Bombay Diaries - Day 5

Today we did yoga together. Mom, Azmin and I.

Later, I took a ride in the metro! It was pretty cool to see it is well maintained and functioning, escalators included. It reminded me of a time in Dubai airport where a family of Indians were terrified of getting on escalators and were holding back a crowd. Not here -- we're now acclimatized to the technology of a moving staircase. 

Pranav picked me up in his cute little red Maruti and we drove up to Colaba and got on a boat. A sailboat - lightning class - called Stingray. Pranav and the boatman unfurled the sails, and turned the boat out into the bay. It was lovely to see the Gateway of India and the Taj Mahal hotel from this point of view. We sailed for a couple hours, moored the boat and then walked over to the Strand Hotel's terrance restaurant. Sea view, beer, masala papad and optimization of Tinder profiles happened. 

We then walked around the corner and turned onto the Colaba causeway, exchanging stories. I was craving coconut water so we got some -- patla malai, meetha pani. "Sweet water, thin flesh." The Shree Bhajan Mahadev temple was right there and because I hadn't been in there my entire life, I asked PS if he would accompany me. There was a little chamber for Hanuman, a little statue of Saraswati and Ganapati and a Shivalingum. We made our worships and prayers and posed a little wish in the ear of Nandi the cow. 

We walked through the Colaba causeway, with Pranav trying to tell me the story of a stoned girl singing (screaming, he said) the Hanuman Chalisa to him, in a quiet South Goa house. I interrupted him many, many times when I stopped to chat with an old Ayurvedic vaidya offering remedies on the street, or to look at the colorful clothes, statues, crystals, and other lovely Colaba causeway offerings.

Then we drove back, through the city, over the Sea Link, past Bandra and to home. Thanks PS for the lovely day. 

All the treats I enjoyed today were heaven sent. My bones, which had been cold for the last 6 months, are now warm again.

Bombay Diary - Unexpected Trip

Was in Bombay for 2 night and 3 days courtesy Google, put up at the Hilton Towers (really really), and shuttled about in a fancy car (if one can really shuttle about in Bombay's seriously worsening traffic.)

Was there as a volunteer for the Be NetSmart initiative by Google and the Bombay Police's Cyber Crime Cell. Basically, heading from school to school and teaching the kids to be smart and safe and avoid becoming victims of cyber crime. There's loads of press coverage for the project, so read more about it somewhere else.

What I'm writing to say is...

I had a blast. Flew in and out. Checked into the Hilton Towers, in all its glory. Hung around at Marine Drive and met up with long, lost junkie friend. Lounged about in bathtub. Ate with silver cutlery. Adjusted the room temperature and lights and every goddamned thing with a button. Snuggled into the cosiest bed and fluffiest pillow ever. Ate incredibly crisp apples.

The second day, after my work was done, I managed to roam around at Colaba for a bit, drop in at Furtados and buy a lovely Granada acoustic guitar for Agent P, shop for swimming trunks and USB cables, and bubble bath, and also managed to surprise my granny at Colaba with a 400 second visit.

What I didn't do was:
Eat vada pav. Travel by train. Eat chaat. Swim.
Shame.

But the highlight of the trip easily was that I got to meet the boys - Split performed at Hard Rock Cafe on Tuesday, and it was a fabulous evening. The boys, Michelle, Hardik in funky tshirt with inbuilt equalizer, food, free drinks, cameras, and Split Unplugged. What more can a girl possibly want.

Bombay Diaries - Finale

This is the end.

I'm back in Hyderabad. I had a lovely weekend and took my last two days in Bombay off (from the diaries business.)

New year's eve was nice. Split, and friends, and superdog- Brownie came home, and we had a nice, long evening-night.

Highlights of the evening-

Dance performance by Michelle, Nigel, Sasidhar and Afrin.
Brownie's change in personality from ferocious warrior to chicken-hiding-under-bed when the firecrackers went off.
The pledge of the Afrin-followers. (Afrin is supreme)
Mel videotaping all this, and our new year resolutions.
Garreth and Brownie's growly romance.
Nice wine.
A fish called Wanda.
Music and guitars at 5:00am.

