Bombai nagariya....

It has been a unique experience living in Mumbai (not that I am moving out, yet). It just struck me today that a lot of things that used to strike me as weird or convoluted actually make sense to me and some I can even relate to. Blame it on the dichotomy that living in Mumbai is. So, I compiled a list. Care to add to this?

Prior to Mumbai I never:

• felt the need for a locker in office. I fought to get one once I joined here. You do need a place to stash your just-in-case clothes for a sleepover at someone’s in the event of a riot/flood/rain/train strike/what-have-yous.
  
• wore flip-flops/sturdy shoes to office only to switch into my heels the minute I opened my locker. One twisted ankle and dozens of ladies scoring my feet with their heels have made me give up my heels on my way to and fro from office. That and the state of my both feet and high heels after a week of daily abuse on Mumbai streets and trains.
  
• understood the dark portends of 'too much rain'.
  
• realized how lucky I was to have two days off as the weekend.
  
• knew the existence and, indeed, the need of weekend getaways.
  
• realized how easy it is to take for granted the impromptu meet-ups with friends - you know, the 'hello-are-you-doing-nothing-right-now-too-?-then-lets-meet-up kind. It makes such a difference when say, friend lives in Mulund, you in Andheri and the place that you both really check out is in South Bombay.
  
• felt like a tiny, insignificant spec in the mind-boggling human mass that inhabits the earth.
  
• understood the grit it takes to wake up every morning, make the 2 hour commute to work, slog, commute back home in 2 hours, eat, watch telly for half an hour, sleep and get up to do this ad infinitum all the while fighting for a toehold on the train that takes you to the tiny box that you call office and back.
  
• lived in a city that is so awake all the time! Bangalore was a snooze fest. Pune was awesome but nowadays is only marginally better than Bangalore. In Mumbai, however, I don't get weirded out traveling alone even at 11. There are traffic jams here at 11 at night, for God's sake!
  
• understood the true meaning of customer service. Pune has its siestas, Bangalore its I-don't-need-your-business-but-since-you-are-in-my-shop-what-the-heck-ness, and Mumbai its home-delivery boys even for a humble kiraana shop which is open till 10. Even the fruit and vegetable vendors shut shop only after 11. I realize this is due the late hours the residents have to keep, but, seriously!!
  
• seen class differences blur like they do in Mumbai when it pours.
  
• seen total strangers bond over cheap baubles or an irate commuter like they do on Mumbai local trains.
  
• understood what a difference it makes to take a local train 3 minutes later than the usual one.
  
• realized how the mounds of garbage and filth that one passes by everyday, slowly become invisible.
  
• could comprehend how the can't-afford-to-stop-to-get-involved attitude lasts most of the year and suddenly transitions into helping hands during the monsoon.
  
• sympathized with Bombayites who complained that they found other cities boring. Am hoping that this 'boring/itchy' phase lasts only a short time when I move out of here.
  
• realized that people actually meant it when they said they were jealous of my one person cubicle. Ironically, I still have a one person cubicle. Yep, in Mumbai.
  
• could come to terms with how anyone could justify that changing trains, taking the foot-over (train tracks) bridges and catching the bus on the run is exercise.
  
• realized that when they claim to love of Mumbai in spite of everything they do/face, Mumbaikars mean it.

PS: My dream city (the city I want to settle down in) still remains Pune. It’s the city where I spent the first few heady years after college. Sigh. But, won’t embellish on Pune in this post; this one is about Mumbai.

Pic source.

Tag: Doormat

Tagged by Sudhir (quite some time ago! Sorry dude, what can I say? I have a Star(t)in Problem ;) ) But once I started, well, I couldn't restrict myself to one answer, and had quite some fun!
Okie, then. Here is the tag.I was supposed to: Cleverly answer these questions, using only song *titles* from one artist.


