The monsoons are back!....Hail! the Lord....and what a timing…..right before a weekend. It doesn’t get better than this in Bombay.
Dewang, Nama, Rahul, Pooja, Roshan and I went to catch the last show at Sterling (V.T) this Saturday(28th July). We are not going to talk about the movie. Period. It’s enough to know that we walked out during the interval and considered ourselves blessed for having the wisdom to do so. Once outside, like all good Bombay-ites, went to the nearest CCD. (0000hrs). After spending an hour there; which was spent short-listing candidates for my planned near-future elopement, we pulled out the bikes only to find Roshan’s grand bullet with water in her belly!!....... Took us another 10 mins to heat her (Roshan, you can’t blame me for gender-discrimination) up n get her started. Again we put on the True Bombay-ite mantle and decided to spend some time on Marine Drive…..(0100hrs)
Just as were reaching the almost-deserted Marine Drive,(0115hrs) the rain God woke up from his prized slumber and decided to bless us. The six of us huddled together; four of us under a single umbrella and Rahul and Pooja in their Undertaker rain coats. Not that we really wanted to stay dry, it was just more fun combating for space under the umbrella and getting wet at the same time. These are the moments when you thank the Lord again and again; for the rains and the sea, for the friends and the city.
After about forty five minutes of gratifying banter reality dawned and wisdom prevailed.(0205hrs) We realized that if we wanted to reach home without actually having to swim our way, we should head home immediately. We said bye to Dewang and Nama and pulled out the bikes. And off we went into the dark impishly inviting night. What followed will remain in my memory for a long time. Not that I have never ridden in rain or have not lived the Bombay Monsoon life, but this particular experience was unlike any other. My being prompted to write about it is proof enough.
We rode along Marine drive, up Peddar road, along Haji Ali, Shivaji Park, Bandra Reclamation, Western Express n finally Santacruz. All along we were washed down by the glory of the rains. The visibility was limited to 2 feet. It did take a breather a couple of times only to come down ever more forcefully. It was so strong, our skin hurt, and we looked up to the sky, opened our arms and welcomed the pain. We could barely open our eyes. It wasn’t the clichéd riding-in-the-rain; it was riding through a water blanket. It was like riding under a huge waterfall spread over kilometers. The road was disappearing under the tyres. We knew it could get worse, but the sheer joy of living the almost-revered moments far replaced the fear of finding a pot hole. As I read this paragraph I don’t think the words do justice to what we experienced. So I am gonna leave describing the rain at that, close my eyes and relive that ride. It’s one of those that have to be experienced to be understood.
The ride, other than giving the joy of the rain, presented to us the different facets of the city that I have come to love so much…..
If you have been on Marine Drive-Shivaji Park stretch after 12, you will understand what I mean. If you are on a bike and are riding on that road, for the life of yours don’t try your stunts even if you have a beautiful girl (read: me) sitting behind. Every few seconds you will find fast cars and very fast cars ripping past you. And somehow the rains add another ‘very’ to them. You can see all the latest models and the old models done up a la’ DC going (read: flying) pass you. Thankfully Roshan and Rahul were sane (for once) enough to keep to the left and let the four-wheeled ones have their way. Reminded me of Star Wars
We were fortunate to be at the Peddar road-Mahalaxmi crossroad during one of those hiatuses when another beautiful picture of Bombay presented itself;(0220hrs) the roadside cycle coffee-wala!!!.... Bliss!.... Don’t know if any other city can offer this treat at 2 in the morning. It was a perfect moment: The drizzle gently falling on already-dripping us, the cold and beautiful night, the wide empty (almost) crossroad lighted by high bright street lamps, the wind blowing in from the sea beyond the tall beautiful apartment buildings of the rich, the ever smiling coffee-wala n us, the four crazy wet shivering friends. We had coffee while chatting with the coffee-wala about his business model and his target customer. My friends also concluded that it will be a good idea for me to elope with him…. Well, its definitely a romantic idea, if not feasible, my coffee-wala and I, the two of us on his cycle riding through Bombay on a wet cold night singing Payar hua, Ikrar hua……… with the coffee can tinkling providing the background music….(sigh!)
Along the way, every now and then we saw young and not so young boys by the road side playing in the rain. Some were playing football, and some were more delightfully artless, just running against the direction of the rain, arms wide open and eyes shut, screaming beautiful incoherent lexis. Its amazing how this city has come to perkily embrace everything that The Creator has to offer.
As we approached the last stretch; the western express, (0235rs) all hell (read: Heaven) broke loose. We had never seen anything like that. Zero visibility, rain falling like a thousand pins and I found myself futilely wishing the roads stretched a little longer.
Am sure we are gonna talk about this night for a very long time….here’s to many more such nights…….. Cheers!
