klackty klack & all the blah blah

Every weekend I board the (in)famous Mumbai local train to get to my class all the way in South Mumbai from the suburbs. Having stayed away for about 5 years, I thought getting used to the local train again would be as painful as it is for any newbie trying it out. Turns out, I was happily mistaken. Yes the crowds are much larger and there is no real difference between peak and non peak hours. On my first ride (after 2 years easy), I did have to look around a bit to figure where the bunch of women were waiting - indicating that's where the ladies compartment of the train stops. As the train approaches, the tension increases. People are still hanging by the footboard and travelling. The crowd on the platform surges forward, pulling me along with them. I sway with this wave of women, dragging my bag with me to enter that 2nd class compartment. I am in .. Safe ... and what do you know, my bag is entangled on the doorway pole. A 5 second struggle follows, with the women standing around and thoroughly amused. Needless to add, noone helps.

One of the ironies I have always wondered about is the joy of standing on footboard when there is space to stand inside the compartment and sometimes a place to sit. I quietly settle at the corner of a regular train bench already occupied by 3 women. I get no dirty looks; its normal - with no regard to the size of the women, their bags or the bench there's always room for a fourth (or ninth in case of the longer bench). I pull out my iPod and plug my ears with the sounds of Pitbull; I assume it will let my mind drift and not bother about what is happening around me. Sadly mistaken !!! The volume of my iPod cannot overpower the sound of 4 women chatting around me. The topic on the floor was the great woes of the household with special focus on the saasuma (aka Saasuji, Saans & mother in law). As my music is drowned by stories of how one women is tired of only making aloo sabji coz that's what the saasumaa wants everyday, the other interjects and dismisses the story as regular..."that's nothing to complain about... meri saans toh daayan hai"; As the story telling session begins, out comes a pack of fruits and a knife - a snack is needed. We go past Bandra station n I am a silent listener, intrigued by the story of the daayan mother in law; the one who is feeding her grand child chocolates after every meal, making it a bad habit for the child, who pretends to fall sick every third day and blames it on the daughter in law's (aka our narrator's) cooking . I get to know how the husband prefers coming home late rather than being party to these arguments in the house. By this time, the arguments take a different course. This is the time the saans and bahu of the reel life (read TV soaps) take center stage in our narrator's home. The arguments turn to defending the behaviours of their on screen counterparts ".. aaj kal ki bahu; koi izzat nahi hai"... The other women in the group nod and agree with their friend - it seems the scene is the same in every household. Their admiration of the TV soaps depicting their real life story is evident and definitely amusing.

It is now about 30 minutes later and I can see the train pulling into Churchgate. The remaining fruit is packed up along with the knife and put away in the bag. The women adjust their sarees and pick up their belongings. As the train stops, they disperse, probably meeting next on their way back home. As for me, I zigzag between the crowd and rush to class; awaiting my ride back and all the stories that come with it.

Dus ka tees !!!

Some of my earliest memories of going to the movies was at the good ol' single screen theaters. Those were the times before the dawn of the multiplex theaters. At the time, our movie outings usually happened in town. Town is what we Mumbaikars call south Mumbai. Sterling cinema I remember was oh soo cool. My first few English movies (as far as i remember) as a child - Home Alone, Jurassic Park, Free Willy etc. Sterling cinema was also,a t the time one of the the only cinema houses in Mumbai with Dolby Digital sound system. Fancy, ehh !!!

The single screen theater charm is hard to resist. It gave people the complete movie going experience. We would experience the movie as the film maker intended for us to. Of course back then there was no other choice. No one knew the luxury of multiplexes with their fancy food, super air conditioning and comfy seating. I hear many actors, directors etc still visit single screen theaters on the day of the release to see the reaction of the audience there.

Have you been to a theater where when Aamir Khan is waiting to face that last ball in 'Lagaan'; you see the theater going dead silent in prayer and then rejoicing on the victory like we have been crowned world champions ?? Have you ever been inspired to dance the Salman Khan moves in a theater because half the janta have gotten up and decided to turn it into a dance floor ?? Ever heard the public woot and whistle when the girls in Chakde India beat up that bunch of boys as SRK watches  on ?? I have had some of these experiences and many more. I am sure many would agree and swear by these too. Single screen theaters were a delight for us poor, broke college who wanted to escape the shackles of college lectures. God bless those 10 am shows; 40/ 50 bucks tickets and our day was made. Of course, who can forget those 'black' guys - and I don't mean the race. You know the fellows in the crowds (movies depict them as full on taporis - rem Aamir Khan in Rangeela), the ones who go "dus ka tees", "dus ka tees"... Yeah they were saviours when a show was 'housefull' and you just didn't want to come back another day. Pay a little extra and you not only get the tickets but sometimes they could assure you corner seats.. "corner seat madam, koi nahi dekh sakta"; so much happiness for those couples who are deprived of privacy in this country.

