It was rain that woke me up last night

Was my Guardian Angel nearby yesterday when I talked about the patter of raindrops and smell of wet earth? Yesterday night I woke up when something loud crashed nearby. In tune with the times that we live in, my first thought was that a bomb had exploded somewhere. But then no terrorist worth his (or her - another sign of the changing times!) salt would detonate a bomb in the dead of the night when the roads would be deserted. I checked the bedside clock - it showed 4:30am.

Just when I was wondering if I had been dreaming, there was a flash and then another loud crack pierced the pre-dawn air. I couldn't believe it - it was raining!

I was out of the bed in a flash. Oh, it was so good to hear the raindrops falling on earth. I watched for some time and then fell happily asleep to the music of the dancing rain. :-)

गर्जा महाराष्ट्र माझा!

येत्या १ मेला महाराष्ट्राचं सुवर्ण महोत्सवी वर्ष आहे. हे राज्य झालं तेव्हाचा सविस्तर इतिहास मला माहित नसला तरी ह्या वर्षी तो मी माहित करून घेणारच. कारण राकट, कणखर आणि दगडांची असली तरी ही भूमी माझी आहे. ह्यात माझ्या संस्क्रृतीची नाळ घट्ट रुजली आहे. आनंदाने पायावर डोकं ठेवावं आणि दु:खात गार्‍हाणी घालावी अशी माझी दैवतं ह्याच मातीत उभी आहेत. इथलीच माती माझ्या नसानसात आहे आणि मी इथल्याच मातीत शेवटी मिसळणार आहे.

अष्टविनायकांच्या, भवानीमातेच्या, अंबाबाईच्या, विठ्ठ्ल-रखुमाईच्या माझ्या लाडक्या महाराष्ट्राला माझा मानाचा मुजरा!

And now for the forwarded sher:

आ कभी अंधेरेमे देख सूरत-ऐ-दुनिया
रंग तो तमाशा है सिर्फ धूप-छावका

Stay Cool Folks! :-)

Monsoon Come Soon!

One piece of news came as a breath of fresh cool air in this hot and humid weather of Mumbai - that the monsoon is expected 7-10 days earlier this year. I didn't bother going into the scientific explanation that followed. My mind was already onto the patter of raindrops and smell of wet earth :-) Monsoon Come Soon!

Good to know that the Mumbai High Court has stayed the Shivaji Park beautification attempts. No, I am not a supporter of MNS. But I cannot understand why the large murals are needed. Anyone walking past the city's few remaining parks cannot fail to notice large number of students studying under the dim lights. Why not build study rooms for them instead? Why not start a library? Why not put in place amenities which will help the children playing there? Why not increase the vigilance that will keep away anti-social elements and smooching couples?

Why not make Shivaji Park a friendlier place to be in?

Shame on you Madhuri Gupta

There was a time when I used to naively believe that women are naturally averse to any kind of corruption. That illusion shattered long time back. My anger over what Gupta did does not totally stem from her being a woman though I must admit that a small part of me did cringe at the thought that a woman was caught handing over country's vital documents to spies. If it were a man, I would have easily blamed it on greed. Somehow or other, I find it hard to pin that motive on a woman. But I guess I must accept the fact that we are equally capable of falling pray to the vice.

However, 10 years, in my opinion at least, is a very inadequate punishment for this serious crime. :-(

All the best to the Indian Team for World Twenty20!

Don't get me wrong. I am still mad at the whole match-fixing thing. But I somehow cannot believe that the Chennai captain Dhoni could have been part of it. He seems like a level-headed chap and doesn't need to resort to these shenanigans for making money. So also Sachin Tendulkar.

Anyways, it is for Dhoni's sake that I hope we do well at World Twenty20. I am not hoping for the Cup but just that we play well and fair!

All the best to the Indian team!

Restoration work at Pratapgad

I have been to this fort twice and glad to know that someone is doing what should have been done for all such forts long time back by the Maharashtra government.

For more details, check out http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/Locals-to-restore-Shivajis-citadel-in-Pratapgad/articleshow/5866724.cms

If anyone has any information about how a common person like me can help in this effort, please let me know.

I will sign off for the day with a beautiful couplet by the late actress Meena Kumari:

जिंदगी, आखसे टपका हुआ बेरंग कतरा
तेरे दामनकी पनाह पाता तो आसू होता

Keep smiling folks, see you tomorrow!

