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!!!

Driving in the City....

Every person you meet in Mumbai is talking about this bridge which will be the future famous landmark of Mumbai. The Bandra-Worli sea link looks very attractive with its long 500 meters cables supporting the bridge….an intelligent bridge with state-of-the-art-system for traffic monitoring, surveillance, information and guidance, instrumentation, emergency support, etc.

Hopefully it will ease the traffic, which at present is a real nightmare, with more than 40 signals on its route, it takes us more that thirty five minutes to reach Worli from Bandra. With this bridge, we can reach Worli in just seven minutes! (That is if there is no traffic congestion at all)



31st May is the day, when people might go for a drive…….through this 8-lane bridge, which has a modern toll plaza of 16 lanes with automated toll collection system.

I am waiting too….*wink, wink*

Don’t visit us during rainy season please…….

Remember this?

Don’t visit us during rainy season please…….although Mumbaikars are taking no chances this year……

A valuable input from BMC is being circulated for your information.

Floods in Mumbai are attributable to simultaneous occurrence of rainfall and high tides. If, the rainfall is in excess of 200 mm in a day (24 hrs), floods can occur anytime irrespective of tides. However, if there is moderate rainfall but the tide is in excess of 4.50 meters at the same time, the city of Mumbai is sure to get flooded.

Accordingly, heavy floods are anticipated on the following days in Mumbai, if there is excessive rainfall at the time of high tides, since the tides are extremely high on these days: -

Date Day Time Height of Tide (Meters)
24 June 2009 Wednesday 1:41 PM 4.95
25 June 2009 Thursday 2:24 PM 4.97
23 July 2009 Thursday 1:23 PM 5.01
24 July 2009 Friday 2:03 PM 5.05
25 July 2009 Saturday 2:43 PM 4.94

BMC has already planned to keep the schools closed on 24 July 2009 since the tide level is record high of last 100 years on this day.

Mumbaites are, therefore, requested to cooperate with the administration by restricting their movements and certainly not to take their vehicles out on the roads these days.

There are speculations about very high waves on 22 July 2009 due to solar eclipse.
Public should, therefore, keep away from the beaches that day.

Also, please advise your friends and relatives outside Mumbai not to plan a trip to Mumbai around these days.

Besides this we have to watch out for open manholes and inform the BMC. It would help if we could discourage the use of plastic bags, and please help keep Mumbai city clean.

On the days like these, reading a thick book might help……..

Things to prove that we're Mumbaite......

1. We say 'town ' and expect everyone to know that this means south of Churchgate.

2 We speak in a dialect of Hindi called 'Bambaiya Hindi', which only Bombayites can understand.. and it is called Hinglish. If you irritate someone, he will say "hey. don't do my bheja fry, ok!" and did you know that chuddy buddy is a childhood friend, and time pass is something that is not necessarily constructive. samja kya?

3. We have door with more than three locks and we have atleast four sets of keys. and one set of keys is always with the neighbour who is always trust-worthy.

4. We try to fit Rs 500 worth of groceries in one paper bag.

5. Train timings ( 9.27 , 10.49 etc) are really important events of life.

6. We spend more time each month traveling than at home.

7. We can manage in 8' x 10' clustered room and it is called a living room...

8.. We're paying Rs 10,000 for a 1 room flat, the size of walk-in closet and we think it's a 'steal.'

9. We have different sets of friend: school friends, college friends, neighborhood friends, office friends and yes, train friends, a species unique only in Mumbai .

10.. Cabbies and bus conductors think we are from Mars if we call the roads by their Indian name, they are more familiar with Warden Road, Peddar  Road, Altamount Road .

11... Stock market quotes are the only other thing* besides cricket which we follow passionately.

12. The first thing that we read in the Times of India is the ' Bombay Times' supplement.

13. We take fashion seriously. We're suspicious of strangers who are actually nice to us.

14. There are hookers, beggars and the homeless at every signal and they keep us entertianed till the light turns green.

15. We compare Bombay to New York 's Manhattan instead of any other cities of India .

16. The most frequently used part of our car is the horn.

17. We insist on calling CST as VT, and Sahar and Santacruz airports instead of Chatrapati Shivaji International Airport .

