bit more grateful :)
And the sand strewn with plastic bags, food wrappers, rotting flowers, confetti, thermcol. The trucks will come again.....and again scoop away a layer of sand to be thrown away in some dump. The very grains of sand that nature has taken hundreds of years to create.
Do you know that as a 6 yr old playing on the beach I used to collect seashells by the bucketful. Take a walk down Juhu beach today. If you spot more shells than I have fingers you will know how I feel.
And this year the "band baja" has been more. Lot more people on the beach. More lavish celebrations......fireworks, bigger idols, mobile music stations on handcarts, the works.
The newspaper too has been filled with the details.....which is the biggest idol, which mandal collects the most money, which film star is linked to which group, who is getting which DJ to "spin" Ganpati music on the truck from the mandal to the sea.
And in all this I wonder.......would it be so bad to have a little clay idol, with no colour, one that is prayed to religiously everyday, and immersed quietly in the sea following the age old tradition and with tranquility ?
Isn't it the thought that counts ? The sincerity and all that ? And last time I remember isn't ego, pomp, show of wealth, causing nuisance to others the very virtues that God denounces and we seem to exhort every time we celebrate a large festival ?
So next time you pat yourself on the back for having immersed a larger idol than last year and burst that 1 lac "laddi" on the beach and expect blessings remember this. There are thousands of fish, crabs, prawns et all who are wishing just the opposite for you. Infact I won't be surprised if they are hoping really bad things happen to you. After all they are God's creatures too.
Hint: Next year try to have a little clay or natural idol. Pray sincerely. Be thankful. I'm sure God won't mind that the idol doesn't have all that toxic oil paint on it and a plaster of paris interior. Infact the one may just be that little bit more grateful :)
Monday, September 17, 2007
I am lost for words !
You must have read today's TOI article on how Rs.31,500 crores of Wheat and Rice have been siphoned out from the distribution system and sold in the black market in the last 3 years !
We need to put this into perspective. 31,500 is a LOT of money. In any terms....even gold and diamonds. But divide the amount by the per kg. price of wheat and rice and the result is mind boggling !!!
We are talking of poor people in a few millions being deprived of a basic square meal.If your interested in the math, its 18.6 million families of 4 being fed !!! Does greed now know no bounds ? That our "people in the system" now have stooped to robbing from the poor. Is a few crores here and there per person not enough ? If short-changing us the tax payers with shoddy roads and infrastructure was not bad enough....you have stooped so low to rob food from the mouths of the poor ?
How do you people sleep at night ?
What is next ?......Stand at railway and bus stops and snatch candy and treats from little kids ?
We need to put this into perspective. 31,500 is a LOT of money. In any terms....even gold and diamonds. But divide the amount by the per kg. price of wheat and rice and the result is mind boggling !!!
We are talking of poor people in a few millions being deprived of a basic square meal.If your interested in the math, its 18.6 million families of 4 being fed !!! Does greed now know no bounds ? That our "people in the system" now have stooped to robbing from the poor. Is a few crores here and there per person not enough ? If short-changing us the tax payers with shoddy roads and infrastructure was not bad enough....you have stooped so low to rob food from the mouths of the poor ?
How do you people sleep at night ?
What is next ?......Stand at railway and bus stops and snatch candy and treats from little kids ?
Monday, September 10, 2007
Live for Today: Double Standards
We hear and see it often in our daily lives. Young people living it up. Credit card bills more than salaries....the partying, the drinking, the smoking the cars/brands ,etc
If you tell the guy who eats...10 Big Macs a day to join the gym you will get "Who has seen tomorrow. Might as well live for today"
Or the guy who drinks like there is no tomorrow. "Hey I could get killed crossing the road"
My ? is this. How come its only vices and enjoying for ones self that comes in the "Who has seen tomorrow argument"
If tomorrow is so uncertain how come leaving your money for good causes is something you plan only "post" retirement and not give away now ?
Or yoga you do only "post" 50 and not today ?
Whatever happened to that thing called balance ?
If you tell the guy who eats...10 Big Macs a day to join the gym you will get "Who has seen tomorrow. Might as well live for today"
Or the guy who drinks like there is no tomorrow. "Hey I could get killed crossing the road"
My ? is this. How come its only vices and enjoying for ones self that comes in the "Who has seen tomorrow argument"
If tomorrow is so uncertain how come leaving your money for good causes is something you plan only "post" retirement and not give away now ?
Or yoga you do only "post" 50 and not today ?
Whatever happened to that thing called balance ?
Monday, June 25, 2007
Do charity. Its never enough.
