| I've been in Bombay for a week now. It's hot. It's the first of Bombay's three summers - the pre-monsoon summer. It's the season for Mangoes and Love-apples, Breadfruit and Watermelon. I have memories of summers past, of eating Cucumbers and guavas smeared with salt and chilli powder, of soaking Starberries in salted water, of roasting Bimblis over a bonfire.
It's hot and humid, and there's no such thing as a cold shower. Water gets hot in the pipe before it reaches the shower. I shower two or three times a day, and sit under the fan the rest of the time. Houses in Mangalore have large covered verandahs and large windows and high ceilings. They're designed to keep heat high above head level. Houses in Mumbai don't have that luxury. The heat gets into your head.
I drive by the seaside. It's near where I live. Met ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) mannu there yesterday. We had coffee. The sea breeze was cool, but it was also a little wet, sticky. It's nice to sit there listening to the sea.
Mumbai's supposed to be noisy, but I don't hear the sounds around me. The traffic, the voices, everything is all filtered out through years of knowing that it's there, but irrelevant.
Next week I'll be back in NorCal. Just as hot, I hear, but nowhere near as humid. | comments: 2 comments or Leave a comment   |
| I moved to the US on the 29th December, and hadn't done much travelling since then. There were a few trips to San Francisco and San Jose, but they qualify as local now. Napa Valley was the only far off place that I'd been to. Most of my time was spent searching for houses and getting settled in. Jan passed, and it was only in Feb that I moved into my own place. I had nothing though, and my shipment from India wasn't due to arrive until late Feb, which meant that I had to stay put until then.
In the mean time, I had to give up the rental car, which also cut off all my local travel options. I was basically stuck in Sunnyvale with no option to get out.
My stuff finally arrived on the 23rd, and I had the house completely set up on the 24th. I could finally look at leaving town.
On the 29th, I packed my brand new backpack and headed off to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina for a couple of days. Good fun, and I shall write about it soon. I then flew to New York and got onto a flight to Mumbai. Spent a couple of days in Mumbai and then yesterday I flew to Delhi where code_martial and nadircruise met me at the airport and we drove to Chandigarh for bhavanar's wedding. Had a look around Chandigarh today and now I'm back in Mumbai. More about that later.
Will be heading to Bangalore tomorrow for a bunch of work, and then I'll be back on my way to SFO via Newark on Wednesday.
It's been short, but good. | | comments: 5 comments or Leave a comment |
| In a couple of hours, I'll get onto a flight to Mumbai. I'll spend Christmas at home with the family and be back in Bangalore for a day and a half before I leave this country on a more or less permanent basis. On December 29th, I'll be shifting base to California. Duration, unknown at this point.
Yesterday was my last day at the Bangalore office. Not officially though. I just don't think I'll be going there to work when I get back next week. The shipping company sent a surveyor to my place yesterday, and they'll be back on the 27th to pack and ship my stuff. I now have to figure out sleeping arrangements for the 27th night. That's later though. For now, off to Mumbai, and hope to meet mannu.
Anyone else wanna meet up, post here. | | comments: 28 comments or Leave a comment |
| About a year ago, I'd started working on a project that I'd mentioned briefly in this journal. Well, I'm happy to say that it's sort of done. Well, at least as done as it will ever be, given that I'll be shifting bases in a few days. Some of you have seen it before, and some have seen hints on my desktop background.
So, here you have it,Do try out the slide show, and let me know what you think. | | comments: 2 comments or Leave a comment |
|  Sunset in Mumbai is always a beautiful sight because of the sea. I've shot Mumbai sunsets from down south, to Bandra, Juhu, Versova and Vasai. One thing to notice is that sunsets aren't just dependent on the place, but also the time of year.
In winter, there's always a little more haze, but a lot less cloud cover, and the sun is further south and further away. This makes for some very cool reflections against the water. This set of pics was taken at Marine Drive this winter.
Anyway, I hope you have a wide monitor, because you'll need it for this one:( big one ) | | comments: 3 comments or Leave a comment |
| | Ok, 2nd March and it's raining in Mumbai. Before Holi. This is going to spoil the Mango crop this year. Damn! | | comments: 3 comments or Leave a comment |
| Amidst bhelwalas, coconut sellers, rides for children, dancing monkeys, sand castles and a huge crowd of suburban mumbaikars, the sun goes down over the ocean. Troves of people visit Juhu Beach every evening to enjoy the cool breeze, take a dip in the ocean, and watch the sun going down.
