Have you been to Naushad Ali road recently. No, no, not Mohammed Ali Road. Naushad Ali Road.

Chances are you have but never realized it.

In the stupid politician series this is another hallmark.

Residents are angry that the plan to rename Carter Road as Sangeet Samrat Naushad Ali Road was mooted by corporator Kavita Rodricks without consulting them. [link]

The erstwhile Carter Road that has for decades been one of the landmarks of Bombay, has been re-christened Sangeet Samrat Naushad Ali Road.

No offence to Naushad whose music was timeless and amazing, but was there a need to name this prominent road after him. And will changing the name really make any difference.

Did it make a difference to Warden Road or Hill Road? Bhulabhai Desai and Ramdas Naik would say NO.

Will someone tell Kavita Rodricks, Corporator, SP (stupid politician) that she has pushed the envelope of stupidity when it comes to politicians.

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The thing that makes a city interesting is the fact that there could be a surprise waiting for you at any corner. I often think I’m jaded with the proverbial ‘I’ve seen it all’ attitude to things that are supposed to catch my interest. And then I’m proven wrong.

Here’s what I spotted on a late evening in the local train. Orange transparent plastic sandals fastened on with a fat ribbon in a matching hue. How could I not stop and stare?!

Anjani, the owner of those tangy toes (I love aliterations!) works in merchandising a fashion retail business. She was also gracious enough to let me take a photograph for this blog. She isn’t a Mumbaiker (still bothered by the weather and the crowd) but she isn’t new to the city either. But in my mind she represents the colourful panorama of this city, shifting smoothly between outsider, newcomer and seasoned local.

Ooh, the sheer audacity of the design, the spunkiness of the colour..it totally made my otherwise dreary day! Notice the contrast between the shoe and the surroundings - a typical dark-and-dingy platform on a Mumbai railway station.

In fact, now I think I’ll start a section where I report interesting fashion ’spottings’ in the city. (See an earlier sighting here!)Thank you, Anjani, for inspiration and for the colour!

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Let’s talk about you and me
Let’s talk about all the good things
And the bad things that may be
Let’s talk about sex [link]

Remember this song by Salt and Pepa.

This week there has been a mini controversy regarding the way sex education is taught in schools. I always thought that it was taught (at least to me) with too much emphasis on the biology of it and not enough on the pragmatic approach.

However, when I read what our local politicos have to say…

What is the need for us to appoint sex gurus? Europe needs sex education because of its declining population rates

– Nawab Malik, NCP MLA from Nehru Nagar

Sex education is against Indian culture. It will affect the character of students and will lead to more crime against women

– Bashir Patel, NCP MLA

Sex education will only damage the socio-cultural fabric of the country. Children will learn about the subject once they grow up.

– Mangal Prabhat Lodha, BJP MLA from Malabar Hill

I shudder to think that you and I elected these people. What are we doing to ourselves. Is it really “the people get the government we deserve?”

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I stopped by this pavement stall last evening. It has been…oh, so very long..since I visited this place. Getting to be a real book-snob, are we, patronizing only the big bookstores? Yet, the bookseller recognized me in trice and his eyes bore no rebuke.

There’s one at every corner, if you know where to look and I’ve given away a few of my secrets before. This is (or used to be) one of my favorite haunts before convenience and credit cards took over.

From the evergreen Sidney Sheldons, John Grishams and Jeffrey Archers to the ubiquitous management books, this place still holds its charm. It’s hard to supress that innate sense of superiority in pulling out a book and placing it in the ‘right’ stack along with others in the genre. So pop fiction to the sides, classics in the middle, bestsellers on top. Then realisation strikes that the dynamics of cataloguing work differently in a street-stall.
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Meow 104.8 FM has been launched in Mumbai. This is one of the new FM channels launched in the city. A channel exclusively for women. Well thats what they claim to be. After tuning into the channel several times here is my take on this channel.

Although the concept of the channel sounds super cool, there is a lot of areas of improvement.

