From My lens at Sewri

Birds of pink feathers at Sewri..most welcome guests of Mumbai during summer- Flamingos

Blowing Away NRI’s Blues

After the warm hug and a glass of cold water, when my NRI guest sits down to relax I am eager to start a conversation, I quickly finish off the chores and get ready to begin a healthy chat expecting some spicy gossip and some latest family news. But wait a minute; before even a monosyllables are uttered, there comes a pause. As soon as my NRI guest starts the conversation, it begins with “I need India SIM card”

Oh Gosh!

Yeah of course, everybody needs a chip to communicate, first things first, there will be lots of time later for casual chat but not before the basic necessities are dealt with and now with mobile and laptop,a most important hand-luggage, they need a internet toggle too, then they need to change some dollar/Euro to Indian rupees, need to rent a car to drive comfortably around the city. Oh! There are so many important things to attend to before you can really sit down to chat. Living in Mumbai, it is important to know these basics, such as what is available on which corner of the street or else lots of time is wasted in just discovering the right tone.

I know one thing for sure, that getting a SIM card in Mumbai is a big hassle. There are too many formalities to complete before you can get one. Just passport and photographs are not enough, you need pan-card, electricity bill, photographs and proper paperwork to complete. I asked my guest to try getting one from a tiny kiosk on linking road near my house. She walked up/down the street searching for the shop but each one directed her to yet another shop till she reached a ceramic corner.

Now who would think that an ordinary ceramic shop will have answers to all the NRI queries?

After making enquiries she came back disappointed and announced that she could not get SIM card without my approval. Only I, as a resident of Mumbai was entitled for such luxury and that my autograph was required to get her phone connection. So, when I got free, I accompanied her to the store at Linking road that had promised to get the required goodies.

I have seen this store hundred times, but have never stopped there. The shop owner was busy with another client who was shopping for ceramic crockery. I stood there outside the kiosk, in a small bye lane off linking road, where the auto-rickshaws with its usual unnecessary toot-toots added to the noise pollution. While I waited, I discovered that this was no ordinary shop. The side board on the kiosk offered many more services such as car rentals, air and train tickets, Holiday packages (India and abroad). There was even a computer inside the store that could do all the online services such as getting toggle for internet connection, SIM card and would even help you with money exchange.

This is what I would call efficiency.

In India, you need the right people to help you get your work done, one who knows all the tricks of the trade and is able to pull all the right strings. For a small fee, my guest was able to solve all her problems in just few hours, which would otherwise have soaked off all her time and energy, had she ventured out to do it on her own through a proper channel.

I have been through that rough patch and have often tripped over the pot-holes. Its better to pay and smile.

Mumbai Medical Care Centre

Okay this is not a beauty parlour, if that is what you were thinking when you saw this picture, the lady sitting on a big comfortable, soft chair is waiting for her blood test.

That is what I like about NM Medical, a preventive diagnostic care centre where I go for my regular check ups once a year and come back with a great feeling.

The staff is very friendly here, so are the technicians. I take my blood and urine samples and then normally go for lipid profile. I always include the breakfast during my each visit. Love their breakfast which has variety of things, this time I had pohas, khakhras and coffee, there were also cornflakes and milk , tea and of course fruits.

The clinic is very clean and there is a separate waiting enclosure for women which have comfortable couches where you can read comfortably or watch TV while you wait for your turn.

Walking distance from my house, I go via linking road and turn into the lane of KFC-Croma and walk towards this lab at Bandra. When the person is ill, all that he needs is bit of pampering. And this is the place where I feel pampered whenever my sugar shoots up or the BP rises so high that I am afraid it has gone beyond its acceptable mark.

Just visiting NM Medical makes me feel just fine.

