Weird Things Do Happen

All one needs to do is travel to NYC.

I have always been in love with the people of the city and more so, with the city itself. Insanity is the norm.

We spent the long weekend roaming the streets of NY and came upon some interesting findings. In the concrete mess shown above thrives a huge Desi population which commands the authority to take out a Ganesh procession, block traffic and do things - Desi Style.

Also, amongst this lot, lives a lady who should not be allowed anywhere close to the microphone (seriously, she is a hearing hazard)

Click this Link for Google Video on the lady.


I was pleasantly surprised to see a Ganesh procession walk through the streets of the city last Sunday. Got back many memories of the celebrations we had back in Nandanvan as kids (and adults).

- The most distinct memory being returning from school and heading straight into the buildings prayer room where they kept the idol for 5 days. Taking off your shoes, pulling up a few chairs (usually it was Bakshi and myself) and gobble down all the prasad.

- Climbing on top of the truck which came by for Visarjan and as it made its way thru crowded streets, shouting slogans. This used to be a collective effort which used to gain further momentum when a group of girls were spotted on the side streets. "Ganpati Bappa, Moriyaa..." used to tranform into "Babe, babe, babe, babe..." and we nudged each other in the direction of the feminine species - all unaware our parents were watching from behind.

- One fine year, when the truck driver dropped all of us at the beach, and happily drove off with our footwear.

- The society organized games. As a kid I remember losing the lemon in a spoon race. Also I remember winning the Table Tennis Tournament for a cash prize of ten bucks; which I proudly showed to my Grandmom; which she doubled to twenty and was quickly spent gulping down four bottles of Thumbs Up.

- Playing Housie. I used to love calling out the numbers. 88 was a personal favorite. I would stare at the fattest ladies in the crowd and go something like - "And next is the two famous fat ladies, hand in hand, 8 and 8, eighty eight". Lame, I agree!

- Decorating the prayer room. This was great fun coz I used to be the only guy turning up with some 50 women. Call it my tribute to Lord Krishna. The decorative paper used to originate from the ceiling fan and terminate on the side walls till some smart Aunty (or many a time Umm - Umm if you are reading this, we still remember), used to switch on the fan to see everything crash down.

Ganesh Chaturthi was surely a happening event around Nandanvan and the recent trip to NYC sure got back those memories.

But coming back to the city and its weirdness, did you guys hear about the Giraffe which escaped the zoo and made its way to Central Park? We happened to bump into him and he turned out to be quite a friendly animal looking for food.







Of course I am kidding. Thats a pic taken at Animal Kingdom by my friends. But many people would believe this could happen in the city.