Bandra 50

For almost about 18 years of my life Bandra 50 was my world.Even today when i am im Bandra I feel so much at home, as I have spent my child hood years walking or cycling through each and every lane. Each road and lane has a memory for me.

Bandstand
Back then in the 80`s Bandstand was like a beautiful island with lovely mansions, a few sky scrapers, a lovely garden and our favourite the sea rock hotel. It was calm and peaceful. I think as a kid my grandpa made atleast one trip a week to Bandstand in his Red fiat car, right outside that little garden next to the Café, used to be pets on display for the kids to watch and pony rides on a red carriage. Those lovely evenings for me would only end after bitting into some hot butta( corn) which I truly loved or icecream candy.
The searock hotel was another favourite. With Dada having many of his company officers visiting him from abroad, we often visited this hotel,I loved going there in Christmas to see the lovely decorations.Unfortunately the Sea rock hotel does not exist any more, but I did get an opportunity to stay in this wonderful property before it was demolished

Bandra fort
I remember discovering the Bandra fort one morning on my summer holidays when I was probably 12 or 13 walking to Bandstand, I was dead tired that day having walked and when I walked up through the structure of the fort onto a little mountain and saw the worli sea face on the other side and a temple, I almost felt like I had accomplished a big mission, and from then on every time I had cousins and friends over I have taken them to showcase the Bandra fort. The amphitheatre came on much later, but I never happened to go there for a play

Hill road
Hill road was one of my favourite roads in Bandra, coz of the variety of shops it had. Moving out of Bandstand towards Hill road, the first pit stop would be the Hearch Bakery where we would get the 8 shaped dinner rolls, the veg pattice and other savouries. The now famous Hearch burger was not discovered then. The American express bakery across the road was popular in the house for brown bread. The A1 bakery was the place we only visited if we didn’t find bread in the other 2 bakeries
Moving further on the left you would find the Gazebo restaurant, which was another favourite with the family, it now has been converted to a upmarket supermarket called Nature`s basket. The Sacred Heard school has been my 10th standard exam centre. I remember eating the pani puri at Kailash parbat opposite sacred heart, it used to be a quite a deserted road devoid of the traffic and noise that exists today.
The cheap jack store for gifts, birthday cards and needle work items, mulchand store for its imported goods and the Balaji restaurant for a quick idli and pavbhaji snack. The Bambi laundry, Hitlon the only upmarket store of our times, the energee stall of Sarita doodh centre, wax house, the maze called Elco market with a zillion shops, and the road side pani puri outside elco were all part of some wonderful memories of Hill road.
The new talkies theater has now been converted into an upmarket department stall, while the old post office next to it still reminds me those days when I would buy greetings cards and stand in line to post them to my family abroad.


Bazzar Road and chapel road
The road parallel to the hill road was refered to as the Bazzar road and chapel road. I was very fascinated by this tiny road, which had something different to see on each corner and by lane. I always walked through that road looking at small Portuguese villas on either side with loud English music blaring through the windows, residential buildings, the chawls. I even remember spending a few summer afternoons in one of those chawls where our cook stayed. She would take me to her place in afternoon and I would spend the afternoon playing in the verandah of that chawl. In my memory it seemed like a very clean place. We also went there during Navratis, in a particular community area where my dad would sing the traditional garbas

Turner Road
This was a again a quiet road with some beautiful bunglows, shops, and few sky scrappers. I usually walked through this road on my way to school. The Taj & crossiants cake shop was one of our favourite shops for bread, cakes and pastries. That corner has now been replaced with an array of food joints like Lemon grass, Gloria jeans etc. The Taj has been replaced by Birdy`s. Moving further next toe Tavaa, there used to be a grocery store called Benze, which was the place we ordered our stuff from. The shop still exists.

Moving forward on that road, some of the small bunglows have been demolished to make way for large gold jewelery shops and sky scrappers. I still remember walking through this road looking at those wonderful bungalows. At the crossing of waterfield road after Moti Mahal there used to be a famous Chinese joint called stomach, a place we ordered a lot of take away, it still exists but in a smaller avtar. Next to stomach there used to be pastry shop called oven fresh. I remember celebrating the exams over treat over some lovely sandwiches at this place. Over the years it changed to another cake shop, a gelato parlour and now a designer store. Opposite stomach used to be a premier icecream store of my time Dollops, It stayed there for a couple of years till it was converted to Dosa Diner, and now a Ritu kumar shop.

