Sunmoonandpotatoes

Being Propositioned 101

2009-02-19T00:47:00.000-08:00

So I'm at the Mithibai signal busy with my ipod. Lady outside asks me whether I'm going straight. I say yes and she gets in the rick. I'm engrossed with the ipod and she's trying to make small talk in English. Asks me where I'm going. When I say Prithvi, wants to know whether I'm meeting a friend there.

I've kind of caught on by now. I say I'm meeting someone there. She then starts touching me and asks me to take her along. That's about all the patience I for what's happening. I tell her I'm not interested and ask the driver to stop the rick and her to get out. She insists she'll get off at the signal ahead, where she does. I move on to Prithvi, head shrugging, where I watch Konkona Sen Sharma read from a book for us.

It's hilarious because that lady expected me to get a hard on looking at her and sadly for her that wasn't going to happen anytime soon:).

Lessons learnt - Do not let a stranger into your rick, however engrossed one may be on the phone, ipod or whatever.

Be firm and loud when speaking with the other person, any faltering will be seen as a weakness and she or he will try to prolong the conversation.

Pay no attention to the other person while he/she tries to make small talk.

Be aware that you are the one who has hired the rick and get to decide who stays in and who gets out.

Make sure you advertise this fact on Facebook/other networking sites, so as to generate awareness and whet people's curiosity:).

After your anger/indignation has subsided, spare a thought for the one you've spurned, cause your disinterest means one customer less for him/her and hence less money earned for the night.

Family and Friends

2008-12-19T12:08:00.000-08:00

It's that time of the year when the world and its uncle comes down to India for their yearly vacations. Most of my extended family and my sister are coming down, as it happens from the promised land:). For starters they're gonna be in for a rude shock - it is still summer in Bombay! We might as well have been in the Southern Hemisphere, its that bad. Probably warmer than there. The hope is there'll be a semblance of winter on New Year's Eve. Let's see how it goes.

Now with all these relatives here, there is going to be a lot of socialising, something I'm looking forward to. I hope to meet all my cousins (or at least most of them), some after years. I've noticed my generation of the family kind of drifting away from each other. My parents' generation still keeps in touch. What also helps is the fact that most of them are in Bombay, so phone calls are common. With us cousins though, we are all spread out. So for the most time, there was minimal contact, till of course the advent of Orkut and now Facebook! So to be fair we keep in touch as well:).

One thing I'm excited about is the karaoke machine we purchased recently. We'll put it through its paces in the next few days. Also my sister sings really well, so hope to listen to her sing karaoke. I tried my hand at singing and it was enjoyable. I managed a 90+ score on one of the songs. What helps is one's familiarity with the song. It can also be embarrassing at the start, but I guess it gets better as one proceeds.

Speaking of friends, a couple of them are coming down this year. One who is a former roommate from college and the other a friend from college. Ashish and me were good friends in the first year at college. After that we went our own way, being in different branches. We got in touch after all these years, thanks to Orkut (what else!) and gmail. Its been great to find an old friend again and I look forward to meeting him on his trip here.

Yogesh, my roommate, is already here and is getting married in the next few days. I probably wont be able to attend the wedding as it is in Nasik and am loathe to travel.

Speaking of marriage, last year and this have seen most of my friends tying the knot. Gautam and me are the ones holding out. I'm not sure whether it is as a result of them getting married, but our correspondence has really dipped. Maybe it's them getting busy with their new lives. Does not make marriage enticing:).

I've "rambled on" quite a bit today. The Led Zeppelin song plays in my head. Guess I'll listen to them now. See you.

Mumbai 26/11 and my reactions to it.

2008-12-19T11:45:00.000-08:00

This is an article I was sent by a friend in the aftermath of the terror attacks. What follows after the article is my correspondence with my friend.