Pick a band/artist:
Gwen Stefani

1. Are you a male or female:
Just a girl / Orange County Girl

2. Describe yourself:
Doormat / Artificial Sweetener

3. How do you feel about yourself:
Sad for me / Blue in the face

4. Describe your ex boyfriend/girlfriend:
Sweet escape / Spiderweb

5. Describe your current boy/girl situation:
Doghouse / Home now / The real thing

6. Describe your current location:
Trapped in a box / Six feet under / Sinking

7. Describe where you want to be:
Greener pastures / Sundays Morning

9. Your favorite color is:
Fluorescent / Dark blue

10. You know that:
Magic's in the makeup / You started it

11. What’s the weather like:
Stricken / A little something refreshing / Cool

12. If your life was a television show what would it be called:
Suspension without suspense / Tragic kingdom

13. What is life to you:
Brand new days / Get on the ball / Comforting Lie

14. What is the best advice you have to give:
Keep on dancin' / Don't get it twisted

15. If you could change your name what would you change it to:
Hella Good / Paulina

I now tag Sri, Tanu and Veda. Am sure they are going to do a better job at this than me ;)

Chai time

Wow.. 50th post! Yea!! Well, you would be happy too if you were the lazy, snoozy-all-the-time, compulsive-procrastinator that I am. For me, 50 posts in half as many months is nothing short of a miracle! So, am going to dedicate this post to the thing that is actually helping me write this - chai. Tea is one of my (long list of) vices and it is something I reach for in happy, sad, moody, sleepy and depressing times. Was watching Vir Sanghvi on Discovery Travel and Living channel last night, and he was on his own tea pilgrimage. He called the CTC (usual chai) that we Indians consume with such gusto - industry-strength tea. Chai is chai for me in any form - industry strength with milk boiled for minutes on end or the tea leaves steeped only in water with honey variety, I love it. There used to be a time, when in Bangalore, I was addicted to it.

This particular pic reminded me of tea and bun maska at the Irani cafe Good Luck in Pune. Don't you just love biscuits with tea?

Anyway, here are some bloggers who love chai so much that they blog about it exclusively!!
Chai pilgrimage THE site for chai lovers.
Archana posts photos of her cups of chai regularly. She is the fabulous blogger who finds time to update the four blogs she writes (including the great design blog Rang Decor).
Tea Blog is a one-of a kind project that I really love. Check it out.
Insani Tea - reviews galore.
Art and Tea - the name says it all.
Tea Pages is a blog that has a little bit of everything: tea, tea reviews and personal musings!
Another Tea Blog - don't be fooled by the name, the pics and the content are really good.
Love for Teas - again, the name says it all.
Tea escapade is another great blog about tea you could go to for reading about the different kinds of tea and how the author likes them!

Oooh and don't forget to check this out: Chai Time chais on sale at your Good Earth stores. Tapri chai, Railway platform chai, Dhaba chai all vie for attention among various types of single origin, masala and organic chai. Wow...

List: Sites to dawdle on

Here are some sites you might like to dawdle on in office fighting off the zzzs. Some are good enough to while away time on even when you have work!! ;)

• Youniverse [Personality quizzes awesome]
  
• Oneplusyou [Stuff for sheer boredom.. You might get addicted]
  
• Snowdays [Create your own snowflake]
  
• Wordle [Create your own word cloud. Fun.]
  
• Picassohead [Create portraits]
  
• Fake or foto [Survey - Is the pic fake or a photo?]
  
• Smile or fake [Survey - Is the smile real or fake?]
  
• Left or right brained? [Find out which side of the brain you use most]
  

If you have a pic of yourself, you could got to:

• Yearbook yourself [Yearbook yourself]
  
• Museum [Put your pic in an art museum]
  
• Makeover [Upload a pic and have fun trying out different hairstyles]
  
• Makeover 2 [Upload pic and try on different hairstyles]
  
• Polaroid Collage [Create a collage of polaroids from one pic]
  

If you want an avatar, try any of these:

• AvatarMaker
  
• Portrait via email
  
• WeeWorld
  
• BeFunky
  
• MeezAvatar [The best avatar maker around...]
  
• RocketOn
  

These are some of the avatars I tried. Most of these are fun.






If you want to download some e-books you could go to these:

• Esnips
  
• 4shared
  
• Scribd
  
• Demonoid [If someone has a login to this site, please let me know.. every time i try to download from a torrent, the server is full and am unable to register since like eons!!]
  

This makes me think.. Maybe a separate blog for lists? What say?

Diwali sweets should mean chocolates!!

