Bandra- Queen of Suburbs.

Bandra is known as the queen of suburbs and why not? It has everything that you could ask for, shopping at Hill road and at Linking road, diamond market at Turner road and Waterfield road, choice of more than 200 restaurants, parks like Patwardhan park, Jogger's Park, Almeida park and many more, playgrounds, sea-shore, There are two promenades in Bandra, Band stand and Carter road, and there are also cute heritage bungalows in some of the by-lanes of Bandra.



There are many bungalows in Bandra of heritage value and Bandra Station is one of the oldest, grade one, heritage structure.

Since one year, it was covered on all its sides for renovations with ugly sheets of plastic and last week when I passed this station, I was happy to see the recreated work, complete with red-tiled roofs, intricate eaves, fine woodwork pillars, high arched walls, iron windows and large doors to look exactly the way it would have when it was built in 1880s



I have not yet entered the station to see it from inside, planning to go some where by train soon, maybe to South Mumbai. If you are not working then it is best to travel by train during off peak hours (unless you need a body message, during peak hours the trains are so crowded that there is no room to move)

There is also a sky-walk that connects the Bandra-West to Bandra-East, right up to Kalanagar. My friends, who have walked through this sky-walk say that it takes them about thirty minutes to reach the other side. Quite a walk! But my friend was telling me that it is a nice walk, just like walking on an open space without any interference of traffic and horns, very windy and the view is amazing.



The traffic at Bandra is a nightmare specially at bottled-neck spot near Masjid, where the traffic emerges from all sides but the view is great



There is a club for elite in Bandra East and the street market for common man



And at the end of the day, what could be better than to walk down the sea shore to enjoy the sea breeze while you watch the sun go down?



Now I am thinking who is the King of suburbs???? got ideas????

Street Markets of Mumbai City

Every time we, Mumbaites, go to a suburb of Mumbai, we see new malls mushrooming up, but surprisingly, the mall are not doing too well. There are hardly any people out there. I am beginning to get worried, are they able to meet the overhead expenses? We hardly ever visit malls, we find them too expensive and the sales people are always hovering over our shoulder treating us like some kleptomaniacs. Many a times, I tell them that I am just surfing and if I find something interesting I will beckon them but still, they keep staring at me from a distance, Such a boring place to shop!, practical only in rainy season or when the weather is too warm. It is wet and dirty out there on the road, and we would prefer to walk in a safer, cleaner and air-conditioned venue.

But otherwise, we all prefer street markets.



We like to walk down the busy streets where smaller shops are lined side by side, we walk in open air, we don't mind inhaling the polluted air that is full of fumes from moving traffic, we like to walk on a footpath and see many interesting things.. good and bad, all are there in equal proportions…..



We like the colorful display of merchandise on the road.



Walking down the street markets, we like to visit the specialized stalls, some selling only tomatoes, others selling only greens and some selling only white variety of fresh onions.



Shopping for assorted vegetables is fun. We love to bargain, argue, select, weigh and check again, haggle on over-priced items.. we promise the seller that we will never visit his stall again, but next day, we are there, back again ...at his stall for another series of useless haggle but we come back home each day with fresh products...victorious at saving few pennies...street markets are fun...any time...cannot compare to boring malls.....



And we can walk all day, braving the traffic, stopping at various stalls, eating the chaats and enjoying the outing on the streets of Mumbai City.

Have a Date with Prithvi Theatre This Week.....

If you love plays and Karnataka Sangha-musical, old favorites, or plays for children, this week is the time you can catch all these at Prithvi theatre at Juhu

They are also having two screenings on performance and performers which is brought to you by their partners Pen and Seagull…which you must not miss.

The programs that are lined up during this week are as follows..

Aise Kehte Hain

9th June,Tuesday at 9pm
10th June, Wednesday at 9pm
11th June,Thursday at 9pm

What do you make of a love story comprising a liar, a cop, two runaway circus kids, a guy called chai, a man resolved on suicide, another willing to help him in lieu of money, a bunch of pigeons who occasionally feel the need to break into song & dance and a lonely crow with an identity crisis?

At the farthest end of a deserted railway station a young man spins a story for his love. The story turns into its own raconteur and becomes a testimony of all those moments in life that we like to think of as quirky … the odd broken pieces that never quite fit into the jigsaw puzzle, but are nonetheless preserved, in case someday we find a gap for them.

Can all these sundry characters make a love story? Without love? And can it have a happy ending? They say it is possible.

They say... AISA KEHTE HAIN...

For more details click here

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Girija Ke Sapne

12th June, Friday, at 9pm

Girija Ke Sapne is a musical satire, at times hilariously funny and at times ridiculous, with shades of pathos. It makes use of television and advertising lingo as a theatrical device including the now popular trend of Hinglish. The protagonist Girija, is the only educated girl in her village - 10th class fail. She dreams of the kind of life-style she has seen in the touring talkies. Her small town aspirations based on her exposure to films and advertising are personified in the character of her hero. She is so enamoured of her ‘hero’ that the dialogues he delivers in his films are the only truth she believes in. The make-believe world of her dreams is her reality, which is completely at odds with her family and her village. The clash between her dreams and reality is the essence of the play………

For more details click here

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Barsoraam Dhadaake Se

13th June Saturday at 11am
14th June, Sunday at 11am

What is a fairytale? Was it once upon a time…or is it now? Bansode uncle is the cranky, scary and child-hating landlord of Africa House. What happens to this awful man when monsoon meanders into his world? Enter this funny fairytale that takes place in your own city, Bombay

For more details click here



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Biwi-O-Biwi

14th June, Sunday at 9pm

Biwi-O-Biwi deals with the theme of modern male chauvinism and how the modern woman stands up to and fights against it. A middle class woman can no longer be treated like a doormat. There are certain prevalent values in our society that are binding, but there is a limit to everything. The play revolves around the relationship between the main protagonists, Dr.Pawan Soorma and his wife Pooja.This is a super-hit, star-studded comedy play from IPTA. It has had successful shows in Mumbai, Hyderabad, Dubai, Chennai, New Delhi, Muscat and other cities.

