Sign and pledge your support on online petition

at
'Mumbaikars for Mangroves'

and we will forward it to Maharashtra's Chief Minister



The very reason that you visit my blog on Mumbai is because you are as passionate about this city as I am, we cannot welcome a doomsday in the coming decade.

If you were in Mumbai on 26th July 2005, you will know what I am talking about. How can we ever forget that! As much as every Mumbaikar is proud of this city, it's time we heed the call to balance our selfish needs with Nature's warnings or destruction as was evident during the July 26 deluge.

If we cannot make our commercialisation go hand-in-hand with conserving mangroves, then we may not have a city to call our own anymore.

That's the reason we need to make a choice NOW – a choice to fight the pressures of development, human interference or pollution. A choice to save our lifeline. And, 'Mumbaikars for Mangroves' campaign is an ongoing movement to stop this mindless erosion, by bringing together a collective majority to support the cause of saving our city's natural bounty.

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Obama in Mumbai !!!

Anyone seen the "surprise" Obama convention video?

If you are an expatriate and democrat and stuck in this city of Mumbai, you can still attend the Democratic National Convention, whose goal is to nominate and confirm a candidate for President and Vice President, adopt a comprehensive party platform and unify the party.

The only difference is that you can party while watching Obama's acceptance speech, his famous Bollywood video, and other political spoofs (read Jon Stewart, SNL, etc) with your local Democrats Abroad!

And if you haven't registered to vote & requested your absentee ballot from www.VoteFromAbroad.org, you can do that too!

You can go and mingle, register for your absentee ballot, buy Obama gear, and celebrate on Sunday, August 31, from 3’00pm to 5’00pm at Architect studio, 3rd Pasta lane, at Colaba

You will find it easy, just look for the OBAMA 08 Sign.

Everything is possible in the city of Mumbai! What were you thinking?

Image source: http://images.google.com/

Hey Smoker

Irresponsible lass
Puffing away her hard earned cash
On a cloud of black mess

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Smokers might hide their cigarettes during this Ganpati festival

if they wish to get a good darshan of Lord Ganesha.

Ganesh mandals in the city will sport no-smoking messages this Ganesh Chaturthi. That’s one of the awareness tools, officials plan to use to make Mumbaikars aware about their bid to make the city smoke-free by 2009.

The race to 2009 is because Mumbai will host the 14th World Conference on Tobacco or Health in March that year.

But can the smokers, who are habitual to smoking really respect this smoke-free campaign? The only reason when smokers give up smoking is when they breathe the clean sterlised air of ICU and pay a huge resulting bills. It is then, that they realize that cost of a cigrette is not just few pennies.Otherwise, they dont care, they puff the poisonous smoke on their non-smoking family members. Irresponsible parents, who place their own pleasures above everything else, shorten their lives and deprive their children of bright future by passing on their bad habits for their children to ape.

Hopefully, Ganesh mandals will be able to rope in sincere citizens and help spread information and awareness about the ill-effects of tobacco and ensure that anti-tobacco laws are effectively enforced from October 2, the date when the Centre’s new rules come into place.

The conference from March 8 to 12 2009 is a prestigious international event which will attract 2,000 delegates including anti-tobacco ambassadors such as New York mayor Michael Bloomberg and the director general of the World Health Organisation Margaret Chan.

To proudly wear the badge of non-smokers, your time to quit smoking starts now, or else continue your smoking habits but dont forget to do your advance booking to your nearest graveyards for your untimely death.

source:http://epaper.timesofindia.com/

Zenzi, a resto-lounge Bar in Bandra will sing a poetic tune every 45 days

By inviting large number of poets who like to spew their fresh digestions on an unsuspecting audience.

It starts its maiden invitation ´In the beginning was the Word´ on Monday, 25th August between 9pm to 11:45 pm.
Every 45 days, henceforth, poets and writers will be invited to Performances of disruptive, alternative, slam, hip-hop, post-modern, oral poetry.