LETTER OF EDITOR OF TIMES OF INDIA TO PRIME MINISTER

Dear Mr. Prime minister,I am a typical mouse from Mumbai. In the local trainCompartment which has capacity of 100 persons, I travel with 500 more mouse.Mouse at least squeak but we don't even do that.Today I heard your speech. In which you said 'NO BODY WOULD BE SPARED'.I would like to remind you that fourteen years has passed since serial bomb blast in Mumbai took place.Dawood was the main conspirator. Till today he is not caught.All our Bollywood actors, our Builders, our Gutka king meets him but your Government can not catch him.Reason is simple;All your ministers are hand in glove with him. If anyattempt is made to catch him everybody will be exposed. Your statement' NOBODY WOULD BE SPARED' is nothing but a cruel joke on this unfortunate people of India.Enough is enough. As such after seeing terrorist attack carried out by about a dozen young boys I realize that if same thingcontinues days are not away when terrorist will attack by air, destroy our nuclear reactor and there will be one more Hiroshima.We the people are left with only one mantra. Womb to Bomb to Tomb.You promised Mumbaikar Shanghai what you have given us is Jalianwala Baug.Today only your home minister resigned. What took you so long to kick out this joker?Only reason was that he was loyal to Gandhi family.Loyalty to Gandhi family is more important than blood of innocent people, isn't it?I am born and bought up in Mumbai for last fifty eightyears. Believe me corruption in Maharashtra is worse than that in Bihar. Look at all the politician,Sharad Pawar, Chagan Bhujbal, Narayan Rane, Bal Thackray , Gopinath Munde, Raj Thackray, Vilasrao Deshmukhall are Rolling in money.Vilasrao Deshmukh is one of the worst Chief minister I have seen.His only business is to increase the FSI every other day, make money and send it to Delhi so Congress can fight next election.Now the clown has found new way and will increase FSI for fisherman so they can build concrete house right on sea shore.Next time terrorist can comfortably live in those house , enjoy the beauty of sea and then attack the Mumbai at their will.Recently I had to purchase house in Mumbai. I met about two dozen builders. Everybody wanted about 30% in black.A common person like me knows this and with all your intelligent agency & CBI you and your finance minister are not aware of it.Where all the black money goes?To the underworld isn't it?Our politicians take help of these goondas to vacate people by force. I myself was victim of it.If you have time please come to me, I will tell you everything.If this has been land of fools, idiots then I would not have ever cared to write you this letter. Just see the tragedy, on one sidewe are reaching moon, people are so intelligent and on other side you politician has converted nectar into deadly poison.I am everything Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Schedule caste, OBC, Muslim OBC, ChristianSchedule caste, Creamy Schedule caste only what I am not is INDIAN.You politician have raped every part of mother India by your policy of divide and rule.Take example of former president Abdul Kalam. Such an Intelligent person, such a fine human being.You politician didn't even spare him. Your party along with opposition joined the hands, becausepolitician feels they are supreme and there is no place for good person.Dear Mr. Prime minister you are one of the most intelligent person, most learned person. Just wake up, be a real SARDAR.First and foremost expose all selfish politicians. Ask Swiss bank to give name of all Indian account holders.Give reins of CBI to independent agency.Let them find wolf among us.There will be political upheaval but that will better than dance of death which we are witnessing every day.Just give us ambience where we can work honestly and without fear. Let there be rule of law.Everything else will be taken care of.Choice is yours Mr. Prime Minister SirDo you want to be lead by one person or you want to lead the nation of 100 Crore people?

Prakash B. Bajaj

Editor Mumbai-Times of India

My Response -

What is the purpose of this article? What doe it hope to achieve?

Friend's response -

It seeks to achieve that Indian Government stops mouthing pedestrians platitudes and actually do something (such as takeout terrorist training camps in Pakistan, immediately). As far as reaction to this is concerned, anyway guys like Musharraf attack India militarily (and get away with it) and guys like the ones who attacked Mumbai will also continue attacking with the same vigor and sick predictability.

As far as hoping to achieve goes, I guess it is zilch, nada, nothing. If something is done, that would be a surprise. After all we have a spineless government with a backseat lady driver who is as obsessed with keeping Congress in power as her mom-in-law was (of course the rest of the country can get butchered for all she cares).

Peace is easy to preach as long as the ones who died were not your near and dear. Give me one peacenik who actually lost someone close to them.

My Response -

I agree with your sentiment about the government doing nothing but mouthing platitudes.

It is time to take the bull by the horns and tackle Pakistan on the terrorism issue. I disagree with your suggestion to take out camps in Pakistan. That should be the last option available to us. In my opinion we haven't fully explored the diplomatic angle to pressurising Pakistan.

Why do we need to have peace overtures towards them when they stonewall our every suggestion for tackling terrorism? Are the Samjhauta Express, Delhi Lahore bus service, Indo - Pak cricket, et al more important than the safety of our people?

I know its easier said than done, but why cant we stop importing from Pakistan? We import about 300M$ worth and export about 1.3Billion $ worth. Surely we can procure what we get from them from another country as well. Maybe at a higher price, but isn't it possible? Maybe they will retaliate by stopping imports from us. So be it. We'll have to find newer markets for our exporters.