About a month ago i stopped near my office and handed out chocolates to 15 little slum kids aged 3-6 who study in a "school" thats basically a lady who teaches them on a footpath mon-fri.
The smile on their little faces at getting the treat touched my heart. one lil choc and they were so so happy. we evil adults on the other hand need so much more to get a BIG grin like that. A week later I stopped in again just to see what they were learning and if they were having fun. They were equally happy that I had just stopped to say Hi even though there were no chocs this time.
We all went wow when we heard that Bill Gates and Warren Buffet left all of their riches to the betterment of the poor. $100 billion. thats a lot of money right ? should last a long time yes ?
Well there are 3 billion people who live on less than $2 a day. So lets say their money is used to buy 3 billion people a $1 meal a day. Yup....that's right. In 33 days all that money will be over folks.
Its never enough. There are just too many who have too little. Nobody is saying to give off 1/2 your money. But every little bit helps.....from making small donations to charities close to your heart to giving old clothes to orphanages to recycling unsued or old home stuff with your servants to even lending a helping hand and not money at an orphanage or old people home for an hour every Sunday. Heck...or even an hour once a month. Something is better than nothing right ?
So next time your thinking of buying that one extra drink at the bar your partying at on sat nite....that you could really do without. Think about it. That Rs.300/- could buy 60 kids a vada pao....or 20 bars of choc. One less drink for you.....20 smiling faces....a no-brainer yes ?
The smile on their little faces at getting the treat touched my heart. one lil choc and they were so so happy. we evil adults on the other hand need so much more to get a BIG grin like that. A week later I stopped in again just to see what they were learning and if they were having fun. They were equally happy that I had just stopped to say Hi even though there were no chocs this time.
We all went wow when we heard that Bill Gates and Warren Buffet left all of their riches to the betterment of the poor. $100 billion. thats a lot of money right ? should last a long time yes ?
Well there are 3 billion people who live on less than $2 a day. So lets say their money is used to buy 3 billion people a $1 meal a day. Yup....that's right. In 33 days all that money will be over folks.
Its never enough. There are just too many who have too little. Nobody is saying to give off 1/2 your money. But every little bit helps.....from making small donations to charities close to your heart to giving old clothes to orphanages to recycling unsued or old home stuff with your servants to even lending a helping hand and not money at an orphanage or old people home for an hour every Sunday. Heck...or even an hour once a month. Something is better than nothing right ?
So next time your thinking of buying that one extra drink at the bar your partying at on sat nite....that you could really do without. Think about it. That Rs.300/- could buy 60 kids a vada pao....or 20 bars of choc. One less drink for you.....20 smiling faces....a no-brainer yes ?
Sunday, June 24, 2007
India. Common Man = Helpful. People in Position to help = Losers !!!
Here is what just happened. I was on my way to watch Oceans 13.
I park my car opposite the theater, get out of my car and slam the door shut. As a look to cross the road, I hear a sickening "thud". I turn around and see that the left corner of the road had just crumbled and fallen into the open gutter next to it and with that the back and front wheels of the left side of my car have slid off the road and my car is now tilting precariously and almost gonna fall into the gutter !!!
Manmohan u loser......build roads that don't collapse with one strong shower. I pay my taxes...the least you can do is provide some basic quality infrastructure !!!
Tried lifting the car out with the help of 4 more guys but to no avail. Time to get a tow truck.
Its pouring like crazy I rush in the rain to the nearest police chowki at juhu circle junction only to be told by the cop there go to juhu police station for a tow truck. I jump into an auto and head that way. Reach there drenched in crazy traffic only to be told there is no tow truck here and I shd go to the chowki at the sv-road junction. I head there in the same auto and the cop is like "there is no tow truck here. you go to dn nagar station" I was like "this is my 3rd police station. 2 hrs have passed. My car is sliding further into the gutter. Will the tow truck surely be at DN Nagar". To which he cooly replies "I don't know. How will I know what is there. You go there and see" !!!!
Last time I checked Cops were - protectors of the innocent,and helpers of those in trouble....well guess again.
Frustrated I jumped back into the auto and on a whim got off at the petrol pump next door.the puncture repair shop there had the number of a tow truck guy. He was nice enough to let me use his mobile phone to call as well bec I had forgotten mine in a hurry in the car. I make the call, jump back into the auto and rush to my car to wait for him.
I'm at the car praying anxiously that it doesn't slide further and turn turtle :(
As i bend to inspect it....more of the side of the road crumbles into the gutter and I fall in !!! (ya i know whats in there. spare me the details). How about returning some of my tax manmohan ? so I can buy new jeans and sandals which are now totally destroyed !!!
