A few days back, I had my birthday. By now, I am sure you people know about my stay in Mumbai. So, I was left to celebrate my birthday all by myself.

I recieved the call from my home just past the last midnight. That was the only phone I took that night as I was pretty tired for some reason that day. Here, (in Mumbai ie.) I had none who were aware of my birthday. So, I thought I would rather give my room mates a fine surprise by giving them treat of sweets (sweet and not so expensive) at night. My Mom, at home will do the needful by offering sweets to God, so I thought it will be fun from my part to offer sweets to my friends. In the process, I will get a few first hand wishes from them as well.

The next morning, as expected, I received innumerable emails wishing me the best for the day. Suddenly, a colleague at office found me checking my mails and spread the word. Immediately, there was an murmur around me. Everyone (ok, I will give you the names this time... Sourav, Nikunj, Pravin, Abdul) wanted a treat, and I also had no problem obliging; but with a condition... ofcourse. Another colleague (its Ravi, whom I went shopping with in my last article) had birthday just the next week, and I wanted both of us treat the others so that we can share the food and the money.

While returning from office that day, I went to sweet shop, that use to sell Rosogollas (as we, Bengalis, fondly call them) so that I can give my friends a taste of sweet Bengal. Incidentally, all of them asked me to get Rosogollas for them some time. I returned home with my hands full. Obviously, my friends enquired me about the packets and I disclosed my secret. Soon, I had my heart full, with greetings.

Needless to say, we enjoyed the night after dinner with sweets; I also got Laddoos other than the Rosogollas. My roomies ate their heart out. So, in the end, one can have a good birthday, away from home, isn't it... WHAT SAY?

The Tradition before Marriage

By now you know that I am in Mumbai... enjoying life with the new found friends (most of them Gujarati and few Delhiites) and doing some work as well (considering thats what I had been sent here for from Kolkata).

Well, this is the first time that I had come in such close contact with the Gujjus (as the Gujaratis are fondly called). And hey, you know what they are nice people to spend time with. Ravi is the guy I gelled with specially. There are plenty more whom you will hopefully meet in the forthcoming issues.........

Two months back Ravi suddenly announced his engagement and in the midst of our running project. All of us gave him our heartiest congratulations. He went home for the grand affair and came back in a couple of days. Things have come a long way since then and now, we are really very close. I am the only prankster in our group and though I dont play pranks on these friends, some bit of taunting and teasing on the hot topic of marriage (which was only on the cards) was always on. Then one fine morning he revealed that he is going to be married.

Days passed by... the time came to stich something special for his marriage. They traditionally wear Sherwanis or Suits for their marriage, so the hunt is always on for the best of both worlds... 'quality' and 'low cost'. He readily asked me to be with him for the marketing, and, naturally I had to agree.

For those conversant about Mumbai, we went to Borivli to start with. The Sherwanis looked so disastrously (disastrous.. to money) beautiful, all of them looked so ready for marriage!! I myself was getting confused and wary of selection, the confusion in Ravi was so easily justified. For information of those getting married recently, this small info may help:
Prices of Sherwani starts from Rs.4500

I had no idea till now about the cost of these clothings as I never had any.

Anyway, we spent the whole day in Borivli estimating the prices of the Sherwanis. The next day, we went to Malad, another place which Ravi suggested. (Later I realized the reason for his being there for shopping... Gujjus thrive in these places; most of the shops belong to them.) Malad showed us something different.. Kurtas that they call semi-Sherwanis. The designs on these Kurtas were fantastic as well, traditional, yet chic, complete with fine embroidery work.
These Kurtas' price start from Rs.1500, including the dupatta and the embroidered shoe.

At the fag end of the shopping day at Malad, he zeroed on (hold your breath) a Suit... yes, in his
confusion, he went for a Suit, not a Sherwani.
Suits can well be made with Rs.3000 to Rs.500 excess

However, the suit looked really good, simple and finished with some amount of stylish embroidery work. Needless to say, the delivery is still pending, but by trial, both looked good....... the Suit, and Ravi.

At the end of the day, when I introspected at out shopping stint, I realized at the end of it all...
India is still the old traditional place as it was a couple of decades back. Yes, the mindset and taste of people has changed for good, but we still are people deeply rooted to our culture, be we Marathis, Gujaratis or we Bengalis. Tradition is the reason for which we still like to deck up for the auspicious affair as wedding, with dresses as Sherwanis which really has no worth in normal life.

I won't write anything more, but voice out the cliched but true statement... PROUD TO BE INDIAN.

These are very interesting facts (or no facts!), but all are sure to come across these some time or the other...