Some people throw garlands into the sea, while a bevy of girls walk along the the water's edge, lost in conversation. A group of Hare Krishna devotees from the nearby ISKCON temple sing songs and preach to a crowd of curious onlookers and a bunch of boys fly kites.
Sellers call out for their wares, but the chaat sellers are largely silent. They needn't call out to the crowds who patronise them anyway. A man with a basket of steamed peanuts walks past us and we exchange a couple of rupees for a handful of those little brown pods.
Footsteps in the sand, while you hold a lover's hand. Nothing can go wrong with the world.
| | comments: 17 comments or Leave a comment |
| IC 610 BLR to BOM took off 30 minutes late - no reason stated
Arrived Mumbai 20 minutes late - as expected (by me).
Drove home; the car has a few additions - 3 red L signs, and a box of tissues.
Had dinner at home - dad made some great sea food (Friday means no meat). Crab salad with boiled eggs, and prawn in white sauce bake. Sis got some french and italian bread, which we toasted with butter. Yummy. I'm going to have the same for lunch.
Later, went to Rock Bottom at Juhu for the Alliance Française party. Met up with all my old friends there. Biggest surprise was seeing _samurai_jack there. He's been doing a lot of socialising in my absence... I wish him well.
The cops asked them to close the place at about 1:20, so we all had to leave. It was quite a peaceful exit - no cop entered the premises. | | comments: 4 comments or Leave a comment |
| My sis got all my friends together and threw a farewell party for me on Friday the 2nd... ( and before you start admonishing me about having parties on Fridays in lent )
People started coming in at 6:30. First were the crowd from my French class. Not all turned up as many stayed quite far away and had some kind of class or examination on that or the next day. In all 7 of my French classmates turned up. The girls decided to take over the DJing, which was good, because they took over dance management as well.
NCST chaps arrived at around 7:30, and we had to move everyone next door. This was also good, since the NCST crowd, apart from _samurai_jack really didn't seem to want to dance. _samurai_jack just needed to be coaxed a bit (you can check his journal for full details). There was a lot of eating, chatting and joking in one hall, and music, dancing and drinking in the other - makes sense. Among other attendees were nvivek, code_martial and _op_.
Around 9 the guys from the neighbourhood turned up - strange how the people who stay the closest turn up last and those that stay the furthest turn up first.
A little later the NCST guys gave me a gift - an acoustic guitar, that I've brought with me to Bangalore. They made me play, but since I've got all my music on the comp, we moved back next door. I started out with Aicha and Champs Elysees and then switched to Summer of 69 and Leaving on a jet plane.
Dancing resumed soon after, and as time moved on towards midnight, people started to leave.
There was cake cutting and smearing over faces - ok, just one face. Lots of pictures taken, none to be uploaded (since I no longer have a server (one of the things that kept me at NCST for so long was the web space)).
The NCST group regrouped for a second dinner after midnight, and I joined them for my first.
The party shut down near 1:30 or 2, and I was soon asleep. | | comments: 2 comments or Leave a comment |
| No, this isn't a post about Maundy Thursday, although that is what today is. I've been off the net for a while, so the next few updates are going to be about things that happened last week. I'm already starting to forget the dates, but will try and fill in.
31st March - my last day at work.
There I was, rushing to sort out all official/personal data on my disk so that I could take the personal stuff home and pass the official stuff to other members - if they were so inclined to take them. At about 3:30, the guys surprised me with a farewell meet - they brought snacks and a chair - the chair for me, and the snacks for them. I was seated on the chair and they proceeded to ask me 20 10 4 questions... the usual.
I was to meet a friend for dinner in town at 6:30pm, and at 5:30 I was just about through with file sorting. Some last minute checks (which I later found to be insufficient) and I was done by 5:45. Drove down town and got a call while I was at Worli - the show was just about over, and my friend was ready to meet me. I made it in another 15 minutes, and after a little searching around, met up at 7.
We'd planned on going to 5 Spices, but in the end decided against searching for the place at that time, and settled on Pizzerria. I last dined at Pizzerria after the Malhar party at Malhar '97 (or was it '96... memory fails me). After much deliberating, we decided on a Basic Quad Pizza. You get to put a different topping on each quad, which sounded like fun.