Moving forward on that road closer to the right turn for St Martin`s road stood some lovely villas, some of them have been demolished, while some villas who have resisted the big bucks still stand there well maintained reminding you of the good old days. The Tutkuks restaurants opposite Mala Sinha`s house was a favourite at our house. I still remember those visits with my grand pa to parcel some takeaway.

St Martins Road
As you walk into this lane from turner road on the left is Mala Sinha`s house, not in the best of its health, moving forward is the St Martin`s Nursing home on the right. I can never forget this place, many visits to the child specialist here. Not much has changed at The Raheja college. But the buildings in this lane have either been demolished and rebuilt or raised. One such bunglow next to Sterling building I still remember. There used to be an old uncle in that bunglow on the first floor, as I went to school in the morning, he would be sitting at the window with his cup of tea and would wave and smile at me as I went to school. That bungalow doesn’t exist anymore.


Dr Ragunath Marg
On the left on the turning of Dr Ragunath marg stands the vyamshala, not much has changed here. The small garden where I did go to play, and also center of Navratri celebrations. For some reason it looked much smaller to me. The vyamshala as the name suggests was also a exercise centre for local body builders, our balcony in Anand vihar overlooked the exercise area, and I completely was thrilled calling them names and then hiding in the balcony. Happy Home, Savita building and now revamped Woodlands all seemed like a community. We almost new every one in every single building. The Navratri festival was also organized in a manner that each building has the garba each day. So that way all building`s could host the garba.
The sharmas staying in Woodland were known for their Holi celebrations. The wild holi parties of Woodland building were quite popular.


Anand Vihar
Opposite Woodland stands Anand Vihar, our house, As I look at it today, it looks like a haunted building, Most of the windows are shut, there are hardly any children playing in the compound. Leakage fixing marks all over the building it seems like its on a dead bed.

But few decades back, this building had bloomed with fresh paint, and ignited with lights to celebrate weddings, hosted New year parties on the lovely mosciac terrace, and burned the old man on the water tank to bring in the new year. Carol singers had spread the Xmas joy by singing in the xmas carols in the building foyer and later visited each home to collect donations for charity. The building gates had welcomed many girls and middle aged women who wished to sharpen their homely skills or simply learn something new at the famous stitching, sewing, and knitting classes run by Vimuben, the lady instrumental in bringing our family to Anand vihar

Plum cakes, xmas savouries Diwali mithai`s and chakri`s tucked in plates and covered with hand knitted plate covers had exchanged houses in the festive season. A zillion games of four corners, badminton, chor police and more had been played in this building ground by children like me who had played and itched them in their childhood memories for ever. This building had also given me an opportunity to try out my entrepreneur skills as kid, where I had put up my study desk and displayed handmade envelops and boxes for sale right under that coconut tree at the entrance of the gate.

As I stood outside that same building, it seemed like it needed a new life, it had done its job of painting wonderful memories to all those who lived here, it was probably time to get a new canvas.

Bandra Talao Area
The Bandra Talao is now a dirt dumping ground but few years back it has been developed to be a promising tourist attraction. They had got peddel boats and it was indeed a pleasure boating there the few times that I ever did. The National library and Gandhi seva mandir were other frequently visited places.

Nandi Gali
The Nandi gali the small lane opposite the Bandra talao which directly takes you to the Bandra station was a lane I was very fascinated by. It had and still has a lot of shady bars, a great lane for people watching. One of my desires was to take my friends and watch a movie in the infamous nandi theatre, however I was not very successful in it, as they agreed to come and diverted me to eating malpua at the Noor dairy opposite the theatre. I remember as teenager my dad has told me about the dance bar, and what happens there. I remember him telling me that Asha is a dance bar and he had also educated me that all restaurants which state bar and restaurant could be dance bars. Asha bar still exists in this lane. Almost towards the end of this lane is Mahavir sales agency, the wholesaler for chocolates and biscuits. As a kid I had made many visits to this shop

Bandra Station
As you walk out of Nandi Gali, you come right outside Bandra Station. Right opposite is the old ticket counter, which has been closed and converted like a art gallery with a few paintings of Bandra station. It was from here that I bought a ticket to make my first journey alone on the western railway

Discovering Dharavi

My first impression of Dharavi, as a child was that it was a place to buy leather goods.We often passed this route on our way back from our favourite breakfast joint in Matunga.I remember dadaji, taking me to this place,and buying me probably my first expensive leather bag. It was for 450 ruppes

It was only when I read Kalpana Sharma`s book Rediscovering Dharavi, when I got a whole new perspective on Dharavi, and on it being such a big industry in the middle of the city, so that time onwards, I have always wanted to visit this slum, finally after weeks of trying to convince people to come along we finally took the Dharavi, Reality tour.

