How can we expect that God will protect us from any calamity if we don’t respect Him?

Every year, we bring Ganpati home and we take so much care of Him. There is so much joy and festival in the air and some of us, even cry when we have to say "Ganpati Bapa Moriaya, Poorcha varshi lavkar ya' We go to the beach to immerse the Ganpati into the deep waters.... Have you gone back to the beach the next day? If you went you would see this at the beach. We Bring Him home and take care of Him with so much love, and then this is what ultimately happens with Him Wake Up People, We must respect our Gods. It is better that we should use small idols instead such big one or the idols made from paper (which dissolves easily).

Tsk, tsk, tsk. from riches to rags....

I have come to realize that good looks may not always buy us happiness. Sometimes it is more of a pain living in this lusty world, where good looking girls have a crazy soup to have with their meals. The story doing rounds now-a-days is about the top model Geetanjali Nagpal, who was seen begging in a market place in South Delhi, living off the streets and spending her nights in parks and temples. Disowned by her family, this 32-year old former model, with her matted hair, dirty clothes and unwashed look, now presents a picture of utter poverty. Who would believe that this was the same girl, who in 90’s had sashayed down the catwalk of Delhi with the likes of Sushmita Sen? She had seemed set for a flashbulb career in fashion! This is the horrifying story of the dark side of glamour. In glamour world, good looking girls have very few friends and if they get into drugs and alcohol, then there is a downward slide to misery. For many who enter into the world of glitz and glamour of the fashion industry hoping to make a mark, not everything is a smooth sail. With long and odd hours to work, there is too much stress and unrealistic expectations, and this becomes sometimes difficult to cope. Everything has a price....doesn't it?

Cooking is so easy...Anybody Can Cook...... Even a Rat!!

“What? Go for a children’s film? Are you mad? Won’t it look funny going for children’s film without any kids?” I said when my friend suggested that we go for Ratatouille. But as always, I can never win an argument. She had one hundred and one reasons to tell me that it was a good movie to watch. Ratatoille is indeed a great movie, and I have not stopped talking about it. I think it is a masterpiece and I will be very disappointed if it goes unnoticed at next Oscars. It is a story of Remy, a thin blue rat who lives with his unruly rodent clan in the French countryside. He finds himself torn between these two commitments as the film opens. While his family lives on stealing and feeding on garbage, Remy dreams of cooking the best food and becoming a famous chef. He has a great gift of smell and taste, and he knows he is different from the clan. He can read and understand human language, watches TV cookery show by legendary Monsieur Gasteau, the famous Parisian chef, and is inspired by his book called ‘Anyone can cook’ When separated from his family during a cooking mishap, Remy winds up in Paris, near a restaurant once presided over by the legendary chef, and he can’t resist sneaking in and spicing up a vat of soup; credit for the delicious dish goes to the poor garbage boy, Linguini (Lou Romano), a clumsy, stammering type with no talent for cooking, who is immediately ordered by conniving head chef Skinner (Ian Holm) to reproduce his success. The story is very engrossing and the genius of Brad Bird shines through in the way the story unfolds – seamlessly- and the thought that has gone into the smallest of detail, with a strong message that if you dream and work hard, things may happen to you irrespective of your backgound or the odds that you belong to different species. The entire film is a captivating visual delight, as fluid shifts between human and rodent perspective. A must-see film, don’t miss it.

The Mumbai Times Café (Review)

Ever wondered how these youngsters pass their time when they are not in the college? Well, you will find them hanging around in one of the countless cafes that are scattered all over the city of Mumbai. Bandra is the suburb with more than 200 places to hang around. There are restaurants everywhere. If you are hungry, you only have to walk for two minutes and you are sure to find a restaurant. From this week onwards, there is one more place to hang around. The Mumbai Times Café (It is not the name of any newspaper, now they have started naming cafes after newspapers too. How innovative they can get!). On the 5th floor of Crystal Shoppers Paradise Mall, Linking road, we saw the opening of yet one more place to hang around. What I was amused and liked it, was a private terrace beach-like-look (sans sea) with muddy floor, fishing net and two boats. They plan to put Mumbai chaat stalls around that area. People can just hang around there, standing, eating and dining. The overall ambience and the concept of coffee are good. The menu resembles a new-paper, (what else? as the name suggests) In one corner, at far end, there is a newspaper-rack that resembles the broken dhabas and basket of dhabbawallahs of Mumbai.(Did they steal one from some railway station?). There is a mix of authentic ‘Mumbaiya’, Indian and global dishes throw in. (The prices are steep and cover the cost of bread, service and ambience). They have Wi-Fi broadband facilities, (you can take your lap-top and surf the net for free), LCD screen airing all major news channels (you can watch five news channels, all at the same time) and also separate lounge and outdoor areas. (Forget about chatting with your friends, the music murders all the other sounds). Just eat, dance and drink till you drop dead. If you are going late evenings, (8pm to 10pm) then there is ‘Live Band’ on Mondays and Wednesdays, ‘Karaoke night’ on Sundays and ‘Ladies Night’ on Fridays when there is one complimentary drink for every lady entering the café (they want to encourage ladies to become drunkards so that they can stop complaining about their man) There is ‘happy hours’ till September 30th and we took advantage of this offer. I ordered spicy fish and chips and my friend ordered Pav bhaji, but we paid for only one dish. We bought the assorted range of breads and cakes too (since the offer was to pay for one and get one free). The drawback is that there is no separate lift for this restaurant, it is shared with supermarket, which is on 3rd and 4th floor, and if you don’t wish to wait for lift then you have to use staircase, which is dirty and full of paan stains. (But, then this is the common sight, you get to see dirt and ‘Paan-stained Arts’ at all the stairways in Mumbai.) Well, nothing is perfect….. It is not supposed to be.