Why have successive governments let Pakistan get away with harbouring Dawood Ibrahim? Isn't there enough evidence against him to try him in an international court, if not an Indian one?

There are two aspects to the problem India faces today - how do we stub terrorism out at its roots and how do we defend ourselves against such attacks if they do happen?

Of these two I feel defence against such attacks is completely in our hands. Why can't we beef up our internal and external security? The government's response of creating more NSG hubs is a classic case of being reactive to situations. They have totally ignored the fact that our maritime borders are porous and if at all these and the agencies manning them should be strengthened first.

From a Bombay point of view, the suburban stations are woefully lacking in security. Contrast this with the Delhi Metro, which has world class security. Why can't there be equally good security at the Bombay stations? Are we waiting for yet another blast and hundreds of lost lives to install such security?

What do you have to say about the complete lack of political maturity shown across board? All parties bar none have put their feet in their mouths. You castigate the present government. Nirmal and Arvind castigated the BJP and its allies. If we as citizens are so divided at this stage, what more can we expect from our politicians? How different are we from our politicians then? Do we then have the moral right to complain about them? Aren't they only a reflection of the mindset of our society?

Don't we owe it to ourselves as citizens to rise above our political differences and work towards bringing about a change?

Why can't we tell our leaders in no uncertain terms that we reject the politicisation of these events in the run up to the General Elections?

My question to you is this - Would another government at the center have done any better? I think not. Correct me if you think otherwise. All parties are busy catering to their vote banks. No party has the country in its interests. They are all the same. Does one then reject all political parties? There was talk about boycotting the elections. What purpose does that serve? Are we, the common people ready to enter politics? No. For better or for worse we are saddled with the politicians we elect.

The way forward imo is to push for police reforms, actively lobby for our security. Why can't the commuters of Bombay be part of a signature campaign which demands bolstering of the security at stations? Why can't we aim to remove the desensitisation of the people to deaths from terrorist attacks? Why can't we have a memorial for the dead? For the people in uniform? So we are reminded every day of the senseless deaths and the sacrifices made by them.

What are your thoughts on this? Mihir

And you reader, what are your thoughts? What do you think is the way forward?

Resume help

2008-05-13T22:43:00.000-07:00

Just a small post here. For all those in the

process of creating and updating their

resumes, and this would include a large

number of people, there is an excellent

resource at the Mckinsey website. Do

check this out. Cheers!

Acid2 test for Web browsers.

2008-05-09T19:10:00.001-07:00

I came across an interesting piece of info when browsing on cnet.com. I'd just started using a new browser called Safari, from Apple. I was checking reviews of Safari on cnet.com. The review mentioned something called an Acid2 test. It's a test put out by the Web Standards Project to determine whether one's browser is up to date. I had fun doing the test as I have Internet Explorer, Firefox as well as Safari, now, on my computer. So I tested all 3 browsers. All of you could try it too, just for fun. Happy testing:)!

Mall hopping!

2008-05-06T23:13:00.000-07:00

I have to confess I am a mall rat. There's a certain joy in strolling around malls, gazing at the shops, taking in the aromas at the food courts. My favourite malls in Bombay are InOrbit at Malad and Infiniti at Lokhandwala (Wonder why the Cinemax housed in the mall is called Cinemax, Versova? My guess is because Versova is even more upmarket than Lokhandwala!)

Speaking of InOrbit, it has to be one of the best managed and maintained malls in Bombay, if not the outright best. There are a few good shops there as well. The Imagine Store, which retails Apple products is one I frequent. I also liked this concept store called the Colour Factory, where one can paint one's own ceramic articles, available in different shapes and have them fired and glazed for a small amount. Pretty neat concept and makes for highly personalised gifts for family and friends. Among the food shops I'd recommend the Nando's restaurant and the Gelato shop which has definitely among the best gelatos in the suburbs.

Infiniti is another favourite, largely due to the Landmark there. It's a treat to browse among their huge collection of books and music CDs. It also has some decent food outlets and a large Westside. The Cinemax is good as well.

The mall I'm curious and excited about nowadays is the Oberoi mall on the highway at Goregaon. It's taken some time to come up and opened a few days back. It has a Lifestyle store, Bombay's first Central store (Hyderabad and Bangalore residents would know what I'm talking about) and a PVR cinema. What I'm more interested in knowing is about the food court and the othere shops there. In fact I'll be checking it out today and will blog on it soon.

Well that's it for now. Take care. See ya!

Back from hibernation!

