ऐसा नही की जिंदगी बहुत छोटी है.....

दरअसल हम जीना ही बहुत देर से शुरू करते है

(Forwarded)
 

The WSD - Street Dogs Of India Calendar - 2015 is now available

Received the following email from WSD:

The WSD - Street Dogs Of India  Calendar - 2015 is now available. The calendar is available at various outlets in Mumbai. (Please see list given below). It can also be couriered to various cities outside Mumbai (check with us on the courier costs depending on the no and type). It is priced at Rs 150 each. (Wall and Desk) as a donation towards WSD's sterilisation, immunization and health care programmes. For outside Mumbai orders, you can e-mail on wsdindia@gmail.com or call 022-64222838 and we can speed-post it to you.

 Outlets in Mumbai

South Mumbai

Kala Ghoda

WSD Office: C/o Mr F. Broacha, 2nd Flr, Yeshwant Chambers, B.Bharucha Marg, Near Fab India, Kala Ghoda, Mumbai – 23 Tel : 64222838
Rhythm House : 40, K. Dubash Marg (Rampart Row), Kala Ghoda, Mumbai 400023. Tel: 4322 2727

Nariman Point

Christina:  69, Oberoi Shopping Plaza (Trident), Nariman Point, Nariman Point, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400021  Tel : 2282 506

Fort

Sleight of Hand:  Trafford House,  6, Prescott, Opposite Queens Mansion, Fort, 400 001.
Big Daddy, Lobby of Sterling Multiplex, Near CST, Mumbai 400 001

Churchgate
Dr Leena Dalal’s Clinic :Green Fields, Opposite Oval Maidan, Churchgate, Mumbai – 21 Tel: 66153497

Marine Lines

Dr Kurush and Dr Dipti's Clinic: Shop No 4 & 5, Silk House, JSS Road, Opp Kayanis, Dhobi Talao, Mumbai - 400002

Kemps Corner
Ibrahim’s Pet Shop :, Next to Crossword, Kemps Corner, Mumbai – Tel: 23806278

Pawfect:  46, Hussain Manor, Bomanji Petit Street, Near Parsi General Hospital, Kemps Corner, Mumbai – Tel - 9820625092

Tardeo
Shake Hands My Pet Store - Shop No 8, Noor Mahal, Tardeo. Mumbai: 400 034  Tel : - 23515184
 
Central Mumbai

Dadar

Dr Makrand Chavan’s Clinic : Shop No 1, Matoshree Tower, Kohinoor Mills Lane, Shivaji Park, Dadar – Mumbai- 28 Tel: 24380756

Western Suburbs

Bandra
Paws and Furs : Shop No 3, Kailash,156, Waterfield Road, Bandra, Mumbai. Tel: 66990858
Tailwaggers : 16th Road, Behind Hawaian Shack, Bandra, Mumbai. Tel: 9820127572

Andheri
Tailwaggers : Shop No 5, Excellency Building, Near Versova Telephone Exchange,Four Bunglows, Mhada Rd, Mhada, SV Patel Nagar, Andheri West, Mumbai, 400061 Tel : 98201 2757

Doggiie Dog World : Bunglow No.81, SVP Nagar, Janki Devi School Lane, MHADHA, Andheri, Mumbai. Tel : 91672 42218

Happy 2015!

Couldn't have found a better photo to say goodbye to 2014 and to welcome 2015. :-)

Hope the new year brings a lot more happiness, goodness, peace and prosperity everywhere on earth!

Unakoti (Ekaant, Epic Channel)

The promo for this one was compelling enough to make me check at least one episode out. It was about a place called Unakoti in one of India's Northeastern states - Tripura. It's a mountainous area surrounded by thick forest and scattered in this forest are innumerable carved and stone idols of Hindu Gods as well as Goddesses. It is evident that such a massive project must have involved a lot of artisans, executed over a considerable period of time and thus undertaken by some kingdom but there is no trace of it anywhere in history. Consequently, it is a mystery as to who were the creators of Unakoti, when did they create it and why. A lot of legends are told. Most of them based on its name - Unakoti, which in Bengali means one less to 1 Crore.

The first legend is about the trip that 1 Crore Gods were taking to Varanasi with Lord Shiva. By sundown they ended up in the vicinity of Raghunandan mountain (as Unakoti was called in the early days). They were tired so it was decided to spend the night on the mountain and start at the daybreak. Yet, the rising sun saw only Lord Shiva get up. The rest of the party was fast asleep. Lord Shiva left for Varanasi and cursed that the rest of the Gods be turned into stone idols right where they were sleeping.

Another legend involves a devotee of Goddess Parvati called Kallukumar. He wanted to travel with Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati to mount Kailas. Lord Shiva wasn't very keen on that so he told Kallukumar that he will take him with them if he could make 1 Crore idols in one night. Kallukumar toiled through the night but till morning one idol was short of the 1 Crore target. Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati left for Kailash leaving poor Kallukumar behind with his idols.

A different version depicts Kallukumar as the master sculptor who was commissioned to carve out 1 Crore idols of Gods by a king. Kallukumar made one God idol less and instead made one idol of himself.

The last legend that the anchor mentioned was about the Gods leaving earth to go to the heavens at the beginning of Kaliyug - because earth would not be a good place to reside at. But they left their idols behind for anyone wanting to pray to them or seek their blessings. I am not sure why anyone would want to pray to a God who goes to the cozy comforts of the heavens and leaves behind the devotees to suffer.

The anchor summed up the mystery and allure of the place well when he said that "We cannot know much about any historical place unless the place itself wants to reveal its secrets. Unakoti isn't yet ready to do so. When it is, we will come back." Amen to that!

Not sure how much to tip? The complete guide to tipping

मुझे ढून्ढने की कोशिश अब न करना
तूने रास्ता बदला तो मैने मंजील बदल ली

(Forwarded)

Bermuda Triangle - by Charles Frambach Berlitz

The Poseidon Adventure - by Paul Gallico

Atlantis: The Eighth Continent - by Charles Frambach Berlitz

Lo! - by Charles Fort

The Devil's Triangle - by Richard Winer

Dariba Diaries (Epic Channel, Mondays, 9pm)

I first came across the channel while surfing for something worthwhile to watch. I saw a couple of people in Mughal era costumes but didn't pay much attention to it and moved on. On another occassion, I saw a promo of some episode of Mahabharata. 'Can't these people find any other subjects than Mahabharata and Jodha-Akbar?' I thought and moved on again.

Then one day I saw a weird name - 'Dariba Diaries' - on the TV guide. 'Must be either about the diaries of a teenage girl named Dariba or some story in a mountain place called Dariba' I thought but instead of moving on I decided to investigate the matter this time. From the information on the net, it appeared that the show is about the crime solving capabilities of a guy called Mirza in Delhi when it was being ruled by the British. Aha! Surely, an episode would be worth watching.

So I did, yesterday night from 9pm-10pm. And it looks like I will be hooked on to it. The characters seem well defined. The period setting doesn't fatigue you though it has, no doubt, been the subject of many shows. And yesterday's story seemed to have a novel plot. Unfortunately, when you watch too many detective stories, you know the victim's cousin is the culprit the moment he makes an appearance on screen. :-)

But all in all, I won't mind reading a few pages of the Dariba Diaries - though I am yet to figure out who or what Dariba is!

Exodus: Gods And Kings

It has been a few weeks since I saw this movie. I had planned on writing in detail about it but as usual I proposed and God disposed of it pretty efficiently. Nah! I am just laying the blame at the Pearly Gates. The truth is that I was plain lazy. There, a bit of a confession before old 2014 bids a goodbye. :-)

Okay, I saw the movie without much background information on the subject except for 2 things - Moses parted the red sea to take the Hebrews to safety and then transcribed the 10 Commandments on Mount Sinai. I certainly had no idea about the Egyptians in general and Ramesses in particular. So it was very interesting to see the story unfold. More so, because Egypt has always been a fascinating subject for me.

I had no idea about Moses' childhood and his young days. So it came as a surprise that he was  treated as a part of the royalty and that there was a prophecy regarding the leader. Ramesses somehow did not sound like a 100% villain but then this is not a typical Hindi movie where the hero is the epitome of all that is pure in this world while the villain is rotten to the core. Ramesses had shades of grey - he was anxious when told that Moses could be Hebrew but had cared enough for Moses to help him foil an assassination attempt by Queen Tuya - which is often what people are like in real world.

