Straight out of a realty show- in the middle of a mundane office week!

Nowadays I take a bus home. As I ran and hopped into a bus yesterday, still congratulating myself to have managed to get it just in time, I realized, for some reason heavens were smiling down at me – a nearly vacant bus that too during peak office hours, is nothing short of a blessing!

I made myself comfortable in one of the seats and by the next two stops, the bus was full to its capacity. While I was staring out of the window listlessly, I suddenly hear a voice- a booming voice from one of the front seats. I thought to myself – must be one of those mobile quarrels and continued to amuse myself with the varied shaped that passed by my window.

Sadly, the voice was too loud for anybody to concentrate on anything other than the conversation. He was speaking in Kannada, with a voice modulation that imitated Rajkumar (the famous Karnataka actor) and the style of his talk and hand movements resembled that of Rajnikant! Now when such eminent actors are entertaining you, what else can be intriguing enough than eves dropping on that conversation – correction listening to the rendition. The voice was loud enough to be heard in the next bus on a busy Tuesday evening, so technically it cannot be eves dropping!

Well coming back to the conversation- I must say it was quite amusing, especially when the speaker is not sitting next to you. He started with claims of being as pure as a dove and was visibly hurt with someone calling him a thief! He also said when he could handle thousands with ease why would he bother with a few hundreds… and on and on.

First, I thought this whole rendition was directed to the passenger next to him, and hence I assumed that they must have been traveling together. After some more talk circling around this so-called ‘great Indian robbery’ he suddenly offered the passenger sitting next to him, coffee at ‘Café Coffee day’ that was located somewhere completely off the bus route! Do you realize the predicament of the guy, who as I realize now, was equally baffled as I was about the whole scenario.

His distant dream of having a short nap on the journey back home been cruelly crushed by some unknown passenger, who wanted him to listen to his sob story. By the time, his destination had come and he had prepped up to the idea of having some piping hot food and watch TV, the poor guy was being stopped and asked to alight the bus with some unknown person (obviously a drunkard) way off his house route.

The person finally lost his patience, got agitated and a little scared. He started shouting at the drunkard while calling the conductor. I expected this to be straight out of MTV bakra and inc. I expected a hidden camera to come out, the drunkard smiling and explaining the plot while removing his wig and everybody clapping and smiling…. Sadly none of this happened. The poor person, got down the bus shouting at the drunkard and ran for his life the moment he got hold of his belongings. The drunkard also being asked to alight, our bus moved on…

No lights, no camera and no Bakra – this was life, weirder than illusions!

You can’t be fine till you spend a bomb!

I had the misfortune of visiting a BIG hospital for a trivial thing. The fact is that as we don’t know many small clinics around my place we resort to the one that’s closest.
Well when we went there we just needed an appointment to come in later and meet the doc, however these multistory, multi-specialty hospitals don’t seem to work that way.

The moment we asked if there was an appointment available for today the lady at the enquiry desk promptly asked us to fill in a form! I thought she didn’t hear me and I said I would do all that however I am in a rush right now and it would be great if she could tell me if I could have an appointment. She said “ The doctor's in from 9 to 7.30pm”

Oh what the heck, a form might not take a long time, so I filled it and gave it to her. Cling goes the printer and I am asked to shell out Rs 400! I always thought I pay the doc after he’s checked me! Apparently this is another of those things that these BIG hospitals don’t seem to follow!

She said I could see the doc on the second floor. Well now that I had paid, I thought it wouldn’t do much harm if I visited him immediately. Check-up’s don’t take more than 10-15 min isn’t it! However the moment we reached the said place I realized this was A BIG mistake and before I could overcome the claustrophobic feeling and take to my heels I had been sucked into the whirlpool!

There were swarms of people waiting for a check-up. The waiting people, the harried receptionist and the nurses running in and out gave me an impression of a wedding! The receptionists looked like the frenzied parents of the girl who were not sure if they should be welcoming the guests, taking care of them, looking after their daughter, listening to the pundit or shouting at the caterer!