1) If you are right handed, you will tend to chew your food on yourright side. If you are left handed, you will tend to chew your food on your left side.
2) If you stop getting thirsty, you need to drink more water. When a human body is dehydrated, its thirst mechanism shuts off.
3) Chewing gum while peeling onions will keep you from crying.
4) Your tongue is germ free only if it is pink. If it is white thereisa thin film of bacteria on it.
5) The Mercedes-Benz motto is 'Das Beste oder Nichts' meaning 'the best or nothing'.
6) The Titanic was the first ship to use the SOS signal.
7) The pupil of the eye expands as much as 45 percent when a person looks at something pleasing.
8) The average person who stops smoking requires one hour less sleep a night.
9) Laughing lowers levels of stress hormones and strengthens the immune system. Six-year-olds laugh an average of 300 times a day. Adults only laugh 15 to 100 times a day.
10) The roar that we hear when we place a seashell next to our ear is not the ocean, but rather the sound of blood surging through the veins in the ear.
11) Dalmatians are born without spots.
12) Bats always turn left when exiting a cave.
13) The 'v' in the name of a court case does not stand for 'versus', but for 'and' (in civil proceedings) or 'against' (in criminal proceedings) .
14) Men's shirts have the buttons on the right, but women's shirts have the buttons on the left.
15) The owl is the only bird to drop its upper eyelid to wink. All other birds raise their lower eyelids.
16) The reason honey is so easy to digest is that it's already beendigested by a bee.
17) Roosters cannot crow if they cannot extend their necks.
18) The color blue has a calming effect. It causes the brain to releasecalming hormones.
19) Every time you sneeze some of your brain cells die.
20) Your left lung is smaller than your right lung to make room foryourheart.
21) The verb "cleave" is the only English word with two synonyms which are antonyms of each other: adhere and separate.
22) When you blush, the lining of your stomach also turns red.
23) When hippos are upset, their sweat turns red.
24) The first Harley Davidson motorcycle was built in 1903, and used a tomato can for a carburetor.
25) The lion that roars in the MGM logo is named Volney.
26) Google is actually the common name for a number with a million zeros.
27) Switching letters is called spoonerism. For example, saying jag of Flapan, instead of flag of Japan.
28) It cost 7 million dollars to build the Titanic and 200 million tomake a film about it.
29) The attachment of the human skin to muscles is what causes dimples.
30) There are 1,792 steps to the top of the Eiffel Tower.
31) The sound you hear when you crack your knuckles is actually thesoundof nitrogen gas bubbles bursting.
32) Human hair and fingernails continue to grow after death.
33) It takes about 20 seconds for a red blood cell to circle the wholebody.
34) The plastic things on the end of shoelaces are called aglets.
35) Most soccer players run 7 miles in a game.
36) The only part of the body that has no blood supply is the cornea in the eye. It takes in oxygen directly from the air.
37) Every day 200 million couples make love, 400,000 babies are born,and140,000 people die.
38) In most watch advertisements the time displayed on the watch is10:10; coz then the arms frame the brand of the watch (and make it look like it is smiling).
39) Colgate faced big obstacle marketing toothpaste in Spanish speaking countries. Colgate translates into the command "go hang yourself".
40) The only 2 animals that can see behind itself without turning its head are the rabbit and the parrot.
41) Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.
42) The average person laughs 13 times a day.
43) Do you know the names of the three wise monkeys? They are:Mizaru(Seeno evil), Mikazaru(Hear no evil), and Mazaru(Speak no evil).
44) Women blink nearly twice as much as men.
45) German Shepherds bite humans more than any other breed of dog.
46) Large kangaroos cover more than 30 feet with each jump.
47) Whip makes a cracking sound because its tip moves faster than the speed of sound.
48) Two animal rights protesters were protesting at the cruelty of sending pigs to a slaughterhouse in Bonn. Suddenly the pigs, all twothousand of them, escaped through a broken fence and stampeded, trampling the two hapless protesters to death.
49) If a statue in the park of a person on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle; if the horse has one front leg in the air, the person died as a result of wounds received in battle; ifthe horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural cause.
50) The human heart creates enough pressure while pumping to squirt blood30 feet.

Life's calling, where are you?

It's half past 8 in the office...
but the lights are still on...
PCs still running...
coffee machines still buzzing...
and who's at work?
Most of them?? Take a closer look..

All or most specimens are 20-something male species of the human race...
Look closer... again all or most of them are bachelors...and why are they sitting late? Working hard? No way!!
Any guesses??
Let's ask one of them...