I understood God's punishment of 10 plagues to hit Egypt because the Egyptians won't free the Hebrews. But I don't understand a God which brings about the killing of children, who had  nothing to do with any of this, just to punish their parents. And I don't understand why Moses, instead of just asking Ramesses to keep a watch over his son, didn't ask all Egyptians to smear the blood of lambs on their doors - so every child could be protected - when he clearly disapproved of God's plan. 'Not a single Hebrew child died' sounded kind of hollow (and callous!). :-(

As far as the look of the movie goes, the sets and costumes were grand. If there were any  discrepancies or mistakes, they would not have been apparent to a layman like me. Everyone seemed to act their part well. But I think the 10 plagues were dealt with rather summarily. I had expected a grandiose parting of the red sea and was kind of disappointed with mere receding of the tides. The transcribing of the 10 Commandments were played down in my opinion. And I am not sure whether the child was God's representative or God himself.

The one scene that will remain forever etched in my mind is the tiny speck of a solitary white horse that is trying to flee to safety against a gigantic ocean wave.

Shammi Kapoor movies on Zee Classic, 1st January

A treat for all you Shammi fans! Begin your new year with 2 of his movies on Zee Classic - "Prince" at 11:15am and "Professor" after that. Yahooooo!

Krispy Kreme

Doughnuts! Doughnuts! Doughnuts!  I used to be a die-hard fan of Dunkin' Donuts. But after sampling a few creations from Krispy Kreme (they have an outlet in Bandra), I know they rock!

Since I have decided not to think about calories till the morning of 1st January, there was no guilt whatsoever as I eyed the box full of goodies. The first one was, of course, Glazed Cinnamon. I swear I had planned on eating just the half of it but I just couldn't control myself and gobbled up the whole. A melt-in-your-mouth sugary magical piece ofconfectionery - words simply cannot describe it.

Almonds are supposed to be good for your health, right? Okay, the 'Almond All Over' lives upto its name and more. A ring of almond flakes sits like a crown on top of this delectable doughnut and brings a slice of heaven right onto your plate.

Though I love chocolates , as a rule, I stay away from anything that has chocolate sauce in it. So there was no way I was going to eat even a morsel of the Chocolate Dream Cake. But I was told, in no uncertain terms, that in doing so I am missing out on something that is simply out of this world. So I decided to take the risk (what the hell! It's almost year end!) and the first bite told me  that it had paid off. Hats off to the person who coined its name! If this is what chocolate dreams are made up of, I never wanna wake up :-)

Reading the first few paragraphs of Raghu Raman's article "Taking a gun into a knife fight", I thought that he had hit the nail right on its head describing the asymmetrical fight between the security forces and the terrorists. That should not come as a surprise. The guy knows what he is talking about.

What surprised me instead was the later part of the article in which he stopped short of suggesting any concrete measures to help even out the fight. Clearly more is expected of him than the words like 'sustained efforts on creating long-term intelligence and technology-driven capacity' which, very frankly, any of us civilians could have penned.

६. आकंठ, दिवाळी अंक २०१४

लोकसत्तामध्ये दिवाळी अंकांची जी माहिती येते त्यात असं म्हटलं होतं की यंदाचा 'आकंठ' चा अंक सिंधी साहित्य विशेषांक असणार आहे. खरं तर २-३ दुकानं धुंडाळूनही मला मिळाला नव्हता पण नेटाने चौकशी केल्यावर दीपोत्सवसोबत मिळाला. अंक हातात पडूनही वाचायला वेळ मिळत नव्हता. आणि मिळाला तेव्हा मात्र नाही म्हटलं तरी थोडीशी निराशाच झाली.

दुसर्या भाषेतल्या कथा वाचायच्या म्हणजे मूळ कथेची गोडी भाषांतरात न उतरण्याचा धोका असतोच. त्यामुळे ह्यातल्या बऱ्याच कथांतली भाषा कृत्रिम वाटते ह्यात नवल वाटण्यासारखे काही नव्हतं. नवल ह्या गोष्टीचं वाटलं की बऱ्याच कथा बेतलेल्या वाटल्या, खोट्या वाटल्या. कथा प्रसिद्ध झाल्या ते साल कुठेच नमूद केलेलं नसल्यामुळे त्या त्या काळाला अनुसरून त्या कथा होत्या का हेही कळायला मार्ग नाही. उदा. आईवडिलांकडे लक्ष न देणारा मुलगा ही कल्पना २-३ कथांत येते ती तेव्हाच्या काळात 'shocking' असली तरी आजच्या काळात सत्यपरिस्थिती आहे, वास्तव आहे - कितीही कटू असलं तरी. 

असो. मला आवडलेल्या कथा म्हणजे समंजस सासू, खानवांहण, श्रध्दा, दस्तावेज, बैल आणि भाषा, चुन्नू आणि मुन्नी आणि "सिंधी लोक आणि त्यांची संस्कृती" हा लेख. कविता हा माझा प्रांत नसला तरी त्या सदरातल्या काही कविता - विशेषत: फाळणीची, घरादाराला मुकल्याची भावना व्यक्त करणाऱ्या - मनाला स्पर्शून गेल्या.

त्यामुळेच पुढल्या वर्षी हा अंक आणायचा की नाही ते अजून ठरवता येत नाहिये हे नक्की.

If people are not laughing at your goals, your goals are too small.

-- Azim Premji

Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell

An exhibition of rocks, mineral and fossils

Where: Mumbai University's Shankarrao Chavan Building, Kalina
When: 3 to 7 January

For more information, visit check out  in Marathi newspaper Loksatta

Strand Book Stall Book Fair

Where: David Sassoon Library, in front of Jehangir Art Galary, Kala Ghoda
Timings: 10am to 7pm

Their Fort shop will also have books available at same discounted prices. So go stock up your libraries!

Byblos, High Street Phoenix

I was inconsolable when Komala's downed their shutters in High Street Phoenix. Their Thali had been my favorite - tasty, filling, light on the tummy as well as on wallet. I spent days moping about it. Then on one of my visits I saw a new restaurant in its place - the name didn't give away any clue to its identity, it was called Byblos. So I googled to take a look at its menu. Turned out that it boasted of a lot of new dishes. I am not very good at geography but most of the dishes sounded middle eastern. Already a few reviews were in place - the good people of this city never waste any time in trying out a new eating place. Thankfully, most of the reviews were favorable.

But then I was down with a nasty attack of cold with a lot of phlegm that wouldn't just go away - no matter what remedy I tried. Fed up of all the Glycodins, Benadryls and assorted allopathy medicines, I trouped into the nearest store selling Ayurvedic medicines and trouped out with a bottle of their version of the cough syrup. Two spoonfuls of the liquid and several severe bouts coughing later I felt like I could actually breath. To cut the long story short, soon I was well enough to plan a lunch at Byblos.

When we actually sat down, it was difficult to decide what to order because we wanted to try out a lot of them. Finally we zeroed in on 3 of them - Bedouin Biryani  (believe it or not, this one is a veg dish!), Shawarma Plate (chicken) and Leek & Parmesan Crème brûlée.

Shawarma Plate

 I have eaten Shawarma as a wrap but was seeing it in this form for the first time. A very flavorful dish, no doubt, but the chicken was a bit too dry for my taste.

Leek & Parmesan Crème brûlée

The Crème brûlée was piping hot, velvety soft and every mouthful was a glimpse into culinary heaven, if there is any. I am going to end up ordering this dish on every future visit to this place.

Bedouin Biryani

I am not so thrilled by Bedouin Biryani. It tasted good when eaten with pomegranate gravy but when I tried a mouthful without the gravy I found that it didn't have much of a taste. I am unlikely to order it again. :-(

I forgot to add that we were served a small bread basket with an edible butter candle. Very nice, though I think the basket could do without the pieces of chapatis. :-)

The place is well decorated, spacious and clean. The staff is courteous and very attentive. The menu has enough novelties to last you for a few visits and some that will definitely make you go there again and again.

Spanish - Class XIX

Our Maestra is on the roll. I am having a nasty feeling that by the time February's first weekend rolls in, she is going to pile on a lot of material which most of us will not be able to digest. Till last weekend major part of each class would be spent in revising the homework and the last 30-45 minutes would see us covering new material. But today the revision of the homework was done in thirty minutes flat. And then it was the turn of the new portion.

First, we learnt how to ask for and tell time. 'ये बंबई शहर है, यहा टाईम का मतलब है पैसा' I remembered Nana Patekar from the movie 'Taxi no. 9211' :-) We had learnt numbers from 1 too 100 till now. Today we learnt from 101 till 1000. The teacher asked each one of us to write our own mobile numbers by dividing them in 3 groups of 3 digits each and one lone digit at the end. e.g. a number such as 1234567890 would be 123 456 789 0 and so read as ciento veinti tres cuatrocientos cincuenta y seis setecientos ochenta y nueve cero......I hope. :-) 5-6 students were randomly selected to read out their numbers and the rest of us were supposed to write the numbers down. Finally, we were asked to divide each of the numbers in 5 groups of 2 digits each and tell the teacher. We all had loads of fun doing that and all of us were grinning from ear to ear by the time the exercise was over.

