Mumbai - A city unparalleled in its magnanimity

"Magnanimity - kind and generous, especially to someone that you have defeated"

Mumbai, a city of dreams to most Indians, a city that has been catapulted onto the World imagination thanks to its slums, the crowds in its local trains, its monsoons, bollywood movies and of late, bomb blasts! A city whose resilience and fighting spirit finds mention often in different contexts - when I set foot in it, I felt the thrill that only adventure and excitement can provoke. 

"Nobody judges you here. You can do whatever you want!", my friend remarked when we were in Juhu beach. Her remark would, perhaps, best sum up the perception that an outsider would get as he lands in this city. Swarming with busy people, it is a city that deludes one into believing that the whole of humanity, especially in this particular mass of land, is constantly on the run - running in all directions imaginable! Indeed, if one just waits in a corner and starts observing people in the city, one can feel one's pulse start to throb.

11.45 PM, Friday night, Dadar railway station: We were in the Churchgate - Virar fast local. The train had not even come to a complete stop and people were trying to get in jostling each other. Such is the spirit of the city that only the strongest survive. Either the weak slowly reconcile themselves to a hopeless existence or simply give up too soon. The city is unforgiving and ruthless to people whose will is fragile. Sometimes, it is magnanimous and lets the weak eke out a living relegating them to footpaths and pavements, leaving them to the mercy of the natural elements during monsoons and just about extending a protecting arm. 

Pali Hill, Bandra (W) - home for the rich and the affluent. BMWs and Skodas glide across the lanes in all their splendor. A few kilometres away on the way to Mahim railway station, there is poverty in all its gruesome form - children crawling on pavements and mothers trying to make rotis. Families living under flyovers and men cleaning themselves with hardly any privacy - some sights that I would carry with me. 

Mumbai is a city that defies even the most fertile imagination. As another of my friends said, sometimes it just doesn't care. It tramples over people's souls and revels in delight even as they struggle. When everyday life is hard, it bestows in mankind a strange nature - one that is a little more caring. Thanks to this spirit, the people of the city have taken it upon themselves to resist what they perceive as the city's might. They think that if in some manner or the other, they don't care for each other, the beast that the city is, it shall swallow them up. Hence one comes across people who go out of their way to help strangers. 

It is an everyday battle here - between this beast and humanity and it is this battle that is intriguing to a stranger. He is drawn to it like a magnet and the clever beast, with its lure of promises, continuously devours humanity, slowly, but surely. Mumbai is a city waiting to explode but shall never explode; it is a tightrope walk in which the person treading the rope always appears to lose, but manages to triumph in the end! The man on the rope is either very shrewd in his manoeuvrings, but on the other hand, the rope might just be teasing him without his knowing! 

Diary of a single girl - What is TOI up to?

Sample these for a mainstream newspaper's magazine content on a Sunday -

"I have the breasts of a Greek goddess and they are real. Just that I don’t appreciate some girl pushing her twins into my man’s face." 

"My opening line to guys is, “If you fall in love with me, I will run away.” I don’t hate men. Au contraire… it’s just that I’d sooner let a man into my pants, than in my heart."

"I woke at about 9am and was just about to open the attached bathroom door, when it opened and out walked out K —  stark naked —  towel on his head, drying his hair. He was as shocked to find me standing there (wearing nothing but a top and my thong, having kicked off my jeans sometime during the night) as I was to see him"

Every Sunday, I look forward to TOI, relish reading it and savor every word. Over the last few weeks however, I sense if something is not wrong. What is the TOI team trying to sell with this column - Diary of a single girl?

I hate taking the moral high ground. After all, a reader need not necessarily read every column in a newspaper. However, carrying a column like this on a sunday makes me wonder if reader tastes are changing. 

Are we calling ourselves liberal by setting yardsticks like this?

What role models are young women reading these columns getting?

Aren't posts like this feeding into the stereotypes associated with the female body and male libido? 

Where do we draw lines to writing like this? 

I know not. I only know that single girls who write diaries like this are not the kind of girls India needs right now. If this viewpoint is regressive, perhaps it is and I shall stand by it!

Boy with a suitcase - When art transcends boundaries

"My father waved; the bus turned a corner; that was it; I was on my own", says Naz (played by Shrunga) in the play "Boy with a suitcase" written by British writer Mike Kenny. Uprooted by war from his home, Naz is packed off into a bus by his parents. The play weaves together Naz's experiences along his journey to find his sister at London. Throw in a universal theme (war refugee), a cast comprising Indians and Germans, exemplary music, brilliant acting and a bagful of lighthearted stories - Boy with a suitcase is a typical example of art transcending boundaries.

Directed by Andrea Gronemeyer, the play is an outcome of collaboration between Schnawwl theater, Mannheim, Germany and Arundhati Nag's Ranga Shankara in Bangalore. This play shows how fruitful and beautiful, successful collaborations in theater can be. 