Reality tours is a company which organizes tours of Dharavi, markets of Mumbai, Dhobi Ghatt, Kamathipura etc . Any one can take the tour on their own too, Its just 400 bucks per person,

Dharavi Diary
At 9:30a.m we arrive at Mahim Station. I tell my friend, I wonder how we will spot the guide.There were couple of firangs standing there, too, so he told me be assured we are in right place, considering there are so many firangs over here, they would definitely be taking the tour. The guide arrived in Reality tour T-shirt, he told us to wait a couple of minutes, before he took the five of us. Two of them were foreigners and it was 3 of us Desi .
We walked with Sunil over the common bridge of Mahim station, before he began the tour he gave us some statistics on the no of people who stay here etc, and instructed us to not take pictures. He told us they had the required police permission

Industries we visited

Plastic Recycling Industry
This is one of the biggest industries in Dharavi. This is exactly the place you can find your old broken doll, the plastic coverings of your television/ remote/ computer. Any thing that has some bit of plastic. The plastic is sorted out, every metallic part in it is removed. Once its sorted its put into a crushing machine, where its formed into minute granules. They look like small beads in varied colours which are kept to dry on the terraces. We walked up 2 storeys of one such terrace made out of patra metal strips which was little scary. I was worried, and hoped not to break the patra terrace and also come down with it . Thank fully I survived, and so did the terrace.
After this beads are dried for sometime they are again put in a machine melted and a single uniform colour is put in to form single coloured granules which are used in industries. Well the fumes that we inhaled and what this workers inhale is nothing less than dangerous. I could smell the carbon in the air. Its really sad that some of the biggest industrialists who own industries here, don’t live here, they live in Malbar hill and the expensive neighborhoods of Mumbai, one of owners had a 7 series BMW, he had discreetly hidden it behind one of the garages. There is no workers safety, they have huge health risks. It amazes me how people work here, and survive, with so many movies being made, NGO`s working here, why doesn’t anyone raise an alarm about one of the most atrocious types of Human labour in our city


Clothing & bakery
Our next stop was a small bakery. Over 100 kg of Khari biscuits are made and sold every day. There was a beeline of bakery walas outside his small 3 room industry, where khari biscuits and pav, are churned out every hour of the day and night.The clothing industry was probably one of the industries with the safest working conditions. Men sat peacefully working on their machines, trying to finish as many pieces as possible, as they would be paid according to the job work

Leather industry
As we walked out of one of the slum schools, I saw a huge truck piled with stacks and stacks of goat/cow skin. After seeing that image I have vowed to never buy anything of leather. My friend Christina tried, to calm me down by telling me that it was just a by product after they killed animals for meat. However I will continue to use the leather bag I have, coz I have already committed the sin, but wont buy anything new


Kumbhar Vada
The potters quarters, this was one of favourite stops. Apparently over 100 Kumbhar families live here. They make pots in various shapes and sizes. But interestingly the mud comes in trucks from Gujrat. If you give them a sample of any cutlery they can mould and make it for you. I have personally purchased a mud clay dinner set with glasses, couple of years back, and it continues to me one of my favorite crockery possessions

Apart from this we all saw some packing industries, where soap is weighed and packed, Currogated boxes, are made to order according to requirement or old ones are repaired and resold. The recycling of Paint boxes and big oil cans and home industries of papad

What is amazing is a the cultural amalgam that this slum houses, There is one section which is the muslim ilaka, one which is south indians, the maharashtrians, the kumbhars. There are couple of mosques & temples .Our guide tells us that after the riots things have become low key, and all communities don’t interact as before. The houses that people live in our really small less than 100-200 sq feet. It amazes me on how their entire life fits in so well, right from their living room, kitchen, television all in that one little place. Houses are located in small tiny little lanes, if I lived here, I am sure I would have been lost trying to find my home

The real problem is for children, there are schools in the slum, but even parents who earn enough to send their kids to better schools cant do that, coz the minute they see Dharavi in the address, they stop accepting the admission form, so they try to put sion or mahim in the address

About the Guide
Our guide, Sunil was very interesting guy. He spoke good English and he himself lives in a slum in Mankhurd. He came back to Mumbai to study and work. He finished his 12th, worked with a pizza chain, a call center, managing a chai shop, till he read about this job, and has been working here for the past 6 months. The fact that he himself lives in a slum, he is able to give a better picture to all of us. He seemed like a really hardworking boy, I do wish him all the best, and hope he succeeds in whatever he does.

