Motorbiking in Mumbai !!!

Being a lawyer, you have to be very careful with words you use. Hence I am using the word "motorbiking" to put in the picture the real meaning i wish to assign. I apologise for not keeping up the promise of writing about my job in mumbai and about my dream girl. The posts are in pipeline and Im gradually figuring out things, work, policies, principles, ethics, morals, politics, complaints, appraisals, critics and also bitching in the place I am working. And about my dreamgirl - Go n ask any elder relative or uncles n aunties who knew me when i was in korba and bilaspur, about the song i used to sing when i was a small kid. Yeah it was DREAMGIRL -the title song from movie Dream Girl starring dharmendra and hema malini. And coincidently dharmendra got married to his dream girl in real life in the year 1979 which is two years after that movie was released. Unfortunately my dream girl is either not aware how madly im in love with her, or she does not even notice, or she notices and ignores because she does not like me at all, or she doest not want to love me, or she does not have time to love me or she loves someone else, or any other reason that she only is aware of. Or may be my dearest lord ganesha would convey y my love and wishes to her and convince her to come and find me. Okay i know it is getting a bit what you call FILMY and i can go on writing about her. So my love, like my understanding of the place i am working, too appears to be in the pipeline and it has to be figured or dealth with somehow. I am hopelessly optimistic and insanely in love. And I have realised that I am deviating away from the topic. Here I come back:

Motorbike (hereinafter referred to as "Bike") (defining words is an aspect of legal drafting) is the best means of conveyance in a city like Mumbai fro distances upto 10-12 kms. Reasons being:

1. You avoid the mad sweating, smelling, pushing and unpredictable crowd in local trains and buses in mumbai;

2. Your parents are not paranoid coz any bomb may blast any time in any train in mumbai (though i believe that it can happen anywhere in India these days);

3. Bikes are much more fuel efficient thatn car or buses and hence save money as well;

4. Bikes cause less pollution;

5. Going by bike saves alot of time as bikes are like rats which can cruise through smallest voids left between so many cars. Even in traffic jams;

6. One who enjoys riding bikes get to do atleast one thing that he likes after being employed;

7. Bikes are easy to park and even parking charges are less;

8. Bikes do not take much space in roads as cars and buses do; etc.

There can be so many other reasons which I am now lazy to think about. I think aforesaid reasons are sufficient enough to show my intent. And yeah it is needless to say that one who is riding a bike in mumbai should be the one who is not bothered about the luxury of a having a car with air conditioner and music system and yeah a driver as well as traffic here is killing. And Id rather prefer to catch on my pending sleep rather than sitting at driver`s seat and cursing everyone. And yeah it goes without saying that he should have the traffic sense and skills of riding in voids, narrow lanes and even on the foothpath if required. Yes in Mumbai, it is required at times.

Today almost 22 months of my stay in Mumbai are over. Having been interned in Mumbai I was pretty much aware of traffic in Mumbai and since we decided to stay in Wadala which is about 10 kms away from my office (not very far from Mumbai standards), I decided to get my bike here. I still remember the day I went to pick my bike from Lokmanya Tilak Terminus station godown. I was happy to see that my bike was in one piece and good condition as well. I had tried remembering the route by the number of flyovers and advertisement hoardings (though i maintain that my direction sense is absolutely fantastic). And which coming back, the string of my hawai chappal broke while it had started raining and i rode back barefoot. Yadavji was there with me when all this happened. What memories!!! Thats the story about how my bike entered tinsel town. And thanks to Varun, who had come here for a week for helping us (the freshers in this monster town), for going to RTO office and finding out all the formalities and paying the octroi which was required for running my bike on road here. However still i have not still not paid the required road taxes and charges required for the fresh registration. This is precisely because an agent at the RTO office suggested me to purchase a new bike rather than getting my bike registered all over again. And that time i decided that id rather prefer to pay bribe of 50 bucks than paying 8k to 10 k for fresh registration (though traffic police h never caught me for this and i have never paid even one penny of bribe in Mumbai for any reason whatsoever). I am sorry but this system of fresh registration sucks. I believe that today we have technology and the process for registration and charges for registration throughout India should be common and same.

