Trip To Amotherland

- I had mentioned it last year, I'll repeat it again. Mumbai is growing vertically with absolutely no planning. 3 storey apartments are being broken down and built again into seven storey ones. This is fine since the population coming into the city seems to do so at an exponential rate, however the infrastructure has not been developed to accomodate all this. And the city planning in-charge either has no idea how to go about doing his/her job or doesnt have absolute power to make decisions. However, when you break down a small house on one of the most traffic congested roads and build a mall... it shows how well the city is being planned. But, I still have great respect for us Mumbaikars. Pack an equal number of Americans or Europeans into Mumbai and am sure we'll fare a thousand times better than them.

- Few things make you feel pretty awkward, specially after spending a good part of your 20's in the USA. I was at this lounge and after too much of liquid intake had to visit the restroom. As I went about doing my job, one of the staff comes and stands behind me. He runs to the wash-basin before I could and opens the water tap for me. Next, he hits his hands on the soap dispenser while I hold my hands underneath it. Then he rushes and gets me paper towels to wipe my hands off. Perhaps I was supposed to feel like a king, but I felt very disturbed. However, the exponential fashion in which India's population is growing, at least the guy was getting paid. He wouldnt listen to my "I am ok, you dont need to do it", so I let him go about his job.

- I like the way some people try to convince you on arranged marriages. You meet a girl at a bar, or u meet her through your Mom, how does it matter? In the bar, you do the hard work, here your Mom has all the details from height, weight, age to whether she is Manglik. I like that reasoning. It throws a whole new perspective. Instead of me buying her a Bloody Mary, she gets me chai! You can find this logic only in India.

- I am disgusted of all tabloids, news channels and gossip aunties carrying Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan discussions. Going about on a temple tour and getting married to a Peepal tree all for Mr. Hairband wearing Abhishek, Ms. Rai could have had it simpler.

- My routine in USA for the last 6 months or so has been work 9-5 followed by book reading at Barnes and Nobles from 6-11. The only conversation I have is with the girl at Starbucks. After a few months even knew how I like my coffee so the little conversation I had was lost. I think my lifestyle has made me anti-social. Make that anti-conversant. I'll just sit amidst a group of people and listen to their conversation and nod. After a while I will keep nodding religiously while my mind will be in tristate. Reminds me of my undergrad lectures and most meetings at work. Anyways, I realized its high time I start getting back to social interaction and to the good old days when I could hold a conversation for hours.

- While in India, I managed to meet a few bloggers, which included Medha (who is a lot of fun to have around, has an awesome appetite and for someone who is not adept at travelling Mumbai roads did an Andheri to Kandivali alone - commendable!), Menagerie (who is another awesome person. She eats nothing and pays half the bill amount - worked fine for me!), Ideasmith (This kinda sums up the meet) with Sensorcaine (who footed my coffee bill). In the end I did myself proud by ending up looking like a cheapskate in front of all the women!

- I did my bit of travelling by the local trains, buses and autos. I decided to hop onto a train in the afternoon, hoping to beat the rush hour. However, it seems rush hour lasts 24X7.

- I am however shocked at Abhi (my neighbour, not Bachchan) making demands for Chocolate Cake at 2 AM (We were returning from a bar, which might explain it). That really is demanding. I was even more shocked when he found a place which served chocolate cake at 2 AM. Which is one of the reasons Mumbai rocks. Any time of the day or night, the place is happening.



Next post: Non-Veg Theplas!