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.

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 :)

I’ve spent the entire weekend at Kala Ghoda!! I’ve been a regular visitor to the festival these years and thus far my KGAF experience has been limited to perusing the sidewalk outside Jehangir Art Gallery and ooh-ing and aah-ing about the artwork. This year I’m super-excited this time round because of my increased participation. Like last year, I’m writing for the Kala Ghoda Gazette and for the first time I’m actually participating in the events. You can see my more detailed account of the events here.

The Festival is in its 10th year of existance. In the past years I’ve seen a gradual decline with the one rather regrettable year where all I remember of it was a row of food stalls (though my first experience of Kheer Kodom from Sweet Bengal did leave sweet memories). However it looks like the Black Horse has given itself a good shake since last year was an improvement. And this year is positively mind-boggling!
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Let me clear in advance that I am not a critic or an expert to talk about the technicalities of movie making. Hence this is not a review but just my views about the movie.
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The Amazing Race 12 returns to Bombay in today’s episode. I am live blogging this as the episode is aired.

After landing at CST International Airport the contestants have to

* Find the M. R. Naik newspaper stall in Khar Danda. Contestants reaching at night realize that the stall opens from 6 AM to 10 PM and so they all land up sleepingn on the benches. Finally the stall opens and they get their copy of the TOI which will have an ad that leads them to their next clue.
* The TOI ad asks them to find their way to Chauhan Alteration Tailors at Saint Joseph Church Road, near A. B. Nair Road corner, Juhu. Once at the tailors they get their next clue.
* At this point they reach a roadblock which consists of two tasks and teams are required to do just one. The first option is to paste movie posters on the walls of an “underpass” or what is commonly called in Bombay as Subway. The other task is threading garlands. The contestants find themselves at the Dadar Phool Bazaar where they have to create one full “haar”.
* One of the teams has a penalty that takes them to a yoga guruji at Dariya Mahal where they have to complete a series of funky yoga poses before they can continue.
* The poster sticking task was done by the teams with mixed results. The garland threading was an easy one.
* However none of the teams were in for what was next. At Kabutarkhana they picked up a clue that needed them to ride a “cylinder-wallah” cycle and deliver 3 gas cylinders each to two different addresses. That was fun and I think a bizarre task if you are not from Mumbai. After delivering the cylinders they then need to find their way to Bandra Fort at Land’s End.

That is the end of this leg of the race.

The competitors were generally really competitive and though they cribbed a bit, that was the typical touristy gripes that people have with cities they visit the world over. The race ended with one of the closest finishes in a long time. It was great to see Mumbai on TV and from the eyes of foreigners.

24 hours just never seem to be enough in this city, you know? Every minute, every day feels like you’re running just 10 minutes behind. The one bit I really agreed with this otherwise horrific movie on, was the tightly managed shuffle for space and time. There’s a Rahul (Sharman Joshi) in every Mumbaiker. Managing a social life is always a joke - other people’s or your own!

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This November you are going to be bombarded with 3 mega movies and frankly speaking you will be in in ” to see to not to see” fix. Here is seek peak at the 3 maga movies releasing in November.

Laaga Chunari Mein Daag
Starring Rani Mukerji, Abhishek Bachchan, Konkona Sen Sharma, Kunal Kapoor, Jaya Bachchan and Anupam Kher, the film is about a woman who willingly chooses prostitution as a profession to support her family.

Rani plays the central character of Badki who lives with her parents (Anupam Kher and Jaya Bachchan) and younger sister Chutki (Konkona Sen Sharma) in Varanasi. On the surface, life is fun. The sisters enjoy playing pranks, sneaking off to see a forbidden mujra, and soaking up life on the banks of the Ganges.

But a financial crisis is brewing and Badki is fully aware of it. It gets worse when Badki’s father falls ill. The family is in dire straits and Badki decides to go to Mumbai to seek a living to support her mother and sister.

Alone in Mumbai, she battles with dark forces, keeping her focus on her purpose to support her family and continue Chutki’s education. She deliberately morphs into someone else, leading a secret life full of murky compromises.