All in all, great fun. Especially, when we wake up the next morning after an hour's sleep, and see the videos of the evening.

Happy 2008.

Quote for the day -
I can't believe how quickly time passes.
- Afrin Sopariwala, to anyone who will listen.

Bombay Diaries - Day 36

Home all day. Harry pottered. (Have bought excellent copies of all 5 movies).

Visited parents at their new abode in Vashi. Desperately tried to make fun plans for 31st December.

Prepared to go to Pune to pick up sister.

Quote for the Day -

When you're getting ready to launch into space, you're sitting on a big explosion waiting to happen.
Sally Ride

Bombay Diaries - Day 35

Last day with Karen and Brad. Dropped them off on their bus to Goa and then met up with some friends from college and Neville. Surprise in store.

Ps: Great music at Toto's.

Bombay Diaries - Day 34

Karen and Brad packing and moving luggage to Colaba. Very long cab ride. Very hot Bombay.

Saw Taare Zameer Par. Liked it quite.

Bus ride on Marine Drive that takes breath away and swells heart with immense love for Bombay. Walk on Chowpatty. Teaching Brad and Karen to say things like - Akela chhodo to harassing vendors trying to get us to take a foot massage. On chowpatty? Really.

Nice dinner at another discovered Parsi cafe/bar. Surprised to find that it's veg. First ever Parsi veg restaurant. Um....

Back home and stayed up really late and finished Return of the King. My precious.
Must admit the Murakami book am reading - Kafka on the Shore - is so surreal and haunting, that I'm almost a little afraid of going to sleep and meeting my dreams. Honestly.

Bombay Diaries - Day 33

Hangover. Hangover.

Spinning in my pillow.

I woke up, and felt happy. I was proud to have the hangover. (Had really expected to do nothing grander on Christmas except watch the Lord of the Rings) but wow... instead I had two invitations, and 4 bottles of wine -shared with various others.

I decided I should enjoy this sensation of the hangover. I walked around the house, stumbling and bumping into things. But a while later, I was ready to not desire any alchohol for the next...
three days.

We picked up Karen at the airport, was great to see her, and it was dawning on me that my month here and work with Brad was coming to an end... Hyderabad was calling.

We went to Landmark (the super book store) and I bought some more Terry Pratchett, and Haruki Murakami, and moved closer to being supremely broke. But I have to own every single Murakami soon.

Oh, and my Christmas gift from Karen and Brad was a professional pin-hole kit. A real proper pin-hole.

Bombay Diaries - Day 32

Three days since my last post. But, its easy to manipulate and use my cyber powers to fix that time gap. Watch!

Christmas day was fabulously unexpectedly fabulous. We got invited to Mel's for a traditional Christmas lunch. So there we went, armed with a nice Sula white wine, and met Mel's family and of course, the wife (pregnant Simrat) and Michelle, and brownie, who attempted, successfully, to yank my arm off while biting it. But the wine was so heady, I didn't notice.

We got back home, and planned to finish off the Lord of the Rings Trilogy.

Halfway through the second movie, Santa struck again, and Audrey invited us downstairs for another fabulous family dinner. We got fed all over again. Over more wine. And then came back home with more wine, and played poker with Audrey till 4:00am.

Had no idea that I'd wake up the next morning with the first powerful hangover in all this time in Bombay, but I did.

Bombay Diaries - Day 31

One month since I got to Mumbai. Incredible! And oh, Merry Christmas.

Today was a brilliant over-dose of Fantasy-Epic movies.

We saw:
1. Star Wars -Return of the Jedi
2. Lord of the Rings - The Fellowship of the Ring
3. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

Very satisfying.

Looking forward to the week coming up - last days of freeeeedom before I'm back at Google as corporate slave.

Bombay Diaries - Day 30

Day in Pune. Hung out some more with the family. Was supposed to be back in Bombay in time for a Split gig at a college festival, but it was so easy to just be at home in Pune, that I left really late. Saw half of Ratatouille.