Hope you guys had a great Diwali. Spent this Diwali in Bangalore and performed the one ritual that I love. I make it a point to do it every time I go to Bangalore and used to do it every month I lived in Bangalore. It all stems from my chocoholism that has got me as a willing victim since I was in school. You really can't help but become one when your mum is a teacher and brings home chocolates of whichever bratty's kid's birthday it was. Back then, I used to identify the kid with not his exam essay (which mom used to force me to read) but which chocolate he/she tried to impress me (yup, not mum, me) with ;)
Two decades later and about as many visits to the dentists, I am still chasing and living a chocoholics dream, in spite of the burgeoning waistline.
Being in such a chocolaty mood, here are the best chocolate stuff you can gorge on in the cities that I have lived in. Not too long a list, as I wanted to pen down the best that I have had...

The Chocolate Bomb (also called the Lava bomb): Little Italy, Mumbai/Pune/Bangalore: This is exactly what they say it: a bomb. A jab with the fork is all it takes to set it off. The hot molten chocolate inside is yummy. There was this place in Lokhandwala called Cocco's that had the whole menu comprising of, yep, cocoa and nothing else. The Choco bomb there was superlative. Why did it shut down, why??

Dark Temptation: Barista Outlets: This is a temptation for me every time I go there for coffee. Comprising of a decadent chocolate pastry, chocolate sauce, vanilla ice cream and whipped cream. Some outlets serve the pastry too hot and gooey while some serve it stone cold. The outlets at Oshiwara, MG road Bangalore and the erstwhile outlet at Koregaon Park Pune are the places that get it right always.

Double Trouble: Mad Over Donuts, Oberoi Mall, Mumbai: Yup, its a donut. Though once you bite into one, you can see how its more like a flimsy cover holding all the chocolate! Be warned, its pretty messy to eat this one. This donut comes without a hole as the top is layered with milk chocolate and the donut is stuffed with molten dark chocolate. One of the yummiest and strangest of all places to satiate you choco-cravings.

Death By Chocolate: The Corner House, All Bangalore Outlets: Yes, I know its a ice-cream place. But do you know that this dessert is something that I cannot finish the large size of? Yes, its a huge deal!!! Anyway, this baby has chocolate ice-cream, chocolate brownie, chocolate sauce, vanilla ice-cream and whipped cream with nuts. It comes in junior and large sizes and trust you me, its a meal in itself irrespective of the potion size.

Chocolate Avalanche: Mocha Outlets: Ingredients of this most decadent dessert are chocolate ice cream with chocolate mousse, chocolate sauce, chocolate brownie AND pieces of chocolate! Yes, that is a whole lot of chocolate and it ain't for the faint-stomached or for someone who is watching the waistline (yes, i am, but not while eating this kinda stuff!!)

Will keep adding to this list whenever I find a culinary choco feast that matches any of these. Till then, happy gorging...

Oh, and wouldn't it be great if people actually started buying into the whole gifting chocolates for Diwali instead of the over-sweet (yes, there is such a thing) milky sweets. Make a note all ye who have the fortune of meeting me the next Diwali.

A belated Earth Day post

Warning – long, preachy kinda post. Actually, it’s a list of all that you, as an individual can do to lessen your carbon footprint and in the process save some money too. If one of your resolutions this year was adopting ways that would be more environmental-friendly (and if its not, well, it should be) then here are some pointers on how to go about it. Some of these I had started ages back and some are newly discovered ones. Hope this helps and hey if you know of any more – let me know….


1. Repeat after me: I will not buy a bulb ever again. A humble bulb, you say??? Duh, haven't been reading up on your resolution, have you? Ok, remedy: Google. Duh! Or goto BanTheBulb and sign their petition. And please don't end it at that, replace every bulb in your house, yes, including the one in your bathroom with a CFL. Yes, I know it costs more than a bulb does. But your electricity bill drops, so, it’s a great tradeoff.

2. Don't buy more paper than you can grow. This one is assuming that you do your bit, at least once a year, by planting at least 2-4 trees. You don’t? Well, I guess you know what I have to say to that. Get off your fat bottom and do it!! Oh, and there is environmental-friendly paper out there. There is a factory in Delhi that makes paper from elephant dung. No, I kid you not. Check it out, its called the elephant poo paper. Hey, don't snigger!! At least, someone is trying to make up for the crap you dole out in kilos every day.

