Who am i ?

In these last few months of 2013, life has asked me this question again and again..who am i ? what do i want ? Its as though God has sent me an angel from up above watching me over my shoulder. I am protected , spoilt by this angel. Its an Art of Living tutorial in a living being. I have learnt a lot about my self. Its like Vipaasna but with verbal communication. I need to ask my doctor friend, does our brain shrink with time ? Am i aging already ?  There are answers i seek from myself.

Where do i see myself in the next 5 years ?

What are my priorities ?

what are my career goals ?

what is an ideal relationship ?

why am i laid-back ?

what do i want ?

why fear ? why paranoia ?

why do i run away from my problems , instead of facing them ?
 
how unhealthy is my Ego ?

who am i ?

A Good Samaritan

Juhu is one of the busiest places in Mumbai. Juhu Beach, a popular hang out for many Indians. In fact many of the city tours has Juhu Beach as one its stops. Plenty of roadside eateries , toys and games are on sale throughout the 3 km beach stretch. The parking lots close to the beach are usually busy. This day Vikram and I are returning back to my car heading home. As we walk close to the car, I notice a Maruti Van parked rather out of the usual spots. A little walk ahead , I notice two men beating somebody. Vikram walks near to that car and i walk straight towards my car and then i see what is happening clearly. One man is beating a woman , his friend is what looks like trying ( Rather passively)  stop him. Now one thing you ought to know about Vikram, he cannot stand injustice on women. A lot  many times I have seen him stand up for women being ill treated. Vikram asks the man, " Sab theek hai ? (Is everything alright )". The man looks up, the way he talks and walks its evident that he is drunk, back answers "Kyun ? tu theek karega kya ?  (why ? would you make it alright ?)".  I ask Vikram to sit in the car and we quietly drive off ( just what any other chicken of a human would do *ashamed*). He starts throwing weight on Vikram. Rather rudely. The words he uttered were filthy. He signaled me to take my friend away.  The women steps out of the car is sobbing and limping. I notice that she is not a woman but a transgender dressed in a saree.  She walks up to Vikram sobbing and reaches out to touch his feet. The goon hurling abuses says that its their personal matter , and we have no business to get ask.  Vikram looks at me , I am pale petrified of whats going to happen. I yell at him to get back in the car.  The parking lot is empty.. what are the fucking chances ! Now this bastard of a man is so low that he is thrashing a woman.. he is a goon.. he can do anything.  Vikram is angry, i can see that, he is controlling because of my pleading. He walks towards us, by now i have sat in the car ,   ready for the boy to sit in and we go. Suddenly, the man reaches out to hit Vikram and there is a fight. Now there is lot of tugging and pulling. yelling of swear words. Vikram is yelling at him. I am shitting bricks, i want to take Vikram and run out of this place. I run out of the car and beg people around us to help. I felt so helpless, petrified & shivering. The goon's friend is trying to separate the two.  People who i asked to help, walked up but then looking at the transgender woman, who can be assumed to be a prostitute they walked off. This is what human life in Mumbai is worth of !  The fight sobers down ,Vikram walks to the car. We drive off.  He kept apologizing for what happened. But this is not right. What just happened is not right. This gentleman stood up to an asshole for hurting a woman. This is half the battle. For all you know , he would have beaten her to death now we have left. We drove to the police station, got two cops to accompany us to the spot. What luck the asshole was still present in that parking lot.  The woman changed her statement a million times. I was parked at a distant, so could only hear a little of what was spoken.  An hour and half later, Vikram walks out of the police station. I hear that the asshole was beaten black and blue to the extent of losing his front teeth. The police buy Vikram a cola, and wonder why would anyone jump into a fight selflessly in such a situation. He has won these policemen hearts. Honestly, I cannot take the image of that bully out of my head.

