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VT (Victoria Terminus) usually didn't figure in our bunking plans, unless we were headed to Sterling (a movie theatre) or McD's which is in the area.
But if you really take the time out and look around, VT (which has since been renamed CST) has some of the most beautiful neo-classical architecture and monuments in Bombay. Here are a few shots of the area. 
Photos courtesy Ben Salins.Ben Salins is a professional globe trotter and an amateur photographer. To learn more about VT go here
Well, as the title says, this is the second part of the "Beautiful Bombay: My city through a lens" photo exhibition. Courtesy KR.
This city is mean and dirty, and corrupt and over-crowded, but I still love it with all my heart. I may be crazy, but I still have hope.
Hope of a better tomorrow, hope of reinstating the innocent inclusiveness, the spirit of ascendancy and especially the hope that no matter where you come from or where you are going, no matter who you are or who you are related to, you will always have a place in Bombay.
Notwithstanding the accusations of the city being inhuman, sometimes you see such a show of no-strings-attached humanity and generosity,an outpouring of kindness and concern for a fellow human being, it is enough to move even the hardest of hearts and convert the staunchest of cynics.
And so I stay on, like many others. Bombay is home to millionaires, to the middle class and people who live on intermittent glimpses and scraps of kindness and humanity. Bombay is beautiful not because of her art deco buildings, or her museums or art galleries. Bombay is beautiful because of her inclusiveness, her cosmopolitan attitude and her ability to inspire and uplift.
The poverty here is undeniable, inexcusable and jarringly inhuman, a lot of people have to live on the fringes of society. But they have something that no one can take away from them...... HOPE.....the raw emotion of being able to beat the odds, or even break even ...makes people stay. And the longer you stay, the harder you fall for the city.Beautiful Bombay. The city of dreams. Pictures taken from here
It's been a wonderfully, splendidly lazy Sunday. The rains have been an absolute blessing, and the temperature has fallen.I don't feel like I'm going to melt anymore!
This is the view from my living room window. (No, I don't live in a forest. And yes, I live in the suburbs...I don't think there are more than 5 trees in entire downtown Bombay!! lol)
That's the time that the BMC has given to all the commercial and non-commercial entities in the state to change their signboards to Marathi (Devnagri script).
This is not only a futile exercise because it results in extra cost and extra work, but also significantly decreases Bombay's appeal as a cosmopolitan city. I swear, with these people it's one step forward, two steps back!!
Oh and in other news, after the bombings in Bangalore the day before yesterday and in Ahmedabad yesterday, the outfit that is claiming responsibility has sent an email saying that Bombay is next. The only surprising thing about that is the fact that Bombay wasn't their first choice. Apparently our popularity as "the" place to bomb in India has decreased :P. Maybe with a name like "Bomb"ay, we were sending out some sort of subliminal message. Well, now Bombay is "Mum"bai, but the state of the roads are reducing the chances of a successful pregnancy. So what do we change it to now? Coz apparently changing the names of cities/roads/localities is the governments idea of a panacea for all that ails Bombay (and India actually)
It's been raining non-stop for almost 3 days now and it's made me criminally lazy :P. All I do all day long is look out the window and drink masala tea. I'm too lazy to write, so I'll just post pictures today. These pictures were taken by KR, the photo journalist. This collection is titled "Beautiful Bombay". If it makes it to a gallery, remember you saw them here first! Thanks for the shots KR. :)
This is the David Sassoon Library located in the heart of the city, at Kala Ghoda. Read more about it here
Kala Ghoda square
This is a shot of Marine Drive. It is uncharacteristically uncrowded (ooh pretty alliteration!! :) ) I think this pic shows off the Bombay skyline beautifully.
This is a picture of the Reserve Bank of India, which is India's central bank. The structure on the left is the old building and the structure on the right is the new one. It was under construction when this was shot, hence the sack-cloth covering the side.
I couldn't believe it until I saw it. There are actually some birds LEFT in Bombay. How cool is that.
Remember a few weeks ago, I spoke about how terrible the roads are in Mumbai?? Well, there is a very sad update. Someone from the medical fraternity carried out a survey and apparently the sharp increase in spontaneous involuntary abortions in the city is due to the bad state of the roads!! :O :(
The roads are in such a bad state that it is harmful to the foetus and other people are now complaining of bad-road-related ailments like spondylitis and back-ache.Nothing more to say, it's too depressing, so I'll just leave you with some pictures. Remember that these pictures haven't been doctored and are the ACTUAL roads in various parts of Mumbai.
