Equal Street In the Suburbs of Mumbai

Since November 2014, Equal Street became alive every Sunday morning with kids and their parents in free expression of art, music and song.

It was the early morning event where traffic was diverted to other routes to give the street back to the public.

In the present scenario, there is really no room to walk, with traffic blaring its loud beeps and footpath with broken slabs. The society compound, too have no room to play like we had during our growing up days. Children spent their major part of their time on computer games or attending private classes. Come summer, and summer camps mushroom all over the city, giving children less time to think independently and be engrossed in more organized games in their peer groups.

I remember, my childhood was spent in building compound playing all kinds of games. We invented our own games, we had our own rules, Everyday there was a new game and the choice was endless. Remember, the hopscotch? We drew blocks on the ground and played with pebbles. It didn’t cost us much to play group games with friends. When we got tired playing in the hot sun, we came indoors to play Carom, Chess, Monopoly and other board games.

‘Equal Street’ had created such opportunity to revive our childhood and introduce this games culture to our children. With traffic out of way, the streets converted into large compound with ample space to spread our creativity. Children learnt many street games like hop on blocks, seven tiles. There were no rules to follow when they played badminton, or cricket or football. Also indoor games like Carom and Chess were brought out on #EqualStreet to encourage people and arouse interest.

Then there were many who walked or cycle down the lane. It was interesting to see youngster bring out their fancy bikes and do some stunts. Many of the children have even learnt to cycle during this summer.

For those who did not want to run or jog behind their children, they preferred to teach their kids for some joys of art. The road became a free canvas where creativity found an outlet. The children helped themselves with colored chalks and created amazing art.

Then some formed groups and performed dance while other preferred to do Yoga, Tai chi and other forms of exercises. At different junction we saw different set of people involved in different kind of activity. There was room for every age to find his medium of entertainment.

With traffic out of way, the smooth tar road was pleasure to play...

Summer comes to end so does the activities on suburbs roads from #Bandra to #Santacruz..

Like I had mentioned in my earlier post at my other Blog Post on Mumbai that

In an attempt to help reclaim streets for people, EMBARQ India has initiated “Equal Streets – A Citizens’ Movement” with the help of the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) and Mumbai Traffic Police, and with support from the Times of India Group.

It was fun while it lasted...and everybody had their share of fun
...

Slumber Party

I have never ever attended a slumber party in my life, although I have spent many sleepless nights during holiday with friends. It sounded exciting when my friends invited me to meet for a night at friend’s home.

Furniture is moved away from the living room, mattresses and cushions randomly placed across the room. The wall is decorated with fun on the mind, (Hungama scrolled in crazy manner).

The preparations were done,(excitement and planning began fifteen days prior to the event) although the girls (actually women) were to meet only after having their heavy dinner of roasted and spiced finger foods followed by proper dinner at Sasural restaurant.

But still, the home kitchen had to be stocked with late night snacks. There were biscuits, banana wafers, chocolates, sweets and unlimited supply of cold water. The women refused to eat, saying, they were full but still tasted tit bits from every packet that was passed around till they slowly stretched their legs, then their body and soon went under blanket when their eyes began to droop.

Group pictures are must- it is mainly for those who could not make it to the party.(100% attendance would be 50 close friends, many could not attend due to unavoidable circumstances)

At Sasural, women were anxious to finish dinner and go home. The dining table at the restaurant was too long, service was slow, and conversation was not easy, so while the food arrived, there was some time for photo sessions

The ladies were fashionably dressed for the party and all looked gorgeous.

The fun began as soon as the women slipped into their nightdress, saris folded and tucked away neatly into their bags, Some with bad knee quickly rushed to sit on comfortable sofas while other sat on cushions or cross legged on the floor, some rested on their elbows with hands on their chin while others leant lazily against the wall.

The show begins…..

It is Oscar award night, most of us have dreamt of Oscar awards or simple recognition in some field, after all we are the bunch of talented people who are often recognized on Watsapp for our witty messages throughout the day. True friends know our worth and we were to celebrate the grand event in our nightdress (oh, I wish we all could have worn our flowing night gowns instead of pyjamas)

Anyway..Jahnavi, Lata and Nalini entered the stage (on the mattress facing the audience) Nalini held the red Oscar ribbons and envelops, Lata swinging gracefully around her hips, with a smile and blinking eyelids, walked towards Jahnavi who most animatedly welcomed everybody in the room. She was really fabulous with her role as the compere, her voice loud and clear. Since they were meeting Bindu after many years, she was invited as chief guest to do the honor of giving away the prize of recognition.