The patients seemed as clueless as me. I knew I still had time to run away when the receptionist asked me to hand over my file. I hadn’t spent 10 minutes in that hospital and I already had a file! My doctor for many years who has a clinic just down the road in Pune doesn’t seem to have a shred of paper with my name on it and yet knows my complete history which he magically seems to recall whenever I visit him! Well I gave the file and she obediently handed it over to some other person. Then someone came and asked me to enter a room on the right.

Oh fine, lets just get done with this. This isn’t much of an ordeal… Tch Tch… too much too soon...I was about to realize. There was a junior doc there, who fired me with rapid fire questions, with no option to think or ask questions. Hmm...and I always thought docs were there to resolve our queries and calm our fears! Then she asked me to go to the room on the left ‘we need to check your weight’. Obediently I entered and found nobody there, but a sad looking weighing scale as if in its last few days pleading that it can’t handle anymore weight! I assumed we were to weigh ourselves and inform the doctor but the weighing scale didn’t seem to be working.

Just them a nurse rushed in and did something to get it working and fired the next round of instructions! Had I been really sick, by now I would have fainted! But as might hearted as I am, I continued to undergo the ordeal while telling myself and trying to tell the docs that there is nothing so serious to be worrying about!

While we were awaiting in the corridor for the next round of instructions the harried receptionist asked a nurse in the next room ‘Could you jab quicker?’ there are many more to go! Weren’t hospitals supposed to be different than assembly line, especially if the tagline read ‘Inspired by Life’!

Finally I was asked to enter the room in the center where the elusive doctor existed. She saw (not checkup) me, my FILE and gave some vitamin tablet and off I go out! After about 2 hours of running around the doctors were finally convinced that it was nothing but a trivial allergic symptom. Oh well, wasn’t it that what I had been trying to tell from the moment I entered the damn hospital! Apparently it is not acceptable till it comes from the horse’s mouth!

Did we miss the bus?

It might sound like a U –turn to many, but I think I need to reconsider my strong stand against Raj Thakre's views. And don’t get me wrong here, in no way do I support the vandalism and hooliganism that’s become his norm. No city can be held at ransom because somebody wants his views to be heard.

However yesterday I was viewing the ‘Devils Advocate’ and Shobha De the guest, was being grilled for being sympathetic to Raj Thakre’s views. It was an eye-opener of sorts. Sadly I had no answer to the few questions that she raised in the interview. The questions that were innate yet had a great impact and made me introspect and think.

I know that Raj Thakre’s comments or stand is with political interests, however there is somewhere a discord in the city’s daily mayhem that was being conveniently ignored by us till Raj Thakre’s violent outbursts shook us and made us sit up and take notice.

When Shobha De says, I don’t hear Marathi in Mumbai now, isn’t it sad that the state capital is loosing its local flavour? Mumbai can be the next Shanghai, but should that happen at the cost of our local essence? Maharashtra is known for its intellectual forerunners, but where are they today? Where are the street plays, the responsible journalism, the revolutionary thinkers, the protestors…. Where are the likes of Vijay Tendulkar (Gokhales and Kale’s). This certainly made me sit up and take notice. Isn’t it true that today these words are mere text-book connotations ?

As an industry why is the Marathi theater and cinema suffering? Is it that people don’t enjoy them? That can’t be true, otherwise movies like Saade Maade Teen and De Dhakka, (both with borrowed concepts from Hindi and English movies) couldn’t have been a superhit. Is it that people now don’t want stories with strong message or thought provoking issues? This cant be true either or plays like ‘Kusum Manohar Lele’ or movies like 'Dombivali fast' couldn’t have been running full house. Then what is the issue?

We as Marathi speaking people need to introspect a few things. Is speaking in Marathi demeaning? Or is it that it doesn’t fit in the current definition of an upwardly mobile crowd? Do we need to hide or shy away from simple things like our language or culture so that we could fit in the current genre of hip n happening crowd? And this is same for all metro cities in varying degrees. We are a multi-lingual, multi-cultural, diverse nation. That is our identity. Why shy away from our own identity? Knowing two or three languages is no big deal in our country, then suddenly why have we turned into chauvinists who believe they can only speak in English? Is it necessary to settle in places like California or New York before you start becoming the flag bearers of Marathi and then make special efforts to join the Maharashtra Mandal etc?

