Thursday, October 23, 2008

I got this in my mail today. Jai Maharashtra it says.
  1. We should teach our kids that if he is second in class, don't study harder.. just beat up the student coming first and throw him out of the school
  2. Parliament should have only Delhiites as it is located in Delhi
  3. Prime-minister, president and all other leaders should only be from Delhi
  4. No Hindi movie should be made in Bombay. Only Marathi.
  5. At every state border, buses, trains, flights should be stopped and staff changed to local men
  6. All Maharashtrians working abroad or in other states should be sent back as they are SNATCHING employment from Locals
  7. Lord Shiv, Ganesha and Parvati should not be worshiped in our state as they belong to north (Himalayas)
  8. Visits to Taj Mahal should be restricted to people from UP only
  9. Relief for farmers in Maharashtra should not come from centre because that is the money collected as Tax from whole of India, so why should it be given to someone in Maharashtra?
  10. Let's support Kashmiri Militants because they are right in killing and injuring innocent people for the benefit of their state and community..
  11. Let's throw all MNCs out of Maharashtra, why should they earn from us? We will open our own Maharashtra Microsoft, MH Pepsi and MH Marutis of the world
  12. Let's stop using cellphones, emails, TV, foreign Movies and dramas. James Bond should speak Marathi
  13. We should be ready to die hungry or buy food at 10 times higher price but should not accept imports from other states
  14. We should not allow any industry to be setup in Maharashtra because all machinery comes from outside
  15. We should STOP using local trains... Trains are not manufactured by Marathi manoos and Railway Minister is a Bihari
  16. Ensure that all our children are born, grow, live and die without ever stepping out of Maharashtra, then they will become true Marathi’s

And they Say Jai Maharashtra. I cannot start to say how ashamed I am of Mr. Raj Thakrey, of our politicaians all of whom are scared stiff of this man, our Coutry who has no rights to talk of development when we educated inviduals hold innocent public to ransom like this.

I am truly ashamed. To my Non Maharashrian friends who are bearing the brunt of this, I apologise.

Monday, October 13, 2008

Home sweet Home?

I was at Bhandhardara this weekend. Its a quaint little hill station nestled among the Sahyadri Hills about 185 kms from Mumbai, 35 kms off the Nashik-Mumbai Highway.


I fell in love with this place the minute the car took a turn off the Nashik highway! The lush green farms on either sides of the narrow road your driving on, the green topped hills (which we're not used to seeing anymore) and small herds of cattle herded by a typical farmer-cowboy with the traditional blanket on his shoulder to ward off bees is a pretty sight.


The Locals in Ghoti village (which you need to pass to get there) all wear traditional Maharashtrial dhoti-kurta and Nehru cap. Women are dressed in Lugdas (a variation of sarees) and it was most enchanting to see this traditionalism prevalent just about 4 hours away from the commercial hob-nob that is Mumbai where traditions and customs have all but taken a back seat.




The view from the MTDC resort is breathtaking, the photo below was taken just a short 10 min climb down the hill from my room. The fact that there are only two paces to stay here - MTDC and Anandvan resort has ensured that this place remains non- commercial, non-tourist attraction crazy and clean.
The MTDC resort rooms are your basic functional rooms, with no frills. But at Rs. 1000 a night (deluxe) what more can you expect. The rooms that we stayed at have been recently renovated by the Mah Govt, hence we had to pay Luxury tax (!!) on the cost!

The food was really homely, if you ordered right. we ordered baingan bharta (eggplant) and dal (pulses) and pitla (a besan preparation famous in Maharashtra) and Bhakri (roti made from Jowar) and thoroughly enjoyed.


Course there was a group of people on the adjacent table experimenting with Chinese (why they were doing that is beyond me). Its like ordering a Pizza at Kamat!


After sweltering in the Mumbai heat, feeling a chill in the air in the evening and wanting to cuddle under a blanket at night felt like a welcome change.


I'm pretty much at a loss for words to describe how beautiful this place was, which has resulted in a mediocre post trying to elaborate.


Why someone would want to pay anywhere between 45-75,000 a sq foot to live in THIS (see pic below) is beyond me.

" ...When you buy furniture, you tell yourself: that's it, that's the last sofa I'm gonna need. No matter what else happens, I've got that sofa problem handled. I had it all. I had a stereo that was very decent, a wardrobe that was getting very respectable. I was so close to being complete. "

- Fight Club.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

And one more..

You now know where to look when you want to buy some 'Species'. Worry not, they have all kinds. :)

Friday, October 3, 2008

We're easy to ge along with ... once men just learn to worship us :)

The problem about most blog posts is - how do I start?! The general content of the post is known since it would be about a recent conversation, the weekend revelry or the likes. lol.

