Incred!ble !ndia

Some random pictures i took en route Nashik. I'm in love with everythign around me... of course the sea is my first love... but one look at the pictures below, im convinced.

India is a beautiful country - there's no debate there. its just there to explore. I know people who've travelled to a zillion countries abroad, but not a place outside Mumbai in India. and i say to myself and them - we have everythign you could want right here! Not that im averse to the idea of going place, no im a big proponent of new places people and things. I just think as an Indian i ought to know the beauty and magnificence of my own country, so i have a benchmark for the others!

I am a certified photo-at-every-opportunity-taker, and a I-love-my-country-and-im-gonna-try-capturing-its-essence-in-photos-wherever-i-go". Not that im equipped with fancy cameras this is good ol camera phone at work. Little mercies :)

I've grown up by the sea... and its always been special to me. When asked in slam books and other truth and dare / random questions - "would you rather live by the mountains or the sea" pat would come the answer "the sea" without a doubt, without a blink of the eye. It was never in doubt.

But here it is - that game god plays. Falling in love with him means maybe having to leave this behind... and move. To the mountains no less. To that unthinkable option in the question, to the thought never considered. But I've fallen anyway.

I have enough memories of waves and tides and the sand and the sound of the waves in my head to last me a long time. What he gives me among other things - solace, contentment and unconditional support were something the sea did until now. But im a happy woman, I got more than i deserved.

Hopefully he feels the same way. And reads this post and says "Well move by the sea someday" :)

Once a dreamer, always a dreamer!

(Happy) Independance day

I thought id get arrested taking these pictures at Dadar station. lol!! This is the platform for the trains going to town (Churchgate) at around 9.25in the morning which essentially still qualifies as peak time, though 8.30 -9.00 is the "peakest" time.










Happy Independance day?

Its strange that most of our architectural wonders, heritage buildings, (Army Navy bldg, Fort, VT terminus) are built by the British. Also our Rail/Postal services were set up by them too.

Before i sound like im on "their" side, im not. I only think that they left us with a lot of good infrastructure, architecture and fundamental layouts.

Coming back to Happy Independance day. I wonder how many of us value what it means, how many of us truly would die for our country if the need ever arose, how many of us actually sing the national anthem when it plays before the start of a movie ( i do, and have been laughed at many a time). The other day i happened to make plans with a friend for wednesday night, just to catch up it hd been a while. A minute into the discussion as to wher we should go had him hit his hand on his head and say "oh shit its a dry day i think". No offence or anythign, but this is a reaction i would expect from most people (who like to drink i.e.). BUt the larger picture is that its our Independance day! Its the day India opened her eyes and brought to the world the first glimpse of the soon to be largest democracy. 60 yrs on, it stil persists. Much to the chagrin of all the people and world leaders who thought democracy would die with Nehru .

Indian democracy will always find someone. Not that i have much faith n the current set of politicians/leaders/government officers/anybody in power for that matter. Neither do i have faith in the poor gullible uneducated janta who gets swayed by some starry promises of regularising slums built beyond 1996 so that they get to keep their homes, or regular supplies of water, or buying farm land at a price that ia reasonable and just, or other such castles in the sky promised by filthy money laudering vite grabbing politicians. Ill commend the stupidity of their actions though, after all, being stupid to such extremes is also an art.

What im talking about is a yr ago or 2 was it? Mr Karunanidhi gave away 25,000 color tv's as part of the campaign promise. Now i can think of a hundred other places the money couldve been used but then im sure color tv's were more important right?

At least democracy ensures that we get to choose our own idiots.

Innocence.... regained?

Yesterday and today i had the (bad) fortune of travelling in the direction of traffic in Mumbai. for those who might not be familiar with what that means, let me put things in perspective. Mumbai travels in one direction - southwards in the mornigns and northwards in the evening. If you've not already guessed by now, south Mumbai is the hub of all commrcial activity, (though it would be fair to add here that there are other upcoming places now) hence, the Mumbai that doesnt reside in South Mumbai travels there in mornings, and returns in the evenings. Not only is it utter chaos, but backbreaking pressure on Mumbais local train system which ferries more than a millin people to and fro each day. i read here about how Mumbai could've been better planned, and i throughy agree with the article, and hope to hear some more.

So last evening i travelled by the famed "Ladies special" train - this is a ladies only train at 6.00 in the evening to help women get home at peak hours a little safer. Generally trains at this time are jam packed to the extent that only experienced travellers can master the art of getting on and staying on.

What i will remember most about my journey to the suburbs tday was somethign ive witnessed ofte befre - There was this young girl maybe 6 yrs old selling Bangles on the train. while she should be in school and probably does'nt know reading or writing, shes trained in bargining and adding subtracting the sum shes to be paid for her wares. I was saddened to see money being exchanged to and fro from the hands of such a small child - being exposed to commercialism at such a young age... what i really wanted to see in her hands was a toy or sweets - anythign other than money... and a smile wouldve been icing on the cake.