( Our toppings )
The waiter who took the order gave us this look and said, "This is all one pizza?". He smiled and was on his way.
Dinner was pretty good, and even though I liked the toppings and the service, I think the presentation leaves a bit to be desired. At a total price of Rs.330 for two, I think it was pretty good.
Ok, so this wasn't my last supper in Mumbai. It wasn't even my last supper out. It was my last supper in South Mumbai - for a while at least. | | comments: 9 comments or Leave a comment |
| 25th plan was to go down to YB Chavan centre to see a group of French performing artists. Were late, so ended up at the 7-11 softy place at King's Circle. First round was Pine n Lime and Strawberry Melba. The former being a mix of pineapple and lime softy, and the latter strawberry softy with strawberry sauce all over it. Both in waffle cones.
Was nice. Brought back memories of the whole gang from VJTI visiting this place during the lunch break.
Second round was a single 7-11 waffle special. Man, this thing is huge. It's priced equal to two regular softy sundaes, but it worth more than two. If only we'd known this in college. The price tag at that time scared us away from even asking the guy what it was.
Let me explain.
The cone is huge. More than double size in width. This is seriously huge. My hand does not go around it. It's filled with five flavours of ice cream - mango, chocolate, strawberry, lime and vanilla I think. The latter four are in the cone. Mixed in are waffle chunks, chocolate chips, caramel and cashew nuts. All this is covered with chocolate sauce that hardens keeping the insides intact. Above the chocolate sauce is chocolate straws (short little things about 7mm long and a little curved).
The mango swirl is on top of this, and a waffle chip is placed in the mango - sundae style.
The price - 70 bucks (that's less than $1.75 US).
Stares from other customers buying the 10 rupee small softy - priceless.
Hung around inside King's Circle garden for a while till they closed it, then driving past VJTI heard loud music. Went inside. Apparently it's Pratibimb time. No one asked for my ID card :) More importantly, no one recognised me. It would have been scary if someone had.
I'm gonna miss Bombay. | | comments: 18 comments or Leave a comment |
| Wednesday (25th) night, we drove around town. Left home around 11:30pm, down to Pali hill to pick up Sudarshan. Then, headed towards town. Past Worli, Haji Ali, then Bhulabai Desai road, turn off to Napean Sea road, up to Malabar hill, around Walkeshwar, the Governor's mansion, Girgaum (hey kanishka_sinha) Chowpatti, and stopped at Charni Road for Bachelor's ice cream.
Earlier in the day I'd had my car radio fixed, and figured out how to set the channels (by searching for manuals on the net), so we had music all the way through. Sudarshan had his MP3 player with radio broadcast, so he could play music on my radio through that.
Sarah and I shared a green chilly ice cream, ginger orange and coffee walnut. Jacquie stuck to her usual of chocolate, while Sudarshan went for a pomegranate milk shake. We asked the guy who served us to take a few pictures, but he was positively overwhelmed with sarah's digicam.
Second round of ice creams and Jacquie had a black currant. Sudarshan, Sarah and I shared two falooda's.
After that had to find a U-turn to head back home, but kept skipping them till I got to the end of the land at NCPA. Turned around and went back down the length of Marine Drive. Wanted to go back via Malabar hill and hanging gardens, but the cops had set up a naka bandi at the road turning off chowpatti, so ended up doing the regular Pedder road route.
Turned off at Worli to go via the sea face, and then headed home.
Stopped on Cadell road, near Shivaji Park to fill up the tank. The HP guy also cleaned my wind screen with soap and water, so it was really clear the rest of the way home.
Had to drop Sudarshan back first, so we drove down to linking road, and then to pali, and up through zig-zag road to reach pali hill. Decided to skip Carter road, and took Perry road instead to get home. | | comments: 4 comments or Leave a comment |
| Went to see RotK on Saturday, along with the other guys mentioned in _samurai_jack's journal. Yeah, the movie was good - I loved the action, and the sets were great. Effects were good too. I'll forgive the violations of the laws of physics, since this is primarily a time of elves and dwarves, orcs and hobbits, magics and faeries (also, I don't remember what those violations were).
Earlier in the day, I drove around town - just for kicks. I haven't done this since I was in college (only then I used a cycle), and it was mostly fun.