The RJ blabbers a lot. Well the channel claims to be a talk FM channel unlike the music FM channels we already have in the city. Am not sure if we Mumbaikars are ready for this yet. Trust me its gets to ones nerve after sometime. Probably we need to get used to it like Delhi and Kokalta. On thge other hand I would also like to mention that whatever less music they play, the choice of songs are pretty good.

Even though the FM channel claims to be India’s first Just for women FM Channel they do cut some slack and have men callers with their piece of gyaan too. After all what fun is it for gals if there is no eye candy in this case ear candy :)

Love the way the female RJ purr with a meow but hey guys (RJ) please that sounds so gay.

The entire station has just one male RJ who hosts a show called Meow “Betweeen the sheets” ( they really have some naughty captions and names)

To sum it up, I think it wont cost us to give a chance here. And all the ladies have this exclusive channel to tune in to bettwen your commute in the local train.

If government honchos are to be trusted, Mumbai will indeed become the first city in India to have a monorail. However I am a little sceptical of the 2010 start date for the service.

The routes are

The estimated cost of the project, proposed on four separate routes is Rs 1800 crore. The first route covering 25 km is Malabar Hill- Gopalrao Deshmukh Marg-Haji Ali-Keshavrao Khade Marg-Jacob Circle-Sane Guruji Marg- S S Rao Marg-Dattaram Lad Marg-GD Ambedkar Marg-Wadala Marg-Wadala Truck Terminus-Antop Hill-Sion Hospital-Dharavi- Bandra Kurla Complex.

The second route is of 10 km is Chembur-Mahul-Gidwani Marg-Gowandi-Chembur. The Lokhandwala Complex-Oshiwara- Jogeshwari-Vikhroli Link Road-Kanjur Marg (10 km) is the third route and Thane-Kalyan-Bhiwandi is fourth route (25 km).

“Monorail is very ideal for Mumbai’s congested areas as it will run on elevated tracks and the space consumed is just 8 to 10 km,” a senior transport planner from MMRDA, K Vijaya Lakshmi said. [link]

The capacity of the Monorail is more than 500 with four coaches attached and more than 700 with six coaches attached to it, she said.

A lot of planning and design needs to be done so that the monorail do not create localised problems. Points of entry, exit, commercial activities leading to them, etc will be the problem areas affecting the users once the monorail is launched.

Hopefully we will see stellar results.

What are your opinions on the routes though? Hopefully the routes will intersect with the train lines on W. Rly and C. Rly. Only then will it become a comprehensive mass transit network. Otherwise it will be more of the same chaos.

This is a classic snap of obeying the “letter of the law” but failing the “spirit of the law”

Taken at a traffic light, the rider of the motorcycle is wearing a helmet, while the passengers are not. Their lives are not as important as the riders, even though they are one big happy family.

To many it’s not a big deal. Summer is just another season which will make you sweat a lot and then move on to another season. For me weather really has a direct effect on my lifestyle. So what is the key to a happy summer? A wee bit of change in lifestyle can really ease the heat this summer.
So here are things which can keep you cool this summer
• Cotton is the mantra of this season. Yes its time to take out those cotton kurtas which are the bottom of your trunk. Seriously it really makes a lot of difference even you have a 24/7 air conditioning.
• Go fresh! Eat lots of fresh fruits (melons especially, it is also good to loose those extra kilos) Stuff yourself with fruits. Fruits will keep you cool and fresh. Unlike heavy, spicy food which will trend to make you feel drowsy and heavy.
• Liquids please! Many don’t feel like eating much due to the heat ( I am one of them) and hence skip meals. But a hectic day at work can drain you off all the energy. So substitute your meals (if you’re not in the mood for it) with fresh juices, lime soda and get a bit adventurous with some mocktails.
• Avoid alcohol! It can get you all the more dehydrated (Alcohol dehydrates the body in any weather) and also trigger migraines (if you are prone to migraines)
• Water; No am not talking about Deepa Mehta’s movie here. Drink lots of water. You can lot health problems due to the heat by just increasing your water intake itself.
• Carry an umbrella. Yes umbrellas not only protect you from rains but also from sun.
• Always carry a high SPF sunscreen lotion. Lap it generously whenever you get out.