The multiplexes brought in this big wave of change. They exposed us to cleaner theaters, better food, cushy & comfy seats (almost fully reclining seats in some), swanky bathrooms. Yeah, they spoiled us !!! But we all like to sneak back to those long gone memories once in a while. I did, just yesterday.The single screen theaters may be revamped  and a whole lot different from 10/ 12 years ago but the joy of still paying 60 bucks a ticket for the 10 a show ... priceless !!! 

The Gods must be crazy !!!

Man is said to be God's greatest creation. So when I hear this line again and again I wonder if this so called greatest creation needs to have a quality check done before being sent to Earth. With all that is happening around us these days, I wonder about some faulty ones who have made their way through.

Every few months this country sees an incident so gruesome it shakes people out of their slumber. It shakes the very foundation of values we consider human and our faith in humanity is uprooted. The recent rape case in Delhi is the latest to be added to the list of such incidents. I am sure a million blogs have been written on this incident but they way this case has taken the country by storm; it is but impossible to ignore it when you switch on the news, pick up the newspaper or log into twitter.

I have nothing to say on the incident besides the very real fact that it is gruesome. It would only be monsters who are capable of a crime of this brutality. But what astounds me is how or government still won't wake up to the very real fact that these crimes are getting more and more rampant and heinous by the day. Over the weekend, we saw citizens from all over Delhi gathering up and demanding justice. They demanded an audience with the President to appeal for the harshest punishment for the offenders. The angry crowd was obviously not welcome by the police force who badgered them with water cannons and tear gas. Ironically some news reports even mentioned some women in the protesting crowd being molested. Can you imagine the scene, you are shouting for justice to the victim and someone is trying to grab a piece of you !!! The newspapers and websites are covering the stories by the minute. So a few days after the incident when i open a news site to get my update, i see this as the main news article and stories of 4 other rape cases around the country.

I get exasperated when I see the govt's reactions and decisions. There are some comments that say women should not roam around at night Well now that's an idea !! While you are at it, why not put GPS trackers on our feet so you know where we are at all times. The newspapers are filled with different decisions the govt is taking for "women's safety" - making women leave from office at 5 pm; setting up fast track courts, more patrolling of policemen at night time. Yes some are ridiculous changes - so we have to leave work early and focus on getting home safe rather than focusing on the work at hand. But more patrolling, faster actions on such cases etc is a welcome change provided it actually happens. But who is going to change the attitude of men towards women ?? We want to be part of the global leaders, we want to achieve the status of a super power but when the women who constitute nearly 50% of the Indian population has to worry about walking on the street and getting home from work I don't see technology and money helping us in anyway.


I will never understand the psyche of the Indian man; what goes through their damn mind and what will it  take to get them to stop looking at women like objects. Mind you it's not only the illiterate ones who carry this notion; the educated ones are no different. They see girls sitting at the bar alone and having a drink so it is an excuse to comment on their character, the girl is seen smoking and she is assumed to have no reputation. Bars and clubs while trying to bring in the best the west has to offer, also shows m the sick, masochist side of men that is brought out with an intake of alcohol. We are there to have a good time just the way you are. So keep your grubby, dirty fingers off us and back off !!!


Winston Churchill once said "Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference". So aptly said and such a needed change !!!

Au revoir Bengaluru !!!!

Any quintessential Mumbaikar would agree.. it's hard to leave this city behind... Everywhere you go, a part of the city latches itself on to you and shows its sneak peek in everything you do.

Four and a half years in Namma Bengaluru and I was still referred to as 'that Mumbai girl". So when the mother ship called back to me, I came running back. But I had bid adieu to a city I grew to love in the past years. Bengaluru gave some priceless memories, it taught me many many things and most of all, it introduced me to some of the the most beautiful people in the world.

As I started packing, reminiscence was an uninvited guest. I looked around my house, my "bachelor pad" house. That house contained memories of the first meal I ever cooked ( rice and chicken in case you wanna know), my every weekend schedule of cleaning and scrubbing it from top to bottom and how it would get destroyed after any Saturday night party. I remember 3 awesome birthday parties I had there, all my friends who came to celebrate with me and made those nights legendary. My weekend trips to the grocery store; the city taught me to carry 3 heavy shopping bags and still manage to have BBM conversations with my friends as I crossed the road. I pack all these memories in cartons boxes and strollers and bring them with me to Mumbai.

