Mumbai Rain

Yes. It has been raining; the skies are full of clouds of various hues tones and shades, with the sun playing hide and seek with the clouds creating an amazing environment and ambience. The pitter patter of rain on the leaves, window eaves turns into a nice drumming sound accompanied by an occasional chirp of birds, the tolling bells in the temple early in the morning. Later during the day, symphony gets marred by a cacophony of engine noise, sudden brakes, blaring horns only to quiten down as rain increases.

So far you notice, I have been looking up and not looking down or not trying to go through the city. The moment you step of the house, it becomes a different story; Here Streets start getting water logged after 5 minutes of drizzle, and it has been raining for the entire weekend. The uneven road with all it potholes and loads of garbage is now filled with muddy water which swirls as it fights with flotsam and jetsam to go down the drain. Standing on the road with an open umbrella in hand, fighting to keep it open in the wind, wondering whether to hold it up to avoid getting wet in the rain or to use it as shield against getting drenched in the shower of muddy dirty water that the racing rickshaw / maruti throws up as the driver tries to demonstrate his abilities as a cross country racer.

Any way by keeping an additional outfit in the bag / at office and keeping a buffer of couple of hours if you venture out and focus more upwards then downwards then you do encounter some pleasant moments and can get lyrical like the Hindi movie heroes and heroines and sing songs about how beautiful is the rain after the dust and the heat on broad fiery streets in the narrow lanes, how beautiful is the rain.

So dear friend worry not, things are not as bad as they are in Andhra Pradesh, we are still in a good place. We are still enjoying the rains. For how long I can not predict but will keep having fun as long as we can; and over the week end look forward to curling up in the blanket with piping hot chai, some hot bhajiyas and pakoras along piping hot Sheera and either a good book or a great DVD.

Hope you like the plan… and are reassured by it.

Travelogue... Star Date 20061010 BAck home in Mumbai..

Back home in Mumbai. After I landed here for first few minutes I could not but help compare it with US and my first impressions of Chicago.

Yes, I guess it is true, We do lag behind; Way too behind in infrastructure. In US people can not but be impressed by the wide well paved roads, vast green fields, shiny glass and chrome buildings, reasonably well dressed populace, big cars, wide walk ways, huge malls.. List goes on.

So, in comparision, teeming masses of humanity, not really as well dressed, little scruffy due to the very nature and environment: hot humid, dusty with crowded pavements and roads, constant chaos due to contruction and every one trying to claim the same space for use. Pedesterians, cyclists, motor cyclist, scooters, small cars, autos - three wheeled autos - trucks, minis -- every one vying for the use of same small space at the same time.

So on one hand, from where the cars and vehicles are supersized to a place full of economy / compact size cars; from a place where the minimum safe distance between two cars is atleast one car long to a place where vehicles are literally bumber to bumper and not more then 3 inch gap between two adjacent cars.

I hope you get the picture. Yes, it is crazy, it is a bit hot and humid, it does appear to be a bit dangerous. And yes, in retrospect, it does appear to less then perfect, and it does stand out in sharp contract, specially when you compare it well planned well laid out infrastructure in West.

It is then I realize that thi is what people mean when they say, "You won't like it", "You will not be able to adjust", "Life will be different". But what they forget is that I have been in US just for 32 months .. but I have spent 32 years in India.

This is where I belong and this is what I remember and once you accept the place with it's warts and all and start focusing on what can be changed or what is being changed.. then again .. One feels at peace.

Yes this is it... but still it has it's own charm. Waking up in the morning to the sound of breeze blowing thru the trees and leaves whispering of the leaves, mingled with an barking of occasional dogs, crows, birds, pigeons, sound of music and news wafting through the windows. The tolling of bells in the temple, call of ma's voice and clatter of utensils in the kitchen. Feeling of the cold and fresh water with a touch of sweetness to it in the shower; the hot tea and fresh breakfast .. ringing of the doorbell for the milkman to deliver the milk, the garbage collector for collecting the garbage, the person who comes in to clean up.....

That is my Mumbai ... in midst of horns and hundred of different vehicles.. teeming multitudes .. The shop-keepers who greet me by name and ask about my heath and experiences abroad ..and want to know how long I will be around and who tell me how much my parents missed me ..
The security gaurd at the building entrance who has a cheerful greeting age old familiarity.
The neighbor's daughter who wants to know what gitadi bought for her...

Mumbai - a city of friendly people a city full of memories past and present .. city ready to welcome me with open arms and that wants to be assured that this time round I am going to be around for a longer period of time ..

That is my mumbai...

Now your turn ..tell me did you get the feeling of two mumbais that exists in the same space?

Chapter 2

Well, after eating all the junk that The Lufthansa provided, like I said earlier I promptly fell asleep, of course after twisting and turning and trying to arrange my self in a comfortable position in that narrow lumpy uncomfortable air plane seat which was supposed to recline but I could not tell the difference. Guess I was so tired of crying and feeling sorry for myself, that even the onflight screening of "Something's gotta give" could not make me stay awake.