BEST Bus Service in Mumbai

My granny would often talk about the tram service in Mumbai that ran between Colaba to Sion and the ticket fare was just one anna, 16 annas to one rupee – 1 anna equal to 6.25pai

Original Source of pictures

Then came the BEST buses, tourist and others too

Original source of thes pictures

Do you remember this trailor bus? Ah! that was long time ago......

source of this picture

Such pain it used to be to travel by BEST bus in Mumbai in the 80’s. For example, those who worked in Byculla had two choices to reach there from Bandra, either to hop on two trains, changing at Dadar and crossing over to the eastern side to take another train or taking a direct bus. There was only one route 4LTD, which had no proper timings. The frequency of the bus depended on traffic, sometimes there would be row to 3-4 buses within five minutes and then no sign of a bus for next one hour. It was frustrating to wait for so long and then walk into a crowded bus, where everybody who is seated is too tired to offer their seat to old people or ladies. The journey from Bandra to Byculla was thirty-five minutes and many times a commuter had to stand for full journey, leaving them too tired to cope with the hard working day ahead. Hence there was poor performance at work-place too.

Source of this picture

Life was tough when there was red bus
It was full to capacity
In double line they stood their ground
With every jerk they broke their knee
The bus would move at snails pace
At every stop there was calamity
Fittest people hopped into the bus
While weakest stood for eternity
Expecting for an empty bus ride
Was a myth and that was tragedy

But things have changed. Travelling is such a pleasure now with the introduction of Volvo type AC buses called as BRTS King long AC buses.

The Bus ride in Mumbai town now

Cradles the passengers to melody sleep
There is soft cold air from knob above
And the humming of FM stream
Life is good while travelling now
No haste though horns do shrill scream
People busy, surfing the net
Some are chatting on blackberry
There is a socket too in the bus
To get gadgets work on electricity

The best part is that there is a good frequency of buses and there are many buses following the same route because of this waiting time is reduced. Commuters now reach their destination, fresh as ever. No dust and no wind, no messing of hair and no stink seeps through those air-tight windows, passengers sit in groups, have stories to share.

Life has changed for better now and What a joy to enjoy such luxury!!

Travel by AC or by Non-AC bus, you can easily find their routes wherever you wish to go, just check the bus routes before you travel in the city of Mumbai

Sky line of Powai

It takes me 50 minutes to reach Powai from Bandra on my lucky days, and on those days when there is too much traffic, it has taken me more than 2 hours too.

We have direct bus service 422 but I prefer an auto ride.

There are various routes to go to Powai, If you go independently you could choose the route through eastern express highway, through Ghatkopar, through Bandra-Kurla complex, through Goregoan-Powai express highway, through Sahar Airport, and through Andheri-Chakala, I have travelled all the routes and I find the route through Chakala the best route, it passes through Speez and joins the Goregoan-Powai express highway road.

The beauty of the Powai is the lake that runs parallel to motor way and walking by the promenade is a real treat.

Hiranandani Complex is the city by itself just opposite the Powai lake, cleaner and greener than rest of the Mumbai city.

Waiting at Peddar Road

I was waiting at the bus stop at Pedder road and I could not avoid looking at this great structure that looks like a match boxes, aligned one on the top of another....

 

If you see the height of the entire building, on regular building it could be up to 60 floors, but since the height of each floor is higher than the regular, the building has only 27 floors and it can be seen from a great distance.

Soon the sky line of pedder road is likely to change. So many buildings clustered togather and new building redeveloped each year, the biggest problem in this area is the traffic jam. 

Mumbai carried out a study on traffic in the area which found that 94,000 vehicles used the route everyday at that time. The same study also found that the average number of cars owned by a family living in Pedder Road is 2.3

Mumbai’s roads are choking really fast. Datar thinks he has the solution. “Traffic Demand Management (TDM) is an idea whose time has come,” he says.

I wouldn’t drive on this route during peak hours, it drives me crazy……wish there was some alternate route…….

Lavasa Women's Drive..350 cars participated from Mumbai...

on 27th February 2011, when I reached the venue, I discovered that there was very large crowd of women who, like me, cared for a special cause to spread the cancer awareness and all were to ready to drive for 5 hours to reach a new planned city of Lavasa..

I woke up early (which is quite rare) to be at Bandra reclamation grounds that was bustling with positive energies. There were 350 cars participating in the Rally. Every car had a message to share. It was all about saving the girl child and promoting women empowerment.

Read more about this event on my other blog......when I whisper behind a canvased veil.