Mumbai Kaleidoscope

It was the sixth day in the month honoring the Roman god of war: Mars and i had a very important interview to attend in the commercial capital of India, Mumbai. The month honoring the god of war was an interesting coincidence since I too was fighting my own battle at that time. A battle of survival, of defending my right to exercise the options that life throws at me and not be reduced to a human equivalent of a lab rat running inside a wheel without quite understanding why. This opportunity that came my way was like a light at the end of a tunnel through which i was desperately crawling and digging my way out and when i alighted at Dadar I suddenly had a feeling of pure white light filling up my soul, in the same way when the sunlight gushes through the windows of the bus in a torrential flood as u exit a tunnel, i closed my eyes...and had shivers running down my spine and tingles in my finger tips. During the taxi trip to my churchgate hotel i was unusually calm, with a slight smile on my serene face, drinking in the larger than life kaleidoscope sights of mumbai life.
In the evening i took a stroll that took me through the old mumbai streets of Homy Mody street where the Tata Sons office is located, past the Reserve Bank of India and Bombay natural history society museum. The sky line was dotted with british era architecture and i was unconciously following a path that lay between the two tallest towers visible to me i.e The bombay stock exchange building and the Taj Mahal Hotel and Towers.
Despite the humidity there was a cool breeze blowing and a crispiness in the air that i couldn't quite place. I walked in a straight line when suddenly i saw bustling crowd ahead and numerous thelawalas crowding all over the road selling their wares that ranges from socks to bangles, from plastic flutes to balloons and countless stalls selling snacks. The road ahead was blocked and there were no vehicles plying on that part of the road. I wondered why... i crossed over dodging and avoiding numerous over-zealous shopkeepers trying to sell me stuff and suddenly i was out of another tunnel, under the open skies looking  at the beautiful Gateway of India and out and beyond at the immense expanse of the Arabian sea.....

The river cascades down my body
washing away the remnants of a past so shoddy.

With sparkling eyes and buzzing ears
i feel a warmth within, as i feel my tears.

The peace envelopes me
as i smile at the lone tree
steadfast at the Gateway holding the eternal decree
welcoming me at the abode of the free.

I bow low, humbled by the invitation
I look beyond at the immense expanse of creation
I dream to fly
over the rainbow so high
as i see my wishes reach consummation.

I Can't....

Can't stop the bleed
Can't stop the deed
Can't comprehend the need
Can't understand the creed

Souls torn on streets by day
Blood splattered on lanes by night
The act begins
Vitriol stench radiates from the Killings
Terror reigns supreme
All good ol'men subjugated
Still drinking the poison already much tolerated
Petty justifications are traded
Promise of seventy two virgins is prided
Young minds are wasted
The sins get aggregated
But who is to pay and who gets paid?
And we sit forsaken and debilitated

Time frozen in an unending wait
Hoping for a miracle that changes our fate
All have lost faith, in faith, of late
Minds numbed by the obscenity they create
When will the day of judgement arrive and stop the hate?
When will they stand at St. Peter's Gate?

Till then,
Can't stop the bleed
Can't stop the deed
Can't comprehend the need
Can't understand the creed

I condemn the senseless killing of innocent people in the name of religion and faith
I condemn the act of terrorism that happened yesterday at Pune, India.

SALT

It’s been over a week since I created my own blog and posted it onto the WorldWideWeb. I have already received 2 comments (positive), but now I have that disease faced mostly by prolific writers called the writer’s block. It’s funny actually as I haven’t yet decided what my blog will comprise of. So I decided to do some research on what most experienced bloggers write on and I found that most, 95 percent, of them had written a big post on the recently concluded  “3 Idiots”  debacle. Well, I am not going to post anything on this topic as I have not watched the movie and am content with the book itself as I believe spending 300 rupees a movie is absolutely idiotic. So since I rejected the idea of going for a movie, my weekend was spent mostly lazing around and watching movies on my lappy. The only extra thing my roomie Felix and I did was to haggle with a maid(cook) whom we had earlier finalised at a princely monthly salary of 1700 rupees a month for cooking our meals once a day, but who at the appointed first day of the job decided to give herself a 18 percent hike and demanded an higher amount.

It was like SALT to our wounds; we were hurt to the core. How can an illiterate person who works in the service industry demand an 18 percent hike when we after four years of slogging in a college spending lacs on our education (while listening to the classic pink Floyd rendition – “We don’t need no education”) and working in the same service sector (but different industry) for 3 years do not get any hike? Well, we were not going to bow down now. We haggled with her and brought her down to her original demand. Ok all set, she agreed to come at 5:30pm to cook our dinner. We spent the rest of the day doing absolutely nothing. In the evening we were eagerly waiting for our maid to come and we kept on waiting till 8:00pm when Felix got fed up and lit up the gas stove to cook lady’s finger , its ladyfinger by the way. So our maid had ditched us and had rejected our offer.

Next day we decided to cook Chicken Curry and when we went to buy chicken I got greedy and bought some Prawns too. For Bengalis like me Chicken and Prawns Curry are like Soul Curry. We do not need any ayurvedic treatments at spas or full body massages or yoga centres, we just need chicken curry. By the way we are great fans of the self help book series “Chicken Soup for the soul”. Any way without digressing much from the topic we brought in the material and cooked a marvellous lunch spread consisting of fried prawns, chicken curry, rice and salad. The whole operation took us only an hour. I overate and skipped dinner. While eating the wonderful meal Felix commented and I quote “Who needs a maid, when we are the best chefs”.

That’s when I realised that I had underestimated the maid’s importance in her industry. She had the confidence to demand a hike on the first day of her job because her job did “make a difference” to many people and families who consider the maid indispensable and whose life would become chaotic if she is absent for even one day. On the contrary we in the IT industry have become a commodity which is in such excessive supply that we are taken for granted. To illustrate it further, we are like Coriander. While cooking Chicken we bought some coriander and we were given a big bunch of the herb at a cost of rupees two only and we used only 4 – 5 twigs of it. Rest is kept on the kitchen table and will definitely rot by the time we decide to cook something again. The maid on the other hand is like the ginger-garlic-onion-tomato paste without which the chicken curry will not be chicken curry.

It was not exactly a glorious thought when I realised that the only service we are providing is through paying income tax and which now will ALSO be used to fund free travel for the netas and their “next of kin” which in India means the extended family of the neta.
I cringed as I had the feeling of “SALT OVER MY WOUNDS” all over again.
I now pledge to draw inspiration from the maid and do something meaningful in my life before I turn thirty.

GC.

Year TwentyTen...Sounds nice...We'll See

A very happy new year to all !!!

So it is the year of the Tiger... and major astrology sites are all abuzz with speculation for this year Mars "ancient god of War" and "astrological ruler of Passion" is supposed to pay a visit to the equally hot blooded constellation of Leo (my-my); this year will definitely be dotted with exciting historical events....Lets just hope that its less of war and more of peace agreements.


Year 2010 has also been declared the International Year of Biodiversity
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Year_of_Biodiversity. With the much disputed Copenhagen Summit on Climate Change just concluded, lets hope for some definite action towards saving this planet from further damage.


Mood: Hopeful, Cheerful