Her eyes had this wistfulness - one that only relfects when a person has resigned to her fate, a lack of "desire" a feeling she's not supposed to feel cos it will only lead to despair. these kids are taught not to "want" anything. that moment i realized that i had some Mithai (Indian sweets) in my bag and beckoned her to come to me... misunderstanding my intentions as wanting to buy somethign from her, she gave me her little basket .. when i told her "Nahi Chahiye" (dont want) she looked at me skeptically as no one mustve ever asked o speak to her unless they wanted to buy somthgin from her.

She came reluctantly cos i widened my smile to let her know its ok and also opened the box of sweets from my bag. what followed then was magic. i held out the bggest sweet i could find a grubby unsure hand took it from me. she slid away to a corner from where she kept sneaking glances at me. when she first put it into her mouth and realized she liked it, she looked at me and there t was - the hint of a smile..which eventually widended. at the time, the sun shone through the window of the train and she gave me this beautiful half toothed smile.

Needless to say, i was grinning like a fool by then.. cos i saw it - that innocence i was mourning the lack of. that very instant with the sun in her hair and that broken toothed smile - her eyes had this fiery streak of innocence wishing it could break out... she looked at me on and off till i got off the train.

Thats what it took- one small sweet, and one big grin neither of which cost much. small price to pay for innocence regained isnt it?

A weekend of firsts..

Three days without a post..feels weird! have gotten so used to ranting here for a good amount of time that suddenly bottling up for 3 days was tough! i thought id end up with an ulcer o something!
Did a few things for the first time this weekend..

• Had Fondue. cheesy fondue with herb and jalapeno something. YUM. my only other memory of Fondue was the Greeks having a fondue at the castle with the cheese in the cauldron and the guy who loses his slice of bread in it gets thrown into the lake with weights tied to his feet.
• Had Ravioli. Nice. second to fondue though. Garfield exaggerates. Lasagna's much better.
• Turned up half an hour earlier for dinner though we had reservation (for half an hr later). i wont elaborate on the look we got from the head waiter who looked at his watch very (un) subtly and said "Ma'am you have a booking for 10.30 right?"
• Travelled a 4 hour train journey travelling in a direction opposite to the direction of motion. someone with as severe motion sickness as me, this was the NASTIEST ride I've been on. plus the AC was ferocious to say the least. mom and i (thought) we were prepared when we carried two shawls with us, which needless to say did not help much. we did try draping them in different ways to see if we could come up with the most thermally effective solution, nothing worked.

Coming to this train journey, I'm amazed at SO many things though. i had a relatively pleasant to-journey as i was in the direction of motion, in a Nice reclining chair car, with the temperature fairly suting me. Ive never travelled in a chair car before so i was surprised how comfortable the seats were. a little too comfortable i'd say. they would recline all the way back, until i reached a point whn i wanted to sit upright ad could'nt. apparently your supposed to be a in reclinign resting position to be comfortable. my back doesnt agree. Next, i could pull down this little board from the seat in front of me and place my food on it! just like in the planes!

Tea and coffee were served to me, by this very polite waiter-looking guy wearing a maroon waistcoat and a black bowtie. very nice. he even prodded me for breakfast till the point i thought maybe it was free with the tickets or somethign cos he hadnt even charged me for the tea i'd had. turns out i had to pay after all. who was i kidding. what i liked most though, were two posters of the Incredible India! campaign.. right up in front. they were even framed! ambience maybe?! i took pictures of both the frame and the fact that i had a mini table in front of me like the plane. i'd put them up if i knew how to. :)

Needless to say the return journey has landed me in a soup. i now have extended nausea a very severe throat infection and resolve that the next time, ill take a bus home.

i also watched "Die Hard" and "The Departed" btwn thursday and friday. Die hard was nice, though i think it should be called "Hardly Die". Jeez. The Departed was GREAT stuff. i was on the edge of my seat throughout the movie. The end kinda killed it for me though, it reminded me of Omkara where everyboyd just "dies" . The following guys really do it for me movie wise - Martin Scorsese (i even liked him as the fish in Shark Tail!!), Brad Pitt, Leonardo Di Cap (i love him in a totally adult, he-acts-well kinda way now :)), Al Pacino, Tom Hanks, Richard Gere and WILL SMITH!. it isnt fair how come guys like Will Smith can rap, dance, sing, act, talk well, look good, mimic etc so well. God should distribute talent a little. i mean c'mon the only thing i can do is talk.

Being sick is no fun. cant go out, cant watch tv, sleep all day = up most of the night. sucks. more later.