Friday the 13th - the most dreaded and favored day of any good horror story setting... It has been that way since eons... but seems to me I got it all wrong... for it was not Friday the 13th when my horror story starts... It was Friday the 12th - the day before I flew from India to the United States of America. That day I guess, every thing that could go wrong went wrong ... I got my ticket at 3:30 p.m. and that was when I discovered, to my HORROR, that my flight was not (as per the official email) at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday the 13th ... it was at 1:30 am in the morning!!!

I was panic stricken... I had zillions of things to do ... some last minute shopping, bidding adieu to tens of friends, and of course PACKING ... not to mention the most important thing of all - clinging to family members in the typical feminine style and crying buckets... People at SDF II (a segment of my office) managed to calm me down ... to a great extent .. (Hey Ajay, Tanuja ..and all of you THANKS ...)

I went back to SDF V (another segment of my office) and it took me another 45 minutes just to get all my stuff, say bye and leave .. In hind sight I guess I just did not want to leave .. I did not want do say adieu to all the people who, in a very short span of time, had become an integral part of my life...

And so I rushed home. On the way I caught up with some friends who had agreed to go shopping with me so that we could spend some time together... and together we rushed through my last minute shopping list buying stuff ...

"War time Iraq" would have been a fitting description of my home - 6 to 8 people in, what at that time appeared to be a very small room, with all my stuff (and believe me there was tons of it...) strewn about. A general state of panic prevailed with everyone in a frenzy and a call coming in every five minutes... people had got so fed up with the calls that some one suggested disconnecting all the three phones (Cell, MNTL and Rel) at the same time ...

Any how, after what seemed to interminable hours of discussions, arguments, advice, we managed to get every thing packed up in two of the huge bags, one backpack and one handbag ...

I managed to change into my Go to War Gear... Jean, T-Shirt, Jacket, quickly grabbed a bite and then finally we were on our way ,,, we loaded the luggage into two cars .. and all 10 us managed to squeeze into the cars and those who could not ..decided to go home while we made our way to Air Port...

At Air Port, We reached terminal 2C for the air India Flight, (that was what the ticket and the mail had said), Cleared the initial weighing and security check .... only to be thoroughly puzzled as there seemed to be no sign of the flight being announced .. then I spotted some of the other guys who had been with me at the briefing earlier during the day ... .. Well they also appeared to be equally confused ... so I went up to one of the counters and asked the guy sitting there where the !!@@#%^%$@$@# flight was ... He also appeared to be equally confused and said the flight was at 7:30 in the morning, "But the ticket says the departure time is 1:30", I countered showing him the ticket. Then, came the great realization and understanding .. The Ticket was indeed an AIR India ticket but the flight was a Lufthansa Flight ... Which meant going right to the other end of the Airport to the other terminal.

So We grabbed our luggage (which all nicely tied up in secure wrap after clearing the initial check .. and practically ran ... imagine me with the bulky jacket a huge backpack trying to run [ I guess participating in the dream paid off ;) ]. Well we finally managed to get there after a lot of huffing and puffing .. I joined the long serpentine que for the check-in and checked - in ... sent my luggage on it's way to Chicago .. answered the that set of question which going to encounter again and again ... Whose luggage is this ? Who packed it ? where was it packed ? blah blah ...

Came back for a final hug and kiss and good bye ... told people to go home .. which they decided they would not till the flight was announced ... and slowly with a heavy heart, and aching shoulders ,, teary eyes and a hundred backward glances, looks and waves made my way slowly toward the security and clearance ..
Went through after what seemed to be an interminably long time and found my self in the waiting area.. there was a pay phone there and my pocket was heavy with coins so I decided to shed some weight and called on my mobile and chatted and chatted and chatted with every one till I ran out of coins...

Then joined up the rest of the Patni guys and spent some time in desultory small talk and a lot of interesting moments in observing the other 800 people waiting for the flight .. It seemed like a scene out of movie .. each person with some history some interesting story behind him ....

Well ultimately the flight was announced and we slowly trudged through and when I finally got to seat My first reaction was MY GOD !!! the seats in BEST AC bus in the morning are better !!! I managed to stow in my cabin luggage in the over head bins some how and tried to settle in .... (I had thankfully asked for and got an aisle seat so that at least gave me some freedom and leg room.) Chatted with the guy in the next seat , the flight took off .. there were the usual announcements and after some time they served some stuff (which was Indian veg) By that time I was a bit hungry (having forgone the lunch and dinner on Friday..) So, I managed to finish the "AIR LINE" food and promptly fell asleep....

By now I am getting the feeling that You are also ready to doze off ...

So let me just say .. the rest of the trip ... the stop over at Frankfurt ...landing at Chicago, getting a cab and going to the hotel had some interesting moments .. but that is as they say .. a story for another rainy day ... in case you guys feel interested .. and in case I get a response ... asking me to provide further details ( the chance of this happening is probably not as good as that of a snowflake in hell...) I'll write ... .....