'Caferati' August Read-meet

I am learning to be a good writer and I am member of various networks on Ryze, which help me to grow as a writer. I write, people react, I improve my skills and I am encouraged to write more. There are many networks online and many of them interact personally too by meeting off line, enjoying the evening of fun and feast. Every month, ‘Caferati-online writer’s network’, have read-meets where we meet off line and see the actual expressions of the group members while we read our piece. It is fun, watching the expression of the dazed crowd, especially if you are reading a bold stuff, which the group members are not sure, whether it is the fiction or a real life experience. On the net, when we write, we sometimes forget, or don’t care that there are many people reading and making their own impression, but at the actual read-meet, it is a different story. We, as a reader, are conscious, of all those people listening and staring at us, watching our gestures, our clothes, and our hair, although all those members, who are present may not even be listening to us hundred percent. Some may be admiring the style of our dress, others enjoying the whiff of sweet perfume, some of them might be wondering whether we shaved our legs before coming, and some might be wondering about our private life and making their own assumption on our pattern of living. Then there will be some who might be thinking when they will eat their Samosas and Sandwiches, wondering whether they could get up, out of turn, and help themselves with the cup of coffee or visit a rest room. The point is that nobody might be actually hearing us hundred percent. So, when we finish our long story and expect an applause, (sometimes we assume, our piece is the masterpiece) we might get to see a group of rolling eyes. We, then grin, rub our palms, raise our eye brows, and look around trying to settle our gaze on one particular person, whom we feel must have listened to our masterpiece ninety-nine percent. The feed-back takes a front seat and we get what we deserve. Live performance and feedback is always intoxicating. Thus, read-meets of Caferati are fun and this month was no different. This month we had at one of the member’s private, cozy home, with books and artifacts lining the walls, high up on the 16th floor of Sainara apartment at Cuff Parade, overlooking the fishermen colony and a beautiful sunset above the calm sea. A friend who had promised to accompany me for the read-meet could not make it and she had to drop out the last minute. I decided to go alone, but I hate making solo entrance. I looked around, as I reached the lobby, hoping I would find one member to accompany me for the entrance into the group and I was lucky to meet one person at the lift. We got to introduction, she was a first-timer, I was consoling her that she need not be afraid or nervous, that she will have a great time, I gave her some back ground knowledge about the group and then asked her to make the entrance with me so that we look like great pals. Surprises! Surprise! Surprise! She was a reporter from a reputed paper! I had already given her my interview in the lift! The read-meet started with a group photograph of famous writers by professional photographer and a formal detailed introduction (glad that we could get free publicity at last!). The reporter encouraged us to boast about our work, which I shamelessly did. (I love freebees)I hope she writes about my books! I need sales! The rest of the read-meet was just reading, commenting, snacking, listening to the sparkling conversations of vibrant group, romancing the ambience and sometimes smiling forcefully at those who won’t match my smile with theirs. Later, after the meeting, smaller group were contemplating the idea of dining to gather in some restuarant. I decided to join in too without any fuss. “Let’s go here” “No!” “Yes!” “Let’s go there” “Let’s take a taxi” “Let’s walk” "It is getting late na" “Never mind, forget the dinner, and let’s go home.” Phew! I was hungry! I was lucky to get a lift back home in a luxurious car, offered to me by one of the members (Lord bless her kind heart!) Thank God we can order food from the comfort of our homes! Viva Mumbai! Hail Mumbai! The memories of the read-meet lingered on as I chewed on roasted chicken and French fries.