Time for some new vocabulary - lugares en una ciudad like library, post office, press, newspaper stall, theatre and departmental store. And as if all this wasn't enough, in the last 15 minutes of the class we were taught how to ask for and give directions. I just hope the Spaniards are better than Indians when it comes to directions :-)

I have come to realize that when this class ends I am going to miss it. Today morning when I was going through my notes while waiting for the teacher, two students (one of them a senior citizen and another a professional) had their books open and were discussing the homework just like kids. 'Did you get question number 5?', 'What is the meaning of this word?' and so on. It is refreshing and energizing to spend two hours every week in an academic environment, not to mention the fact that I have finally taken baby steps towards my long-cherished dream of learning a foreign language.

As 2014 draws to an end, it is one of the few thoughts that I find immensely comforting.

क्या बात करे इस दुनियाकी
हर शख्सके अपने अफसाने है
जो सामने है उसे लोग बुरा कहते है
जिसको देखा नही उसे सब खुदा कहते है

(Forwarded)

Ether One

I am not a fan of computer games. But Shekhar Bhatia's article Brain Teasers has made me wonder if I should try Ether One.

Abominable - Dan Simmons

An article worth reading - The Art Of Living

5. दीपोत्सव, दिवाळी अंक २०१४

अंकातला पहिला लेख वाचला की सर्वसाधारणपणे अंकाच्या एकंदर बांधणीची कल्पना येते. आणि हा अंदाज सहसा चुकत नाही. ह्या अंकाबद्दल वाचलं होतं तेव्हा 'रस्त्याआधी एखाद्या गावात मोबाईलचं नेटवर्क पोचतं तेव्हा काय होतं?' ह्या प्रश्नाचं उत्तर शोधण्याचा ह्यात प्रयत्न केला गेला आहे अशी माहिती होती. ही माहिती मिळण्याकरता अंकाचा उत्तरार्ध यायची वाट पहावी लागली हे खरं असलं तरी त्याआधीचे सगळे लेख वेळेचं सार्थक करणारे होते हे मान्य करायलाच हवं.

पहिली मुलाखत 'डिजीटल इंडिया' बद्दल पंतप्रधान नरेंद्र मोदींची. फारसं काही गंभीर वाचायची सवय नसलेल्या माझ्यासारख्या व्यक्तीला हा लेख बोअरिंग वाटायची शक्यता जास्त. पण तरी नेट लावून वाचला आणि एका वाक्यावर अक्षरश: थबकले. 'आधुनिक तंत्रज्ञान आत्मसात  करण्याचे मार्ग आणि पद्धती वेगळ्या असतील, पण ग्रामीण भागातील माणसं अत्यंत चिवटपणे प्रयत्न करून नवे तंत्रज्ञान वापरणं शिकतात. कारण तो त्यांच्यासाठी केवळ हौशीचा मामला नव्हे तर जगणं बदलण्याचा एकमात्र पर्याय असतो.' रोजच्या जगण्यातला एक कन्व्हीनियंस ह्यापलीकडे माझ्या लेखी फारसं महत्त्व नसलेला मोबाईल हा दुसर्या कोणासाठी तरी 'जगणं बदलण्याचा एकमात्र पर्याय' असू शकतो? कधी हा विचार केलाच नव्हता मी. फक्त 'आजकाल भाजीवाल्यांकडे सुध्दा मोबाईल आलेत' म्हणून आश्चर्य व्यक्त केलं होतं. ह्या लेखाने डोळे उघडले.

शाहरुख खान मला अजिबात आवडत नाही - नट म्हणून नाही आणि माणूस म्हणूनही नाही. त्यामुळे त्याची मुलाखत वाचावी की नाही हा प्रश्न होता. पण 'आता अंक विकत घेतलाच आहे तर वाचून तरी बघू काय म्हणतोय ते' असा विचार करून वाचायला घेतली आणि एक वेगळाच शाहरुख समोर आला. 'माणूस' म्हणून समोर आला. 'बेटर....बेस्ट करण्याचं भूत असतं आपल्या टाळक्यात त्यामुळे आपल्याला साध्या गुडची किंमत उरत नाही हा आपला सगळ्यात मोठा प्रॉब्लेम आहे' हे सांगणारा, टेक्नोलॉजीच्या काळात इमेजीनेशन हरवू देता कामा नये असं वाटणारा आणि 'आपण आपलं टायमिंग सुधारण्यासाठी झगडावं' हा मंत्र देणारा. 'आफ्टरऑल आय एम एन इंटरटेनर' असं म्हणतो तो त्याच्या मुलाखतीच्या शेवटी पण मी म्हणेन 'आफ्टरऑल, यू आर ए ह्युमन बिईंग शाहरुख'.

तिसरी मुलाखत बिल गेटस्‌च्या बायकोची, मेलिंडा गेटस्‌ची. मुलाखतीच्या सुरुवातीलाच बिलच्या आईने तिला लिहिलेल्या पत्रातलं एक वाक्य 'फ्रॉम दोज टू हुम मच इज गिव्हन, मच इज एक्सपेक्टेड' मला आवडून गेलं. बिलला भेटण्याआधीचं तिचं आयुष्य, मग त्याच्याशी लग्न करावं का नाही ही घालमेल, आफ्रिका, भारत तसंच इतर देशात समाजकार्यासाठी केलेली भ्रमंती आणि आलेले अनेक अनुभव सगळं सगळं सांगितलं आहे तिनं. ह्यातले अनेक अनुभव माझ्याही कल्पनेपलिकडचे. मग पूर्णपणे भिन्न संस्कृतीत वाढलेल्या ह्या बाईवर तिचा किती खोल परिणाम झाला असेल ह्याची फक्त कल्पनाच करता येऊ शकते.

सगळ्यात धक्का दिला तो आलिया भट्टच्या मुलाखतीने. 'महेश भट्ट आणि सोनी राजदानची मुलगी' ह्यापलीकडे तिची दुसरी ओळख मला नाही कारण मी हिंदी चित्रपट पाहत नाही. त्यामुळे ह्या मुलाखतीबाबत नाही म्हटलं तरी थोडी उत्सुकता होती. आलिया भट्टने सुखद धक्काच दिला. मुलाखतीतली दोन वाक्य वानगीदाखल दिली तर मी काय म्हणतेय ते लक्षात येईल. 'अपयशाशी डील करणं कठिण असतं. यशाशी डील करणं त्याहून कठिण असतं असं माझा अनुभव सांगतो'. 'I would rather be stupid than pretend to be intelligent'. १००% पटलं.

आनंद महिंद्र, अरुंधती भट्टाचार्य, पंडित शिवकुमार शर्मा, मार्क टुली, फ्लिपकार्टवाले बंसलद्वयी, कपिल शर्मा ह्यांच्या मुलाखती आवडल्या. सचिन तेंडूलकरच्या मुलाखतीत मात्र 'फक्त क्रिकेटच नव्हे तर सर्व खेळांना प्रोत्साहन मिळावं, शाळाशाळातल्या, गावाखेड्यातल्या, वस्तीपाड्यांवरच्या मुलांना खेळता यावं हे माझं स्वप्न आहे. मला भारताला एक क्रीडा महासत्ता झालेलं पहायचं आहे' असं म्हणणारा सचिन ह्या बाबतीत स्वत: काय करतोय हे स्पष्ट झालं नाही. खरं तर हे व्हावं ह्यासाठी प्रयत्न करायला आणि ते घडवून आणायला तो एक योग्य व्यक्ती आहे. पण 'बोलाचीच कढी आणि बोलाचाच भात' असा प्रकार दिसतो.

अंकाचा शेवटचा भाग म्हणजे देशाच्या पूर्व=पश्चिम, उत्तर-दक्षिण भागातल्या लोकांच्या कहाण्या - 'सात बहिणींचा प्रदेश' म्हणून प्रसिद्ध असलेल्या उत्तरपूर्व राज्यातल्या लोकांची उर्वरित भारताशी जोडलं जाण्याची धडपड, महाराष्ट्रातल्या नंदुरबार मधल्या लोकांचं मोबाईल वापरून आयुष्य बदलण्याचा प्रयत्न, उत्तर प्रदेशातल्या बायकांनी हिम्मत करून केलेली प्रगती आणि दक्षिणेकडच्या नल्लमल्लाच्या जंगलातलं आदिवासींचं सूर्याबरोबर सुरु होणारं आणि त्याच्यासोबत मिटणारं रोजचं जीवन. एकाच भारतात किती छोटे छोटे अनेक भारत आहेत ह्याची जाणीव करून देणार्या कहाण्या.

अंक संपला असं वाटत असतानाच दोन लेखांनी खास लक्ष वेधून घेतलं - एक नाशिकच्या कुंभमेळ्यावरचा आणि दुसरा 'इंडिअन ट्रक आर्ट' वरचा.

