Things that matter most must never be at the mercy of things that matter the least.
You have waterproof makeup and I think it is good enough to withstand rain otherwise how could one explain the actresses singing in the raisn with their make up intact.
I feel if it can be created in large enough quantities and applied to the roads before the monsoon, the condition of roads in Bombay would be much better.
This was the title of a documentary I saw long ago. It talked about people who see the same set of people everyday but still are strangers. It talked about a set of people taking the same bus everyday but never even said hello to each other.
The reason is that if you do it once, you are morally obliged to do it again and engage in a conversation, however short, when you meet.
I have seen the same tendency in the peopel in Bombay. Once I said to a friend of mine "I have noticed one thing that people don't notice anyone or anything". In Delhi people are too judgemental and they will judge you for what you are how you dress etc. Bombay is the complete opposite of that, people walking on the street desperately avoid eye contact and you may be wqalking dressed like a clown and be sure no one is going to notice you.
There is people in my building who are an extreme example of it. I have seen on many occassions that I am getting in a lift and someone else coming for the lift will see me. Instead of taking the lift, the person would stop dead in his tracks and go to the other lift even if it means waiting longer.
Earlier my brother used to take a big lunch box with him. That was the time when my nephew was quite young and had just started speaking. One day I asked him where his daddy was "Office" came the reply. I probed a little further "Why does he go to office". Now this is a question he did not expect and based on his observation he replied "To eat lunch".
I am talking about lunch boxes because this reminds me of one of the difference between the people in Delhi and Bombay. People in Delhi are almost embarrased to carry their lunch. They would like to carry a box as small as possible and they would keep it in the bag. It is almost like they are smuggling their lunch. On the other jhand people in Bombay have no such problem and I have seen people carrying two bags. One bag is the usuall office bag and the other is a bag that has all the food they are going to eat during the day. It is not just the lunch but some snack for the evening and in some cases even breakfast.
Bombay inspire you to live a simple life as it keeps reinforcing the message “less is more” in so many ways.
First the houses of Bombay are quite small and you learn to live in a cramped place. You learn to sleep in beds smaller than normal. You learn to live without balconies. Less is more.
Then the entire city is setting a fine example if Gandhi’s simple living high thinking and as Gandhi decided to wear only a lion cloth and give up the rest, the residents of Bombay are giving up so many unnecessary ornamental things that are not adding any value to your life except your variety. Good examples are lack of parks, narrow roads. I mean who needs roads broader than your car. It’s just a wasteful expenditure like a Kurta that goes till your knees or lower.
Let me come back to the house once again. The house is reinforcing the teaching in more ways than discussed above. Because of the compact sizes the houses inspires you to buy less stuff. Since you can fit only a limited amount of stuff in your home, you buy less.
When everything is inspiring you to live with less, it would be a shame if the weather is not contributing to your life style.
The monsoon of Bombay is also giving you the message to live with just your necessities and forget about the rest. Everything here attracts fungus when left alone for a few days so things that you are not regularly using are becoming the fields of fungi. The fungus will attack almost all part of your houses. I have not worn a leather belt in the last one week and not it is covered with fungus, my bag, which I last used 2 weeks ago, is covered with fungus. I guess if I sit motionless for a day, I will be covered with fungus myself. Maharishi Valmiki was covered by an anthill while sitting in meditation and he went on to become such an intelligent person. I guess I should try with fungus, if I get even 5% of his intelligence, I will be set for life.
I think Gandhi should be called the saint of Bombay instead of Sabarmati.
The concept of working late is very common in the IT industry and being a part of the IT industry, I myself have spent a lot of evenings working instead of being with my family.
One bad thing is the heroism attached to working late. People who leave early ar seen as people who are not team players and not ambitious. This whole thing is imbibed in us so deeply that we consider it as a verty normal work practice. Since we are habitual of working late, we accept projects where the deadlines are too ambitious. "Fight maarni padegi par ho jayega." This fight maarna is referred to working late and (mostly even later than normal). Now in this industry there are a lot of people like me who are not all that happy about working late. "Yaar I like to spend some part of my life with my family so main fight nahin maar sakta."
Keeping people like us in mind the HR should ask the people if they are willing to work late at the time of the interview. If they are ready to work late fighter should be added to their designation. This means we will have "graphic designers" and "fighter graphic designers", "techies" and "fighter techies". This will make the life of PMs a little easy because then they will be able to get the "fighter" class people in their projects if the project requires people who can maro a fight.
A guy told me this joke that I found really funny. It goes like this.
Two shopkeepers were getting bored so they decided to play shopkeeper-customer. One guy was the shopkeeper and the other came as a customer "Can I have one bottle 'gur' please." The other guy said "You idiot, gur is not sold in bottle, come back and ask for one kg gur."
The guy comes back once again "Can I have one kg gur in a bottle". The first guy was really frustrated, "You can't do it, just sit and watch, I will be the customer this time".
He comes as a customer and asks the guy. "Can I have 1kg gur?" The second guy looks at him and said "Have got an empty bottle."