The whole bus ride I was anxious about if I would make it in time for the gig - and ultimately, I didn't. By the time Brad and I got there, they'd finished. Missed the performance by about 45 minutes. Apparently, it was a good show, and they got a great response. Saw Garreth get surrounded and admired by loads of people - just going up to him to say, great show, great voice, awesome songs!

After that, we dunked into the closest bar we could find, and had a nice long evening with a interesting mix of conversations - (Split, Himesh Reshamya, Experimental Cinema, Blue Frog, money, patents, sex, cops, getting arrested, chicken, Christmas and so on). Split has a fair number of gigs coming up.

Finally, we got dropped home in Nigel's brand new car (an arctic white Swift).

When I spend evenings out with the boys, that's when I feel really sad about being in Hyderabad, and missing all the action when I'm away. But then again, I can't have it all.

Bombay Diaries - Day 29

Fabulous day. Headed out early in the morning, and got onto a bus to Pune, (annoying bit in the bus where I had to endure Mr. and Mrs. Khiladi, and lyrics that went - jab tak samose mein hai alu, tab tak tu rahegi meri Shalu.) I was trying to catch some sleep.

Was great to see the family - the grandparents, cousin, aunt, sister, and uncle. The mission of the day was the wedding I was here to attend - of my classmate Devika. She was probably my only good friend in college, and I really wanted to see her at her wedding.

It was weird - I sat there eating the awesome maharashtrian food, and staring at her, all so grown up and gorgeous, with the red bangles in her hands, and the red sindoor on her forehead. I could hear her voice in my head - I always really admired her style of talking, and her intellect. And her laughter - she was also a very fun girl, besides topping each year, and finally the university exams, and also bagging the best job offer.

Really nice to be there, and felt weird that my classmates are now getting married.

Pune is a lovely city. We were out for an hour or so before the wedding, and I was trying to absorb as much of Pune as I could - so many cool young people on the streets, and such a lively city! And boy, its nice and chilly here, I'm cuddled up as I write this, and thoroughly glad to be away from the sticky Bombay I left behind (and am going back to tomorrow.)

Oh, and Julie, our adorable little doggy, is playful again (the last time I was here, she'd had this bout of imaginary pregnancy, and then she doesn't allow anyone near her, or to play with her.)
She's perfectly adorable again - wriggling around for attention. She's also jealous if anyone else gets affection. When I'm hugging or kissing my baby sister, Julie wants part of the hugging too, and paws around, jumping to get in and get her share. Crazy doggy.

Anyway, tomorrow is a long day - journey back to Bombay, and Split gig.

PS: Brad wasn't around today, he'd stayed back in Bombay for a teaching session at KC college, and some friends. Was strange not having him around, and not having to work. I know am going to miss it all.

Bombay Diaries - Day 28

Last day of shoot. (We may do some more, hopefully), but weird that it's over. What? I have to go back to work?? Today we filmed with Aviv (of Split) pretty much what we filmed with Nigel the other day.

Also, saw Sholay finally. Had completely wanted Brad to see this film, and he enjoyed it. Jai and Veeru and Gabbar and Basanti and Thakur. Of course, with English Subtitles on. I was surprised the subtitles were so good... nearly did great justice to the excellent script.

(Moser Baer has come out with this excellent series of DVD releases of loads of movies, also TV serials, etc, for excellent prices and fabulous quality. The Sholay DVD cost us Rs 39/- with very neat packaging.) Must buy more.

Anyway, Christmassy feeling is all around. The decorations are up, and bars are opening up all night. The unfortunate part is this sudden, horrid bit of humidity that has crept in from somewhere, and its really unlike Bombay weather in December. I hope it wears off soon - like now.

We met up with some more London friends of Brad's who're in town, on their way to Goa, and had a nice Indian dinner. And then some beer.

Took the late night train back home, and realized it was probably our last late night train for this season, and that was really sad. That's the most comfortable commuting time in Bombay! Well, hopefully we'll be doing more of this again...