दिवाळी अंकात नेहमी असणाऱ्या कथा, कादंबऱ्या, कविता ह्यापेक्षा काही वेगळं वाचायचं असेल तर ह्या वर्षीचा दीपोत्सव वाचायलाच हवा. पुढल्या वर्षीही हा अंक घेणार हे नक्की.

Christiane Amanpour's article 'What's missing in 'The Interview' uproar? The threat to actual journalists' made for a thought-provoking read.

But my special favorite is the quote at the tail-end of her piece:

RIP also The New Republic, after 100 years of important game-changing journalism. My favorite observation is by now-resigned literary editor Leon Wieseltier: "We need not be a nation of intellectuals but we must not be a nation of idiots."

Looks like a quote tailormade for India!

Spanish - Class XIII

All my dreams of being able to sleep till late on Sunday mornings come January were cruelly dashed by our teacher last weekend in one master stroke - we are going to have classes all through January. She added for good measure that we will have our written final test on first Sunday of February and the orals on the Sunday after that. Man! I dread Vivas :-(

Most of the time (almost 75%) was spent in reviewing homework. In the last half hour, we covered two kinds of irregular verbs - the ones which change e to ie and the ones that change o to ue. Till now, I had made my peace with one ambiguity in Spanish language- which adjectives should be used with SER and which ones with ESTAR. Now I have to wrestle with this bugbear of which verbs are the irregular ones. :-(

Sometimes I wonder if I will forget what I wanted to say in the first place while trying to remember all the relevant grammar rules :-(

The multi-vehicle pileup on the Yamuna Expressway once again highlights the lack of driving discipline amongst the Indians. What possible justification could there be to drive at a high speed when the visibility is not good owing to a dense swirling fog? And surely there would be none for not switching on the fog lights. Yet, we continue to ignore such safety measures in a perennial tearing hurry to reach our destination.

I am not even going to mention the persistent loud honking on roads (and even in Residential neighborhoods well past midnight!), the blatant ignoring of lights turning green for the pedestrians, driving on red lights and people darting in the middle of the road right in front of the speeding cars. It's just going to sour my mood on Christmas Day.

So I am just going to pray that God give me strength to tolerate things that are out of my control - because that's what these things are!

I read somewhere yesterday that India's population growth rate has slowed down a bit. One of the reasons mentioned was the increased awareness among women. Even women from backward strata seem to have the awareness that they should not have more than two kids. The article had  somewhat jubilant note to it which I found surprising. Anyone who stays in the cities bursting at the seams with people (often migrants) will tell you that 2 children per family are far too many. And that's just not from the population point of view. I have often seen families where the man is evidently the sole bread-winner travel on scooters packed with 3 or more kids. Life is no doubt what we call in software testing a 'Happy Day Scenario' for them. I wonder if they ever pause to reflect on what will happen to the wife and kids if something untoward were to happen to the husband. Financial literacy being what it is in India, life insurance would be inadequate in the best of cases and non-existent in the worst. Even if the husband survived till the ripe old age, how is it possible to provide good quality education to so many children? But these thoughts never seem to occur to them.

I did a double take when Sevanti Ninan's article today morning mentioned that some saffron outfits are drafting a plan to award Hindu women in villages who will have more than 5 kids. I wonder if they have drawn up plans on how to provide education, healthcare and employment to this population in future.

We are almost at the end of 2014 but such news leaves one hardly any scope to look forward to the future with any hope.

The making of a gadget free party

View from the Summit - Sir Edmund Hillary

Ghosts Of Everest - Jochen Hemmleb, Eric R. Simonson, Larry A. Johnson

Everest North Side - Jochen Hemmleb, Eric R. Simonson, Larry A. Johnson

The Crystal Horizon: Everest - The First Solo Ascent - Reinhold Messner

All Fourteen 8,000ers - Reinhold Messner

The Climb : Tragoc Ambitions on Everest - Anatoli Boukreev, G. Weston DeWalt

Climbing High: A Woman's Account of Surviving the Everest Tragedy - Lene Gammelgaard

Left For Dead -  Beck Weathers, Stephen G. Michaud

The Other Side of Everest : Climbing the North Face Through the Killer Storm - Matt Dickinson, Philip Turner

Into Thin Air - Jon Krakauer

No Shortcuts to the Top: Climbing the Worlds 14 Highest Peaks -  Ed Viesturs, David Roberts

चल आ तेरे पैरों पर मरहम लगा दू ऐ मुकद्दर
कुछ चोटे तुझे भी आई होगी
मेरे सपनोंको ठोकर मारकर

(Forwarded)

A thought provoking read - What Education Needs

Baychimo - Arctic Ghost Ship - Anthony Dalton

World's Greatest Mysteries - John Pinkney

RMS Queen Mary: Queen of the Queens - William J Duncan

Invisible Horizons - Vincent H. Gaddis

Supernatural, Season 10, Episode 9

I was afraid that Castiel was next in line after Hannah decided to leave her vessel and return to heaven (or wherever it is that angels are supposed to go to!). So I was mightily relieved when it was mentioned that the soul of his vessel is long gone and so not much would be accomplished even if he were to leave his body. Somehow I don't think Sam would be upto the task of dealing with Dean turning dark again. Speaking of which, I would hate to see Dean going black-eyes-kill-everyone-in-your-path again. So I hope it doesn't happen for a few more episodes again.

Thankfully, Crowley is around and that's some relief. Can't believe I am saying this about the King of Hell. It would be interesting to see what the mother-son duo has in store for us. Hope they steer clear of the Winchesters though.

Guess we will now have to wait till mid January for the next episode. :-(

Elementary, Season 3, Episode 6

It could be because I was doing a zillion other things while the episode on a Sunday afternoon but I found this case to be a rather complicated one. I had my suspicions about the heiress the moment she made an appearance (as I had about the Indian guy, Amit Hattengatti, in one of the earlier episodes) I couldn't quite sort out in the end who wanted the original Bray map and who didn't. I guess the heiress wanted the fake one so a casino could be constructed on the land owned by her family while the other guy wanted the fake one so that the construction of the casino could be halted. Ah well, as long as Sherlock and company got all that squared away.

It is good to see Sherlock becoming more and more human. I know I hadn't liked Kitty's character very much at the beginning of this season. But I think I like seeing the three of them working together. Not quite the case of 'too many cooks spoiling the broth', I hope.

And did I mention how relieved I am that Sherlock and Watson aren't having an affair, yet. :-)

Spanish - Class XVII

Finally, it felt as if I am learning something new instead of just doing exercises after exercises. Honestly, I had to scramble to complete the homework last night because I didn't get time to do that over the past week. Unfortunately, only a part of that was covered during today's class.

So, back to the class. So today we learnt about the first irregular verb - Tener i.e. to have/to possess (nope, not the demonic kind, this is not supernatural for Heaven's sake!) and the uses of the same. I sure hope that these irregular verbs do have some method to the madness. If not, I am done for because I am already struggling with the ambiguities of SER and ESTAR. The next one was El Verbo Haber, which, thankfully, has just one conjugation - Hay. A couple of exerices later we read an email and could make sense of most of it :-)

No exam today and I suspect that we won't have one till the last session. I guess it is just the teacher's way of making sure that we do study every week. I ain't complaining. :-)

If you want to go fast, go alone
If you want to go far, go together

- An African Proverb

Bizarre Signboards #6

संस्कृतच्या वर्गात एक गुरुजी:

बहूनि में व्यतीतानि जन्मानि तव चार्जुन! याचा अर्थ काय?
बंड्या: माझे अनेक जन्म झाले आहेत पण तुझा जन्म चार जूनला झाला आहे.

Buffettology- by Mary Buffett, David Clark

Gurus Of Chaos - by Saurabh Mukherja

The one with the nine lives.....

Spanish - Class XV and XVI

Classes XV and XVI are a bit of a blur now. Probably because we spent most of the time doing exercises from the book. In Class XV, we did learn about the 8 directions. But mostly it was about usage of SER and ESTAR plus a lot of new vocabulary.

I still cannot get the hang of the audio sessions and suspect that many of my classmates are sailing in the same boat. In last class, none of us could figure out the names of the places that were being discussed in the audio and the whole class had burst out laughing.

Oh, I was having one of the worst attacks of cold and cough last week and was secretly hoping that I wouldn't have to talk much in the class. No such luck. The teacher asked me to read one of the exercises and at the end of it I was coughing so bad that I had to get out of the class before the attack subsided. :-(

Cannot believe we are almost at the end of our sessions. I do hope we learn about the tenses before we are done.