Vikram will rest tonight knowing that he did a good deed.  That woman would rest tonight thinking that some stranger stood up for her.  I am hoping she never finds herself in a situation like this ever again. That asshole son of   b*tch would writhe in pain realizing that not to mess with another human, they just might turn out to be mightier than you can ever imagine. That goon's friend will twist and turn in his bed tonight thinking  never to mess with a woman. And i will rest tonight thanking God for blessing me with a fine gentleman like Vikram Gupta. God Bless you Vikram ! If God makes a few more of you, this world will be a rocking place to live in. 

100 years of Bollywood

It all began when Dhundiraj Govind Phalke said "lights, camera, action" a century ago. On May 3, 1913, Raja Harishchandra, India's first feature film, released and was declared a hit. It was the beginning of an industry that would snowball into a behemoth, defining India's popular culture like no other. 

A still from the picture Raja Harishchandra

A 100 years later, we bring you some facts about the film that started it all:

Dhundiraj Govind Phalke worked in the Archaelogical Society of India and then as a printer before staking everything he had on making a film. He was inspired to become a filmmaker by 1902 French movie The Life Of Christ, which he saw twice on the same day.

Dadasaheb Phalke quit his printing press career and went to London to learn the technicals of making a movie. He bought a camera, a printing machine, a perforator and raw film. 

Advertisements seeking handsome actors for the lead role brought so much amateur and inadequate talent that Dadasaheb Phalke was forced to add a line saying "ugly faces need not apply."

Dadasaheb Phalke was forced to cast a male actor, Anna Salunke, in the role of queen Taramati because acting was not considered a decent profession for women. He found Anna Salunke in a restaurant, working as a cook. His only female applicants for the role were prostitutes from Mumbai's red-light areas, but even they backed out eventually. The success of Raja Harishchandra meant that for his second film, Mohini Bhasmasur, Dadasaheb Phalke had no trouble finding actresses for the female roles.

His cast and crew were told to say they were working in Dadasaheb's "factory" while filming took place. 

Dadasaheb Phalke was 40 when he made Raja Harishchandra, and some of his friends were convinced he was mad, even trying to have him admitted to an asylum.

Dadasaheb Phalke pledged his life insurance policies, his wife sold her jewellery to raise money for the film.

Raja Harishchandra was partly shot in Mathura Bhawan in Dadar, on a road now renamed Dadasaheb Phalke Road.

The film's outdoor scenes were shot in a village near Pune, where the villagers reportedly mistook the prop swords for real ones.

The title plates that were inserted in between the silent scenes were in English and in Hindi.

Dadasaheb's entire family took part in the making of Raja Harishchandra, with his wife handling much of the technical details and his son playing a major role in the film, that of Harishchandra's son.


To woo his audience away from the stage to the screen, Dadasaheb Phalke promoted his films as: "A performance with 57,000 photographs. A picture two miles long. All for only three annas." He also preceded the film with a dance performance by two European girls for the first few days.

Raja Harishchandra released in Mumbai's Coronation Theatre and ran for 23 days. It was also shown in London in 1914. The story of Harishchandra was not just the subject of Dadasaheb's 1913 film but also of the first Marathi talkie, V Shantaram's Ayodhyecha Raja (1932).

Phalke's story is overwhelming. In 2011 there is a film made to depict the story of his making of the first film, Harishchandrachi Factory.  Dont Miss !!

Happy Birthday Bollywood !!!!!   

(The info in this article is written by Gitanjali for NDTV)

Feelin HOT HOT HOT

Did you notice my new and improved blog layout ? The lady in her yoga stance is passe.
And plus its Hot in Mumbai and its going to get worse !!  and this blog is feeling it too.. The temperatures in Bombay are dwindling in the mid 30 degrees celcuis.Now a days, the car AC is on full blast, the bedroom airconditioning is on full blast, the office AC's are exhausted with blowing out cooler air on to us. Our power bills for the coming months will have  an extra zero at the end of the figure and that wouldn't be shocked . Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Energy (our power supplier giant) could build another two floors on his billion dollar worth , 27 storeys swanky home. Out of which a brick wall could be my contribution. Psst: a lil birdie , close to the family told me that the Ambani's have  mother of pearl encrusted on the floor.. Even if it snows in Mumbai, Ambani will bill us high. Well , the fifth richest man in the world has got to not polish those precious stones encrusted on his flooring.