The media who have been following this issue of non-marathis have just been fanning the news to sensationalize the issue and spread panic thereby aggrevating the situation. I have witnessed the flimy news covering tactics of these media channels. The Bangalore blasts where low intensity crude bombs exploded around 2 months back were presented in such an unruly manner that I had calls streaming in all day checking our safety when it did not demand such kind of blown up coverage.

I think its not an issue of outsiders settling in Mumbai or any other Metro city but it is upon us as individuals to realise and draw a line between thoughtful change and listless aping. It cant be the issue of outsiders as we have been migrating to different states for a long time, however then it was natural to follow the principal of ' When in Rome do as the Romans do'. I had many so called outsider friends, but when in Pune they all knew and spoke Marathi, respected others sentiments and participated in local festivals. Their culture and tradition was preserved in their homes and we inturn respected their sentiments and their festivals. I dont think there would be many Maharastrians who dont know 'Onam' or the Gujrathi 'Thepla' and 'Khandavi' or the 'Idli' & 'Dosa' and vice- versa.

The media for sensationalizing all news without having a barometer to check the intensity and present facts, the common man for trying to ape the West to the extent of losing their individuality, the politicians for politicizing every issue and the theater and entertainment industry for not doing its bit to create awareness and providing the viewers with thought provoking messages, we all have somewhere missed the bus and need to seriously reconsider our stands.

Its really sad when people make statements like, ‘We are happy to stay here as this area is populated by Maharashtrians (read Marathi speaking)’ while staying in Mumbai, the capital of Maharashtra!

IPL - a glittery fanfare in Bangalore

A little late but nevertheless....

The IPL twenty20 series had a grand opening in Bangalore and the atmosphere in Bangalore was certainly electrifying. With the home team playing, people were busy laying their hands on last minute tickets that were available.

The event started at around six, and looking at the kind of celebrities who adorned the event, the Airport must have been chocked for most of the time in the past 2 days. The glittery event also saw the captains of all the teams being formally introduced and they signed a memorandum promising to keep the spirit of the game alive.

There was no dearth of music, excitement, fun, food, glitter and in front of a packed stadium the opening match of the grand IPL series kick-started. I am not much of a cricket fan so; spare me from naming any of the players or grading their performance!

The energy was superb and the show that Sharukh Khan and his band, Oh! Yes there was a huge parade from the Bollywood industry that had come to witness this event was enthusiastic. It must have reminded them of college sports events!

The result as everybody knows - Kolkatta washed out Bangalore and there was nothing called as face saving grace in this game. The highlight for the Bangalore newspaper hence was the party before/after the game than the actual game! I wouldn’t blame them much for this; they hardly had anything to write about.

All in all the kick start to the game was fabulous, what needs to be seen is if the energy levels remain the same till the end of the series or the bubble bursts after the initial hoopla!

Travelogue – Chimagalur a beautiful sojourn

After days of hectic work schedule it was time to take a break! And a long weekend was just the cherry on the icing. We went on a destination search spree to ensure we land up in a great place… and Chikmagalur it was to be!! Though as many of the things happen at the last moment with me… this trip was supposed to be no different.

After finalizing the destination we started calling the hotels for accommodation and to our despair, the week we decided to go to Chimagalur, half the world seemed to be headed that way. There were no rooms available. After some nth calls we finally managed to get bookings at a lodge. Next was the traveling issue and as luck could have it all the local buses heading that way were full… so we were literally in a soup! However another common friend was traveling to Chikmagalur for a relaxed weekend in his car and he was gracious enough to take us along.

On the D-day, early morning weather in Bangalore is amazing and I am already in a holiday mood, however my dreamy escapade is cut short by the heavy downpour that lashes the city. I console myself that Chikmagalur would be better. We hop into the car at 8… after some calling around as the decided time was 7 and as these guys didn’t turn up I thought they changed their decision of taking us and gave us a slip [:O] By then the Bangalore traffic was at its worst and we were stuck in slow moving traffic…. Though we were stuck only for half and hour but because my mind was racing way ahead I felt it took ages and by the time we got out our stomachs started to growl…sadly there was no hotel where we could stop and nurture our famished beings. So off we went on our journey….