The Maharashtra State Government just declared that due to the power crisis, they are resorting to load shedding. So the whole of Maharashtra will not have electricity for 40 (yes, FORTY!!) hours a week! If this continues, we will see a massive outflow of foreign investment, since other places like China or the Phillipines offer the same cost advantage with MUCH better business continuity infrastructure. That sucks big time. :(
We seem to be regressing to the time where the whole of India ran by the light of a kerosene lamp. And with the price of fuel, I don't think we could afford even that!! So maybe now we will all have to go to bed at sunset (like they do in the villages).
And to think that the Opposition is actually against setting up civilian nuclear power stations to alleviate the electricity crisis that India is going through. Maybe they aren't really opposing it, maybe they are just opposing the fact that this didn't come through when they were in power and they can't take credit for it. Hmmm......I maybe on to something eh?
It's been raining non-stop here for the fast couple of days after a disturbingly dry couple of weeks in July. Rain makes me all nostalgic (unless I have to travel, then I just get swicked out). For the past five years, rain compulsarily meant bunking lectures and going for a walk at Marine Drive sans umbrellas or wind-cheaters.
I'm sure we must've looked retarded.....three 21-year olds soaked to the bone, hair plastered to their skulls, jumping in every puddle to make a splash, but we didn't care and we had a blast!! We used to even wave at random people sitting in the bus (most of whom, I'm happy to report, smiled and waved back!!Maybe Bombay-ites aren't so jaded after all :P)
After one particular episode, we were so soaked, you could practically wring rain-water from our bones :P :P LOL.
I miss those footloose and fancy free days, sigh. Life got complicated after that and that's the image I hold on to when I'm feeling blue. I wanted to share some pictures of Marine Drive with you, which were taken from the Hilton Towers by Punit. Read more about Marine Drive here
Remember a few days ago I spoke about how we have no social skills to speak of?? Well, I was having dinner at the Bamboo Garden (Mmmm......Thai foooood). A nice family friendly place, excellent food, good prices etc.
Family friendly you say?? I think not. I can ALMOST forgive the waiter for scratching his ear and then looking at what he found in there.
But I cannot forgive a 50-plus "decent" looking man, who took out his....well.....his male plumbing and jacked off under the table across from us. All this before the appetizers.
Ewww!! Get a room. Thankfully the management threw him out faster than we could complain. He actually walked out with his stuff hanging out!! :O :O :O The Bamboo Garden indeed!
Fifth marriage to a second husband. Rebirths. Personality altering plastic surgery. Extreme "sacrifices" in the name of family. Sigh, don't even get me started on the glycerine :P
I know that the "K serials" genre has a wide audience, but that is all.that.is.showing.all.the.time. I see no light humour like "Friends" in Hindi serials or intelligent humour like "Frasier". Hell, I'd even lower my standards and settle for a teen drama like The O.C (without the anorexic with an attitude).
But No!! All that's showing is cry, cry, cry. The more the protagonist cries the higher the TRPs :O. Television is an escape from reality. It's very disturbing when people are subjecting themselves, en masse, to crying for utterly foolish situations which have no basis in reality. Maybe the writers of these shows are the ones who need a personality transplant :P
If I really want a taste of dysfunctional, I'd switch off the telly and go spend time with my family. As they say, my family puts the "fun" in dys"fun"ctional!! My life has an awesome cast of characters, but unfortunately not one of them knows the plot. But I assure you, its a helluva lot more interesting and a hellava lot less tragic than the current bunch of Hindi serials.
The Taj Mahal Hotel is located in Colaba, opposite the Gateway of India. Built by Jehangir Tata, this magnificient hotel costed Rs. 4.2 crore to build (which will now fetch you a smallish 650 sq ft one bedroom apartment in the same area!). This picture was taken from a ferry to Alibaug (a small holiday island off the coast of Bombay)
In the days of the Raj, the Watson Hotel (for those of you who know it, is now the crumbling Esplanade Mansion) was the swankiest, ritziest place in town. It was the first place to screen a movie in India, and it had a sign out front that said "Indians and Dogs not Allowed". This prompted Mr. Tata to not only build a hotel which blew the Watson out of the water, but also allowed people of all races.