As I complete my last few days at work, I sit around the cafeteria table with the usual 4 30 coffee break with a bunch of fun people. We crib about work, laugh at each others' stories and share details of the interesting characters we come across. Two and a half years of working there and I take back some super friendships, people who were sad to see me leave. The learning from the work place is never just about functional or process knowledge; it is a learning on dealing with different people. People you don't like, people who don't like you, stubborn ones, arrogant ones, ignorant ones, level headed ones, smart ones .. every kind !!! They bid me farewell and say the world is a small place, we shall meet again... Yes we shall !!!

As I pack and load my bags into my cab and head off to the airport, I take one last look at all those places that held dear for these years. The watering hole that I frequented with girl friends to blow off steam after a hard day, the gym I pulled myself and dragged to shed those kilos, that Sunday brunch place which gave me so many memorable times.I will miss complaining about the 11 30 deadlines, the house parties.  I drive down those roads one last time, the roads and directions I had memorized over time.

It's been a pleasure Bengaluru ... 

One small decision

Some of the smallest decisions in life lead to an impact so massive and so beautiful, you wonder how your life would have been without it.

Today as I started a chat on one of my BBM groups, i recalled one of my "small" decisions - the decision in school to choose to learn French as a 4th language. It was learned with immense interest, although we were never taught pronunciation in school (or college for that matter). But the language was learned - the irregular verbs were rote learned, the tenses were written and practiced to perfection and the Larousse Dictionary became a faithful friend. Junior college repeated all that i studied in school - the joy of knowing something even before it was taught, all those days (and nights) spent teaching my friends so they could pass the exams ... unforgettable.

Then came the turning point, in degree college I cranked it up a notch and joined Alliance Francaise. My friend, ST and I made our way to the office and registered wondering which new hell of learning we were pushing ourselves into. Let me tell you, we continued to dwell in that "hell" for the next 3 years. What started off as an after college class turned into an activity we loved and looked forward to every day. The class structure was one you couldn't imagine. The students ranged from college students to a retired college principal to a housewife to a kid just out of school. Everyday between 4 and 6 pm we sat on those wooden benches, leaving behind our own personal lives to battle this new language. No English was allowed so in our broken language and messed up grammar we spoke and understood what the others said. We were fined for speaking in English :S Listening and understanding French with the proper accent was a big part of the class. I don't know about the others in class but when the guy/ girl of the tape would start talking, I would think Daffy Duck was easier to comprehend.Speaking in class was like someone had pinned you in a firing lineup... It was tension to think of the next sentence and what would happen next. But the fear passed and happiness set in.

We became this little bunch that managed to click no matter what the circumstance. We laughed at each other and all of our nonsense pronunciations, the teachers were all characters by themselves and provided enough entertainment to keep the class going. Our class at the end of level one got so close almost all of us signed up for the next class together. The joy of seeing each other after a break of 15 days between two classes overflowed and our happiness and the noise scared the other classmates. One of my first crushes happened there, it came it went ... but yeah its special. We became such a big part of each others' lives there. We were part of one's wedding and said farewell as two among us moved overseas.

Now we are in different parts of the world, some married with kids, some getting married, some living their dream in our common land of dreams; France and some like me who reminisce and write about it. We remember other people from class and talk about incidents like it was yesterday. I just realized its 10 years since I meet my happy bunch. So as we thank technology for letting us stay in touch (our group on BBM says 'almost French devils') we keep each other updated on happenings from around the world. Our latest plan - a trip to the country whose language brought us altogether ... It's about time, don't you think !!!

A Reunion of Sorts !!!

I got to experience my very first reunion recently. It was to quote the name itself a 'Mega Alumni Meet' for all batches of my B school. So there were folks all the way back from batch 1,2,3,4 to the recently graduated folks from batches 14,15,16. The crowd wasn't so large as to suit the name 'Mega' but a fair number of people turned up from my batch and my junior batch. It was more like a reunion for these two batches.

Nostalgia definitely set as i walked into the college. The two years came rolling back into my mind. While we were there we cribbed and cursed and abused and complained and today we reminisce and laugh. The reunion brought me back in touch with those I called batch mates then and had minimal interaction with in college; on that day we shared a drink, shared updates on work and personal life. Everyone is on a different road, some married, some married with kids, some engaged, some shifted careers ... Who knew where we were heading two years now; who knows now ??? My college is not one of the top 10 - I am not that brainy. We did not have the best food, and facilities and probably even faculty; but we made it work. A walk through the hostel got us giggling about the cranky case warden and her eccentricities ( she doesn't work there anymore, praise the Lord), the horror that was the common bathrooms, the nights spent chatting away on the terrace. Our profs made for good stories too, each one with his own crazy qualities and those million classroom stories. As we walked the hall ways and past by the classes, we recalled how we shuddered at that insufferable method of sitting by roll no but that's how we became friends.