Here's what he says... "What's there 2 do after going home... here we get to surf, AC, phone, food, coffee.. thats is why I am working late... importantly no bossssssss!!!!!!!!!!!
This is the scene in most research centres and software companies and other off-shore offices. Bachelors "time-passing" during late hours in the office just bcoz they say they've nothing else to do...Being from the same fraterniy, to some extent, I take responsibilty for this as well........
Now what r the consequences...
read on...
"Working" (for the record only) late hours soon becomes part of the institute or company culture.
With bosses more than eager to provide support to those "working" late in the form of taxi vouchers, food vouchers and of course good feedback,(oh, he's a hard worker... goes home only to change..!!). They aren't helping things too... To hell with bosses who don't understand the difference between "sitting" late and "working" late!!
Very soon, the boss start expecting all employees to put in extra working hours.
So, My dear Bachelors let me tell you, life changes when u get married (really) and start having a family...office is no longer a priority, family is... and that's when the problem starts... becoz u start having commitments at home too.

For your boss, the earlier "hardworking" guy suddenly seems to become a "early leaver" even if u leave an hour after regular time... after doing the same amount of work.
People leaving on time after doing their tasks for the day are labeled as work-shirkers...
Girls who thankfully always (its changing nowadays... though) leave on time are labeled as "not up to it".
All the while, the bachelors pat their own backs and carry on "working" not realizing that they r spoiling the work culture at their own place and never realize that they wuld have to regret at one point of time.

* So what's the moral of the story?? *

Very clear, LEAVE ON TIME!! Never put in extra time "* unless really needed *". Don't stay back un-necessarily. To hell with the companies which ask you stay back late without any work, just to make themself believe they r in... (believe me, there r co. like these).

There are hundred other things to do in the evening...
Learn music...
Learn a foreign language...
try a sport, TT, cricket.........
importantly Get a girl friend, take her around town.

And for heaven's sake net cafe rates have dropped to an all-time low (plus, no fire-walls) and try cooking for a change.

Take a tip from the Smirnoff ad: *"Life's calling, where are you??"*

will definitely see it...

Saif Ali Khan and Preity Zinta starrer Salaam Namaste is about two people in a live-in relationship. Besides entertaining you, the movie can teach you a thing or two about relationships.Siddharth Raj Anand makes a praiseworthy beginning of his career as a director with this movie. He handles various aspects of the story with flourish, doesn’t stifle the proceedings with too many songs, evenly distributes funny and tender moments, and also gives a serious twist to the tale in the second half without making things overtly melodramatic and soppy.

Ambar (Preity Zinta) came to Australia to study medicine and mostly to avoid her nagging parents who keep pestering her with possible suitors for marriage. In Melbourne, she works part time as a radio jockey for the radio station Salaam Namaste.Nick (Saif Ali Khan) is an architect whose creativity comes out not on the drawing board but in the culinary delights that he cooks in the restaurant Nick of Time in Melbourne. A chef by profession, Nick is an easy-come-easy-go guy who likes to party and live a life without commitments.Nick, being Nick, fails to turn up for a scheduled interview with Salaam Namaste jockey Ambar simply because he oversleeps. So she decides to teach him a lesson in discipline and punctuality.The two eventually encounter each other. What begins as a spat turns into a mutual liking after a night at a party.Nick asks Ambar to move in with him, just to see how compatible they can be while living under the same roof. She agrees, and from then on begins the gradual realization that it is one thing to fall in love, but another to share one’s life with someone.There are funny moments, spats, flared tempers and tender expressions, all packed together in their day-to-day life in the same apartment. But then, things get complex after Ambar gets pregnant. How the two encounter this truth and take the ultimate decision that could either bring them together for life or drive them apart is what the remaining movie is about.The movie has a fresh story supported by excellent dialogues (Abbas Tyrewala) and commendable performances by Saif Ali Khan and Preity Zinta. On the sidelines, Arshad Warsi and Javed Jaffery pep up things further. The movie has romance, comedy, little fights between lovers, tender moments and the final expression of love.

Abhishek Bachchan quotes...
Abhishek Bachchan says he enjoyed every moment of his comic role as a frazzled gynaecologist in "Salaam Namaste" and insists it should not be labelled a guest appearance.

"I had great fun doing the part. It was quite a change from everything I've done so far," says the star.
"I'm not a guest in the film. I don't do guest appearances!.. I don't believe in them... It's almost like you're doing the film a favour when in fact I chose to be in 'Salaam Namaste' because I wanted to be in it. I come in as a surprise,".
And he is full of praise for Saif's comic timing. "To do comedy with Saif is an immense pleasure. I don't think any contemporary actor gets his comic timing so right. He's a treat on the sets in comedy. The suggestions he made to me were invaluable."

You all might have read/heard about the recent calamity that happened in Mumbai. Well, let me provide a first hand description of whatever happened on the black day, 26th July, when rain lashed out on Mumbai. Those who know I am in Mumbai right now, may guess that I am writing this mail from my own experience.