He apparently said that he didn't want to stoop down to the level of the British and wanted to use it as an opportunity to teach them some manners. The front of the hotel is actually the back, which was a deliberate snub on the part of Mr. Tata since he wanted to signify that he was turning his back on the royalty which arrived from Britain through the Gateway of India. (Read more about it here. Pictures courtesy Punit Joshi, check out his blog)
My mother was horrified beyond words that the UPA government won the Trust Vote. On the verge of tears actually. After the speaker announced that the "ayes" had won, my mother turned to me and said" Oh dear so that means that all of the people in the villages will die now??"
Huh?
On further prodding it came to light that she thought the current government wanted to buy nuclear power from USA (or new-cu-lar power according to Bushy George) so that they could ELECTROCUTE the villages of India :O :O
No mamma, not electrocute, ELECTRIFY!! Sheesh Woman! Seriously. I think someday I might die because of my mom......Die laughing that is...:P :D
I have no idea what it stands for. Just saw it on the news.
Apparently they (BJD, BSP, Communist party etc) plan to have a nationwide bandh (and we know how violent and economically destructive those can be). They tout themselves as being better than the UPA and the NDA put together. If they succeed Mayawati will be the next PM. 'Nuff said.
These people are like children. If the trust vote does not go their way, they will use brute force to get what they want. The future looks perilous again. I'm going back to my underground lair. Don't bother coming for me unless the Congress is firmly back on track.
Somehow, I will have to get through all of these political/economic upheavals. Maybe the image of Somnath Chatterjee (the speaker of the house) picking his noise while parliament was in session will cheer me up/gross me out :P :P hahahahah..........yeah there it is.........heheheeh
Someone I was talking to yesterday expressed surprise over my more than apparent excitement/apprehension/absolute tension over the political drama yesterday. When I thought about it, I realised they were right!! I am not a political person, but yesterday I was looking on at the proceedings through a purely economic perspective.
Though India is being lauded for its growth and is the new "it" place, in all honesty our ascendancy has just begun. We have a long way to go........a looooooong way. We are about 75 years behind the West in terms of economics and infrastructure and about 200 years behind them in civic consiousness and social skills. Its nothing to be ashamed about, but you can't use the British Raj as an excuse for being counted among the Third World forever. There comes a time when you not only have to pick up the pieces and move on, but aim to walk shoulder to shoulder.
With the UPA and the current leadership... we have a chance. With leaders like Dr. Manmohan Singh and Chidambaram, Sonia Gandhi and Kapil Sibal, we have at the helm leaders with conviction and integrity and a razor sharp mind to boot. They use this mind to electrify villages, boost commerce etc and not scheme and plot and hurl the country into a civil war (which almost happened after the Babri Masjid tragedy).
On a side note, I am a new convert to the "I love Laloo Prasad" fanclub. Yes he is an uneducated boor, who interrupts reporters to spit out his paan. Yes, he is a conman and has cheated the country out of millions and has hair growing out of his years. (Wait where was I going with this). Oh yeah!! His speech yesterday, was hands down, the funniest, wittiest, most sardonic hard-hitting piece of oratory I have heard in a long time!!! Bravo! He used the "meethi churi" approach, he cut his opponents to size and was sweet at the same time. I also like Rahul Gandhi's and Chidambarams speech and only wish the PM was given the opportunity to speak. Ah!!! I CANNOT stop raving over what happened yesterday.
And considering this is MY blog and I have all the freedom to do as I wish, I do not plan to stop raving about it anytime soon. :P :P So there!!
......and all's right with the world (Well, all's right with India atleast as of 8.30 pm IST last night)
For those of you who have been living under a rock, there was a hostile move to topple the government and there was a trust vote in the Lower Parliament. The NDA (which consists of the BJP, RSS, Shiv Sena etc etc) tried to topple the current UPA government lead by Dr. Manmohan Singh (Congress). And they failed miserably **said with unabashed glee!**.
The scene played out like a movie with accusations of abductions and bribery, heckling, defections, of surreptitious back-stabbing and thinly veiled put downs and I felt like I was part of history by watching it! This decision is an epoch in the future of India. Long live Congress!!!
Will tell you why later.....
......or so they say. Then how come all I want to do right now is crawl into a hole and die??