Looking for some real-life mysteries? Try these books:

Ghost Ship of Diamond Shoals, The Mystery of the Carroll A. Deering - Bland Simpson

Invisible Horizons - Vincent H. Gaddis

The Case For the UFO - M. K. Jessup

Without Trace: the Last Voyages of Eight Ships - John Harris

Captain of the Queens - Captain Harry Grattidge

From Devils Triangle to Devils Jaw - Richard Winer

Strangest of All - Frank Edwards

The Joyita Mystery - Robin Maugham

The Marie Céleste of the South Pacific (Joyita) - Stephen Noakes

It felt weird to stand in front of the Taj hotel near the Gateway of India over the weekend - knowing that 26th December was right around the corner. I still cannot forget the initial sense of disbelief, turning to anger and then sadness as I had watched the event unfold over the TV.

The anger returned manyfold yesterday when I read in the Marathi newspaper (Loksatta) about a person in the police force who, 4 years before the incident, had come across the vulnerability in the wireless communication that was exploited by the terrorists to carry out the attack. When he and some of his seniors brought this to the notice of the people concerned, he was suspended under false charges of taking bribes. He has been recently re-instated but has only 1.5 years of his
service left. The ones responsible for suspending him have been charged but not prosecuted yet.

I would really like to know the names of these people and the reason why they are still in service. They should be brought to justice as soon as possible, put behind bars and fined so that twice the salary that the policeman lost for 10 years can be handed over to him.

Will this happen in India?

Pakistan's stand that they are ready to talk to India but that India should make the first move took me right back to my childhood days - when two friends would fight and each would insist that he/she is willing to talk only if the other party comes forward. Of course, the two countries cannot be called friends even if the word's definition were to be stretched from earth to moon and back.

Modi did the right thing by giving them a cold shoulder. They are used to being mollycoddled by the Indian government and think that it is their moral right to be forever sulking. Well, they don't. And the sooner they are made to realize this, the better it will be for all of us. I couldn't help but smirk at the words 'internal processes' that they used to scuttle India's three proposals at the SAARC meet. Looking at the state of affairs of that country (since 1947!), the only 'internal processes' that they might be having could be for sending more and more terrorists to India.

I totally agree with the Quick Edit section of The Mint - India should just bypass Pakistan and proceed to ink pacts with the rest of the SAARC members. If Pakistan wants to cut off its nose just to spite India, let's let them go right ahead with it.

Common Sense on Mutual Funds: New Imperatives for the Intelligent Investor - by John C. Bogle

Character Counts - by John C. Bogle

Interstellar

If there is one thing that can be said about these space movies, it is this - if they explain the technical jargon satisfactorily, they are a delight to watch and understand but if they just throw around terms like wormholes, blackholes & singularity (which mere mortals like us don't have much exposure to), the audience is left wondering about the key points of the plot.

Interstellar belongs to this second set of movies. e.g. they tell us that what "gravitational time dilation" means is that each hour on the surface of a planet having such a dilation corresponds to more time elapsing on earth. But since most of us don't have a clue as to how it works, it remains just an abstract concept - something to be taken at its face value - and we fail to grasp its full significance as far as the movie goes (if everyone on Earth shifts to the new planet, who cares
whether it is 7 years on earth per an hour on Miller or 10?). Same goes for the concept of Singularity. Why is it necessary to get the data from the wormhole to figure out how to lift the space-stations by defying the gravity?

It's equally difficult to stomach the plot that Dr. Brand was the only scientist to have worked on the equation and realized its impossibility. Was NASA having an attrition issue?

Even Wiki couldn't tell me how Cooper stumbles across a solution to Murph's equation and communicates the same to her using gravitational waves. Come to think of it - the whole movie was about that :-(

I think they spent a lot of time depicting Cooper's life before he started on his space voyage and also on Mann's antics. A duration of 169 minutes is okay for a Hindi movie, but not for a Hollywood flick!

The only saving grace was Matthew McConaughey who perfectly essays the father torn between his love for his kids and his duty to do everything that he can to save them.

But as the movie dragged on, I wished a wormhole would open up right next to my seat and help me pass the time quickly. ;-)

Spanish - Class XIV

More revision. More exercises from the book. And in the process, we learnt some new expressions like Estas de acuerdo (do you agree?), Estoy Sola - I am alone and Estoy Bien - I am okay.

We are about 6 classes away from the end of the program. And I am worried about 2 things - one, how to remember which words have the dreaded tildes and two, are we going to learn 'tenses' in this program.

Soy no tiene informacion! :-)

Spanish - Class XIII

I wonder if we will ever see the full quorum of 35 again. The attendance these days is mostly 25-28. I myself sometimes wish the teacher would increase the class duration to 3 hours instead of the normal 2 hours and wrap up the program. :-(

Okay, so the first half was spent in revising things learnt in the past class. The class was divided into groups of 4 and each group asked to describe a personality of its choice to the rest of the class so that they could guess who was being described. I was part of a group where the rest of the members were college girls. We zeroed in on poor Leonardo Da Vinci. A lively discussion ensued on whether he was an Italiano or a Frances. One of the girls said he was French. I was of the opinion that he was Italian. Hell, it has been more than 2 decades since I read about him and his art. But wasn't the plot of the Da Vinci Code set in Vatican? Finally, we consulted the teacher, who, after a second's contemplation, gave the verdict that he was an Italiano. The next hurdle was the word 'Pintor'. Does it mean someone who might use Asian Paints colors to paint the walls or someone who draws paintings which rarely make sense to mere mortals? 'Both' the teacher assured us. I am doubtful about that but for the moment decided not to pursue it further.

So we wrote our 4 lines about him and his painting of a mysterious smiling lady. The class duly guessed it to be the Monalisa and by association the name of our famous personality. We did the same for the rest of the groups. One group had chosen Enrique Iglesias (doesn't Iglesia mean Church in Spanish?) which none of us could guess.

Then we read and made sense of a passage where a person introduces his friends to another. The teacher told us that the exam to be held in first or second week of December would be worth 20 marks and we would be asked to describe a photo. So need to brush up on the vocabulary. Hell,I hope the use of a dictionary is not allowed. I don't have one and don't intend to purchase it anytime soon.

In the second half, we learnt the masculine/feminine and singular/plural form of this, that, that (far distance). Till now, we had done 1 to 20 numbers. Now I know (or think I know!) 21 to 100.

Hmmm.....what is a zero called in Spanish though? Hope I don't find that out when the result of the exam is handed over ;-)

Life is like a camera.
Capture good things.
Develop the negatives.
Give it another shot.

- Seen on a board outside a church

On Death and Dying - Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

Baskin & Robbins - Rose and Cream

When I walked into the Baskin & Robbins outlet after a disappointing lunch, I had made up my mind to go for one of their chocolate flavors just because I have never tried one. And then I noticed a new flavor - Rose and Cream. Why not? Let's try it. I did and am glad for it. Put simply, this is an American version of a Gulkand ice-cream. But it is so tasty that I am going to end up eating it at least 2-3 more times.

Highly recommended!

Bungalow 9, Bandra

I know I had recommended Bandra's Bungalow 9 a couple of months back. But I stand corrected. We had been there last weekend. I cannot be sure but I suspect that they have changed the menu. Last time we were there, we had had hard time choosing what to order because there were so many new dishes to choose from. This time, we had hard time choosing what to order - because there was hardly anything different to choose from (same old pasta, same old phad thai). I say 'hardly' because there were a few dishes at the end of every section which had exotic sounding names but they were steeply priced and hence prone to giving you heartburn if the price didn't end up justifying the quality.

Since we didn't want to get up and leave in search of some other place to eat late on a Sunday afternoon, we decided to brave it out. When I asked the waiter about some 'taco' preparation from the appetizers section, he said that it will consist of only 2 pieces so I dropped the plan. By now we had lost all our appetite and ended up ordering only a Pizza with smoked chicken.

When the pizza failed to arrive within the next 15 minutes, I stopped looking at the watch. So I suspect, rather than know for sure, that it must have taken more than 30 minutes for us to be served. When the pizza was finally brought to our tables, My heart sank at the sight of it - it looked woefully inadequate even for 2 adults, 8 tiny slices with pieces of chicken thrown in as an afterthought. The taste was good but I cannot still fathom why it took them so long to serve it. We didn't want to order anything else and cool our heels for further 30 minutes.

Needless to say, when we left we had decided that we will never come back.

Supernatural - Season 10, Episode 6

We have seen shape-shifters before. But this time at least the setting was different - a stately mansion, (fake!) silver cutlery, a real buttler and a dead rich heiress. While Dean's aggresion towards the end does give some inkling of the things to come (or not!) I wonder what happened to the dude who showed up towards the end of the last episode.

And it is a bit hard to stomach the premise that shape-shifting is hereditary ;-)

P.S. Love their Impala though.

Are humans supposed to be on sea? While some are clearly meant to be, others aren't. I have a lifelong membership to the latter group - as was made amply clear during my maiden voyage aboard a yacht yesterday. While the rest of the party was busy frolicking about all over the place, enjoying the evening sea breeze, looking at the rolling waves, I was sitting as still as I possibly could - trying to make sure my lunch and tea didn't spill out. Spill out they did, but within the confines of a sink. And I wasn't my own self for the rest of the evening.