To get more some more insights buy the book Rediscovering Dharavi

Or read Sattus blog http://www.bombaylives.com/index.php/dharavi-reality-tour.html


To take the tour vist http://www.realitytoursandtravel.com/privatelongtour.html

Ba`s Muthias

The Muthia, a shallow steamed and oil baked delicacy is a family food legacy, coming from my grandmothers` mother, Lili Ba. This is something I discovered recently.Originally in the normal gujrati way Muthia is first steamed and than cut into pieces and then put into a pan, tadka is layed on these pieces. This is something I only discovered when I got married, coz that’s how my mother-in-law made it. So when I told her this was not the muthia, we made, she looked puzzled. From the time I grew up, my imagination of muthia was the big round dumplings with delicious fillings steamed and slightly brown on the sides. Over the years I had shared this delicacy with friends and collegeous at work, and they had all cherished it and wondered what it was, coz they hadn’t heard of this kind of gujrati delicacy in their life. Although they had picked up muthia`s from the shop, but it did not resemble anything like this

The Great Discovery
Obviously all these years, I had no interest in cooking, so I had never bothered to ask my mom or grand mom about the muthia, but one morning, I really wondered who had invented this dish, or was is a traditional food of our community. My Mom quickly replied, this is Lili ba`s invention. Lilavati ba is my grandmothers mother, all her grandchildren, including my parents and their siblings vouched about her great cooking skills, and how she had taught them to eat karela and all. I always thought her food was the typical gujrati, which I never would never have been interested in anyways, but I discovered today that one of my favourite gujrati snacks, the Muthia was invented by Lili Ba
Dadi, tells me, that every one in the family was fond of this muthia, it was the quickest snack to make, she made various combinations, from kothmari muthia, which she had made for Dadi, and Sudhin uncle one evening, when she was running late to go home. She even made it for dinner sometimes as her husband, popularly known as Bhai also cherished it

Why was it invented?
I really wonder why Ba, invented this recipe. One thought is considering she had a such a large family( 11 children) and various cousins children’s or cousins, she thought this would be a great idea, to cut the cooking time, and the result was a new delicacy. I don’t know when she invented this, but maybe some of you from the choksey family might remember so, I can add on to it

Variations in the dish
I have no idea, how many of Ba`s children and their families, still make this delicacy, but I can tell you that Dadi and My Dad have gone out of the way to take this delicacy across the world.
Dadi invented the American version of Muthia, in manner of the baked muthia, put all the ingredients in the bowl and bake it in a oven, they come out like small pieces of cake, taste is same, only more presentable.This is very famous in Memphis and good knows how many parts of United states.People across the world love this. They have taken recipes from dadi and made it
Papa loved to experiment so he made muthia`s of various kind, ranging from mixed vegetable, to palak and more


Here is Ba`s Recipe for you all

Ingredients
1 small cup Rava
1 big tablespoon chana atta
Ginger- chilli paste
1 Cabbage grated
1 Onion grated optional
half simla mirch grated
2 tablespoons oil
hing( Asofedia)
Salt
Sugar

For cooking
Tal(Sesame seeds)
Rai( Mustard seeds)
Little oil
Mix all the ingredients above well, into a batter do not add water. Take a nonstick pan, add oil, mustard seeds, sesame, as they crackle, turn of the gas and put it down, make small dumplings of the batter and put it in the pan, let it cook on slow fire, tossel it to the other side, once one side is brown. After both sides of the dumpling are brown cook it for 2-3 mins more and they ready to be served

Drivers Diary -A treasure trove of Interesting tales from across the country and beyond

A driver always has something interesting to share,having traveled across the length and breath of the country on account of their work.On my trip to Agra from Delhi, I happened to meet one such interesting driver and his travel diary had a plethora of interesting stories, which I am delighted to share them with you all