2008-01-17T20:31:00.000-08:00

Hello girls (am thinking like a feminst now)!

It's been a long hiatus...if one can call it that. Hibernation comes closer to describing th long lay off off blogging. Without making excuses, there is a reson to explain the first 3 months of no blogging...I was in Chennai from August through early November, with limited access to a computer. Well not really...there was a nearby Reliance Web world...which I did visit infrequently. Laziness probably explains it. I was in Bombay in November and had to go back to Chennai in December. I was there till late January. Then I'd been busy till mid February so I'm covered till then:). However have no excuse from then till now.

As you see I've been upto a lot all these months and I'll be posting about it all in the next few blogs. Look forward to these posts and unlike thelast time I will really post this time around:).

Bye. Take care.

My tryst with translation.

2007-07-19T16:08:00.000-07:00

As the title says, this post is all about translation. What it belies though, are the tribulations I've had to face in regards to 'T'. That will be explained in the next few paras.

You have to realise that this post was not written in one sitting; the first 3 or so paras were written last week, while the rest fell into place tonight, or should I say this morning as it's almost 5am?

I don't really know what got me interested in translations- it just happened that a few years ago while reading a Marathi travel book, I had this urge to translate it into Englishand get it published! I had visions of approaching the author and publisher with a fully translated copy, hoping they would be open to publishing an English version. As it turned out that plan fizzled, probably because the task was too big too early. For the record I haven't finished reading the book as well!

My second go at translating happened a few days back, when I responded to an ad in the paper, where Hindi translators were required. I met the concerned person and was given about six pages to translate on a trial basis.As of now I've submitted them and am waiting for a reply, as the boss is out of town and she takes the decisions.

What do I enjoy about translating? In my opinion there's nothing comparable to writing an original piece of prose or poetry, if one's lookingat creating something new. The sense of satisfaction one derives out of writing something is probably on a completely different level. Having said that, though, translation has it's own joys. The process of making the first, rough draft, looking up the dictionary for the most apt word is enjoyable in itself. This is followed by a second and in most cases the final draft. Here, it's about giving the finishing touches; most of the hard work is done in the first draft. I quite enjoyed the way a certain passage shapes up, first the rough cut and then the polishing as in the case of a diamond. The challenge lies in conveying as closely as possible the essence of a certain sentence in the original language.This has to be done as lucidly as possible, without the language getting too weighty. In my opinion, a translator can take some liberties with the words she uses as long as the meaning conveyed remains the same and she doesn't deviate too much from the original language.

This brings us to my third go at translating. Fed up with waiting for the lady boss to return, I scouted a bit more on job websites and found another translating job up for grabs. I met the concerned person and guess what...this time I had to translate a Hindi movie into English. Looked exciting to me...I got the DVD home and did the first 15 minutes as a trial. A small aside here; the movie I was given was Tezaab, a movie I'd enjoyed as a child. It brought back fond memories, was fun translating the song Ek, Do, Teen..., something which I'd hummed endlessly. The translation was okayed, and then I was told I'd have to wait a few days for someone from their office to call back with remuneration details. I waited a few days and got back in touch with my contact there. She tells me of all conceivable reasons that her boss is out of town and we'd have to wait till she gets back!! Just look at the heights of coincidence being scaled here:)! As things stand today, I'm still waiting for them to call me.

I have this uneasy feeling that I may have to look for another translating assignment here, and am not up to the task really. Guess I'll persist with these people for the time being. And will keep you updated on developments on the translating front.

That's all about the big 'T', folks. See ya and take care.

Update

2007-07-18T18:03:00.000-07:00

Been a long time since I posted last, almost 3 weeks...I guess the first rush of posts for my blog ended at just 3 :(! I hope to add a few posts in the next few days, as I've been busy these last few days. There'll be a post on translation as promised earlier, also another one on Hyderabad which I visited last weekend. Also another one on the joys of vicarious pleasures! So do visit in the next couple of days. Till then see ya!

Some Superlative Music 2!

2007-06-28T02:15:00.000-07:00

Here's the final installment of the music review. As mentioned in the previous post it's about Mademoiselle K and her band. You would have noticed that I had just begun raving about them in the previous post and that will continue here :):).

The band consisted of Mademoiselle K on vocals and lead guitar, a drummer and bass and supporting guitarists. They launched straight into their set and unbelievably played without a break in music for almost 45 minutes! The only lull in music was right in the beginning when, mid song, all 4 of them held their poses for nearly 2 minutes, being cheered on by an excited crowd. It was just these kinds of antics which they kept up throughout the show, at times playing lying down on the ground!