The roads after we left Bangalore were just beautiful. The ride was so amazing that we literally fought to be front seat riders. As we reached closer to Chikmagalur the beautiful landscapes and serene surroundings just left us spell - bound. I again went on my day dreaming trip… dreaming the beautiful locations/points that lay ahead once we reached Chikmagalur…

Chikmagalur literally means ‘younger daughters village’ It is said that the Chieftain of a close by place called ‘Sakarepetha’ had given this place in dowry to his younger daughter. Just before you reach Chikmagalur there is a perpendicular road taking you to ‘Hiremagalur’ i.e elder daughters village.

We reached Chikmagalur by evening and after settling in our lodge decided to roam about the town or any close by place, but there was some religious procession in full swing and by the time that cleared we were informed by locals that there was no local transport in the evening to Mulyangiri and back- the place we wanted to visit.

As we had hired a cab for the whole next day and we decided to squeeze Mulyangiri in on the same day. After some more walks through the small roads of Chikmagalur we went for dinner at a place called Planters Court. The other thing I realized about Chikmagalur was that these guys like things quite hot! The food at the hotel literally brought tears in my eyes and smoke through my ears! After some dinner and lots of water we came out of the hotel and realized another thing, people in Chikmagalur sleep very early and hence we could not manage to get a single ‘rick’ back and that meant walking all the way… but it was fun roaming on the streets on an unknown town…. and after that we decided to call it a day.

One more thing beautiful about this place is its people. They are utmost hospitable and extremely friendly. For the very short time that we were there, they helped us in so many things- from getting directions to hiring a cab.

Well the next day, the much-hyped (by me of course!) day of trip was a complete washout… it was pouring on that day. We still dared to go and try our luck and went in the cab to Mulyangiri. By the time we reached, clouds and heavy downpour covered it! After trying our luck at ID peetha we decided to call it quits and returned to our hotel… too dejected! The picture here is the one shot by a friend of mine*

On the way, however we decided to try Belur- Halebid and that was the place we headed next. As we headed for the Heritage site our driver started showing us his driving skills! The way he was driving I wondered if we were part of a Formula1 race :D We roamed about these heritage monuments and clicking photos holding umbrellas was quite a task that we managed!

After returning we went to ‘Taj Retreat’ a Taj resort in Chikmagalur. If you are looking for a relaxed weekend, you can certainly think about going to Taj. So to sum it all, visiting Chikmagalur was basically a wonderful drive, lots of relaxed time and some fun getting wet and roaming around! However from the glimpses of Chikmagalur that I got to see, I am certainly about to make some more trips there in the near future.

*Photo by- Divya Ostwal, amateur photographer

Azadi Express!

I went to see the Azadi Express, a mobile exhibition put together by the government of India and Indian Railways and what good time other than 26th January? So nik & me got ready and rushed to the Bangalore cantonment to catch a glimpse of the exhibition.

We reached there at around 10.30 and saying that there was a long queue is saying anything but the least! After finally tracing the end of the line we stood patiently for our turn, which by the way came after 1 ½ hr!! However during the wait it was heartening to see so many parents accompanying their children to see this ‘Azadi Express’. People had come from as far as South Bangalore to see this rare exhibition.

The exhibition was organized in a train that was painted in our tri-colour. The paintings on both sides of the coaches traced the Indian Freedom struggle from 1857. So on one coach was painted the Soldier Mutiny while the other coach adorned the Dandi March. It was fun just looking at those painting and hearing the young ones accompanying their parent’s squeal out the freedom fighters names with joy.

Our patient wait finally bore fruit and we entered the train, and I must say it was a real brush with the past. The exhibition was put together very well with a good blend of photos, murals, thermocol cut-outs etc. However, the ‘desh-bhakti’ songs being played along with the announcements made by the volunteers was a little turnoff, and out of place!

Be it the old newspapers and their headlines describing the major events that took place, The Queens declaration after 1857, illustrations depicting the 1857 war, murals showing the brutality in the aftermath of 1857, photos showing the non-co-operation movement, Dandimarch, India’s first Independence day celebration…. You name it and it was there, all being unfolded like an illustrated story! It ended with the achievements of India as a nation after 1947 till 2007. The progress depicted in photographs and models included from fields like agriculture, defense, research, medicine, education, industry etc.
All in all it was an enriching experience, and a wonderful start to the Republic Day!