Offlate, for some reason, Ive landed up having the unanswerable question type conversation - 'What do woman want?!'. A lot of perplexed (male) friends are at their wits end since they've tried every trick in the book - been every kind of guy. Mr Naughty but nice, Mr Sweet but not so sweet, Mr sickly goodygoody, Mr never-fallin-love playerboy, Mr calculated moves, Mr commitment phobic, Mr lets-get-married, Mr anyone-will-do, Mr Ill-be-nice-to-get-into-your-pants, Mr Im-confused-about-my-feelings, ETC. You get my drift, Im sure.

So what do we want anyway? Half the world seems to be obsessed with the question. Its not that difficult, really.

First of all, its not a game, women are not dolls and if she likes you, its not checkmate, or a homerun. Women dont want guys who are 'playing' them, and calculating every move. Who we're more likely to fall in love with are men who simply fall head over heels with us, with no logic and reasoning whatsoever. This isnt something you can practice - so dont try.

Its in the little things - blowing on coffee and making it cooler, a flirtatious little smile or wink here and there, having that look in your eye, remembering what we like to eat, our favorite colour, insisting on paying sometimes... Since im not going in order of importance, one critical piece of information - Each woman wants to feel sexy, and beautiful to someone. No matter if shes ugly, short, fat, pimpled, too tall, too fair, she wants to feel pretty. Women of all ages, take a look in the mirror before they leave, powder their nose, put on that little makeup, wait in anticipation for that one tiny compliment from that special someone... its one of those things. Of course, not to mistake this by thinking 'All women dress up for men', because they DONT. The ones that have a boyfriend, husband, etc (err) DO (secretly or not). Then there are ones that wont admit it. But in the end, if shes looking pretty, TELL her! Men simply go wrong in calculating too much - every move, every sms.

A certain vulnerablity in unplanned feelings is endearing. Most of them also wait for the woman of their dreams, and often the one theyll never get over to move on to another guy before they realize ' shit i love her'.

We like the man BEING the man - insist on footing the bill sometimes (3 out of 5 would be a good ratio), buy an occasional flower, be well turned out and snappy when taking us out to dinner. Women LOVE men who take care of their physique, and pay a little extra attention to detail like - smelling great, wearing good footwear, neatly ironed clothes (I know this sounds like a lot to ask for from MOST men) But there are certain exceptions :) and im sure at least one reading this knows who he is.

More than what an average joe can accomplish has been put down here, so lets try slowly, one at a time. And then maybe we women can live happily ever after.

Thursday, October 2, 2008

What I'm doing awake at this hour besides getting magnificent download speeds, and a stiff back is beyond me. Although I suspect it has a little something to do with having spent nearly half the day in medicine induced stupor. Common cold, it seems needs a combination of a 3-3-4 dose of the blue-yellow-blue-multicoloured tablets.

MANY Self prolonged random unnecessary falling-sick events have led me to visit a doctor within the first 2 days of feeling sick. This fares wonderfully in comparison to NOT visiting a doctor unless COMPLETELY miserable and then finally having to deal with antibiotics and scoldings by the new-enthused-i-was-so-right-you-shouldve-gone-to-the doc mother. (err, love u mom).

If you watched the news today, you've probably heard about the serial blasts in Tripura. Im beginning to wonder if theres a pattern here - twice a week, north-east-west-north or maybe bike-train-cycle-bike... Its just become a routine news bulletin -'Breaking news - 17 llive bombs found at xyz' or 'Breaking news - 5 low intensity bombs in xyz'. What is the Government doing about it? What is the media doing about it? What are WE doing about it?

Im sure even reporters have templated stories ready - just fill in the blank type documents.

" Bomb Blast in ___ kills___ and injures___. Bomb was found in tiffin/cycle/bike and left by two scarf/helmet/unidentified motorists. This happened in the heavily crowded area of____ at peak ___ hrs. Police are yet to identify who would be responsible for the blasts, and have so far arrested ___suspects. "

Has it really become that simple to disrupt public peace and instill fear, ACTUAL fear among us that the mention of the word 'bomb' and 5000 people got evacuated from BKC in Mumbai today, or that 150 people died of a stampede after the crowd ran amock hearing the dreaded word. Really, do we need Mr Raj T'rey to be spreading panic among Mumabikars? we seem to be doing a darn good job ourselves.

Its a matter of Public shame that our country is subject to these acts of terror, that the police continue to be clueless about how to tackle it, about how police forces and governments of various states do no work in synch towards the common cause of eliminating terror from the country. POTA is outdated - but who cares right?

As if quality of life - increased exposure to passive smoking, polluted envoirnment, stress related ailments and unhealthy lifestyles werent enough to reduce our life-span, we now need to worry about not accidentally picking up an unknown object on the road, (tiffin boxes emerging as the most threatening, who wouldve thought) or being in market places prone to bomb blasts, or tavel in trains at office hours, or being in a line at a religious site. This list shall be updated as when necessary.

The safest option emerges - staying home. If your living in Mumbai - you might want to reconsider - some buildings have a tendency to just fall apart.

Live and Let live anyone?