For more details click here

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Kachche Lamhe

10th June, Wednesday at 8pm

KACHCHE LAMHE (Vulnerable Moments) is a lighthearted look at delicate relationships with fun, gaiety and few tears. Gulzar and Javed Siddiqi, two of our best known writers have come together to create an unusual theatrical experience. Married to Sudhir (Kiran Karmarkar), the director of a theatre group, Seema (Lubna Salim) finds herself merely as a vehicle to carry characters across for an audience. While Sudhir is engrossed in his creative pursuit, the girl in Seema pines for freedom from this bondage of borrowed identity. Comes a pleasant intrusion in the form of T.K. (Harsh Chhaya), a businessman and her husband’s best friend, Possessed by a quest and hunger for life and love, she finds herself getting drawn into a new relationship. It is about a girl’s journey from one relationship into another. When two lovers reach a dead end in their relationship, does their bond really break and do they forget each other entirely?

For more details click here

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Hum Safar

11th June, Thursday at 8pm

HUM-SUFFER is about an erstwhile couple at crossroads, meeting each other over a period of several years, revealing vagaries of contemporary lifestyles which creep in relationships. Betraying a need for individual search of love, closeness and some form of happiness, it is as much about love, as it is about marriage and relationships.

for more details click here

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Lakeerein

12th June Friday at 8pm

A peek into the lives of people divided by common history and culture.the show encompasses the journey of last sixty years with stories of Hope,Despair,Passion and Redemption.A collage of stories and poems of renowned litterateur Gulzar on the theme of Indo-Pak relations and its consequences on the lives of its people, the show is a tribute to the resilience of human spirit and shared values nurtured over centuries of common co-existence.

For more details click here


TICKETS :

Online
www.prithvitheatre.org,
www.bookmyshow.com ;

Home Delivery 3989 5050
Prithvi Theatre Box Office 2614 9546, 10 am to 1 pm & 2 pm to 9 pm
Karnataka Sangha Box Office 98332 34019, 10 am to 1 pm & 2 pm to 8 pm

Lets go for a drive.........

The only problem in Mumbai that really puts me off is the Mumbai traffic. There are too many vehicles on the road and also, too many signals, the roads are narrow and at some place uneven. Although there is lot to do at signals like I can shop for best-selling books for just Rs100 or part my hard earned money with a beggar who rubs his nose against my window pane.

But if I drive off-peak-hours, then it is not so bad at all and I do enjoy a large range of scenic view. There are lots of hoardings on the road where I can practice my reading skills, and sometimes improve my mathematics by counting the number of people who break the road rules, how many people are without their helmet while riding on a motorbike, and how many people spit on the road per hour.

But of course, there is good architecture too. Like this new bridge which is going to become world famous landmark very soon.



This Bandta-Worli-Sealink, which was supposed to be inaugurated on 31st May but the ribbon is not yet ready.



But yes, soon it will start functioning. People will not mind paying Rs60 to reach Worli in just seven minutes.

And Worli is the hep place to be.



I am sure then we will not be so irritated then with the traffic and might even drive up to South Mumbai which has lots of greenery and picturesque landscape.



During the outing I might even stop for stuffed waffles. It is clean now-a-days, .they use glove you know…We all like Mumbai chaats and now it is safe to eat out there…fear not……..



Gabraneka nahii!!!

Cyber Smarter?

Or a fool behind a screen?



Last year, my hotmail account was hacked and emails were sent to all people on my contact list asking money for me. (I personally never ask for money, who is this, huh?) It said that I was stranded in Africa and needed some cash. (the stupid goon did not know that I have a very caring family in Africa who stand by me in good times as well as in bad times) People who knew me, immediately contacted me on my cell phone to ask if I was fine (with my cell phone I stay connected with everyone, why would I send an email?) but many of the sponsors, who help my school at Belapur, were disappointed with my e-mail and unhappy that I was asking money for myself. (I wish they had known me well before believing this nonsense) They stopped contacting me and I did not get a chance to tell them that it was a scam.

Well, there are cyber crimes happening all the time. (naturally, we spend so much time on the net) But many of us just bear it all and pray that the problem will just disappear.

But do they really disappear? I think not. It is important to lodge FIR against every crime and cyber crime is getting serious.

Taking this under consideration, The Cyber Crime police station, the first-of-its-kind in Maharashtra, started functioning since May 30 in Bandra-Kurla Complex at suburban Bandra.

Such specialised police stations already exist in Bangalore and Hyderabad, two top IT hubs in the country.

"The dedicated police station will now register first information report on its own and investigate the offences pertaining to cyber space. The police station will take care of all cyber cases in the city including that of terror e-mails," additional police commissioner (Crime) Deven Bharti said.

The Cyber crime cell will deal with the investigation of website hacking, cyber stalking, cyber pornography, e-mail, credit card crime, software piracy, on-line fraud and internet crime.

So now I have cyber crime police station right here in Bandra. I can network in peace. I hope so.

Wah!! Kya baat hai!!!