The tow truck arrives. He looks at the angles and decides to pull diagonally from the front. 2 guys passing on bikes and 2 in a honda city stop to help. The pull out is a success.
As of now the damage stands at a scratched bumper, the bonnet alignment had gone and a little something under the car has got bent. 2 wet mobile phones, one of which, the screen seems to have gone bad in corner.
Drove home. had a bath in dettol and washed my jeans and sandals in it too.
A big thanks to
1.the chawl man in the umbrella who 1st came when the car fell in and helped gather 4 guys to push
2. the rickshaw driver who drove me from cop station to cop station n finally back to my car in mad rain
3. the guy at the puncture repair shop who let me use his cellphone to call the towing guy.
4. the towing guy who took his time to ensure he got the angles right and save my car. not to mention to come to juhu from khar way past his shutting time.
5. the guys in the honda city who stopped to help and give moral support
6. the guy on the bike who helped push the car and disappeared off on his bike before I could say thanks
A big NO THANKS to
1. Our "garbagement" "gubberment" who takes taxes from us but gives us shit infrastructure in return. Collapsing roads. How cool.
2. Our loser cops who made zero effort to make any calls or to genuinely help. Maybe next time I should run over some sleeping pavement dwellers. I hear the cops come really fast to the scene then.
Goodnight. God bless the man on the street who does his best to help (most times).
God help us from people in positions of power/responsibility in this country.
I park my car opposite the theater, get out of my car and slam the door shut. As a look to cross the road, I hear a sickening "thud". I turn around and see that the left corner of the road had just crumbled and fallen into the open gutter next to it and with that the back and front wheels of the left side of my car have slid off the road and my car is now tilting precariously and almost gonna fall into the gutter !!!
Manmohan u loser......build roads that don't collapse with one strong shower. I pay my taxes...the least you can do is provide some basic quality infrastructure !!!
Tried lifting the car out with the help of 4 more guys but to no avail. Time to get a tow truck.
Its pouring like crazy I rush in the rain to the nearest police chowki at juhu circle junction only to be told by the cop there go to juhu police station for a tow truck. I jump into an auto and head that way. Reach there drenched in crazy traffic only to be told there is no tow truck here and I shd go to the chowki at the sv-road junction. I head there in the same auto and the cop is like "there is no tow truck here. you go to dn nagar station" I was like "this is my 3rd police station. 2 hrs have passed. My car is sliding further into the gutter. Will the tow truck surely be at DN Nagar". To which he cooly replies "I don't know. How will I know what is there. You go there and see" !!!!
Last time I checked Cops were - protectors of the innocent,and helpers of those in trouble....well guess again.
Frustrated I jumped back into the auto and on a whim got off at the petrol pump next door.the puncture repair shop there had the number of a tow truck guy. He was nice enough to let me use his mobile phone to call as well bec I had forgotten mine in a hurry in the car. I make the call, jump back into the auto and rush to my car to wait for him.
I'm at the car praying anxiously that it doesn't slide further and turn turtle :(
As i bend to inspect it....more of the side of the road crumbles into the gutter and I fall in !!! (ya i know whats in there. spare me the details). How about returning some of my tax manmohan ? so I can buy new jeans and sandals which are now totally destroyed !!!
The tow truck arrives. He looks at the angles and decides to pull diagonally from the front. 2 guys passing on bikes and 2 in a honda city stop to help. The pull out is a success.
As of now the damage stands at a scratched bumper, the bonnet alignment had gone and a little something under the car has got bent. 2 wet mobile phones, one of which, the screen seems to have gone bad in corner.
Drove home. had a bath in dettol and washed my jeans and sandals in it too.
A big thanks to
1.the chawl man in the umbrella who 1st came when the car fell in and helped gather 4 guys to push
2. the rickshaw driver who drove me from cop station to cop station n finally back to my car in mad rain
3. the guy at the puncture repair shop who let me use his cellphone to call the towing guy.
4. the towing guy who took his time to ensure he got the angles right and save my car. not to mention to come to juhu from khar way past his shutting time.
5. the guys in the honda city who stopped to help and give moral support
6. the guy on the bike who helped push the car and disappeared off on his bike before I could say thanks
A big NO THANKS to
1. Our "garbagement" "gubberment" who takes taxes from us but gives us shit infrastructure in return. Collapsing roads. How cool.
2. Our loser cops who made zero effort to make any calls or to genuinely help. Maybe next time I should run over some sleeping pavement dwellers. I hear the cops come really fast to the scene then.
Goodnight. God bless the man on the street who does his best to help (most times).
God help us from people in positions of power/responsibility in this country.
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