This fateful day, was the day when I reached Mumbai. I reported to my office, in an hour, I was pursued to the customer location. Myself and two others, who does not belong to Mumbai as well (neither to Kolkata) had lunch there; thats when the rain started. This was very normal here, was happening for the last 5 days.....

At around 5pm, our PM asked us to leave as the roads were getting fast filled up with water. At around 5:30, 2 of us left for the same destination, Bandra from Mahalaxmi.

The first shock was when we found the trains unoperational, which means the lifeline of Mumbai is not working. I saw a few buses plying, none of which would go directly to the place wher we would put up. Nevertheless, we tried getting into any of them which would take us nearby, there were none. The buses that were gong were full upto the last staircase.
By that time, the taxis started refusing. Already about 30% taxis parked there were out of service. The rest were going packed with more than 6 people in a taxi. The rains were incessant and we were absolutely drenched. Things were looking pretty ominous right then.

Then we decided, since it was our first day in Mumbai & we were not too sure of the places, we better get back to office and ask sombody else going in the same direction to give us a lift. It was 7:30 by that time. There as none & the rest were ready to stay back in office. However, we were not........
We got back to road in the hope to get back to guest house. At around 9:00, we got a shared taxi after a lot of chaos, which after breaking down twice reached a place still 2 kms away from our destination, at around 12:30am.!!! In the meantime, we did not have our dinner either...

When we got down there (for reference, the place I reached is Dadar & my guest house is at Bandra-Kurla), we found something very amazing....... hundreds of cars, buses, taxis, autos lined up guard-to-guard still packed up around 1am, & people walking at top pace, with or without umbrellas in the heavy rain. The situation was so amusing & hopeless at the same time......... We only hoped we will reach our guest house by the end of the night.
A few shops were also empty, trying to cash on in the number of ppl rushing in for tea. We enquired for food, none was available. Nevertheless, we had a glass of hot tea, prepared to walk once again in the rain.

After walking for more that an hr, we reached near the bandra railway station. Our destination was still an hr walk and the rain has never stopped. After going another few minutes, we enquired the traffic policeman (imagine.. police at 2am) whether we can reach our destination safely, to which he replied.... no we cant coz the roads to Bandra-Kurla is absolutely flooded & neck deep in water. This took away from us the last ray of hope that we had; frankly I dont remember having felt so hopeless in my life... standing in the middle of the road, dripping.

Then I concentrated on the others plight... ppl in cars left their 4-wheelers to look out for dry places where they can spend their night; hundreds of ppl prepared to spend their night inside the buses & whatever they were travelling in... things were really unbelievable. We started searching for a place where we do not have to soak for the next few hours. We found a hotel nearby where ppl were already sitting at the lobby with consent from the owner. The rooms were already occuppied. We also sat in the chairs provided by them & waited for the morning.

At around 6am, all of us were asked to leave, as cleaning was likely to start. Our dresses has barely dried up, & we were shocked to see the rains continuing in the same fashion.......... The thought of getting wet once more brought us more pain. We moved out, assured that water has not receded on our way to destination. We were roaming aimlessly unable to think of anything we should be doing....... at around 8am, we thought of returning to our Mahalaxmi (client) office, be there for the time being....... little did we know that the offices were given holidays for the next 2 days. Mahalaxmi was again more than 3 kms walk; most of the taxis were dead & those running refuse to take anybody. The only thing we saw was ppl walking. After walking for almost an hour, we reached a place where we found something to eat........ we gorged on the sandwiches & the samosas they were offering. Then it was again time for a long walk.

After some time, we found a taxi, interested in going in the same direction, asking for exorbitantly high rates, but we were so sick of walking, we were happy getting our hands on whatever was offered. We reached office, shocked to find nobody there, only those ppl who stayed overnight were there. We tried to make ourselves comfortable, but the rain soaked dresses wont let us feel free. Anyway, we had our lunch there.

At around afternoon 5, the rains had stopped others were raring to go, we thought we should also leave, but where!! Water was still filled in those stretches. Then we got an idea.. thought of called our office Admin on her cell & ask for some other arrangement; and u know what... there was one more guest house nearby the first, but out of the hands of water. We reached there at around 8pm, I did some shopping so that I could wear dry clothes for the night. Then after a nice dinner at a veggie restaurant outside, we had a deep sleep, leaving behind the memories of the past 2 days.....

The rest is all history..... all of u should have read, heard lots about the floods in Mumbai & its nearby districts. Ppl are still trying to cope with the crisis of water, compounded with lack of electricity, death of ppl & animals.

Now that Mumbai has more or less come to normal, we are doing offices normally, I wont be able to forget that night, MY FIRST NIGHT IN MUMBAI.