Road Trip to Pakistan
I never thought an Indian vehicle could drive through Lahore and Karachi and small villages in the middle. But driverji tells us its very much possible, he has driven through Pakistan over 3 times with tourists and has completely enjoyed being in that country.
You need to take your visa from Delhi, and then your car and driver gets a green card, which entitles him to drive through the country. You enter Pakistan via the Attari border near Amristar.The time for such exits is between 10- 11 in the morning. There are 3 customs checks that happen, and then you drive in and reach Lahore, The country side is beautiful. There are similar kind of hotels lik India. Scotters, bikes and cycles are not allowed in Pakistan. It’s a dictorial country, women have the worst leaving conditions. He narrates many instances where women ask people like him and other drivers to take them to Delhi the bijli ka shehar.
He said that the country is pretty much safe, there is no reason too worry about being attacked by anyone, but as every country has good and bad people, if you happen to meet one bad cop or bad person, who happens to harras you, you would consider it as a bad country. He says hiring a innova from a reputed company for 7 days would be enough to cover Pakistan. The damages would be approx 25,000( only travel)


Road Trips
Driverji has been working for over 20 years and has traveled to almost all parts of India, and the neighboring countries, including Nepal, Pakistan and China

Three places you must never visit on a roadtrip( by Driverji)

Kashmir: He said that in Kashmir people are extremely violent. He has had many instances of leaving tourists at the houseboat and when he would return to pick them up, he would be told that they have already gone. Days later, it would be known that the tourist was murdered and his body would be found floating on the water. The house boat owners, or tourists just want to make instant money

Nepal:Nepal is quite a notorious country. The minute they see an Indian number plate on the car, they will break the headlights, damage the car, and if the tourists are inside, would try to steal their goods, or even threaten them or hurt them with weapons

Negro village in Gujarat : Interestingly, I have never heard of this place although I have been to Gir. This is in Sasan Gir, a village full of Negros. Legend has it that the Nawab of Junagarh, brought them as slaves to work for them, another story says that they descended from the earlier times, when the Arab traders brought Abbisynian slaves many many generations ago. However this guys speak gujarati, eat the local food, etc but they look like negros, Africans.
This guys are extremely violent, and because of their poor living conditions can steal anything from you including your clothes


Kokila Van
On the highway , you would pass through an exit for Kokila Van. The driverji smiled and asked me, if I knew what this place was. I smiled replied, is it a village made by Ambani brothers for their mother.
Kokila van is basically a shani vanish place. Basically the story goes that the wife of shani was talking to him, and he didn’t pay attention, so she told him, that whatever you will look at, will get destroyed, that’s why they say ke shani ka graha ho to bhari hota hai.

So if you want to get away from this shani graha, u need to visit the place with your mothers brother on a Saturday, or if u come alone u have to come 7 times. Interesting. Lot of people come here every Friday night



Incentive programs for Drivers by Hotels
Growing up in the cites, we have heard about the various marketing schemes by companies to entice customers to buy their products or even incentive program by companies for their employees, but I had never heard of incentive programs for tourist drivers. Interestingly every hotel ranging from a roadside Dhabba to a five star hotel on the Delhi Agra highway has an incentive program for the driver. They are in various forms

Food commission on Dhabhas- We happened to stop by at a nice Dhabha for lunch. The parathas were scrumptious, and as a gesture to thank my driver for bringing me to this nice place, I insisted he shared the table with me, he was reluctant but i insisted. He had some normal sabji and couple of rotis and I was happy with my one paratha. When the bill came I was shocked to see Rs 300, this was ridiculous, coz even if I went to a udupi restaurant in Mumbai,I would end up paying maximum 150- 200 bucks. I felt cheated, so although I went to the counter and paid the money, I told the owner, that I knew he was cheating me by over charging me. When we sat back in the car, my honest driver returned me some money. I enquired and he said, that he charged you a tourist tariff, and in such cases they give money to the driver, as an incentive to bring tourists to his dhabba. That’s how the stories of this incentive program came out. Whenever drivers stop by at a dhabba, the driver is given free food, or money, and sometimes both. Then he clearly pointed out, the reason he didn’t want to share the table with me, coz anyways his food would have been taken care off. The dhabba owners address the drivers as Ustadji.