Awards of different categories were called out one by one, each one for their distinct talent. The names were revealed after opening the envelopes and the recipient honored with the red ribbon with heart shape medal around their neck. They were encouraged to speak few words. The winners expressed their appreciation with raised eyebrows, some overwhelmed by the honor, burst into tears, wiping their eyes and nose with the hem of their dress and some too excited to say anything at all.

And the awards went to:

Vijaya got the HASI TO FASI Award for laughing and giggling all the time.

Lucy got the FAST AND FURIOUS Award.

Dilu got award for BANDIT QUEEN

Sandra for JUNGLE BEAUTY

SANGEETA for STYLE DIVA

Lata got an award for being NAUGHTY AT SIXTY.

Shipra got the IRON LADY Award

Madhu, Bindu and Annie(in absentia, she attended only the dinner)  got the award of THE THREE MUSKETEERS

Jahnavi got the CHETAN BHAGAT Award for her writing skills.

Sharbari got a STRAWBERRY PUDDING Award

Sita and Nalini got SADHU AUR SHAITAN Award.

Pushee got DANDAWALI BAWARCHI award

Many of them had ribbon round their neck, throughout the night (and I am told that some of them even took the medals home to decorate their living room shelf.)

The eatables and drinks made their rounds while we prepared for the next game of tambola.

We had many more games planned for the night, like playing antakshri and some naughty group games, but heavy dinner at Sasural and then additional snacks at home played tricks over the eyelids…with droopy eyes, some of them chose to stretch, just lie down for a while..

The voices became blurry, and suddenly lights went off with just few of us who sat alert on the couch in darkness....whispering away our anecdotes till the daylight began to sweep inside the room.

After the hot cup of tea, we, like zombies, headed home to catch up on sleep that we had lost during the night…….

Wordless Wednesday..children still play board games in India

Passing the parcel

Although my birthday was last month, but it never ends till all my friends have wished me, so today, another set of friends (just eight) came over for lunch to enjoy the belated party.


Now eight is a big number for a private party and I don’t like to leave anybody out of conversation so I decided to have some games to get everybody involved. After the delicious lunch of Veg Briyani, Samosas, bhajiyas and Raita followed by chocolate ice-cream, we started the normal game of bingo for warm up and almost everybody received a small gift for their participation as the play progressed from jaldifive to 3 lines to full house.

Next we started to play the interesting game of passing the parcel. When we were kids, game of passing the parcel was all time favorite where we had punishments which would be quite entertaining with something like ’sing a song’ or imitate so-n-so, or some other childish punishment which sometimes would be quite an embarrassment. But today these kinds of punishments were not on my mind. I wanted to do something innovative.

So I made list of six topics for discussion as punishments where in I put the question and the person was asked to express her views. Following questions were asked:

Q1: As we all know that Imran is a gay icon- how will our community behave if they start exposing gays. Do you think that older generation will be able to accept this fact? What kind of conversation will the people be having during discussion of latest trend of our youth?

Q2 Do you feel suicidal sometimes? What things irritate you the most and you get this kind of feeling that the world is not worth living in?

Q3 Do you think media is responsible today? If you were a reporter what would be your first priority of reportage?

Q4 You know your friends are not paying attention to their health. You want to help them but you also know that she/he is not likely to follow your advice. What strong words would you use to bring home the message?

Q5Do you believe in idol worship and blind faith? If someday, you became a spiritual guide, what kind of preaching would you do to explain the existence of Supreme Being?

Q6 How responsible is our Indian Cinema? If you were given chance to make a film, what kind of movie will you make? What important message would you give in your films and whom would you cast in the film?

There was heavy discussion on every topic and there were difference of opinions too. The fun part of this game was that one person spoke while the rest listened carefully and gave their feedback and there was some healthy conversation. Normally, the shy ones never get chance to speak and they are left out from conversation. This way, everybody was participating.

The discussions went on till tea-time after which we all headed to Baidas Hall, Vile Parle, to hear the Vedanta lecture on ‘Happiness’ by Jaya Row.

Tea Party for Seniors Only

My friends and I organized and hosted a ‘tea party’ for senior members of my society today.