I shouldn't be here now. I am to leave for Pune early tomorrow morning, and I haven't even begun planning, forget packing. I seem to get worse with each travel. Will see the baby sister tomorrow, and the cousins. And of course, the friend from college who's getting married! I'm debating if I need to take my laptop to Pune... and obviously I don't, but its crazy how attached to technology we are.

Anyway, back to some packing, and my lovely new Haruki Murakami book - Kafka on the Shore.

Bombay Diaries - Day 27

Hmm.. Someone I'd requested to help us today, didn't turn up. Very disappointing.

But otherwise, fairly nice day. Woke up strangely early and chirpy (after an early night last night) and headed out to meet Ms. Pooja Shah - the girl I'm friends with because she read Harry Potter. Yes, those were the days when my criterion for friendship was sternly clear. We spent a whole summer together, hating Math class, and glad to be Potter buddies.

Bought more books today - another Haruki Murakami (totally love the guy) and some classics, that I hope I ever read.

Was back in time for the supposed shoot - which didn't happen due to aforementioned ditch by friend.

Then went out to eat greasy burgers, and I met Khushnuma - ancient school friend, and soon to be Doctor! Complete sweetheart and awesome-est person. That's her and I.

Topped the evening off with some more Star Wars, and staying online with nothing to do. Very nice.

Though, truth remains, I'm amazed by how quickly time has passed and its almost time to go back to Hyd. Next week, is party time.

Bombay Diaries - Day 26

Lazy day.
Filmed Nigel - that was funny.
Took him out to dinner and drinks.

Books finished reading in the past 2 days:

1. Terry Pratchett - Equal Rites (4 stars on 5)
2. After the quake - Short stories by Haruki Murakami (4 stars on 5 again)

Bombay Diaries - Day 25

Today's events cannot be shared with you.

Except:
I went to Blue Frog for a peekaboo and a chat.
I had an ice lolly. Orange.

Quote for the day:

Mel says the internet is virtual - Sai
Mel also says that he's the 8th wonder of the world. - Kalhan.
(Mel then goes on to call Kalhan names that I can't repeat. )

Bombay Diaries - Day 24

Really hot day. Drained us out. Got pinhole photography results - really very, very interesting. Amazing, in fact.

Went to Colaba. Had the evening off so met college dost Maliha for a bit and then went off to meet Rohan Korde, sweetheart + mentor, at Ogilvy. Where bumped into various classmates and acquaintances. Then Mel called about an interview tomorrow (God help us all) and finalement, we went drinking to a newly discovered shady bar called - Ambience.

We (Mellund, Rohan and I) talked and laughed - about BlueFrog, Garreth cursing people at 2:00am when they were bursting crackers and he was drunk, and funny names.

New names we discussed:
Phatu.
Clitus.
Clitoria.
And Innocent.
And Immaculate Conception. Yes, a name of a human being.

Bombay Diaries - Day 23

Sunday. Sleep day. Family day. Home cooked food day. Asking questions to self day. Reading Terry Pratchett day. Absolutely fabulously lazy day.

Quote for the day:
For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks.

-- Terry Pratchett, Equal Rites

Bombay Diaries - Day 22

I don't know what to call today. A disaster day, it seemed to be, but looking back, it was not bad at all.

It all began with Brad's breakfast going terribly wrong, and we laughed and said... today is not your day! And those words came alive.

We got caught in a first class train compartment, with second class passes.

We generally never get into first class - I'm well aware of the lurking danger of a ticket checker. But today we had a lunch date, and we just had to get on this train... second class looked really uncomfortable, and frankly impossible, so we popped onto first class.

At the next station, Brad suggested we get off and get onto the second class. I, shook my head and indicated that it was ok to stay here. I honestly didn't fathom a TC getting on. I carefully looked at everyone boarding the train at Bandra. None looked like a TC. I was relived. The train jerked to start moving, and one person jumped on. He was wearing the black coat of a Ticket Collector. I couldn't believe it. He looked straight at me, saw my expression of complete horror, and his face lit up.