Prizes on the number of visits with tourists at the hotel
Some of the more high profile hotels, give the driver free food, regardless of the fact that the travelers dine or not at the hotel. They make an entry of the car no and the driver in their register. So once the car has come 4 times its get a x gift, its come 6 times it gets an x gift. They also distribute free blankets or bags during diwali


Commission on inhouse guests
Most of the good hotels including the Taj, oberoi etc in Agra, give the driver a 300rs allowance on bringing a guest to their hotel, they also give him free food and accommodation

Free accommodation and nominal family accommodation charges for driver
Some of the good hotels like Jaypee palace, if informed earlier, give the driver a room for him and his family at a nominal rate of 200 bucks. He says that the room is as good as the 7000 rupee room we stay in, without the amenities like AC and fridge etc. They also give free food and accommodation for all the drivers who have guests at the hotel.

Anokhi ke Paratha the Indian pizza in Agra
This was the best thing that Driverji introduced me to. Anokhi a small stall, has the best the parathas in the world. He makes them in desi ghee, and they are so well made in texture, better then a thin crust pizza also. Apparently this guy owns all the land in the surrounding, it is located next to ITC in Agra. He has a small stall, but all the drivers from the hotels come to take parcels for their guests. It was the best paratha I have ever eaten, thousands times better than Partha gali in chandini Chowk

This article would be incomplete without thanking Bhuj, from whom I have inherited the wonderful quality of talking to the locals to find out about the local customs and traditions. If it hadn’t been for her, we all would have been

Short stories- 10 William House

For a long time i have been contemplating about writing a book of short stories, and after reading a post To Blog or not to Blog by my aunt, i realised that in our daily lives itself, there are so many premises we come across, that we can take them and build stories around them.10 William House is my first short story.It is completely fictional,however the seed for the story comes from a rickshaw driver i meet in Allahbad.


10 William House


Abdul lived in the old civil lines area of Allahabad.He was in his late 40`s but his profession as a cycle rickshaw driver had taken a toll on him. His face was full of wrinkles, so were his legs and he looked nothing less than 50 in age.Abdul lived alone in a small slum in a tiny lane in Civil lines. No one knew about the existence of his family. His house was a small room, with hardly any belongings apart from a small transistor radio, an old wooden cupboard, a few vessels and a stove. He liked to begin work early; he would wake up just before dawn, bath and cycle to the railway station.

It was just another day for Abdul; business had not been too good the previous day, so he drove to the railway station on the brink of dawn hoping to get some customers.A lot of trains going to Mughal Sarai and Lucknow stopped at Allahabad station every morning. Allahabad was not really a tourist destination but more of a student’s city.

Abdul reached the station and took a spot at the rickshaw stand. There were just about 2-3 cycle rickshawalas and autorickshaw drivers waiting at the stand. Abdul lived alone, so whenever he meet people he would love to talk. He chatted with Mohan the auto rickshaw driver about the auto rickshaw business, who was proudly telling him how he got fares in the night by ferrying prostitutes to their respective clients or making deals for them.Abdul was a very straight guy,he didn’t like this kind of talk, so he moved away from Mohan and sat on the cycle rickshaw wondering about the ways of this world.

The train arrived and there was spur of passengers coming out. Among all the passengers a girl walked out.She was alone, and she had no luggage accept a big bag hanging over her shoulders.She was looking at some transport she haggled with the autorickshaw guy but he was not willing to come down on the price so she walked further looking for another mood of transport.

Abdul got up from his seat and went and asked the girl
"Bitiya tum Kaha jayogi, University le jayoo"
The Girl replied
"Nahi chacha, muje triveni sangam jana hai, aap kitne paise lenge"
"Bees rupee de dena bitya"
The girl was so charmed by his mannerism of talking that she instantly agreed to the ride without haggling on the price

The girl was a backpacker and she had come to see the Triveni Sangam and after that look around the city and board the bus to her next stop Lucknow.

As Abdul drove her through the tiny streets of Allahabad, she asked him about the specialty of Allahabad and house of Amitabh Bacchan. Abdul was more than delighted to tell her about Allahabad.She was thrilled to see those beautiful old British bungalows. He told her how life was different then, how the Britishers moved around in horse buggies.Infact his father worked for a very famous British judge Sir Frank Williams who owned a big mansion on Civil lines. His father was the main buggy driver. They lived in the huge servant quarters of the mansion. Even after independence Sir Frank Williams continued to live in Allahabad, but the horse buggy was soon gone. Abdul and his father continued to live with Sir Frank Williams and help around the house and do all his odd jobs.Abdul`s mother died when he was just about 2 years old, so he grew up with his father.