Hoping the cool dew droplets on this blog , cool me down too *places an ice-pack on the head*

A tourist in my own city

Its 2.40 pm, Two women waiting at a busy Mahim station. There is no sign of anyone from the company yet. They were told to be there by the ticket counter at sharp 2.30 pm.  Suddenly, I feel a tap on my shoulder, "Did you know that the people of Dharavi generate income worth $1 billion per year?” I am startled.   "Hi, myself Bipin Kumar, i will be your tour guide. Are you ready for a life-changing experience ? ." His dyed brown hair & big Indian smile didn't give us much of what was to come.

 A dear friend and I were wanting to visit Dharavi Slums for a long time. We'd make plans, we'd cancel plans, then we'd discuss , and we'd reschedule.  It was her insistence that I made this visit today, and believe it or not i am grateful to her.  So we signed up for a short Dharavi Tour.

What does one know about Dharavi ? That it is the Asia's largest slum.  What is the first thing that comes to your mind when someone mentions Dharavi ? Open sewers, diseases, poverty ridden slum dog millionaire, filth, dirt ? Well, I thought no different , until this day.

I came back from this tour with mixed emotions. 

When you climb railway crossing bridge in Mahim to enter the area, there is fear of what you will see.  I see foreigners entering Dharavi premises feeling petrified. Honestly, its a feeling of not knowing what to expect. Its only minutes later that Bipin helps you to walk freely and bid goodbye to your fear. There are cinemas that play B grade . C grade movies. Bipin jokes."movie with acupuncture massage, since rats are free residents of the theater."

The question that constantly arises is how ? how do they live in such conditions ? Why do they put themselves through this ? Like they have a choice !  Every time , i read newspapers writing about the spirit of Mumbai. There is a bomb blast and the next day the local trains are running full capacity as though nothing major happened and the newspapers salute the Spirit of Mumbai. That is nothing but a load of crap. The Spirit is nothing but a dying compulsion of showing up at work, the necessity of bringing food on the table for hungry mouths at home.. there is no Spirit of Mumbaikar in it. Mumbai teaches everybody the harsh reality and struggles of surviving. Survival is the ultimate goal of each villager who migrates with hopes.

Dharavi is divided into two parts, Industrial & Residential. The ones who work here , do not stay here. They are the ill fated,  even Dharavi doesn't not wish to accommodate in her belly. These workers head to footpaths of Mumbai city to rest, if lucky their owners would allow them to sleep in the workshops. Children as young as 5 are seen working in plastic workshops, bakeries , leather tanneries. Its saddening to see that there is no safety gear used. The workshops seem like melting caves with temperatures reaching boiling point. How ? How do they survive ?  We enter a soap factory, the only place where I noticed laborers (some as little as 12 years old) are wearing gloves. I ask why ? I am being told that , the materials used in these soaps are so highly toxic that it burns human skin upon contact for more than 30 minutes. God alone knows how many young laborers put themselves through this torment for the owners to provide them, with protective gear.

An Indian Express article states  that the leather artisan industry in Dharavi is estimated to generate a revenue of Rs 2,000 crore annually for Mumbai in 2012. The leather industry is huge, ranking
You think you have problems ? Take a walk down the narrow alleys of the slum. There is a dark alley in Dharavi where not even a ray of light  passes through. its long alley , pitch dark, the two walls almost rubbing on your both shoulder sides. Bipin guides us, the taller ones are asked to slouch and walk since the residents illegally take power supply of the others and that results into many live wires left unattended. As we are escorted through the industrial area to the residential, you begin to see more and more women in colourful clothes. Its a normal day for them, some making papads, some of them cooking food in their 120 sq ft by 100 sq feet homes. In each of these homes there are 6 -7 people living on an average.

