Bom-bahia...

I decided that after a long bout of laziness, I should get myself up and about and sweat it out. So I set out from my apartment which is in Sanpada, New Bombay and jog upto Nerul which is the next station in line. Took me about half hour alternating between brisk walking and jogging. The stretch between these stations on the Palm Beach Road is the kind of stretch I yearn for in Main Bombay. It is wild green on both sides of the road with palms planted on the divider between the road and open spaces and hardly anybody around. As I run, the sun slowly sets and there is a cool westerly breeze blowing which pushes me forward. I see the onset of the Sahyadri mountain ranges that dot the western ghats of India.

Bombay is one of the few cities in India that underwent a drastic carving, cutting up, pasting and reclaiming over the centuries before reaching its present avatar and from what I see around me, they are not finished with it yet. It is a most interesting city to study its geographical evolution and in my attempt to understand this city better I have decided to tackle this particular aspect of the city. For the next two months, I will from time-to-time post details about Bombay that I found interesting and that appeal to me.

As a part of this venture, I will start from the southern most tip of Bombay and go northwards. The present Bombay originally was actually 7 islands- Colaba, Old Woman's Island, Bombay, Mazagaon, Worli, Parel and Mahim and this is the order in which I will explore Bombay. More in the next post...

Train to Jodhpur

On the train to Jodhpur, we are about 12 people traveling together. Of these 12, I know about 3.5 well(the 0.5 being a nephew who is 4) In all there are 4 children below the age of 10 and its amazing the decibels such a small larynx can produce. There was a constant clattering of things, at any point one of them was wailing because the other kid was mean to him. Their constant demands for water, food and other such sundry items drove us all mad. So here is a new amendment for Mr. Laloo Prasad Yadav, the honourable Minister for Railways- a new containment chamber for all kids(especially boys) below the age of 10. The kids are to be sedated and will be kept in the containment chamber for the entire length of the journey(I guess I will have to look out for the zealots of human rights after having proposed this) What the hell-bring them on!!

There is a lady traveling with us in the train with a 6 year old son. She is a lecturer in a management institute. A nephew of her's boards the train from Baroda. With all the noise that was being created by those brats I mentioned above, we were all sick and the lady gave me the "Don't get married" gyaan if you want to avoid this. I inturn said that that is a good idea as I am sure I can enjoy all those benefits which come with a marriage without actually getting married and this lady just went berserk. She said I should be thrown off the train and subjected to 440V of AC(ok now that was a bit of an exaggeration-she might have said 440V of DC) She asked me if my family knew my views and I said they did not. She threatened me that she would tell them and I said go ahead. Suddenly she screamed and said- "what do you want of me??" and I was like EXCUSE ME??

On reaching Jodhour station, I helped the above mentioned lady with her luggage and she thanked me and told me to enjoy my bachelor life and I looked right at her and said-"Trust me...I will!!"

Such fun!!

Wedding time

I am set to leave for Jodhpur, Rajasthan tomorrow. Its a wedding in the family-its been some time since the last one. Its going to be a long-drawn and colourful affair and I will be back by tuesday. Next post after that.