Our super juniors should be applauded for all the trouble they took to put this together. It is never easy coordinating any event with 100+ people. Our visit started with a welcome(back) speech by our President. As much as we thought, he was still the very same. I distinctly someone in the crowd remark "so do u guys know the GDP of India now ?? ". Context for all the non XIMEites - our President was obsessed with facts and figures and always asked 'ajeeb' questions - GDP of Finland, total no of engineering graduates in K'taka in a year etc. But he of course came to the agenda straight and mentioned placements. Placements, a gloomy topic in all B schools - how to better it, how to increase it, how was it last year etc.  So the elder children of the college (read alumni) were asked to help the younger children (read the current batch). Was it weird that he was so forthright about it .. No.. i guess its what experience does to you.. You always need t reach out to those currently in the field for assistance.. Joy that he finally realized that.

The rest of the day was fun. One of the highlights was drinking beer openly in the Presidents' backyard ( the lil garden behind the office). How thrilled we were that we were toasting to ourselves and laughing about the secret drinking stories from college times. The visit would n't be complete without a visit to our old rooms (a different one for the two years we were there). The residents were of course different but the feeling was the same. Books strewn all over the bed, table and floor, people lounging around in their PJs; laptops, chargers and USBs on the semi clean to unclean table. Cleanliness is an entity never invited to a hostel room and it continues the same way. As i walked into my rooms; err my former rooms, the familiarity came rushing back - "ohh my bed was there", " arree my table had so many more things", " oh god do u remember how dirty our room was " ... we ensured we visited each of our former rooms, irrespective of whether the current residents were there. We actually did enter an empty room and take pics too :) As the day dawned to an end, some of us also went to our fav eating joints around college ( dog bakery, hot n cool). It was necessary to go and pay our respects. After all, they provided us with what our canteen could not provide - FOOD !!!

It was now time to head back - some to Chennai, some to Hyderabad and some, back to various parts of Bangalore. We bid farewell, knowing not when we shall meet next but happy that this day was an extra memory given by XIME we will always carry along. 

A time to re-discover !!!

As a child watching Beauty & The Beast, I remember Belle while living in the Beast's mansion, was gifted a room full of books. Floor to ceiling lined with beautiful leather bound books, arranged immaculately in a great big sunshine filled room - the image just stuck in my mind and continues to stay with me. The above picture is not from my home, but that is the dream for a home i should own some day.

The reading habit grew on me as a kid when my mother told me stories. I believe she could not keep the schedule of reading night after night and I was always jumping to know what that funny scribbling under the beautiful pictures of my books meant. Reading came easily to me. It started like it would with any other kid; those classic fairy tales, to the 'very very recommended' Amar Chitra Katha', to the joy that was delivered every week with the news paper called 'Tinkle' and to ever popular 'Archies'. I remember sitting cross legged on the bed, a book in one hand and my plate of food in another - needless to say it took me a while to finish my meal. Nothing and noone could distract me during that time - bad light, guests at home and even fatigue. I got my punishment for ignoring bad light - my poor eyesight and the thick glasses. Books were usually a gift for me from very many people and from me to myself too. I sourced them from road side vendors to lavish book stores and even pinched them off other people who kept them but never read ( n no i don't feel bad about it). They were and continue to be my precious possessions and I expect all those who borrow from me to take utmost care.

I feel bad to say the habit slowly started getting left behind once I finished college and entered B school. The TV with all its offerings had managed to take over my mind. Friends, Full House, House, The Big Bang theory, Two n Half men, HIMYM and so many more had suddenly become so interesting. The wait for the new seasons of these TV shows pushed my books further away from me. There was a point of time where apart from my academic books, I refused to look up at any other bounded bunch of papers. 

But old habits die hard and my books fought tooth and nail and crawled back into my life. The credit should go to an online library I discovered while in Mumbai and even after I moved to Bangalore. I thought why not try, one book a month delivered at home and office and picked up is a super system. I pick my list of books online and they deliver one at a time. Oh joy.. yay !! it all came back to me. The feel of the paper in my hands ( I never got accustomed to e-books and the e-readers), the story so well woven to tickle my imagination and transport me to a place far far away. Autobiographies, history, politics, cinema, Indian fiction, self help (to some extent); i don't have any favorite category. Every genre has something to offer, the different views of the author, how I argue those statements in my head, how I am let down by the reality portrayed in life tragedies  the joy I discover when there is a happy ending. My collection of 5-6 books when I first moved to Bangalore has increased to about 30 ( not too big due to lack of space) but there is a new addition every I fly in and out. The airport book stores and Flipkart are my new haunts which add to my collection. 

So now, it is a lazy Saturday afternoon, and the drowsy weather of Bangalore makes a perfect setting for a hot cup of chai (masala, elaichi, adrak, green.. as you would want) and a book... A review you could expect !!! :)