Mademoiselle K herself made quite a statement, with her leather outfit and throaty vocals, not to mention her excellent guitaring. For me the other standout performer from among 4 excellent ones was the drummer. Effortless is how one could describe his drumming, arms flailing everywhere, communicating with the audience as well. Reminded me of John Bonham (Led Zeppelin) almost from the start.

They kept up the relentless pace of their music for nearly the whole set, at times winding down a song and then slowly building up into the next high octane one. It's quite likely, many in the audience had multiple musical orgasms that night! Probably that explains the many smiling faces in the audience!

Frankly I don't think anyone in the audience expected a performance of such a high quality. They had everything- a great tight sound, showmanship, energy, it was all there. I feel privileged to have attended their concert; in my opinion among the best if not the best concert I've attended till date. All in all an evening well spent.

That's all for now..I'll catch up with you later. Am considering a post on translations next, so look out for that one. Ciao!

Some superlative music!

2007-06-24T02:31:00.000-07:00

I attended a music concert yesterday. It was organized by the Alliance Francaise at Razzberry Rhinoceros and called the French Kiss Festival. It brought together three lady performers; this was the Bombay leg of a nine city tour.

Starting off proceedings was the band Vayu. They played an all original set as requested, they said, by a lot of people. They were competent, but never really rose to any great heights. And by the way, they had some really raucous fans rooting for them.

Following them was Anais, singing solo without a band. She also strummed a guitar and blew on a kind of whistle. Unfortunately she was suffering from a bad cough which she could’ve done without! But for that her performance would’ve even better. She sang well and displayed a good range despite the cough. She also managed to do a bluesy song and a Celtic one, both accents almost upto the mark. And yes before I forget she also had a quirky sense of humour, a good chatty style too. In fact that’s one thing that was common across all performers, they got the crowd involved.

Next up was Emily Loizeau and her band. It consisted of a violin cum guitar player, a drummer and herself singing and playing the piano. They started off with a violin solo by Olivier which was interesting. The real highlight of their performance was Emily’s singing. She had a really powerful voice which also managed to hold some low notes well. She sang both in French and English. Their songs were interspersed with some interesting activities like when the drummer painted on the LP turntable throughout a particular song. I really liked Emily’s personality as well- spontaneous, lively, like a real temptress. The power in her voice really hit home when she sang the last song without a mike. She managed to fill the entire room with her soulful voice. Sweet. And yes there was the instance of a friendly slanging match between the band and the audience, when they announced that their next song would be the last and we differed.

If Emily’s band was a treat, we really weren’t prepared for what was about to hit us next. That was Mademoiselle K and her band. I am at a loss for words about how to describe them and their music. In fact what I’ll do is post separately on them, such was the impact.

That’s all for now. Cheers!

Genesis.

2007-06-23T01:04:00.000-07:00

Hmmm…here goes. I’ve wanted to start a blog for some time now, more than 2 years in fact. Here I am, penning my first few words. It feels a bit exciting, doing this. Can already dream of a few months down the line when I’ll have a few posts under my belt.

I must tell you how this blog came to be named such. If I had had my way it would’ve been called Justaboutanything.blogspot.com. That was unavailable so had to settle for Sunmoonandpotatoes, which is actually the name of a restaurant in Malad in Bombay I used to frequent. Quaint little place just like the name. Decent food too.

A short introduction is in order. Rather I’ll just speak about my hobbies and interests. I am an avid reader. I read magazines- current affairs, sports, music. Also read a lot of books of all kinds- non-fiction, science fiction, Indian fiction as well. Also love music a lot. Like rock, Indian classical, Old Hindi songs, a bit of trance. Forgot to mention I read some Marathi books as well, mostly short stories. Though I don’t read poetry, want to start that too. I love traveling. Would want to travel to as many destinations as possible. Also love Eating out and trying new cuisines. I also love maps and can spend hours poring over them.

A lot of things interest me ranging from politics to sports to investing (more of a necessity really!). I also like gadgets and technology. Have recently started translations, from Hindi to English right now. Ideally would want to translate from Marathi and the long term goal is to translate a book. Also like trekking though haven’t done it for a few years now. Would want to correct it soon. Also looking at paragliding once the monsoons are over.

Expect posts on anything under the sun really. Also a disclaimer that I don’t intend on offending anyone intentionally through the posts in any way. I will write on controversial topics which are close to my heart once in a while.

That’s all for now. Will get back to posting in a few days. Till then cheers!!