Wishing you and your loved ones a Merry Chirstmas and Happy New Year.

This post actually started out as a draft for the ‘7 series’ on Mumbai Metroblogging. It didn’t make the deadline then. Considering that Mumbai trains are in the news again, I think it is worth an airing anyway.

I’m relying on the fact that most of us in this city, live on little oases or islands of our own madness and know very little about the rest of the place. And for outsiders, the beehive is positively mind-boggling anyway. So here’s a special edition of how-to-survive Mumbai by a thoroughbred Mumbaiker.

I always think of the railway network as the central nervous system of this city. It is fairly impossible to get lost in this city. The minute you find yourself out of sorts, you just make your way to the nearest railway station and voila! You’re back on the Mumbai lifeline.
(more…)

For the millions who travel by local trains everyday, its an adventure. However so ingrained is the local train into the psyche of the Bombayite that we just take what is dished out as granted and move on. However, citizens from Virar to Borivili have had enough and are taking a new route to get their issues addressed.

Commuters between Virar and Borivli are chalking out alternative plans to reach their workplace on Monday as train services in the section is likely to be disrupted owing to a protest by the Democratic Youth Federation of India.

The youth wing of the CPM has called a rail protest on December 10, which is incidentally the Human Rights Day, to protest against the plight of train commuters on the Virar belt. The agitators, including various residential associations, will request commuters not to board trains on the Western Railway section between 6 am to 6 pm.

The agitators are demanding better frequency of trains to Virar, that is, instead of a 15-minute gap, there should be a Virar train every five minutes. [link]

In light of the Human Rights Day, this week is packed with such activities. Its “Chakka Jaam” today and “Batti Bandh” on Dec 15.

More power to the people.

On December 15 Mumbai will go off the grid. It will be unplugged.

This event is being organised by Mumbai Unplug. It is derived from a similar event held in Sydney Australia called Earth Hour.

In Mumbai, the event is called Batti Bandh (translation: turn off the lights)

Batti Bandh is an entirely voluntary event taking place on the 15th of December between 7:30 & 8:30 p.m. This event is aimed at requesting all of Mumbai to stand up for a cause that is greater than all of us. All you need to do is switch off lights and appliances in your home, shop, office, school, college or anywhere you are for 1 hour to take a stand against global warming. Just 1 hour.

What will this 1 hour do? This 1 hour for just 1 day is not our only aim. This 1 hour is to set an example to the world, to every person who witnesses it, to show that together we can make a difference. This 1 hour will save a lot of electricity as well as pollution and if done regularly can go a long way in reducing pollution that is released by electricity plants as well. [link]

Today in 1992, was one of the darkest days of India as a nation. Hindu fundamentalists demolished the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya and the nation slipped into mayhem and carnage that it had not seen since 1947 and the Partition.

However in recent years we seem not to have learnt from our lessons.

We still have scumbags like Narendra Modi who rules over an Indian State. He has the gall to proclaim

Congress in Gujarat is raising its voice on the Sohrabuddin issue. But, it should explain to the people what should be done to a man who stored illegal arms and ammunition. You tell me, what should have been done to Sohrabuddin?”

It is a breakdown of democracy that the chief minister of Gujarat can do what he wants and we as citzens cannot do anything about him.

In the meantime, here is an aerial of the site from Google Maps.

Today is a day to stop and think.

Have we really progressed as a nation?

Technorati tags: Babri Masjid, Ayodhya, BJP, Narendra Modi

Mumbai has a fast life; the rush hour, the 8.40am local, peak time, fast train, all a part of the fast life; so much so that people are mechanically tuned to be fast and furious (I guess its fitting to say so). In this fast pace, city people rarely have the time to stop and smell the flowers. As much as I love the city and its fast pace sometimes I like to take it slow and steady. A long walk, a short hike, visiting a gallery, some retail therapy are some breather activities for me. Irani cafes are one such other places where life can be experienced in slow motion even now. Some dingy and some well-maintained, almost all of them have marble-top tables with black wooden chairs. They serve steaming glasses of chai and melting maska (butter) with a sprinkling of sugar on the brun (bun). At the counter is the keen gaze of the cotton-shirted Irani owner. Nearby are glass-fronted shelves of khara biscuits, cakes and brun that you are supposed to dunk in your tea for that authentic flavor. The yummylicious kheema pav with a thick layer of oil floating over it sure beats the sophisticated five star buffets where I literally spend a small fortune of my monthly income. These cafes not only get me a bit nostalgic about the good old days when I was new to the city but also are very cost effective and go easy on the pocket. There are times when I literally have a craving for that tea with the distinctive taste/flavor which can only be found in Iranian chais, and I make no efforts to fight it.
Unfortunately these Iranian Cafes are going through a silent death and soon they will be extinct. With the new generations’ craze for coffee shops and fine dining, today there are just a handful of them left in the city. Sadly Iranian cafes are on their way to become something of the past which will only be mentioned in articles about the good old days of the city.
(more…)