Naz grows up listening to his mother telling him stories of Sindbad the Sailor. Much like Sindbad, Naz sees adventures in adversities and regales his girl companion along the journey, Krysia (played by Simone Oswald) with funny stories. The two meet when Naz boards a bus which takes them along deserts, and bond closer when a few soldiers board the bus. Krysia becomes a fan of Naz's stories as they run for their lives escaping wolves and later, a man who wants Krysia to be nice with him. 

Interspersed with excellent music that stands in for storms, commotions of a busy city and rough waters, the play makes the audience laugh, think and keeps them engrossed. Creative use of the stage and props also stands out. Naz and Krysia are innocent and adorable together. The narrator (played by David Benito Garcia) is vibrant and full of energy. 

I should consider myself lucky to catch this play today. The audience, as is the norm at Ranga Shankara is generous in their applause for a good show. Today, we gave a standing ovation to the cast and crew when it was curtains time. I was very tempted to catch the 7.30 show also! 

As a theater buff, I sincerely appreciate the effort. The hard work behind the scenes showed. 

More info - 

Complete Cast: Coordt Linke, David Benito Garcia, Konarak Reddy, MD Pallavi, Nikolai Jegorow, Shrunga BV and Simone Oswald
Music: Coordt Linke, Konarak Reddy and MD Pallavi
Youtube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkaRghxbCT8 

Schnawwl theater - http://www.schnawwl.de/en/index.php 

Theater Partnership - Do I know You blog

TCS World 10K Marathon

Shiny black and smooth, her hair kept getting tossed about by the breeze as she ran...it had a pattern that was in sync with her every step...as she slowed down, her hair would slowly and gently come to rest and as she picked up speed, it would try and keep pace, throwing tantrums and getting unruly like a young child who is woken up from a slumber he has just experienced! I admired this rhythm for a while and by the time I came to my own, realized that I had lost sight of a fellow Boschler who was running beside me.

TCS World 10K Marathon, organized on the World Environment day, was an event that I was looking forward to, ever since I registered. It did not disappoint. I got up quite early for a sunday morning and entered the Kanteerva indoor stadium in time to see the 10K runners starting their sprint.

Colorfully decked up people from all walks of life - kids, senior citizens, quite a good number of foreigners, television crews, volunteers - made for a motley and eclectic bunch to run alongside. As we waited, the excitement in the crowd was tangible...I overheard this: A girl to her boyfriend: "Click good pictures and delete the bad ones. You are not uploading anything on Face-book without asking me". Though it was said in a tone that was a little reprimanding and endearing at the same time, I could not help but ruminate on the state of the poor guy...

The weather was just perfect for running - a gentle breeze and a cloudy sky with no trace of the Sun. Along the way, lost in the multitude, I felt as if I am being swept forward by a strong tide. Without struggle, I gave in and let myself be swept. Occasionally the spell was broken by somebody brushing past me, otherwise, its hold was complete. 

I am again thankful to a friend who once said, "Happiness comes in tiny packages" She was spot on. Today's package would remain fresh in my memory for some time to come. Thank you Bangalore and all fellow Bangaloreans who participated!

India against corruption - Corruption saaku, Jan Lok Pal beku

It was a hot Saturday afternoon at the National College grounds in Basavanagudi, Bangalore. The Sun was unusually blazing on the crowd that was gathering fast. The huge ground was dotted with people decked up in bright white T-shirts that said "Corruption saaku, Jan Lok Pal beku", which when translated to English means, "Enough of corruption, we want Jan Lok Pal". 

The atmosphere was charged...there was lot of activity...volunteers distributing T-Shirts, drinking water, butter milk, badges against corruption and some collecting donations...a band playing music on stage...public slowly milling about and finding seats. I felt as if I am being drawn by some invisible force at work, a force that was subtle but nevertheless powerful and so confident. 

As the crowd waited for Anna Hazare to turn up, I got into conversation with Arpit, a young volunteer who works for Deloitte. We felt that, of all the places, the setting of Bangalore itself for this afternoon was a little ironic especially because the karnataka state Government was perceived to be one of the most corrupt state governments in the country! Or was the venue, on the contrary, very apt? For this place also boasts of one of the most cosmopolitan educated populace! I exchanged numbers with Arpit who I also learnt was part of the movement from its cubbon park days. 

Kiran Bedi was the first speaker of the afternoon. In chaste Hindi, she recounted the days of the movement's inception. When Arvind Kejriwal (credited to be one of the chief brains behind the Jan Lok Pal bill draft now) came to meet Bedi in the October of last year (news of CWG, Adarsh society and 2G scams were hot then), Bedi decided to act against corruption. She, along with Sri Sri Ravishankar, Baba Ramdev, Arvind himself, Swami Agnivesh and Anna Hazare filed a FIR on 14th November against the corrupt. That was the first time, the police even accepted and registered an FIR.