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Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Roomies
Been some time since the last post.... not making any excuses,...... am guilty.....:)
A few weeks back Rediff.com invited write ups about experiences of living with roommates,..... i was in my "transition"....(Read "Transition Syndrome") n hence had enough time to write about my experience. n guess what?..... they published it,... today. I m just reproducing the same here.... am sure you have lots to share.....
Quote
We asked readers to share their stories about living with roommates. Here, Janaki D, a 26-year-old Mumbai-based Mahindra & Mahindra employee, tells of her roomie experiences:
I moved to Bombay (I prefer to refer to the city by her earlier name) three years ago and have been living with roommates ever since. For the first two years, I had the same four roomies all through, then in the third year I was sharing company quarters with a colleague and recently, since only a couple of weeks now, with the friend-of-a-friend. And not once have I ever regretted living with any of them.
That is not to say it was rosy between us all the time. There are always compromises and adjustments to be made -- some amicably and some with closed fists and gritted teeth.
My first two years in Bombay were great. All four of us were away from home for the first time, and made the most of it. It was a lot of fun setting up a new house together. We got to know each other and had good times -- pillow fights, water fights and some real fights. I remember one time our flush broke and the house was flooded. After desperately trying to track a plumber, once the initial hysteria had died down, we started making boats and drenching each other. The four of us cuddled up together to sleep on a single bed that night, only to find that the house had flooded again the next morning!
We looked after each other and tended to whoever took ill; at the same time, we learned to give each other space when required. Even though we had different friend-circles in college we made sure to spend time with each other. We had dinner together regularly (at least during the first year), we rented DVDs and watched late night movies and porn together, we had innumerable all-night gossip sessions and late night coffee sessions.
During my third year in Mumbai I moved in with a colleague from work -- my company allotted us accomodation and the two of us were assigned roomies. This was a completely different experience altogether from my first two years. My new roommate was a great girl but we had absolutely nothing in common. Different lifestyles, different habits -- everything about us was different. I can count on my fingers the number of times we had a long, meaningful conversation. We were always nice to each other, no misunderstandings, no arguments. And we parted amicably after one year was up.
Now (since the last couple of weeks) I live with a stranger, the friend-of-a-friend. We are still in the process of getting to know each other.
The last three years have taught me a lot about human behaviour. In particular, they have taught me that compromises are not necessarily a negative thing. I have friends who have had torrid times with their roommates because of ego clashes -- if you don't want to compromise, you're in for a rough time.
Here are a few bits of advice I have for those who share their accomodations with roommates:
~ Living together does not necessarily mean you should become friends.
This is the first cardinal rule. Understand that you move in with your roommates more as a matter of convenience than anything else. During the first year I had my mine complaining about my not spending enough time with them and not sharing gossip with them. Please understand that you don't become soul-mates just because you live under the same roof. Learn to give your roomies enough space (especially if they happen to be girls). You will ultimately become friends if all the other factors fall into place, but don't push it.
~ Set the ground rules.
Very, very important. It was mutually agreed upon when I started living with my colleague that she would not smoke anywhere in the house, but in her own room. One morning I got up to find cigarette butts all over the living room floor. After that, she started smoking in the living room even when I was around. And my biggest mistake was that I never confronted her about this breach of our understanding.
Make sure the ground rules are set very early on and don't hesitate to confront the culprit if ever they are broken. You don't want to be stuck with a dirty kitchen, or clothes lying all around the house. It's important to discuss even trivial issues -- for instance, I am a sucker for open windows. I hate it when the curtains are drawn. And all the roommates I've had up until now have preferred to keep curtains drawn!
Also, you need to respect other's needs. During college, the person who wanted to stay up longer than the rest to study would make use of the kitchen, so that the others could sleep well -- my roommates were darlings when it came to this.
Make sure you divide the household chores and decide how the bills will be settled much in advance to avoid later misunderstandings. Most importantly, decide from the beginning what you will compromise on and what you will not -- and learn to realise when it's just not worth it.
~ Don't take sides.
Chances are you will be often be the audience to an argument or a fight between your roommates. Never -- and I mean never -- take sides. Even if you like one more than you like the other. You are only going to mess it up. After the first year, one of my roommates left. She and my other roommates had issues that couldn't be completely solved. During their arguments I never took sides, but remained neutral. And it helped in the long run.
~ Try your best to make it work.
It's good to start off with the positive assumption that the person you are going to move in with is very nice and that you will have a good time living with her/ him. Try to get to know your roommates better, try to be nice, be helpful -- trust me, simple things like saying good morning, asking how his/ her day was, saying goodnight, making two cups of tea instead of one -- these small gestures will contribute to a good relationship with your roommate.
For me, it's been one amazing ride -- lots and lots of stories to tell when I become a grandmom!