Got an awful bout of food poisoning. And the irony is that I probably got it from a batch of apples I ate the other day. Poison apples and no step-mother in sight....what is up with the world these days??
Anyway, will post once I'm back on my feet (and not running to and fro, back and forth, to and fro if you know what I mean :P). Got a load of interesting stuff to tell ya!!
Till then!
I got my exam results today (Banking Masters) and I'm over the moon. Well, sort of, kind of.....I got waaaay more than I expected, but waaaaay less than I wanted, so.....:P. Sigh, being smart is so awesome!!! In yo face sucker!!! And the kicker is I didn't have to work hard at all. Now, if only I could sail through all the areas of my life with such ease LOL!! Time for a dinner reservation at China Garden! :D
On a side note, what's up with the crazy college cut-offs in Bombay? 93% in NM College, 90% in HR College (the college where I did my bachelors from). Friends of mine who scored freakishly well on their CET (State MBA entrance exams) are only getting admissions in B Grade colleges. What is up with the world when even scoring a 90 isn't enough??? I blame reservations!!
After reserving seats for OBC,SC,ST,ABC and XYZ, there are almost NO seats left for students who are counting on a seat based on merit. The cut-offs for the reserved category is sometimes as low as 45% when the open category is 90%!!
I shudder to think of the mental disparity that will arise in classrooms across the country. A move that was made to remove any lingering discrimination will only exacerbate the situation and divide the country further by fostering feelings of resentment towards the people who have got in on a quota.
How strange it is that more foreign students are coming to India to study, but in a few years Indian students will not get admissions due to a combination of high cut-offs and reservations and will have to go abroad.
Sigh. Sometimes I feel like the world is spinning out of control. I need some ice-cream. :(
I couldn't let the veg vs. non-veg debate die down without this absolute gem from a close friend of mine. I know I'm posting without express permission but I know I can wheedle her into it. So here goes. It's a little dark and twisty, so pay close attention.
REASONS WHY BEING A NON-VEGETARIAN IS GOOD FOR THE ENVIRONMENT:
- Plants take in carbon dioxide and give out oxygen.
-Animals take in oxygen and give out carbon dioxide.
- Animals eat plants.
-So by eating animals, we are not only ensuring a higher supply of oxygen, but are also conserving plants. In addition, we are conserving grains (which chickens and stuff eat) for human consumption.
So There!!
Brilliant isn't it.
It's true. Real Girls Like Meat.
And now apparently, I'm being an environmentally conscious one also :P
India's nuclear stations are running at 50% capacity and if/when the nuke deal comes through, we will have the advantage of non-combat "nu-cu-lar" power.
The main objection raised by the left (which is now more of the opposition than the ally) is that this will hurt India's relationship with China. While getting red in the face denouncing the proposed nuke deal, Mr Karat gives no cogent reasons and is basically like a stubborn child who wants what he wants without logic or reason.
Ok time for evaluation:
- China attacked us once and won't hesitate to do it again
- They are in cohoots with Pakistan and openly supply them with arms to use against us
-They are encroaching on our land and now claim that Arunachal Pradesh belongs to them
-They sell us lead laden (oohh pretty alliteration) toys and poison our children
- They threaten us if we speak up again the heartless way they treat the tibetans.
-They are copying Bangalore and Hyderabad and in their own words say that they want to copy the IT parks, excel and then push us out of the picture.
Awesome isn't it. With friends like these who needs enemies. And here I was thinking the Left was working towards the common GOOD of the people. Well, in a way they are. But it's the people in China they are bothered about, not India. Anyone willing to sponsor a one-way ticket to China for Mr KaLat??
Now that I'm on the topic of eating habits, I think this is the right time and place for me to vent my vexations on the condescending lot that call themselves "vegetarians" (Note: I don't hate all vegetarians, just the condescending ones :P :P).
Where in the world has it been conclusively proven that vegetarians are smarter/more spiritual/greater human beings than us lowly non-vegetarians. How come they get to look down on us when WE are the ones higher up on the food chain. I'd prefer to be a tigeress over a cud chewing cow anyday. When there is a famine, who do you think will die first?? bah!!
I swear the next time I come across this species I'm going to say," sheeeeee VEGETABLES??? *insert barf noises*" and then launch myself into a lengthy diatribe about the advantages of eating non-veg food. Sheesh!! Or better yet say that since chickens are vegetarians and I eat chicken, I am also vegetarians. That should throw their grass fed brains for a loop. (My I'm feeling particularly vindictive today, aren't I?)