18. We consider eye contact an act of overt aggression.

19. Our idea of personal space is no one actually standing on our toes.

20.. Being truly alone makes us nervous.

21. We love wading through knee deep mucky water in the monsoons, and actually call it ''romantic'.

22. Only in Mumbai, we can treat our friends Chinese Dosa and Jain Chicken

Snap Shots from a moving bus

This is my normal route from my school in CBD to my house in Bandra. It takes 2 hours to reach my house. the bus ride is too long and the best way to pass the time is to either plug my ears with Radio-ear-phones and go to sleep or play with my camera and click some shots....and sometimes I am lucky if I get good shots....I love this sunset...


Mumbaikars have all the time in the world to stand and stare....



Busy streets of Vashi



Mumbai local train on Thane bridge,,



This restuarant offer Jhakas food, it says Khao piyo bindas...at the signal turning near Dharavi....

Donate your books.......

One song keeps playing on local radio station in Mumbai all the time

‘Book deke dekho
Book deke dekho
Book deke dekho ji
Book pardne wallo
Book deke dekho ji

Which simply means “donate the story books for children”

And every time, there is a different child expressing her/his desire to read stories

Like for example, Right now, I can hear one child on Radio, saying "My name is Nagma, I am ten years old. I want to read the story of Ali Baba and forty theives" and then somebody else is saying.. "old or new, what was your favorite book during your childhood? donate your books for children like Nagma.....

On 23rd April, Radio Mirchi is celebrating their seventh anniversary and they want to celebrate it in an unusual way. They are planning to collect books and help donate the books to the underprivileged children who can then be encouraged to read.

This is a good movement, which promises to develop an interest in reading the books. There are 'Crossword book stores' spread all over the city of Mumbai and people are requested to donate their book to their nearest ‘Crossword’ bookstall. Radio Mirchi plans to collect the books from Crossword and donate it to the needy.

By donating good quality, well chosen second-hand books to the children, you are not only helping children read but you are also showing that you care.

You are requested to donate your books before 22nd April…..

I am going now to the bookstore…....what are you waiting for?

Mumbai Star Shines at ‘Madame Tussauds’

Mumbai has always been proud of Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, who has been the greatest icon of World Cricket for almost two decades now. Tendulkar's triumph has been his ability to adapt to situations, surfaces, oppositions and emerging victorious. He can score all around the wicket, off both front foot and back, and has made runs in all parts of the world

Ever since his debut way back in 1989, he displayed exemplary skills and was immediately hailed as the next genius.

He’s had an illustrious career, and is now all set to enter a sticky, glutinous tunnel of fame:

Madame Tussauds has deemed it fit that he be immortalized in wax. The figure, costing an astounding £1,50,000 (Rs 1.09 crore), is to be unveiled on Sachin’s home turf, in Mumbai on April 13th..a lucky day for him

Tendulkar follows in the famous footsteps of Bollywood Giants such as Amitabh Bachan, Aishwarya Rai, Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan and has joined other cricket legends like Brian Lara and Shane Warne to become the very first Indian sports personality to be portrayed.

And believe it or not, making wax figures is the labor of love. Over 800 hours of painstaking molding, measuring, painting and sculpting goes into making each figure.



The sculptors use measurements and photos to make a clay model of the head. Next they make a metal skeleton of the body to which they add clay in the shape of the body. Because the wax shrinks, all figures are made 2 percent larger than the actual celebrities they are portraying.

Moulds are then made separately of head and body. A hot wax mixture is poured into moulds and left to cool and harden. Once wax is ready, it’s time for hair wherein each strand is inserted individually and it takes around five weeks, next teeth and eyes are added before the figure is colored using oil based paint, which is applied in layers to create realistic skin color and texture.

It has taken four months of arduous labour and 20 artisans, to say nothing of the hundreds of photographs to come up with this and Sachin is waxed forever.....

Source: Times of India and www.madamtussauds.com