Unquote
This is the link in case you wanna see the original........
http://www.rediff.com/getahead/2007/jul/11room.htm
---
A few weeks back Rediff.com invited write ups about experiences of living with roommates,..... i was in my "transition"....(Read "Transition Syndrome") n hence had enough time to write about my experience. n guess what?..... they published it,... today. I m just reproducing the same here.... am sure you have lots to share.....
Quote
We asked readers to share their stories about living with roommates. Here, Janaki D, a 26-year-old Mumbai-based Mahindra & Mahindra employee, tells of her roomie experiences:
I moved to Bombay (I prefer to refer to the city by her earlier name) three years ago and have been living with roommates ever since. For the first two years, I had the same four roomies all through, then in the third year I was sharing company quarters with a colleague and recently, since only a couple of weeks now, with the friend-of-a-friend. And not once have I ever regretted living with any of them.
That is not to say it was rosy between us all the time. There are always compromises and adjustments to be made -- some amicably and some with closed fists and gritted teeth.
My first two years in Bombay were great. All four of us were away from home for the first time, and made the most of it. It was a lot of fun setting up a new house together. We got to know each other and had good times -- pillow fights, water fights and some real fights. I remember one time our flush broke and the house was flooded. After desperately trying to track a plumber, once the initial hysteria had died down, we started making boats and drenching each other. The four of us cuddled up together to sleep on a single bed that night, only to find that the house had flooded again the next morning!
We looked after each other and tended to whoever took ill; at the same time, we learned to give each other space when required. Even though we had different friend-circles in college we made sure to spend time with each other. We had dinner together regularly (at least during the first year), we rented DVDs and watched late night movies and porn together, we had innumerable all-night gossip sessions and late night coffee sessions.
During my third year in Mumbai I moved in with a colleague from work -- my company allotted us accomodation and the two of us were assigned roomies. This was a completely different experience altogether from my first two years. My new roommate was a great girl but we had absolutely nothing in common. Different lifestyles, different habits -- everything about us was different. I can count on my fingers the number of times we had a long, meaningful conversation. We were always nice to each other, no misunderstandings, no arguments. And we parted amicably after one year was up.
Now (since the last couple of weeks) I live with a stranger, the friend-of-a-friend. We are still in the process of getting to know each other.
The last three years have taught me a lot about human behaviour. In particular, they have taught me that compromises are not necessarily a negative thing. I have friends who have had torrid times with their roommates because of ego clashes -- if you don't want to compromise, you're in for a rough time.
Here are a few bits of advice I have for those who share their accomodations with roommates:
~ Living together does not necessarily mean you should become friends.
This is the first cardinal rule. Understand that you move in with your roommates more as a matter of convenience than anything else. During the first year I had my mine complaining about my not spending enough time with them and not sharing gossip with them. Please understand that you don't become soul-mates just because you live under the same roof. Learn to give your roomies enough space (especially if they happen to be girls). You will ultimately become friends if all the other factors fall into place, but don't push it.
~ Set the ground rules.
Very, very important. It was mutually agreed upon when I started living with my colleague that she would not smoke anywhere in the house, but in her own room. One morning I got up to find cigarette butts all over the living room floor. After that, she started smoking in the living room even when I was around. And my biggest mistake was that I never confronted her about this breach of our understanding.
Make sure the ground rules are set very early on and don't hesitate to confront the culprit if ever they are broken. You don't want to be stuck with a dirty kitchen, or clothes lying all around the house. It's important to discuss even trivial issues -- for instance, I am a sucker for open windows. I hate it when the curtains are drawn. And all the roommates I've had up until now have preferred to keep curtains drawn!
Also, you need to respect other's needs. During college, the person who wanted to stay up longer than the rest to study would make use of the kitchen, so that the others could sleep well -- my roommates were darlings when it came to this.
Make sure you divide the household chores and decide how the bills will be settled much in advance to avoid later misunderstandings. Most importantly, decide from the beginning what you will compromise on and what you will not -- and learn to realise when it's just not worth it.
~ Don't take sides.
Chances are you will be often be the audience to an argument or a fight between your roommates. Never -- and I mean never -- take sides. Even if you like one more than you like the other. You are only going to mess it up. After the first year, one of my roommates left. She and my other roommates had issues that couldn't be completely solved. During their arguments I never took sides, but remained neutral. And it helped in the long run.
~ Try your best to make it work.
It's good to start off with the positive assumption that the person you are going to move in with is very nice and that you will have a good time living with her/ him. Try to get to know your roommates better, try to be nice, be helpful -- trust me, simple things like saying good morning, asking how his/ her day was, saying goodnight, making two cups of tea instead of one -- these small gestures will contribute to a good relationship with your roommate.
For me, it's been one amazing ride -- lots and lots of stories to tell when I become a grandmom!
Unquote
This is the link in case you wanna see the original........
http://www.rediff.com/getahead/2007/jul/11room.htm
---
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