But I did manage to take a few snaps before the sea-sickness took over.

Unfortunately, this sea-sickness also means that I will have to wait for my next life to go on board a cruise-liner :-(

ऐसा नहीं के जिंदगी बहुत छोटी है
दरअसल जीना  बहोत देर से शुरू करते है

(Forwarded)

The Unbearable Lightness of Being - by Milan Kundera

To the Castle and Back - by Václav Havel

Supernatural Season 10, Episode 5

Goddess Calliope, who wants a play to be completed so she can gobble up the writer? Seriously guys, this could have been a plot of season 1, 2 or 3. But the series is in its 10th season now and you come up with this? Surely, aliens, robors and spaceships would have sounded better. Why do I have this nasty feeling that you are still groping for a viable thread that can form the backbone for this season? Unless, of course, the character that we saw talking to the writer Marie at the end of episode 5 is going to be it.........

P.S. So doctor Torres from Grey's Anatomy is named after this Goddess who makes writers part of her regular diet? I would have sued my parents if they had done something of this kind ;-)

Lately, I find myself reaching for the TV remote to turn the Mute button off - every time the  Amazon Kindle ad is aired. Like the plot and love the song - something that is hard to say for any ad these days. But I haven't been able to figure out why the Kindle guy has to go to the children who live so far off that he has to travel by practically all possible modes of transport - flight, train, bus and boat - to reach them. Do they belong to the village that he was born and brought up in? I am equally confused by his crossing himself and looking at the sky towards the end of the ad. Is he thanking God for giving him an opportunity to be able to do something for the kids or is he thanking God for Amazon? ;-) Whatever the case, it seems that Amazon has found out, and rightly so, that we Indians fall for emotional ads. Whether that will translate into actual sales or not is a different ballgame altogether.

Among the ads that make me bang the remote in frustration is the Fair And Lovely one. They have been spreading the false promise of turning your skin tone lighter, with its subtle message that fair skin is superior, for years. And now they are offering scholarships so women can earn all that they are expecting from their future husband before they get married? Wow! Another such ad is by Flipkart - which shows Ranbir Singh milking a she-goat to add milk to his cereal. Gross!

And Priyanka Chopra's ad for Schmidt chocolate has killed my appetite for it :-(

Donate To Anandwan

In response to my donation, I received a message from Dr. Vikas Amte  who serves as the Chief Functionary of Maharogi Sewa Samiti (MSS). An excerpt:

I feel extremely proud to inform you that by the end of last year,our organization had helped 2.5 million marginalized people through its constructive programs. Anandwan today shelters over 2100 differently-abled people (leprosy patients, visually challenged, orthopaedically challenged,hearing and speech impaired, orphans, senior citizens, and socio-economically backward people) and not only provides with basic necessities, but also encourages education and vocational training to help them regain their self-esteem and lead a dignified life. Today, after 64 years of hard work, the leprosy survivors and social rejects are specially independent and live off the land, have set world standards, for rehabilitation and coordinated some of India's most
daring and prominent ecological and social programs.

MSS has always stressed on being self-reliant and all the expenses associated with treatment, training and rehabilitation of the inmates had been met through the income generated by various in-house production units, agriculture produce and the contributions from well-wishers. However, today, despite all their efforts to be self-sustaining, MSS is unable to achieve its goal due to ever-increasing inflow of marginalized people from various corners of the country who want to seek solace at MSS.

Hence in order to achieve stability for its activities, MSS is striving to create a Constructive Social Capital of Rs. 55 Crores. The interest received on this fund will not only ensure adequate financial security, stability and progress of the various projects of MSS but also help expand the reach of its activities across a much larger cross-section of the society.

I, therefore, most hopefully, appeal to interested associates to kindly lend a helping hand to this project as generously as possible and establish a 'Pain-Friendship' with the Loneliest-the Last and the Least on this planet.

Detailed information about donation was also included towards the message. The same can be seen at http://www.anandwan.in/donate-to-anandwan.html

Anguish is caused by wanting what you don't have, not by not having what you don't have

-- A Buddhist Saying

४. प्रहार, दिवाळी अंक २०१४

'शोधा म्हणजे सापडेल' ह्या न्यायाने २-३ बुकस्टोलवाल्यांनी नन्नाचा पाढा वाचूनही मी नेटाने आणखी एकाजवळ चौकशी केली तेव्हा 'प्रहार' चा अंक हाती लागला. एव्हढंच नव्हे तर २ दिवसांनी त्याने दीपोत्सव आणि आकंठ सुध्दा आणून दिले. अक्षरगंध मात्र मुंबईत आता कुठे मिळणार नाही असं म्हणाला. पुढल्या महिन्यात लायब्ररी पुन्हा सुरु करणार आहे. तिथे कदाचित मिळेल.

तर आता प्रहारबद्दल. लोकसत्तात आलेल्या परीक्षणानुसार महाराष्ट्रात भरणाऱ्या विविध बाजारांबद्दल ह्या अंकात माहिती आहे एव्हढंच माहीत होतं. त्या दृष्टीने अंकाने अजिबात निराशा केली नाही. अलिबाग आणि वसईचा मासळीबाजार, मुंबईचा चोरबाजार, महाराष्ट्रात ७-८ ठिकाणी भरणारे घोडेबाजार, उत्तर कोकणातल्या प्राचीन बाजारपेठा, देवगड, कणकवली, कुडाळ, साळगाव, माणगाव, वालावल, चिपळूण, विजयदुर्ग, वेंगुर्ला, गोवा, मिठबाव ह्या ठिकाणच्या पेठा, सावंतवाडीचा लाकडी खेळण्याचा बाजार, शिरोड्याचा मीठाचा बाजार आणि भेडशीचा वनौषधींचा बाजार - ह्या सगळ्यांबद्दल इतरत्र कुठे वाचायलासुध्दा मिळालं नसतं.

चोरबाजारावरचा लेख वाचून मला सुध्दा तो एकदा जाऊन बघायची इच्छा झाली आहे :-) प्राचीन काळाच्या बाजारावरच्या लेखात वजनांची एक मोठी जंत्रीच दिली होती - १ चिळव म्हणजे ५ ग्रेम, २ चिळव म्हणजे एक मिळव, दोन मिळव म्हणजे एक १ कोळव, दोन कोळव म्हणजे एक चिपट, दोन चिपट म्हणजे एक आठवा, दोन आठवे म्हणजे एक शेर, चार शेर म्हणजे एक पायली, १६ पायली म्हणजे एक मण, वीस मण म्हणजे एक खंडी, १२० शेर म्हणजे १ फरी. बाप रे! वाचता वाचताच मला दम लागला. लोकांना त्या काळी कसं लक्षात राहत असेल हे सगळं काय माहीत.

१-२ गोष्टी मात्र खटकल्या. अंकात बऱ्याच ठिकाणी शुध्दलेखनाच्या चुका आहेत. शेवटचा भेडशीच्या वनौषधींच्या बाजारावरचा लेख अपूर्ण वाटला. आणि बऱ्याच लेखांत सध्याच्या काळातल्या बाजारात दुकानं असलेल्या लोकांच्या नावांचा उल्लेख Product Placement आहे की काय असं वाटण्याइतपत अस्थानी होता.

ह्या त्रुटी मान्य करूनही एका वेगळ्या विषयावरचे लेख वाचल्याचं समाधान अंकाने दिलं.

Not that they (books) come alive in him (the collector), it is he who lives in them.

- Walter Benjamin

पुस्तक प्रदर्शन, १४ ते २१ नोव्हेंबर, साहित्य अकादमी, शारदा सिनेमा बिल्डींग, मुंबई मराठी ग्रंथसंग्रहालय मार्ग, दादर पूर्व, सकाळी १० ते संध्याकाळी ८. अकादमीने प्रकाशित केलेली मराठी, हिंदी, इंग्रजी, तामिळ, कन्नड, तेलुगु, बंगाली अश्या २२ भाषांतील पुस्तके अल्प किमतीत विक्रीसाठी उपलब्ध.

How To Deal With A Difficult Boss

Not only books but also copies of books have their fates

- Walter Benjamin

I should have been relaxed. It was a Saturday morning after all. But I had a lot of errands to run and couldn't have afforded a delay anywhere. Obviously, the very first delay occurred at the bank when the cashier told me that she would not be able to process my withdraw request for at least 15 minutes owing to some technical glitch. Now you might wonder why I wanted to visit the bricks-and-mortar avatar of the bank instead of heading for the nearest ATM. Well, ATMs don't churn out the currency notes in the exact denominations that I want, at least not all of them.

I took a deep cleansing breath and prayed to the God Almighty that the glitch is sorted soon. But I couldn't wait as that would have delayed my appointment for the haircut. Maybe if my stylist has arrived early at the salon I would be done with it earlier than planned - I knew this was wishful thinking but I willed every ounce of mental power I had to make it come true. Turns out that wasn't enough. It became pretty clear quickly that I would have to cool my heels (and my head!) for a better part of 15 minutes.