Now I think I should get over the procedural part and come back to the substance about riding the motorbike. Well I must confess that riding a bike in Mumbai is very challenging in Mumbai (specially during peak hours). All the space in roads is occupied by BEST buses and cars who keeping on blowing horns all the time. I fail to understand how blowing horns help during bumber to bumper traffic and jams in Mumbai? It only increases pressure and tension. But still most of us (Indians) have this habit of blowing horns unnecessarily. Anyways certain things about Indians cant change (coz it will take out the Indian flavour from it) so no point discussing it. Rather we should accept it. In my views it is not at all advisable to ride bike in right in the middle of the road and the chances of getting sandwiched between four wheelers are quite high. So one should trying riding in leftmost lanes as there is adequate space for bikes to pass smoothly. And please beware of pan, guthka and chewing gum spitting passengers when you are overtaking BEST buses. Try sneaking as fast as possible. And it is suggestible to always wear a jacket as it would save you clothes from picking up dirt and also save you from bruises if case your bike skids. Chance of your bike skidding are higher coz of cement and concrete roads. So you should not ride it very fast as well. Helmet is a must and you shouldn’t lose your patience just coz you are missing a deadline in office. You lose lifeline just once.

MFKP and Rishi always ask me to avoid commuting by bike as much as possible. Almost one year back, the rear tyre of my bike got punctured while i was riding the bike and I badly skidded in the middle of the road. Fortunately there was a red signal just behind the spot and all vehicles had stopped. I got some bruises, sprains and also my Espirit watch which was gifted to me by someone on my 23rd birthday.Though it wasn’t my mistake but you aren’t so fortunate always. And the BEST buses in Mumbai stop for no one. Not even for passengers. And despite of that incident, I have continued to commute by bike (though Im much more careful). Its only rainy season in Mumbai (like the period of hibernation for me) when I do not touch my bike.

Now since I can manage to buy a bike on my own, I wish to buy the new enfield classis 500 cc bullet. There are serious objections from my parents who are emphasizing on buying a hatchback car. Even from friends side, opinions are 50-50. But most of the times, I do whatever I feel like doing and chose only what I like. So please do not be surprised if you get to know that I have bought new enfield classic 150. You guys may suggest me a colour though. Its available in grey, black, red and silver. And I prefer Black.

Nightmare and its repercussions - Part-2

Yet another dream of arranged marriage tonight. This time the girl was very beautiful and still after saying yes before, I retracted and said no. This time i was being offered a lot of bribe (dowry) for marrying the girl. And I woke up........

And again a bad start to my day. I started late from home thinking that Il rush on my bike today only for finding that there was no petrol in bike (I will speak with shrawan about this in the evening). Then I took a cab and as expected there was a huge traffic and i ended up reaching office at 11 for fining out that MFKP (ask me if you want to know who MFKP is) was furious over certain issue to which i also was a party and he was looking for me. However gradually things got better and it has been a decent day so far.

There are two posts pending ! One about my job im currently doing and other one is about the dreamgirl. Coming soon...........

Another Dream !!

I had yet another dream today. I was travelling in a train with some familiar looking old man who I do not know in my real life. I was carrying a brand new leather carry bad gifted by my father to me. And I put it in a seat. And just like the way I am (extremely careless about my things and my own belongings and I am very committed and careful when someone is depending on me), I forgot my bag in some temporary seat where I was sitting and lost it. The old man seemed to be very resourceful and tried helping me and before I could find my bag, I got up.

I am still trying to figure out if seeing a dream means that you have had a sound sleep. Anyways I was not feeling so fresh today after I got up and slept in the taxi while going to office and it took very long due to traffice. Plus its geting more hot and humid everyday here. And it was comparatively a lighter day in the office. I am also recording my dreams in this blog because this blog is also like my diray where you write your mind. So stuff in my blog is as raw as it comes out of mind without thinking over it, processing and also without any prejudice. I wish I could know the interpretation of dreams !!!     

Nightmare and its repercussions !!!