3. In a city like Mumbai or Delhi, traveling by your own car is a luxury that you get addicted to before you can say 'Duh'. The public transport in both these cities, long distance at least, is good. No, I am not saying try to get into a over-crowded local train. That extreme is for morons like me ;). You guys can start out small by sharing a rickshaw (even if it is an LPG one), car pooling, making sure that you absolutely can't take the time to travel by train before choosing a airplane and small things like that. Yes, I know, it requires a little patience to wait for the eternally late guy to clamber into the car pool, but hey, you can do that much!! Compare that to the stress of driving yourself to work every day: exactly, the aggravating guy is peanuts!!

4. In Mumbai, there is a ban on handing out veggies and other supermarket stuff in plastic bags of a certain type. The other grade ones are expensive and not cost effective for the vegetable vendors and so they refuse to hand out plastics. They would rather you don't buy veggies from them than run the risk of incurring a huge fine. Yea!!! Please, oh please, invest in cloth bags. If you try, you will find nice looking ones too!!

5. Another way of reducing paper usage/wastage: gift wrapping paper. I feel very strongly about this – ever since my wedding. The amount of plastic and paper wrapping we had to discard was horrifying. Remedy: buy bright cheap cloth from your friendly wholesale guy the next time you go into town and use these for wrapping. They are reusable, washable and (here is the kicker) makes your gift stand out among the paper and plastic ones. Plus, when you hand the gift, it makes a great impression and you can tell them to pass the wrapping on.

6. Restrict yourself to a bucket of water for your bath or a five minute shower every weekday. This not only saves lots of water and time, it also makes your weekend baths a relaxing, luxurious affair.

7. Summer: open your windows to let in the sun and the wind. You won't require the fan or AC. Open your windows in the winter as well. A closed house is a cold house. Monsoons: Open your windows. The dull, damp feeling will vanish as soon as the wind brings in the smell of the wet earth. Grab that cup of tea and relax.

8. Don't leave the tv/dvd player/computer/set-top box in sleep mode. You are not using it, right? Switch off the mains as well. Yes, this does make a difference.

9. There is nothing different in a can of cola that the glass bottle doesn't have. Cool factor, you say?? Not only are you adding sugar to your bloodstream, you are adding to the non-biodegradable waste. And all for looking cool?? Sorry, the logic escapes me.

10. Use products that have the least packaging. Could you really tell the difference, between small bites of say, a Perk or a Kit-Kat?? I can't. So, every time, I feel like having either, I go for a Perk. It has only one layer of wrapping. Need I say more?

11. It is not going to be long (it’s already started actually) before buying stuff from companies that are famous for its environment-friendly procedures is actually fashionable and the norm. No, it’s not impractical. It’s along the same lines as not buying a product that has been tested on animals. Simple.

12. Another way to reduce your paper consumption. Talk to your bank, credit card and mobile service providers and tell them that you would prefer an e-bill to an actual hard copy. Almost every bank and mobile service provider has the facility of an e-bill and they will gladly process your request. It’s easier for them too, see.

13. Coffee break at office?? Try not to use the dreaded styrofoam cup or the disposable plastic one either. Your desk will look better if you keep a nice stone/china mug on it. Use it for you coffee and rinse it with plain water afterwards. The office boy will wash it for you if you want. Or else, talk to your office canteen/mess guy and talk him into washing your mug with the rest of his stuff.

14. If you live in a metro, the you can Recycle, recycle, recycle.

15. Live in an eternally sunny city? Rejoice: a solar water heater will reduce your power bill by half. Yes, the electric water heater is a power sucker!!

16. End of the post near. Whenever you leave your desk, after you press Ctrl+Alt+Del, do switch off the monitor. You will be amazed at how much power is saved if you do this everyday during your lunch and coffee breaks. At the end of the day, after shutting down your computer, turn off the main switch or your monitor will be on standby. (Hadn't realised this, had you?)

That’s it for now. Will add to this list, whenever I think of any more. Till then, do you know of more ways to save electricity, petrol or water?