As luck would have it, Chutki too comes to Mumbai to work. After her arrival, Badki’s life turns into a minefield because she has to hide her secrets from her younger sister.

Chutki finds success at work and also meets Vivaan (Kunal Kapoor). They eventually fall in love.

While supporting her family and battling with blackmail, Badki gets attracted to Rohan (Abhishek Bachchan) but she lets him go, as she believes he is not meant for her.

After a sequence of events, Badki’s dual life is revealed, and the two sisters find themselves face to face in a confrontation neither had expected. When love beckons Badki again, the whole family is thrown in a tumultuous storm.

Everything threatens to explode in their faces, destroying all of them.
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I am shopoholic! Shopping is therapeutic for me, and the best part is that after a shopping binge I dont regret my actions since I know that I have got the best deal I am Mumbaikar and hence I know were I can get what at the lowest possible rates. Like me every Mumbaikar loves to shop; kids, couple, college going teenagers, office goers every one like to keep updated with the latest fashion and trends. So it is not a surprise that we Mumbaikars are willing to go to the end of the world to purchase things at the most reasonable price one can ever find. Mumbaikars are bargain savvy and are always looking for the best deals they can lay hands on. Hence it is natural that Mumbai has hundreds of bazaars that cater to the Paisa vasool mentality of the population. I have lived in at least 5 cities in the 24 yrs of my life and Mumbai bazaars are the most unique and fascinating places I have come across. One of the reasons being that each bazaar has a history of its own and each specializes in selling particular goods. So Mumbaikars are well aware precisely which market they can get what. Before I go with the 7 best places to get a good shopping deal here are a few rules you must follow while shopping anywhere in Mumbai

Things to keep in mind while shopping Make sure you demand for a bill after every purchase (Not applicable when it comes to street side shopping)
Always bargain. You will almost never be told a reasonable price at the first go
Do not buy from the very first shop you enter/vendor. Visit as many shops/vendor as possible and buy where you get the best bargain
Try and be a regular customer for one or two shops, so that the shopkeepers know you and you get better discounts than others
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Mumbai - City of dreams and nightmares. Everyday hundreds flock here to realize their dreams, be it for success, fame, money and many a times as grim as feeding their hunger. Known to be ruthless in its ways, to succeed here one needs have two very important necessities on their side - the survival instinct and the Lady of Luck.

With a number as high as 15 million, there are only a handful among its population who have managed to standout and make a place for themselves in the hierarchy of our dubious society. And keeping in mind the “7 Things about Mumbai” theme, here is my list of 7 most popular citizens of this city, who in very real terms ‘Live Life King size’.

Bal Thackeray - When you mention Mumbai and Politics in the same breadth, the one name that immediately makes its presence felt is, Bal Thackeray, the man behind the now “tainted” political party, Shiv Sena. Often referred to as the ‘Tiger’ by his followers, the cartoonist turned politician has been a center point of many controversies ever since he founded the hardline Hindu party more than 35 years ago. Frankly speaking, I completely detest this man and his party’s so-called philosophy of “sons of the soils”. The reasons are innumerable - their intimidating and (often) violent campaigns, fanatic beliefs, self appointed moral police behavior, vandalism and last but certainly not the least, Mr. Thackeray’s role in sparking anti-Muslim violence in Mumbai, which led to more than 1,000 deaths.

However, no matter how corrupt and immoral his actions have been over the years, the fact still remains that even today Bal Thackeray is described as the uncrowned monarch of the western Indian state of Maharashtra.

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Mumbai is a city surrounded by water. And it is not a surprise that Mumbaikars love to find their bit of solace by the sea side. It may be just an outing on a Saturday or Sunday with the wife and kids, or maybe some low cost lovey dovey time with your girlfriend, or just to unwind yourself with your friends, the sea side is one of the first choices for Mumbaikars. Even the tourist have all the sea side location prioritized in their must visit places, even though in a weird way they are seeing the same sea every time i.e. Arabian Sea. So what makes these various sea sides of the same sea different? Actually it is not much of the sea that people look forward to but the flavor each place by the sea has to offer. So here we go with the 7 most popular waterfront public locations of Mumbai.
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