Nightmare
Yesterday night I again had a dream after few weeks. I think when see dreams, it means that you sleep is sound. Anyways in my nightmare I saw my marriage getting arranged by my parents. As a good boy I said yes for the marriage without even seeing the girl. Then when I saw the girl (although she wasnt bad in looks all) I said I did not want to marry her and asked my parents to cut the talk. I do not know what happened thereafter. I dont remeber other things as well which I saw that time. But what is happening........what is the reason???? I have seen dreams of happy marriage life with females I really liked. But for the first time ever I saw this "arranged marriage" nighmare. Sad ! But true! I really scared of arranged marriage with an unknown girl. I dont want to marry at all.

Repercussion
Today morning when I switched on my comp and checked outlook express, I found that 80 percent of my emails got deleted. Again no reason. I asked myself..........how can a silly machine do what it is not asked to do? After all its a machine and it works according to the instructions given by us. I checked there was no virus as well. Then why? And Sajida (our IT manager) has done a good job recovering those emails but by mistake all seperate folders got deleted as well and each and every mail has reappeared in triplicates. And my 2-3 hours have already been wasted in arranging things back.


I am just wondering is there any connection between these unreasonable things happening with me?

CLARIFICATION

Due to so many interrogations that i have gone through, I hereby clarify that my post "Missing You" dated February 20, 2010 has been made written in memory of my beloved Sony Ericsson -W810 i which I lost in Goa. Ab itni achhi likhi hai toh log dhokha khayenge hi !!! Request you to read it again with keeping my beloved Sony Ericsson -W810 in your mind and you would be able to identify.

This post has been running very late. Just like trains which start from northern India during winters. But fortunately like one of those trains this post has not been cancelled. It just got postponed. Anyways here it is...........

TWO STATES

No! As it may be occurring to you, it is not a review of Chetan Bhagat`s latest inscription TWO STATES. As Mr. Chetan Bhagat cannot have copyright over title Two States, I am legally capable of using this title for description of my journey through two states of India where I had never been before.

I was always fond of travelling to new places and seeing new things. And these days I have developed a habit of grabbing any opportunity (for visiting a new place or a good place) without thinking twice. Invitation to one of my collegue’s wedding at Udaipur (Rajasthan) gave me such an opportunity. And the dates being in a weekend and the decision of our entire team to go for wedding did set up a perfect kind of launch pad for my hobby. Till one day before our scheduled departure, the number of person travelling to Udaipur was reduced to half from 12. The number surely went down by half but our spirits were doubled. And we decided to meet up at 6 am in the morning at Bombay Central to Board Bombay Ahmedabad Shatabdi Express. We decided to travel till Ahmedabad by Train and the 250 kms journey from ahmedabad till Udaipur by road. I had never touched the lands of these two states of Gujrat and Rajasthan in my life before. On the day of our departure, I reached Bombay Central at 6 am by a cab and took out my wallet for paying to the cabby only to realise that I had picked up Shrawan`s wallet instead of mine (I don’t have any reason to defend myself). There were several other things that I had forgotten which I realised later in the trip. And during the entire trip, quite a few incidents which happened were of similar nature. All my colleagues who went along kept saying that I am in love and thats y im so lost and forgetful (Is it true that a person is lost when he is in love? If yes then may be i was). But anyways I did not forget to board the train. I shall not describe the entire trip though the trip was a very very good one. I will describe my prima facie experience of Gujrat (Ahmedabad) and Rajasthan (Udaipur). This trip was also different coz i was, for the first time in my life, was travelling with office colleagues and not my friends or parents. Here I go:

GUJRAT:

I was sleeping when our shatabdi had entered Gujrat. When i got up and realised that we were in Gujrat, as usual i started looking for things that made Gujrat different from other parts of India. And trust me I failed again. Either I am very patriotic or it is true that there is some “Indian spirit” that makes the entire geography of India look very similar. I am not talking about hillsm nountains, plains and beaches which are entirely different about each other. I am talking about the spirit that binds India. Coming back to Gujrat, passed through Valsad, Surat, Anand, Baroda etc. Yes, it is true that alot of industries have come to Gujrat. Atleast from a common man`s perpective whose looks from a window of a train, it appears like that. Then ofcourse, the Gujrati accent everywhere made me feel my presence in Gujrat. Though I am uite used to Gujrati coz in Mumbai i get to hear gujrati more than Marathi (Mr. Thackreys kindly excuse me for that but that isn’t my fault). Then my next observation was that people in general in gujrat were very fair and most of them did not have moustaches. What I am saying may not be the truth but as I live my life on my own experiences so my impression about gujratis from now on would be something like that only.