Frustrated, I made a couple of phone calls, arranged for a set of documents to be picked up from my place, sent a few pending texts, put in place a few reminders. But when I looked at the mobile screen again (I don't even remember the last time I used a watch!), only 5 minutes had flown by. What? That's impossible! Am I in some kind of slow time zone here? Is the earth's crust different at this place than the outside world? Or does time pass by in a slow motion when you simply don't have anything to do but wait? I normally carry some reading material with him to guard against precisely this situation but I had been pretty confident that my carefully laid-out plan will function like clockwork. And so there was nothing to read, except a few grooming magazines in a rack beside me. I picked up one reluctantly and realized in a minute that reading it would be even more wasteful use of my time because I wasn't interested in what shade of lipstick Kareena wears or what kind of mascara she uses.

Use of my time! I suddenly stopped short at these words as I realized that I was stressing myself out trying to use every minute available. Rather I was trying to squeeze out every minute dry. While it is good to be efficient it is also necessary to what they call 'smell the roses'. And that's what precisely I had forgotten all about. Why couldn't I sit and do nothing even for 5 minutes? It wasn't that I was going to die that day. And even if I was, whatever tasks I was hurrying to complete wouldn't be that terribly important anyways.

Another deep cleansing breath! I put my phone in the purse, relaxed my posture and started looking out the glass door - at the cars zooming past, at the people hurrying to jobs or returning from their morning walks. I observed the attendant sweep the floor, dust the chairs, re-arrange the magazines. In fact, I was so absorbed in doing all this that I hardly noticed when my stylist called out to me.

As I got up I wondered if I will ever get a chance to do this again. No, the question was will I remember to this again even if I get such a chance.

Unpacking My Library

Hathee Singh Temple, Ahmedabad

We had decided to go to either the Sun Temple at Modera or archaeological site Lothal but shelved the plans to take it easy. On the last day, we made a trip to the main outlet of the famous Kandoi sweets, which, as mentioned in one of my earlier posts, proved totally fruitless.

Two more places were on our agenda -  the first being the mosque of Sidi Sayed which is located near the Lal Darwaza. The reason was to take a look at the 'Jali' - a mesh covering ten semi circular windows. I had my doubts about women being allowed inside the mosque but I did not voice them. Maybe I can take some photos from outside. When we reached the spot, the place didn't look like a conventional mosque. It was an open area and there wasn't a soul in sight except for a few tourists. I almost forgot about the 'women not allowed' rule till a woman tourist pointed it out to me. There it was, mentioned clearly on a board. No one in the group was as enthusiastic as I was about visiting this place anyways and since I wouldn't be able to go in, we turned on our heels and left the place. I have vowed never to include a mosque in my itinerary anymore.

Hathee Singh Temple

The second place was the Hathee Singh temple, a very famous Jain temple constructed in 1850 AD by a, need I say wealthy, Jain merchant Seth Hathee Singh. I have had my share of experiences at the temples in South India - you have to be clad in a saree to be allowed in and so on. So I had checked beforehand at the hotel and had been assured that no such rules exist in this temple. I had read on the internet that this temple is built using white marbles and has lots of intricate carvings. But you really have to see it to believe it. The courtyard is surrounded by small shrines, 52 in all, if what's mentioned on the internet is to be believed - each of the shrines being dedicated to a Tirthankara. I would have loved to spend hours here, checking out the carvings leisurely. Alas, in India, temples are the last places to afford you any sense of peace or space, unless they are tucked away on a hill or in a remote area. No chance of getting spiritual at all. So after clicking the customary photos, we bid adieu.

३. वसा, दिवाळी अंक २०१४

लोकसत्तामध्ये दिवाळी अंकांचं परिक्षण येतं ते वाचून मी ५ अंकांची एक लिस्ट बनवली होती. त्यात 'वसा' एक होता. मागच्या आठवड्यात शिवाजी मंदिराच्या मेजेस्टीक दालनात उत्साहाने गेले खरी पण फक्त 'वसा' च मिळाला. मी इतकी हिरमुसले की तो पण घ्यावा की नाही असा विचार आला मनात. पण तो घेऊन घरी आले हे चांगलं केलं. ह्या निमित्ताने एक वेगळा अंक वाचायला मिळाला.

अंकाची सुरुवात होते ती पहिल्या महायुध्दाच्या शंभर वर्षांच्या निमित्ताने लिहीलेल्या तीन लेखांनी. पहिल्या महायुध्दातल्या भारतीय सैनिकांच्या सहभागाबद्दल लिहिलेला समीर कर्वे ह्यांचा, युध्द ह्या विषयावर आधारित विदेशी चित्रपटांवरचा अभिजीत रणदिवे ह्यांचा आणि पोएटस् इन आर्म्स हा युद्ध ह्या ह्या विषयावर कविता करणाऱ्या कवींवरचा डॉ.सुप्रिया सहस्त्रबुद्धे ह्यांचा असे तिन्ही लेख खूप वेगळी छान अशी माहिती वाचल्याचं समाधान देऊन गेले. मनोरंजन आणि ज्ञानात भर म्हणजे आजच्या भाषेत सांगायचं झालं तर 'बाय वन गेट वन फ्री'. :-)

'कथा' विभागात सगळ्यात आवडलेली गोष्ट म्हणजे मनस्विनी लता रविंद्र ह्यांची 'साडेएकतीस वर्षांचा संसार'. विवेक गोविलकरांच्या 'इन्वेस्टमेंट' चा विषय चांगला पण कथा खूप लांबल्यासारखी वाटली. 'गुरुचे चंद्र' ही अनुवादित कथा सुरुवातीला छान वाटली मात्र पुढे फारशी कळली नाही. एकदा मुळातून वाचावी काय?

'लेख' हा विभाग माझ्यासारख्या गंभीर वाचन न करणाऱ्या वाचकांची कसोटी पहाणारा. ;-) ह्यातला दिवंगत पत्रकार डेनिएल पर्ल ह्यांच्या मृत्यूचं रहस्य खणून काढणाऱ्या त्यांच्या सहकारी आणि मैत्रिण आसरा नोमानी ह्यांच्या लेखाचा 'सायली परांजपे' ह्यांनी केलेला अनुवाद भावला. आसरा नोमानी ह्यांचं कौतुक करावं तितकं थोडंच आहे. कसली धडाडीची बाई आहे ही. मुलाला एकटीने वाढवताना आपला जीव धोक्यात घालून हे सगळं प्रकरण धसास लावणं कसं निभावलं असेल तिने? तिच्या शतांशाने देखील वाट्याला आली तरी धन्य समजेन मी स्वत:ला. हिटलरच्या पुस्तकप्रेमावरचा नितीन रिंढे ह्यांचा लेख एक पुस्तकप्रेमी म्हणून आवडला. ह्या निमित्ताने हिटलरची एक वेगळीच बाजू कळली.

'भूमी उसवून भूमिगात होताना' वाचताना थोडं गोंधळ उडाला - हे फिक्शन आहे का सत्यघटना आहेत ह्याबद्दल. पण लेखाने प्रचंड अस्वस्थ केलं. 'हिंदू राष्ट्राच्या दिशेने' ह्या लेखाचा विषय वृत्तपत्रांतून बऱ्याचदा वाचलेला. 'काळ्यांची निळी जखम' मधली माहिती मात्र नवीन. 'अब्राम्हणी निरपेक्षता' आणि 'सकल आनंदाचा प्रदेश' हे लेख उडत उडत वाचले ह्यात चूक सर्वस्वी माझी. आधी एकदा म्हटलं त्याप्रमाणे गंभीर काही वाचायची सवयच नाही.

संतविचारांवर आधारित भागातील 'मन तू पार उतर कहा जइ हो'  आवडला पण 'अंतरीचा ज्ञानदिवा' आणि 'नाथसंप्रदाय: अभ्यासाच्या काही दिशा'  हेही लेख वरवर वाचले असंच दुर्देवाने म्हणावं लागतंय.

कविता हा विषय शाळेत असल्यापासूनच फारसा समजत नसल्याने 'कविता' विभागाबद्दल काय लिहिणार? :-)

पुढल्या वर्षी ह्या अंकावर नक्की लक्ष ठेवणार.

If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.

- Derek Bok

Cheval, Kala Ghoda

It's a strange name. Sounds rather French and I still don't know its meaning. But we wanted to try out a different place. Not Irish House, Not Bombay Blue, Not Copper Chimney and certainly no Chinese food. The place promising to provide Gourmet Italian food had 'Coming Soon' tacked on the board. And we were not in the mood to have a Thali that seemed to be the only thing on menu in Chetana. It's Cheval then.