Every evening, I see few senior ladies of my building sit in the compound chit chatting. They discuss TV programs, news and all the gossip in the building. On the days when I am too lazy to go for my evening walk to a park near Linking Road or by the sea-shore at promenades, I opt for a casual walk around my building, but within ten minutes of my walking, these women start inviting me to sit down with them and join into their discussions. Their topics are interesting, no doubt, but nothing creative. During one of those meanderings, I decided to do my bit of adding some spice to their evening meeting and thus the idea of tea party popped into my mind.

I discussed it with other members of my society and younger group seemed interested to go by my plan. Together, we planned menu and games and the guest list.

They arrived, sharp at 6pm, smartly dressed.

We played two games, housie and passing the parcel and I must say, they were quite cooperative and sporty. The most entertaining part was the punishments like reciting two times table, ranting complains, talking about their anecdotes in their 20’s, and we were surprised to hear their stories. They talked animatedly, relating in details the stories of their youth and were very happy to find such enthusiastic listeners. They danced, sang old songs and were so very cheerful when they received gifts. Their eyes brightened up, thanking us for making them feel so special and wanted such parties planned regularly, some even suggested a picnic to some park.

The party was a great success with home cooked snacks like patties, sandwiches, cakes, dhoklas and vadis. There was cold drinks and tea. There was no pressure/obligations on who contributes what, everybody volunteered freely and there was even a take-away-gift for everyone.

And the happiness overflowed, such is the joy I received today in my building compound

Invisible soulmates on facebook

Face is potholed by too many pokes Of friends and families of every nook Vampires’ fights, somersaulting quizzes Dearest friends’ shadows, hugs and looks I enjoy playing Lexulous, and visiting links, Love reading their notes from their profile winks Many summers ago, on a lazy day like this Like a couch potato I would just gape at a book

Games we played...

Those were the days…there were so many games, when there was no TV. All day long we played. I wonder how our parents tolerated that! Every evening all my friends would come down in the building compound to play games. We loved to play 'kho-kho', hop-scotch, spinning the top, gulli-dhanda, langdi, hide-n-seek, seven tiles, Fire in the mountains, statue, tug-a-war, kabbadi, volley ball. Then we played cricket, basketball, badminton. The best was dhabba ice-spice where all would hide, and we would come out from hiding and kick the dhabba as hard as we could. It used to be fun, my friends and I would hide into our home, eating sandwiches and watching the person searching us, from our balcony while eating. When it was raining, we played indoor games like snakes and ladder, ludo, carom, chess, scrabble, monopoly or other board games, or simply playing with dolls (house-house) or Dumb shera, antakshri., whispering a tale. During college days it was scrabble. There was so much craze on scrabble that we would play non-stop for eight to ten hours. During summer holidays, early hours, we would go for long walks or cycling (double seat) all the way from Bandra to Juhu beach. And we had so much energy! good ole days!

Ever wondered what games do kids play nowadays?

Gone are the days when children played games like ‘seven tiles’, ‘hide n seek’ sakli, pakra-pakri, statue-stop, langdi, dum-shera, etc. There used to be so many games to play in those days. Summer holidays meant that we would be playing all day in the building compound, playing indoor games like carom, ludo, chess, scrabble or out door games like badminton, football, basket ball, Oh! There were so many games, that our neighbors would get tired of the noise that we made and would breathe a sigh of relief when the school re-opened. This summer, too, there are many children, in the compound and the same noise is there, but the games that they play are very much different. First of all, every child wants to be the boss and nobody is interested in taking orders. So there is too much chaos. (I tried teaching them some organized games but they got bored) Either you see children running from one end to the other end of the compound, or they are just skating (Oh yes, this is the new craze now-a days, most of these kids are roller-skating.) but, then there are many children who just sit around, staring or making a small chat. I saw two kids who were busy doing something. I went over to them and asked them what game were they playing? And guess what? ..they were repairing a gun! Repairing gun at this age! I think parents should not buy such toys for their kids. It creates violence in their fragile minds. Imagine, them running from one corner of the building and hiding at the other corner and shooting, Bang! Bang!(of course, the games are innocently played but the violent feeling is there (have you seen their expressions)And so here, they are repairing the gun that has been overloaded with bullets. One child bring a knife from his house to help his friend remove the bullets that are stuck inside the gun! And they spend at least half an hour trying to figure out how to remove those bullets! And thus the kids are learning to hold guns and knives at such tender age! Unsupervised by their elders, who may be busy shedding off extra weight off their limbs at some fancy gym.