Macy’s the quintessential shopping experience of New York City is all set to show up at a Shoppers Stop shelf near you. Everyone who has been to New York has visited Macys at Herald Square.

DNA India reports that Shoppers Stop may start stocking Macys products in their shops. I presume the day is not far when Mumbai will have its own Macys.

Now, I am sure this will bring one big smile on my sister’s face :)

Happy Shopping

Unless I’m greatly mistaken, these are the pipes that one uses to smoke ganja? I remember seeing these in little shops on my way home from school as well, and wondering what they were. Back then, I figured they were some special attachment to be used on taps. My curiosity continues unabated and I’m still wondering whether these aren’t illegal. If I’m right, they are…sort of.

I could be wrong, however. Does anybody know what these things are used for? I didn’t have the nerve to walk up to the shopkeeper and ask him. He didn’t seem perturbed by my taking photographs though.

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Long, bumpy rides in Mumbai’s bylanes bring you face to face with some terribly amusing sights.

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This is what Bal Thackeray has to say to BMC through his newspaper - Samna editorial section. Read More Here.

“Khabardaar, Marathila hath laval tar…” roars Bal Thackeray in his editorial in the Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamna today.

Thackeray warns all Sena corporators to be very particular about speaking in Marathi and said he would not be lenient with people who do not.

“We will not tolerate any language other than Marathi in the BMC,” said Thackeray.

His statement comes a week after Congress corporator and leader of the Opposition in the BMC, Rajhans Singh’s proposal.

‘If you are a lion, we are tigers’

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I remain a Mumbai train loyalist. Not only is the Mumbai Metropolitan Railway, the fastest way to get from Point A to Point B in Mumbai, it also gives you a slice of what I think of as ‘the real Mumbai life’. Frantic students cramming in seat-huddles tell you that the board examinations are around the corner. A bling-ey group chatters away about the wedding they’re off to in the matrimony season. Office-goers - peons, sales executives, doctors, journalists run shoulders (okay, bodies) in the nau-dabbon-ki-jalad-lowkulll.

And speaking of dabbas, how about the other dabbas? The ones carrying piping hot nourishment, lovingly made by mothers and wives and cooks across the city and delivered Just In Time for lunch to their hungry patrons? To the uninitiated, the dabbawallas are a network of deliverymen who carry lunchboxes from homes to offices and back using a never-fail above-world-class system of colour coding. An Ivy League US b-school used them as a case study and the concept has picked up much visibility since then.
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Applications will be accepted by carrier pigeons only. All fees to be paid in jowar, bajra, rice, barley, daal or cowdung cakes only.

The above is my own byline. It stems from utter frustration. I will be travelling home to Bombay in a week or so and one of the “compulsory” tasks I need to do this time around is get my H1-B stamped again on my passport.

And even before I venture to the consulate, the frustration at the whole exercise is in the red zone. I know that the US Consulate outsources its whole administrative and logistical process to some company, and many would say that its the company to blame for the processes. But I would put the US Consulate.

Just outsourcing a service does not make ” the end justifies the means” . To make the appointment for my visa application I need to pay a fee. And this fee can only be paid in person at an HDFC bank. Why in heaven’s sake can one not pay this online via a credit card? Who thought up this stupid rule? When the whole world is going plastic online and there are weeks when I never do cash transactions here in the US, I find it baffling. Someone has to think this out.

A person sitting in the US needs to make an appointment. But the fees for that need to be paid in person at a bank in India, prior to even making the appointment. Yes my sister will do it and that’s not a problem. But what of people who cannot get someone to do it for them? And the reason of online fraud cannot be used for not allowing credit card payments.

They take the entire application online including the passport details etc but cannot assure of a simple credit card transaction. Screw that ! Hopefully for all practical reasons this may be my last need to get an H1-B, so I will end it at that. If someone at VFS or the US Consulate reads this, please dont penalize me. I am just voicing my concerns as a citizen :)

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Raj Thackeray has just been arrested and is being driven to Vikroli for the court hearing. Now what? Let’s see. This titbit has enjoyed much more publicity in the past week in Mumbai than the falling temperatures, the art festival and all such mundane things as national news.
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