 She said that corruption at three levels - politics, bureaucracy and business - needs  to be fought. When she said that out of every 100 rupees the Government spends, 84 gets corrupted out, it was disheartening.

Swami Agnivesh, the next to speak, hailed Anna Hazare as the symbol of this movement against corruption. He declared that, it is neither the Maoists nor the naxals that are the country's biggest internal security threat; it is the corrupt whose black money is stashed away in numerous banks outside the borders.  

Arvind Kejriwal patiently and in common man's lingo, explained the salient features of the bill. He ran the crowd through some difficult times the team had to go through. Asked to declare their assets and give sources of donated money, Arvind and team swung to action and put up all the information demanded of them in no time, online. "Un ke paas paisa hai, resources hai, lekin hamare paas sirf sachaai aur irmaandari hai", he said. He then requested the crowd to investigate and come up with a list of 50 most corrupt people in every state. This list will be the first one, the Lok Pal team would act on, he promised. 

Anna Hazare was the last person to address the crowd. He was not very charismatic but something about his unassuming nature and sincere words connected readily with the crowd and it lapped up all his words like a hungry animal. He reiterated that his crusade is directed only against the corrupt. "I have only a pillow and a plate; I live in a temple; I don't even remember some of my relatives' names and I don't have any bank balance; I have led a very clean life that no one can ever point any finger at me..." Drawing from his own experience, he said "Thorns are laden in the path of social work, but once that short path is traveled, there would be greenery all around"

He exhorted the gathering to practice purity in thought and word, lead clean lives and indulge in sacrifice. "Happiness comes from within. If you want to be happy, make others happy" It was reminiscent of something traditional, something rooted more in a strong sense of values. If that is what the society needs now, it is time we embrace it! 

The gathering started to dissolve when one of the volunteers announced that approximately 49000 rupees was donated by the public that afternoon to the movement. It would go towards meeting the expenses of logistics involved in organizing the afternoon's gathering.

Corruption saaku, Jan Lok Pal beku

Do we really know best??

"One can only know one's strengths when one is dead and people get chances to write obituaries", a senior HR manager said in the course of a get together arranged today, addressing all the junior managers working for the Bosch group in India. 

This got me thinking... In life, many a time, we tend to think that, when we decide, we decide best. It is borne out of the desire within each one of us to exercise control over our destinies in some small measure or the other. But, the moot point is, do we really know what is best for us? If yes, why do we think that something that is decided for us by others won't be good in the long term? 

This senior manager also alluded to the Johari Window, seeming to suggest that there is a "blind spot" in all of us. Its only that in some of us, this window is small and the "arena" is large. In this case, there is a concurrence of sorts -We seem to appreciate the decisions of others since we think, we would have taken the same decisions! When the "blind spot" is large, alas, we get deceived by believeing that, since we only know ourselves best, we alone are entitled to chart our future. 


Now comes the larger question of identity! When we ask ourselves who we are, what is the answer that we get. Depending on every individuals Johari mapping, the answer might be slightly different. Most of us would agree however with the fact that what we are is more often nothing but what we are perceived to be. It is from others' perceptions that we infer our own identities. If others perceive me to be a good listener, then I stand vindicated by thinking high of my own listening abilities. Vice versa, there is cognitive dissonance! 

By crediting ourselves with superior abilities of discernment, we hinder our own prospects of being open to accept negative feedback.  So, when somebody else appears even remotely to chart our careers, we instinctively revolt. The first thought is, how can he/she do that? What right does he/she have to do that? It is revolt, resistance and loss of control that we feel. We desire putting our feet down and respond in a stubborn manner. 


Every step that we take in life, can be looked at, from two perspectives. The first perspective is that if we are in a position, where we can exercise control over our steps, instead of just blindly believeing that we know best, it is prudent to consult others (relatives, friends and well wishers) whether they concur with what we think. The other perspective comes in, when we are not in control of these steps. In such a case, it is important to look at the long term - if, in the long term, there is a possibility of things working out to our satisfaction, it is better to suppress the rebel in us and learn to love the direction in which the steps lead us! As they say, one might as well enjoy sitting through a traffic jam if it is eventually going to lead us to our destinations!! The journey might be arduous, but it might well be worth it!!

Jumbled thoughts

Darkness gathers,

voices cease. 

Memory unwinds,

pain flushes up. 

Nostalgia torments,

heart flutters.

The sea beckons,

moonlight guides.

Familiar smells,

unfamiliar faces.

Untrodden pathways,

shattered dreams.

New responsibilities,

lingering self-doubts.

Lonely evenings,

jealousy pangs. 

Faraway lights,

phantom companions.

Lost opportunities,

unrequited love.

Attributed motives,

blurred vision. 

Casual goodbyes,

misty eyes. 

Long tunnels,

flickering companions.

Future vistas,

impressionable canvas.

Another day,

another hope!