I thought the joke was over but I experienced the punch line of the joke yesterday when I saw that the gur I had was in a state where I can be poured in a bottle.
…leaves every one blind. Yes it's true but we are so undisciplined, so inconsiderate and lack civic sense that something like this is required to get some sense in our heads. In our every day life, we are only thinking about ourselves and not least bothered about how our actions impact others. I was thinking about how we can have some instant punishments that are on the line of an eye for an eye. Just some thoughts, lets see if you are with me.
Waste management
One of the problems we face is the garbage thrown inconsiderately everywhere, specially places that has a board saying, “Don't throw garbage here.” Anyone caught doing this should be obliged with a truck full of garbage dumped in his living room and he'll think a hundred times before throwing garbage anywhere other than a garbage bin.
Honking
The number of people who can play any sort of musical instrument in India is quite low so they end up using the horns in their cars and bikes, some times very loud and annoying ones. Anyone honking unnecessarily should be punished by strapping the horns on his ears and blown for five minutes.
Encroachment
A unique thing is our country is that houses tend to grow with growing family. Sometimes the growth is vertical as another floor is added but sometimes it's horizontal when it starts spreading, gobbling any piece of land that comes its way including the footpath and sometimes even the road. Anyone encroaching should be punished by first pushing him back to his own land and afterwards by taking some part of his house/land as well by doing something like installing electric pole or some thing (may be temporarily).
Some for the road
A jaywalker should be punished by forcing him to run on the road while being chased by a police bike/car at a minimum speed of 20Km/hr for 5kms.
A person driving on wrong side should be forced to go to his home in reverse gear.
Anyone driving with high beams should have his head lamps smashed and than the police searchlights should be flashed in his eyes for 30 seconds while his eyelids are taped to his forehead to keep them open.
Doggy poo
The house of anyone who allows his pet to dump on the road should be used as a public toilet for a week.
Pot holes
The roads have more pot holes than tarmac and driving on those roads is quite an experience. I have written about it earlier as well. The people responsible for making those roads-the government officials who are responsible for the maintenance of those roads and the contractors who made those roads should be strapped to the cushion-less seats of a tractor (because tractor has no shock absorbers) and driven around those roads at a speed of 80kmph.
There are other things that come to mind and I guess I will update this list at a later stage, you are also welcome to share any such rule that comes to your mind.
I am a victim of male pattern baldness and today I was thinking how annoying all this is. You don't have hair on most part of your head but still their is a growth at the back of the head and on either sides so you still have to get a haircut. If I have full hair that makes me look good, I don't mind but having to maintain something that adds no value, it is a pain.
People who say that motor sport is not popular in India either have not visited India or are blind to what surrounds them. Motor sport is more popular in India than it is anywhere else in the world. The popularity I am talking about is among the active participants. It may not be very organized but the per capita motor sport motor sport participation in India is larger than anywhere else in the world. If you still don't agree with me, consider the following.
Off road driving
Japs and Americans make a large quantity of off-road vehicles also called SUVs. Those are supposed to be driven off roads but most of those people who bay them use them just to transport themselves to the work and back. Off-road driving, thanks to the people responsible for making and maintaining roads, is too common in India and people participating in it are not limited to drives of SUVs but includes small 800cc cars as well. Driving on a majority of roads in India gives you the experience of off road driving. JV Link Road the road in front of my home and the blisters on my arse are a good example of it.
Drag racing
Drag racing is driving insanely fast over a very short distance. This can be seen at any traffic signal. People go like a bat out of hell as the light turns green and stop after 50 meters at another signal or traffic jam.
Dodge'em
This is a kind of motor sport played only on computers or video games in other countries but I play it, like it or not, every day. This sport includes driving on a road with more pot holes than tarmac while avoiding the pedestrians, dogs, cattle, pot holes, garbage dumps and other vehicles coming towards you from the opposite direction. The objective is to cross over to the other side (your destination) without smashing into anything. Unlike the video or computer versions of this game, here you get only one life to play with.
Chicken
Rules are meant to be broken and driving in your lane is no exception. You can see a man coming from the opposite direction in your lane. I guess I don't need to explain how "Chicken" is played. People here are quite daring as they are playing this game in cars with no airbags and even on two wheelers.
Rowing
Yes I'm talking about motor sport, not water sport and if you think it's not possible, you should drive in India during monsoon. Andheri Kurla Road is a good example of it and what makes this sport even more challenging is the fact that you don't have a boat, but a car/bike.
Kho-kho
Kho-kho is a game played in India where one teams run and the other team sitting in a row, with alternate player facing opposite sides, try to catch them. This game is played on a much bigger scale as well that includes a lot more players, a lot bigger field (the entire road) and the players not only running but riding and driving as well. You are driving peacefully and on both sides, your left and right, is a never ending queue of auto-rickshaws. Suddenly any one of them will jump right in front of you.
So you see, if you thought there was not enough motor sports in India, it was mostly because of your ignorance and your inability so see things around you.