Then as we passed through Anand (the white revolution hub) I thought that I would probably see a river of milk (I mean to say milk milk everywhere) but to my disappointment, there was not even one good exclusive shop or kiosk of milk in the railway station of Anand. I do not know why. Its overrated

Then we got down in Gujrat and boarded in Tavera that we had booked with PINKAL TRAVELS (A name which only Gujratis can think of having). Driver was rajasthani though. Next significant thing that I observed were kites. Then i recalled that it was Makar Sankranti few days back. You would not believe but each and every tree in Ahmedabad was full of torn and tattered kites hangning around. I wanted to give a nickname to Ahmedabad as City of Kites. Next observation before I went to sleep was good roads. When I woke up, we had crossed the border and had entered Rajasthan. Though we came back to Ahmedabad to catch the train but had not much experience to share other than some good food at Have More and hearing about a rave party that was happening in the neighbourhood.



RAJASTHAN

Rajasthan is truly royal. Without giving much stress on your senses to believe, you realise that you are in Rajasthan. And you have to travel the entire Rajasthan by road to see the beauty of the state. I intend to do so in my near future sometime. The sand, the cactuses and other plants of desert are naturally designed to look beautiful. Till wherever your eyes can see, its amazingly beautiful. Anyone of us can identify a traditional rajasthani man very easily. With a pagdi, big moustaches and dark skin colour. Yeah unlike gujratis, most of the rajasthanis have moustaches and are wheatish or dark in colour. The part of Rajasthan i visited, i.e around Udaipur, I did not find must industrial growth. And unlike Gujrat, Rajasthan`s history being very old, rich and truly royal, you get to see a lot of forts, huge gates, wall paintings, etc everywhere. You can easily see that Elephant is the most used animal in statues, pictures, paintings, etc. Another feature that distinguishes Rajasthan is the hospitality of the inhabitants of Rajasthan. We visited City Palace Museum. The Guide we hired was very enthusiastic and he kept quizzing us about the places, pictures, paintings etc.

Now comes the most memorable moment of the trip. We gatecrashed the LEELA KEMPINSKEY. For the benefit of those who do not know, the Leela Kempinskey Udaipur is a new hotel of the Leela group in Udaipur. On the day of the Sangeet night, I stayed back in the venue as I met my fried Rajat after a long time. As my colleagues wanted to roam around, they went back. On the way to the hotel where we were putting up, they saw very nice decorated hotel leela kempinskey Udaipur. Enchanted by its beauty, my colleagues thought og visiting there for having atleast a coffee each. But when they reached the entrance, they were denied by a bunch of security guards who said that the entire hotel was booked for two days exclusively by someone. They came back. Next day when they told me about this, I just could buy this stupid reason given by the security guards. So I decided that we were going to hotel leela kempinskey at any cost. As I always believe that confidence is the key to everything, I asked all of them to look, talk and walk confidently. As we reached the entrance, some SUV stopped next to us. I thought what a timing man!!! It looked as if we had got down from that SUV and we started marching in. Security Guards, considering 26/11, should have stopped us. We were 2 guys and three girls. They stared at us and may be wanted to ask our identity, but we stared back at them with full confidence. I think that sufficed all their queries. Next was a very sweet hospitable guard on the way to whom i said that we are resident guests and wanted to goto cafe. He showed us the way and we followed. We just couldn’t realised that we just broke inside the leela kempinskey jaipur without a security check !!!! Sometime confidence does it what even your talent cant ! Thereafter we explored the hotel at our wish and we rightfully started believing that we were the resident guests. Infact everyone was treating us as if we were the resident guests. As we entered the basement of the hotel where we could see all the operations, management, staff, kitchen, laundry and so many things that I had never so closely seen before. There were a couple of incidents that were shaky and we would have been caught but we managed. That emotions and events of that entire trip cant be put exactly in words. I would never forget what we did. Though we did not have coffee but we had something more than that.The taste of which shall always be alive in our memories.