Started at Sion, which is where the only bad part of the journey happened. Just before Sion circle, a garbage van and a maruti 800 had collided. There may have been a motorcycle involved too. I couldn't make out.
Later, I drove past Parel, and turned off under a flyover. Reached Chinchpokli station and then went on ahead. The straight road would have gotten me to Jacob's Circle, so I took a left instead. Went for quite a while, and then turned left, only to get back to Jacob's circle. There's seven roads leading to Jacob's circle, hence the place is also known as saat rasta.
Then took the turn towards Mumbai Central, past Maratha Mandir. Went past, down towards Lamington Road, and then turned west. Got to Grant Road west, and went down to Peddar Road via Cumballa hill. Down to Bhulabai Desai road, and then to Napean Sea road and Priyadarshini park.
Up the hill, down to the Governor's mansion, Walkeshwar, Girgaum and then Marine Drive, took a U turn, and came back. Went up past the Chief Minister's place, and then to Hanging Gardens. Took a U turn under the flyover, and then back to Marine Drive and Regal for the movie.
Drove back via Napean Sea road again.
Yeah, fun day.
Lord of the Roads, Return of the Kid | | comments: 1 comment or Leave a comment |
| French class is on mid-term break, so I stayed late in the office today. That of course means that I'd be hungry by the time I left, so I stopped off for Bhel near Amitabh's place in Juhu. Bhel must be the staple diet of Mumbaikars during non-monsoon months.
Our Bhel walla was on break during the monsoons, but he's back now, just in time for my break :D He charges 10 bucks for everything - Bhel, Sev or Pani puri.
The bhel rates across Mumbai differ widely. What you get also differs. The guys who come around with their wares on their heads offer mainly bhel and sev puri. The cart guys have Pani puri also. Some of them have the Dahi Batata and Masala Puri too.
At other places you'll also get Raghda Pattice and Samosa - Sukha/with Chutney.
While I was doing my hardware diploma in 1994, I befriended a Bhel Walla near Churchgate station. He used to be on the road towards Xavier's boys academy (and USIS/Theosophy Hall). Bhel was 10 bucks then, and it was my daily lunch - at 5:45pm. One day I met him long after I'd stopped going there. I didn't buy any bhel that day, but he bought a pear, and gave me half. :) Nice guy. Checked up on my way to Theosophy hall earlier this year. There's a different guy there now.
When I was in VJTI we used to frequent all the bhel wallas, and there was a huge choice. The guy on the way to Matunga station - just across the main road - used to have the best Masala Puri. It was 5 bucks when we started, and went up to 6 by the time I left. I didn't even have to order, he just knew what I was having.
Then there was the guy midway between VJTI and the main road on the way to Matunga. We used to have bhel there for 6 bucks. It was okay, but huge quantity. I remember myself on my cycle, Murli who would tow me, Narsi and Jagan doing that route almost daily. Sometimes Tinaz and Deepa would be with us. Sometimes it was me, lols, soujanya and monal, and sometimes sushil would come along.
At 5 gardens the demand was high, and so were the prices. 10 bucks for anything, but you got a good squeeze of lime in it. I think that was to make up for the fact that there wasn't much else.
Finally, on the way to Wadala was the Samosa walla. 5 bucks for a plate - two samosas, with raghda and chutney. Was awesome. mujtaba introduced me to that guy. We also had dahi batata puri, sev puri and bhel puri here. He was by far the best. This was the regular place when I stayed late in college - to study, but mainly to have a snooze :D in sushil's room. sushil, muji and i would take a walk down there, and then go hang out at 5Gs with the other hostelites to watch the walkers :D ;)
Yeah, bhel is a culture in Mumbai. And there's some awesome memories associated with it. The only other item that brings back so many memories is chaaaai. But that's another story :D
Heh, I haven't written this much in a while. | | comments: 18 comments or Leave a comment |
| Went to see Class of '84 today. It is all it's cracked up to be. I've been trying to see it from the day it opened, and has been running house full ever since.
Today it was playing at St. Andrews, and I got a chance to get tickets this morning. Paid 200 bucks a head, and I think it was worth it.
Go see it when it comes to a theatre near you, go see it with friends... and yeah, book early. | | comments: 2 comments or Leave a comment |
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