We were, for 5 whole minutes, the amusement and diffused center of attention in our compartment. We paid our fine. And completely agreed that it was bad luck day.

Lunch was good. We planned to see a movie after, and I felt quite sure that we wouldn't get tickets... but we did... and we saw Will Smith in I Am Legend.

Man, the film chilled me to death, and was quite horrific. And we left the cinema quite affected... And laughed at - well we got the tickets, but what a horrific movie to choose today!

Two hours later, however, we were recommending to friends to see the film.

The final blow of the day was when we went to the hotel Brad is to use when I leave Bombay, and wanted to check into today, for one night, and he couldn't. He was asked for his passport, and visa and the manager was horribly rude, so we canceled all bookings, which really was quite upsetting.

This post doesn't do a fair tribute to the great effectiveness and potency of these misfortunes. But we were honestly amazed by its persistence through the day. And although, of course, it really wasn't that bad, but it did affect our psychology all through.

The evening, however, ended well enough. We went to Bandra to participate in the Batti Bandh drive (where we're encouraged to put of all electricity in our homes from 7:30pm to 8:30pm) and where a few artists were performing - without any use of electricity of course.

Garreth did his first solo performance, and it was nice. Mel was there too, with Blue Frog artists - Sha'air and Funk.

After that, we went off to my favourite shady bar - Janta - and had a great alcoholic filled long evening. Mel and I managed to have a long discussing where he's asked me pressing questions about my future - some options he has, and what I want to do. It's difficult, but I have to answer him soon.

I guess I just need to calmly think it over, and make a choice. One way, or the other. Lucky I am, to have these choices.

Bombay Diaries - Day 21

Today was interesting. (That seems to be everyone's favorite word these days. Interesting.)

We wanted to go up North Bombay today. Really north to the suburbs, and we got onto a train and went all the way up to the end of the line. 40 kms from home. Got a rickshaw, and he took us around to the beach some 10 km away, and we filmed at a lovely little village around there. It was amazing to get such a nice peaceful reaction from the villagers. They looked, but just let us be. Didn't crowd around or ask silly questions.

After that, we stopped at the some salt pans, and were going about our business peacefully, when a nosy busybody came over and asked us silly questions. In a very annoyingly arrogant manner. We really couldn't understand what could possibly be bothering him, and when Brad firmly expressed that he wasn't going to back off, this chap backed off, and shuffled off.

After that, we came back home, rested and then set off for a nice social evening where we met Brad's friends who've just flown into India, and are heading off on a rather unplanned holiday in the south of India. I was quite concerned about them - just imagining them having to manage so much alone! But I guess that's that part about being a tourist, and well, they'll manage I know. We had a nice Indian dinner. (veg)

We also met another couple of friends who're Bombay based filmmakers. Had an interesting couple of beers, before we left to catch the last train to leave Churchgate. 12:50am.

Which brings our grand total of kilometers travelled today to: 170km.

Fantastico.

Tomorrow is weekend. Seems packed. Breakfast date. Lunch date. Post lunch date. And evening concert at Bandra to attend. (Garreth's first ever solo performance.)

Quote for the day - He had a really bad vocabulary.

Nigel, while describing someone's poor singing skills. Not enlightening in the least, this quote, however, it will serve to provide me with a laugh some 3 years hence. Thank you for your co-operation.

Bombay Diaries - Day 20

Dull day. We seemed to have been hit by blues and lows... Guess all that beer, and high energy of the past 2 weeks had to dip for a bit. I feel miserable and sluggy.

Anyway, didn't really get much work done, some errands and a couple of shots.

Discovered the lovely Universal Cafe at Fort. Stuffed ourselves with sizzlers and then went to the in-the-closet DVD shop we visit... I found the long loved and looked for Oliver! and we bought a few more DVDs.

Christmas plan looks like a day-in with back to back movies - Lord of the Rings, and more. Possibly Sholay. Glad the weekend's nearly here.

Anyway, that's all folks.