The place has a quaint look. The cracked, paint peeling off the wall sort of air that is so in-thing these days. I absolutely don't mind it. The high ceiling gives you the feeling that you are sitting in some long-forgotten British Raj club from the pre-independence era. I don't mind that either. I could sit here for hours.

The menu boasted of quite a lot of new dishes. But as a rule, I try a mix of new and known things at a new place. That way you get to sample something that you have never tried before and also can gauge how they measure up to making some of the dishes that you have probably been eating for years. So our order consisted of Black Truffle Gnocchi (Rs. 550) and Funghi Pizza with an add-on of chicken (Rs. 550).

The food was served in reasonable time. First it was the Gnocchi. My heart sank when I saw the quantity. This sure must be gourmet! Should I have ordered two servings? I wondered as I ate the first mouthful. Soft, creamy and tasty. It can easily make you forget the world. The pizza was served as I was savoring the Gnocchi. And it was equally tasty. My main worry was that the chicken shouldn't be as if it has been added as an afterthought. It blended in just fine. There was a tad too much cheese for my taste but I didn't complain as it added to the taste.

If I have to apply my recent knowledge of Spanish, I have only to say this - La comida es deliciosa! And Hasta La Vista - I am going to be back for more, for sure!

Tertulia, Shivaji Park

"A new eatery in Shivaji Park? Where?" I asked incredulously. "In the lane next to Tamnak Thai" I was told. Tamnak has always been my favorite for their Phad Thai and I have always felt that they don't see as much of a footfall as they should considering their excellent food.

So what's this new place about? I decided to check it out last Sunday. It looked pretty ordinary from the outside. But appearances can be deceptive and that is true about this place as well. As soon as you step in, you cannot but appreciate the decor. Make it a point to sit in the inner room. Bare walls, old clocks and chandeliers, it's a pleasure to sit there. The only sore point is the high chairs, which could be troublesome if you have any senior citizens in the group.

Beetroot Risotto had to be part of the order. I wanted to go for Herb Roast Chicken but the server said that it is not boneless. When I asked for his suggestion, he advised us to go for Sea Salt Rubbed 'Grilled Chicken'. I am not too fond of grilled stuff. So I tried to ask him about how they differed but didn't get a convincing answer. We decided to go with his suggestion anyways. But I was skeptical till the dish arrived. Then all my doubts were to put to rest, for good.

 

Beetroot Risotto

Beetroot Risotto could have been more in quantity. But what it lacked in quantity department, it more than made up for in quality. I don't like beetroot as a vegetable but I could eat this risotto every day. That reminds me - I must hunt for its recipe on the net and try to make it at home. It would be such a blast if I can. :-) God bless the server for suggesting Grilled Chicken. A delectable mix of tender chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy and veggies. Wish I had more storage space in my stomach!

Sea Salt Rubbed Grilled Chicken

Definitely a place to visit again and again. Just make sure to reserve your table in advance. Then sit back, relax and enhoy your food :-)

P.S. They seem to have a fantastic breakfast menu.

२. नवल, दिवाळी अंक २०१४

खरं तर 'खगम' ही या अंकातली पहिली कथा - सत्यजित रे ह्यांच्या मूळ कथेचा अनुवाद. पण 'गांधीवाड्यातलं भूत' ह्या कथेच्या नावातला 'भूत' हा शब्द वाचून मी ती आधी वाचायला घेतली आणि स्वत:चा पचका करून घेतला. कथा अगदीच बाळबोध वाटली. मग चुपचाप 'खगम' कडे वळले. 'खगम' ही महाभारतातील एक व्यक्तिरेखा आहे असा उल्लेख कथेत आहे. मी ह्या व्यक्तिरेखेबद्दल कधी ऐकलं/वाचलं नव्हतं. पण ही अनुवादित कथा मस्त वाटली. कधीतरी मूळ कथा वाचता यावी असं फार वाटलं.

'विलक्षण सत्यकथा' मधला 'आपले अडाणी बांधव' आणि 'नेपोलियनचे स्त्रीसंबंध' हे दोन्ही लेख आवडले. त्यामानाने 'चमत्कारिक भविष्यकथन' अपूर्ण वाटला.

'संदेहकथा' भागातली अशीच अतिशय आवडलेली कथा म्हणजे सुनील दांडेकर ह्यांची 'एका कोळीयाने'. कदाचित आयटी क्षेत्राची पार्श्वभूमी असल्यामुळेही असेल. 'चीफ आर्किटेक्ट' म्हटल्यावर काय प्रकार असेल ते कळून चुकलं. पण शेवटचा ट्विस्ट आवडला. अरुण मांडे ह्यांची 'संकटमोचक' सुध्दा मस्तच. रमा गोळवलकर ह्यांची 'पुनरावृत्ती' सुरुवातीला अतिशय रंजक वाटली पुराणकाळातील कथेनुसार शिळा असलेल्या ठिकाणाचं स्थानमाहात्म्य आणि आधुनिक काळात जवळच अणुउर्जा निर्मिती केंद्र असणं ह्याची काहीतरी सांगड घातली जाईल असं वाटलं होतं पण शेवट गुंडाळल्यासारखा वाटला. खरं तर कथा अर्धवट वाटली.

'कर्नलचा कोट' ही अनुवादित कथा वाचावी अशीच. 'विज्ञान-काल्पनिका' मधली फक्त 'प्रीत तुझी माझी' आवडली. 'डाव' काही खास वाटली नाही. आणि 'तुझ्यावाचून गमेना' तर अगदीच काहीतरी वाटली. 'डस्टी', 'विलक्षण प्रतिस्पर्धी', 'ब्रेम्बली' वाचताना निदान मला तरी बोअर झालं असं म्हटलं तर अतिशयोक्ती होणार नाही. 'आगच्छ कामेश्वरी' थोड्या वाह्यात धाटणीची वाटली. जयश्री कुलकर्णी ह्यांची 'चकवा' शेवट काय होणार ह्याची कल्पना येऊनसुध्दा आवडली.

'युद्धकथा' भागातला 'युद्धाची अखेर अखेर होता होता' हा लेख खास उल्लेखनीय. 'सागरा प्राण तळमळला' ही सत्यकथा आहे असं सुरुवातीवरून वाटलं. पण नंतर वाचताना हा कल्पनाविलास आहे हे लक्षात आलं तरी थोडं गोंधळ उडालाच.  'रोमन इतिहासाचा साक्षीदार' वाचून आपणही एकदा 'कलोझियम' पाहिलं पाहिजे हे प्रकर्षाने जाणवलं.

'दत्तक' ह्या भयकादंबरीची पानं निदान मी विकत घेतलेल्या प्रतीत तरी नव्हती त्यामुळे ती वाचता आली नाही.

एकूणात काय तर काही अपवादात्मक कथा वगळता अंकाने निराशा केली. :-(

When we landed at our hotel in Ahmedabad, one of the hotel employees was drawing this Rangoli. All free-hand!

And here is what I managed to put together after a lot of efforts this time around :-)

Induben Khakharawala, Ahmedabad

Nope. I am not writing about someone I met during my recent visit to the city. This indeed is the name of the shop that is famous for its savories. :-)

I had expected to see a big shop but the place appeared quite unassuming for a shop of its reputation. I pushed open the door and instantly felt as if I was back in the sweet shop in Kolkata during Navaratri days years ago. It had the same chaotic look, lots of people picking stuff off the shelves and talking loudly at the same time. I almost stepped back in alarm. How am I going to manage to buy anything here? But a second later I realized that there was an order to this madness. The people were in fact standing in a queue, serpentine though it was. And it was moving at a fairly fast clip.

Encouraged, I stepped in. The first two choices were easy - Chapati Kachori and Khasta Kachori. I moved on to grab a pack of Nylon Banana wafers and another of Masala Pudina Kurkure. A tiny section containing sweets caught my attention. How could I give it a miss? So Topara Pak and Halvasan found their way into the shopping cart. I hadn't bothered to check the price tags when I picked up the packs so as I joined the queue I took a good look at the contents and fished out two Rs 500 notes. Surprise! When my turn came, the guy at the counter asked me for Rs 360 only. And though looking at the number of people ahead of me in the queue I had expected to be standing there for at least 20 minutes, I was in fact out in 10 minutes flat.

It turned out that I had done a smart thing buying sweets when I got a chance. Because when we reached the famous Kandoi sweets on our last day in the city, an empty shop and a security guard were the only thing in sight. When I had called the shop a couple of weeks earlier they had assured me that they are open on all days of the year. :-(

The kachoris were good. The wafers appeared a bit salty in the beginning but later on I realized that the salt had not got mixed in evenly. I should have bought 1-2 more packs of Masala Pudina Kurkure. Topara Pak (Coconut Barfi) was okay and Halvasan was heavenly.

It was much later that I realized that I didn't buy Khakhara at all :-)