Give me the hypocrites who don't even eat garlic in their own homes and eat chicken in mine anyday! :P And just fyi, you can't say that you're a vegetarian and still eat egg. Ijit!
.....that's approximately how much I ate over my birthday weekend. (How conveniently I hid my emotional eating under the garb of festivity).
Anyway, I was getting sick of eating the same animals over and over again, so I thought I'd throw my metabolism for a loop and go veg for a whole day (Monday 7th July).
The day started off with a vegetarian omlette (crazy right??). Well this is basically flour (which pretends to be an egg and fails miserably) mixed with your usual onions, tomatoes etc. And let me just say that it is the mostest dry-est thing in the world I have ever eaten. Like chewing on cardboard. Seriously!!
But I kept the faith and blundered on. Lunch was at "Rajdhani" which is supposed to be this hip veggie place where you get gujju/rajasthani food. In light of my sketchy past with gujju food and gujjus in particular I should have steered clear of this place, but I guess I'm just a glutton for punishment. Overpriced, contrived, bland to the point of being a criminal offense, overcrowded.....did I mention overpriced???Bah! Never going there again....
But dinner was good. My first excellent vegetarian meal. Wait.....Veg Ramen Noodles counts as a vegetarian meal right???
I'm not normal. I may even be a bit loopy. Or so I've been told by a disconcertingly large amount of people. And all these brick bats have been piled upon lil ol me coz of a stupid birthday.
OK, I'll admit it;
I, Bombay Diva, hereby officially state, that I hate birthdays in general and I hate MY birthday with a vengence.
I don’t know if it’s the smarmy joes who crawl out of the woodwork once a year and then insist on a party, or the attention I get or the sugar high, but the 6th of July is my least favourite day of the year (31st of December comes a close second).
Now don’t get me wrong, I’d be miffed if the people I loved didn’t acknowledge the day, but seriously, is it really necessary to make such a huge hullabaloo out of the whole shindig?? I mean, let’s back up a little and evaluate here. We’re celebrating being a year older or in other terms, being a year closer to the grave. Yeah. Right. Woo Hoo. Partay!! :P :P
I think this year my cousins really threw me for a loop, one forgot to call (Boo!But she's the south end of a north bound mule anyhoo), one called the next day, one called and I couldn’t answer (long story), one called my friend and asked her to pass on the message to me coz we aren’t officially talking (even longer story). I think I may know why I’m this loopy. GENES!!!
Even though I may seem like a disappearing act most of the time, I assure you that I'm mentally stable (most of the time). But rejoice all ye readers of my blog (yes all 4 of you lol), because the Bombay Diva is alive and well and raring to go.
Well, actually there was nothing "wrong" with me in the first place except for the fact that I was sucked into the swirling vortex of my self-induced depression. Yes, I know, my life is all sunshine and daffodils, and lollipops and unicorns, but I guess if you look hard enough you'll always find things to be melancholy about and the dismal state of the stock markets isn't helping either.
For those of you not in the loop, I was accosted by my 22nd birthday on the 6th of July. I say accosted because I don't enjoy birthdays and on the 1st of july every year, I'm on panic mode.(This merits a whole post).
But suffice to say, I'm back and I expect all 4 of you to read my posts regularly (ok ok I lied, only 3 people read my blog..........if you count me too :P :P :P)
Under my Umberella-ella-ella-eh-eh-eh!!
Tuesday, July 1, 2008 | Labels: Just for laughs, political rantsSo after the flash floods last year (or was it the year before last), the BMC started sending out sms-es to the citizens, to warn them of the possibility of floods.
The funniest part of all this is that so far, every time I have got the message of impending doom, the weather has been all sunshine and blue skies!!! Lol.
It's come to a point where if you get an sms from the Municipal Commissioner about a flood threat, you can safely go outside without an umbrella (ella ella! eh eh eh! zomg, I'm so sick of this song and I hate Rihanna!!!)
Somehow, I'm not surprised!! :) Go BMC! (No seriously BMC, go away, far far away)
Update: As of right now (1st July 2008, IST 12.33pm), Bombay is wading in ankle/knee deep waters. Trains are not running, collosal traffic jams on all the major junctions, schools are shut. No BMC msg/bulletin though. :P Why am I not surprised???
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