Mission to Venice - James Hadley Chase

What comes to your mind when you think of Venice? Neither treason nor death, I am sure. Yet, that's exactly what the American Millionaire Don Micklem finds waiting for him when he goes for a vacation. But then he is combining pleasure with business as he is on a hunt for a man who he had met briefly during WW2. And to add another twist to the plot, this man is being accused of going over to the enemy side.

I think this was my 1st James Hadley Chase novel. And I will definitely go for more. :-)

The Arraignment - Steve Martini

Those of you who have read Steve Martini must be familiar with the character of Attorney Paul Madriani. The novel begins when his friend, another lawyer, Nick Rush refers a client to him. Paul doesn't like what he sees there and refers him back to Nick. Nick is killed along with the client in front of the courthouse on the same day leaving Paul wondering if he was the original target. Since the police investigation doesn't look like it's going anywhere, Paul decides to investigate on his own and then everyone - from Nick's trophy wife to the partners in his law firm - start to look suspicious.

I liked this novel for the way Paul eventually connects the dots together though I must admit that I was a bit faster than him in figuring out just what was going to be smuggled using the stolen visas :-)

स्म्रृतिचित्रे - लक्ष्मीबाई टिळक

किती दिवसांपासून स्म्रृतिचित्रे वाचायचं म्हणत होते. पण दर खेपेला लायब्ररीत गेले की दुसरंच पुस्तक घेऊन यायचे. मागल्या आठवड्यात मात्र पक्कं केलं की आज स्म्रृतिचित्रे आणायचं म्हणजे आणायचं. समोर कुठे दिसलं नाही म्हणून अटेन्डन्टला खास सांगून काढून घेतलं.

वाचायला सुरुवात केली आणि मग काही पानांनंतर लक्षात आलं की हे पुस्तक आपल्याच्याने वाचलं जाणार नाही. लक्ष्मीबाईंच्या वडिलांचा विचित्र स्वभाव (सोवळ्याचा अतिरेक नसून बहुतेक ज्याला आजकालच्या भाषेत OCD म्हणतात तसलं हे काहीतरी असावं), नंतर सासर्‍यांचा तापटपणा (बायकोला लाथ मारणारा हा नवरा!), मग खुद्द त्यांच्या नवर्‍याचा व्यवहारशून्यपणा (मिळालेले पैसे लोकांना देऊन टाकणे, बायकोच्या माहेरी जाऊन रहाणे), त्यांचा तापटपणा (गर्भार बायकोला जिन्यावरून ढकलून देणे) हे सगळं वाचणं असह्य होऊ लागलं. तरी नेटाने वाचत राहिले. पण मग डोकं दुखणं, चिडचिड सुरू झालं. मनाची कित्ती समजूत घालायचा प्रयत्न केला की हे सगळं १९ आणि २० व्या शतकातलं आहे पण त्रास व्हायला लागला.

शेवटी लायब्ररीत जाऊन पुस्तक परत केलं आणि दुसरं घेऊन आले. मला नाही वाटत की पुन्हा हे पुस्तक वाचायचा मी प्रयत्न करेन. :-(

Now that the IPL season is over (at least as far as the matches are concerned!) - will we not see the beloved zoozoos again? I used to look forward to the new ads so much :-(

Oh, the latest ad by Tanishq is very good - I especially like the actress playing the role of the wily mother and the message that she sends to her husband at the end of the ad. :-) Why don't we see such good ads often, I wonder.

The Private Patient - P D James

It's a whodunit alright! The nasty (do I need to mention this?) investigative journalist Rhoda Gradwyn gets murdered while she is at the private clinic run by surgeon Chandler-Powell for treatment of a facial scar. The clinic has lot of people around and almost all of them have some motive or another to wish Gradwyn out of this world. Somewhere in the background are the pagan stones with their story of a witch-hunting in the past.

A good read!

The League of Extraordinary crooks

I hadn't thought even in my wildest dreams that I will get sick at the sight of cricket and those playing it. But the recent IPL controversy and the whiff of a rumor that the matches that I spent so much time on watching and debating about could have been rigged all along make me sick to the stomach. Chennai might have won the final fair and square but looking at the score I find it very hard to believe that the match wasn't fixed. :-(

Needless to say, I am not looking forward to the matches that kick start this Friday.