It will be a celebration of the spoken word. It will be a night that has no fixed performances, no routine; it will be a night full of surprises.

You will know you are approaching Zenzi bar at waterfield road, when you see a warm orange glow down the street, it is a resto-lounge bar with street-facing, low, open windows and you will see Thai and Balinese interiors, a touch of contemporary Asian, and a mix of wooden panels, glass doors and orange hues giving a warm transparency to an evening soirée of the verses, dancing words, playful rhythms, swarming and absorbing the fresh muse in the air.

This place is great in catering to every mood. Besides providing exceptional cuisine, Zenzi has taken an appreciative interest in hosting live acts and performances in music and organising various cultural events such as art exhibitions, salsa classes and now, poetry nights.

A social and communicative form of literature that entertains is the new idea that doesn’t exist but this is great beginning and lyricists will be happy too….

Queer Prisoners in Mumbai need independence too……

On 16th August, at 3.30pm, the march of Queer Prisoners will start at August Kranti Maidan and end at Girgaum Chowpatty


Who is `queer'?
Queer was originally used as a put-down, but the word was reclaimed as a positive marker of identity by those whom society considered odd, strange or abnormal. They use the word to refer to all people marginalised by a society that is narrowly defined by hetero-normatively and by the male-female gender binary. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, hijra, transgender, kothi, panthi, intersex… all who identify with words like these are under the umbrella of the "queer" community.



Why Prisoners?
Because this country achieved Independence on 15th August, 1947, but its countless queer citizens are still not free.

They want to bring to the notice of both, society and the government on some issues that concern them such as:

• Under Sec. 377 of the Indian Penal Code their desires and relationships are considered to be criminal acts. They want this regressive law read down.

• Every individual is under tremendous pressure to marry a person of the opposite sex, as marriage is seen as a must in our society. They are launching a campaign against all such forced marriages.

• The Constitution must include provisions to deal with all discrimination on the grounds of sexuality or gender.

• They call for an end to homophobia and transphobia — an end to violence and hate within families, in educational institutions, at places of work and in public spaces.

They are attempting to garner as many signatures as possible on the open letter against 377.
You can either join them on their march to show your support or visit the following URL and sign the letter, to express your solidarity against this ancient and draconian law

http://p2.voicesaga inst377.org/

Organised by:

Aanchal Trust, Astitva, Dai Welfare Society, GayBombay, Humsaaya, Humsafar Trust, INFOSEM, Lesbians and Bisexuals in Action, Queer Media Collective, Rainbow Pride Connexion, Sakhi Char Chowghi, Salvation Star, Sarathi, Symphony in Pink

Img source: http://www.salaampress.com/

There is something more we can do than just salute the flag on 15th August

We could participate in I-Day Trash Dash.

It will be fun to scramble through Borivali’s Sanjay Gandhi National Park, s gathering as much rubbish as possible. The trail, which covers the Gandhi Smarak, recreational area, mini-train station and administration area, is dotted with picnic games and activities, adding to the competition. The teams that complete the trail and are found to have the heaviest bags of garbage walk away with prizes and as municipal trucks pick up the collection, everyone leaves a cleaner park behind.

This Independence Day, the Natura Outdoor Education Trust (NOET) will be inviting Mumbai-ites to the 3rd I-Day Trash Dash– a crazy marathon cum clean-up drive, through the Sanjay Gandhi National Park, Borivali


Most of the Mumbaite know about NOET (The Natura Outdoor Education Trust) which is a not-for-profit organisation that uses the wilderness and adventure as tools to promote learning, development and ecological conservation.

It is amazing how they draw people - young and old - into the magic of the wilderness, the true ‘Outdoors’, and challenge them with experiences that dramatically reveal amazing insights and offer fresh perspectives to enrich their lives beyond compare.

I am sure it will be more fun than visiting Malls with family and friends and emptying pockets while returning back.