The sanitation facilities are heart wrenching. There are public toilets for all. However, for every 1500 people , there is one toilet. "In the morning,even before the break of dawn around 250 - 300 people stand in queues to visit the toilet. What to do ? People have to rush to work.. Everybody is in a hurry"
The wealthy residents opt for Pay in toilets. However, not everyone can afford that luxury each day.

Throughout the experience, you are left with a  striking impression of the kids. As you walk by the alleys, kids from narrow outlets pour out with huge smiles , "Hie" "hi didi"  "hi" "hello aunty" ... countless greetings pour in. While greeting back , we are alarmed about Bipin's instructions about not offering sweets or candies to the kids. They get excited and start following the group. There is no way one can carry enough candy for all of the kids of Dharavi ! 

Dharavi is home to nearly one million people, many of whom recycle waste that comes from all over the world. “The people here, though poor, don’t beg and work with dignity. They earn their living. The government does not recognize this work as it will have to start giving subsidies,” says Rohit Chandra , one of the English teachers of the Slum development project.  “It’s not a slum, it’s Asia’s largest small scale industry,” he says.

Bipin points out that there are four sections to Dharavi as per religion, There are Muslims, Tamilians, Gujartis & the Marashtrians. Believe me, as you cross from one area to the other, one cannot help but notice the change in the women's attire, the sounds, the Hindi slangs , the way women drape sarees, the jewelery , the billboards of various politicians targeting that sector of population , the smells of foods peculiar  to that specific religion. 

Dharavi is a city in itself. Its a different world out there. A world that will bring out many entrepreneurs and stalwarts. I will be all ears to hear their stories of success.

Tick all those boxes

Now i know of a 60 + something American couple, living for about 2 years in Mumbai. She and her husband will be boarding a cruise ship from Bombay for 74 days.. Whoa !! Isnt that just amazing ? Let me tell you why its amazing.

•  Firstly, you come down with your husband who works very hard in a city that is beyond comprehension. Ways of living in Mumbai confuses us locals, one cannot imagine the turmoil that goes in the head of an expat. (i can sure blog about this)
• Its not about the money, dont get me wrong.. i know many people who do not think of a holiday beyond 3 weeks. Its not about the zest to travel. But think about how many of us can balance it all right ?
• Recently, a to-be-married couple called to discuss their honeymoon plans.. and told me.. (exact words) " trip for not more than 2 weeks.. Bore hojayega yaar" . Its your honeymoon we are talking about. Show us some LOVE people !!!
• Then there are couple who plan honeymoons with other couples.. WTF !
•   I am yet to recieve queries which read "Honeymoon Trip for family.  5 adults and 2 children..Cheap & Best Char Dham yatra for family  with excursion to Valley of flowers for me and my fiance only." . And that would be the day i would probably shut my shop !
• Thats that and then you take a trip with your loved one for 74 freaking days. It doesn't matter if its in a Suite room of a 19 floor luxurious ship or in a tent in the jungle.. But, the idea of a holiday with your wife of 42 years for 74 days is amazing..
• This isnt their first 70 days + holiday. She says that last time there were on a 71 day holiday and came back rather upset about not getting an extension since the trip further was sold out.
• Those who have the money , do not have the time... Those who have the time do have the right partner.. and those who have the partner and money , do not have the time. I suggest , Make a list. and tick them as you go along.

Before, she could start on how they first met, i asked her "would like to meet for coffee ?".  I have a coffee meeting with her coming Tuesday. Keep you posted.

Until then,  keep looking for your partner with whom you would love to travel for 74 days and ask for an extension later.. If you have found one already, hold on to them tight.

Love Bunny 

Tee Hee