Source http://www.timeoutmumbai.net/

Have you ever watched video screenings of famous plays?

If you had enjoyed the films such as Nishant, Akrosh and Ardh Satya… then you might also enjoy some of the plays that will be playing at Nehru Centre because Vijay Tendulkar had written screenplays to such masterpieces of World Cinemas

The Nehru Centre will showcase the best of the country’s plays as part of its theatre festival

This is the Centre’s ‘12th edition’ of the festival, and is dedicated to the memory of playwright Vijay Tendulkar, who had won every award given by the government and private institutions to honour art, literature and cinema… including the Sangeet Natak Akademi, few Filmfares, Padma Bhushan and other state and national awards. His play ‘Ghasiram Kotwal’ has run for a record 1000 shows and over 3 decades.

However this year, the Nehru Centre has brought in an element of technology into its schedule of plays. For the first time in the festival’s history, the Nehru Centre will hold video screenings of famous plays. This move was prompted by the desire to share great original plays with the audience. The plays that will be screened are Ghasiram Kotwal, Shantata Court Chalu Aahe and Peter Brooke’s Mahabharat.

The Nehru Centre is presenting 12 different plays as part of its annual theatre festival this year.

Ghasiram Kotwal (video screening)
August 7 4.30pm

Vagina Monologues (English)
August 7 7.30pm

Ajnatobas (Bengali)
August 8 2.30pm

Shantata Court Chalu Aahe August 8 4.30pm
(video screening)

Agni Divya (Marathi)
August 8 7.30pm

Amarbeej (Rajasthani)
August 9 2.30pm

Peter Brooke’s Mahabharat
August 9 4.30pm
(video screening)

Kachche Lamhe (Hindi)
August 9 7.30pm

Ek Sapnu Badu Shaytani (Gujarati)
August 10 2 30pm

Mohandas (Hindi)
August 10 7.30pm

Aadipashya (Marathi)
August 11 2.30pm

Agni Mattu Malley (Kannada)
August 11 7.30pm

Sakharam Binder (Hindi)
August 12 7.30pm

Jindigi Retire Nahi Hundi (Punjabi)
August 13 7.30pm

For passes, call: 24964676 (ext 118)/ 24933340.

Will you be there? Huh?

Source:http://www.dnaindia.com

A Resolve Against Terror, A Resolve For Peace

Even as the horrific acts of terror attempt to divide us and create insecurity and helplessness, we as citizens must not concede. While we condemn the bomb blasts in the cities of Bangalore and Ahmedabad and mourn the loss of the lives of innocent fellow citizens, there is an urgent need to build a resolve against terror

- by demanding better security and anti-terrorism measures from the State,
- by fostering greater anti-terrorism preparedness among citizens,
- by refusing to participate in any backlash and by resisting those who spread hatred
- by working actively towards building peace and harmony.

Citizens for Peace, in solidarity with AGNI, Aman Biradari, ANHAD, AVEHI, Bombay Sarvodaya Mandal, Citizens for Justice and Peace, Human Rights Law Network, Karmayog, Mohalla Committee Movement Trust, Muslims for Secular Democracy, Parivartan: a Need for Change, PRAJA, PUKAR, and several other organisations, invites you to a short and solemn event with music and poetry as well as readings on peace by Shyam Benegal, Shabana Azmi, Nandita Das and several others from different walks of life.

There will be no speeches.

We will also sign a joint Declaration demanding action from the State.

We see this peace meeting as part of an on-going effort to build a cohesive citizens network to defeat the forces of hatred and terror. Please join us in our endeavour to build peace and harmony in our country.

Show your support by attending a Rally on Wednesday, August 6, 2008 between 5:15pm - 6:30pm at Patkar Hall, SNDT Womens University Street: New Marine Lines, Churchgate
Contact Info Phone: 912222830022
Email: michelle@citizensforpeace.in

Place your RSVP at http://www.new.facebook.com/event.php?eid=27790111929