As they passed through William House,Abdul pointed it out to her. When she enquired, if he still lived there, Abdul’s pleasant smile shrunk and he said no. The curious girl obviously asked him about the reason, and he said ‘ Bitiya, Maf karma hum uske bareme bata nahi sakte’.

The triveni sangam ghat arrived and Abdul told the girl ‘ Bitiya dhyan rakhne, yeah nav vale ko 40 rupee se jyada maat dena, aur dhyan rakhne, who kumbh mele ke ghat pe koi pujari miljayega to aapko paiso ka sankalp karvayega”

The girl took the boat ride and wondered about the reason for Abdul leaving that house.After that blissful ride of the Triveni sangam, the girl decided to walk through the city. One of the things she noticed were this shops selling guns, revolvers.Curious as always she entered one of the shops and enquired how much it would cost for a normal revolver.She also asked the uncle to direct her to the house of Girdharisham. Girdharisham was a very old friend of the girls grandfather, since the house was nearby the girl decided to at least go and give a flying visit to the uncle.

Girdharisham lived in a palatial bungalow. He was a retired lawyer of the High court. As they chatted over chai and the crisp butter biscuit, the girl casually enquired if he knew Sir Frank Williams.Girdharisham told her that Sir Frank Williams was a very good friend of his father,who was also a judge.The girl got even more curious, so she enquired about him. Girdharisham`s face turned grim, he said Sir Frank Williams was murdered 5 years ago.

Sir Frank Williams lived in one of the biggest mansions of Allahabad, with the advent of urbanization one of the biggest builders from Noida wanted to construct a huge mall on that same property. He was willing to pay a hefty amount for the same plot of land. However Sir Williams was quite happy with his lifestyle and house and did not want any additional money. His son who lived in London was visiting him at that time. His son had tried his hands on various businesses using his fathers money and had been quite a failure. He had come to beg for some more money from Sir Williams.When he learnt about the astounding sum of money the builder was ready to offer his father,he realized the only thing to do was to kill his father.

One evening he went into the adjoining terrace of his father room, the lights had gone, but he noticed a human figure, and aimed at it. He fired two more shots and just as he was turning away the lights came up and he saw his father in front of him. Considering it as a illusion after killing his father he decided to walk off, but he had not gone far, when his father tried to hit his head with a big vase. A fist fight began between the duo and the son succeeded in killing the father with a pocket knife which he removed from his pocket.

The entire episode was witnessed by the servant’s son,Abdul.It was very brave of Abdul to stand up and play witness to the murder. However as you are aware money power pumps the delay in judicial system.The police have though recorded Abdul`s statement, William`s son has cleverly obtained a bail and lives in London, whereas the builder has decided to opt out of the deal,as they are wary of the house being dragged into any judicial custody.

The Quest for a Bride...

902 days…17520 hours...a gamut of emotions...
A hole of 1.5 lakh rupees in the pocket, using trains, bullock carts, buses to travel over 115000 km across the country, Meeting over 1000 people and 180 prospective brides to be. Lots of drama, action, and complete entertainment.

This is not a preview to, a new reality show on television, but this is a real story of a acquaintance from work. He hails from an educated gujrati family, who has settled in Bombay for many years, thus their connection with their caste members who stay in Gujarat is limited due to the distance. He had just began to work, and his parents thought it was a good time for him to settle down, he too readily agreed, and decided to actively participate in the pursuit of a good wife. So, every Friday night after work, he would take the train to Ahmedabad, get off in the morning and freshen up at his aunt’s house and then spend the day visiting various homes where the prospective brides and their family would meet him.

On an average every weekend he would meet at least about 4-5 girls and then take the train back to Mumbai on Sunday Night.This practice continued for more than a year, but something never seemed to have worked, either the parents were to afraid to send their daughters to Mumbai or they were just passing time,or the girl was not educated enough to lead a normal life in Bombay.

Frustration meter was going up, and suddenly his caste members decided to copy the successful formula of the Samuha Milan This is a very interesting concept, I was just baffled when I heard about it.

Samuha Milan is basically something where 80 girls( number can vary) and their families along with 80 boys and their families come together at this event. Each of the girls and boys are registered in the book along with their profiles and there is a unique number assigned to each of them.
The program begins with a talkative host, who gives an intro on the event and then the session begins.There is a little stage constructed, and the boy candidates and their families sit on one side, and the girl candidates and their families sit on the other side. It begins with candidate 1 going on stage and introducing himself

“Maru Name --- che, ooh Amdavad thi chu, ooh mechanical engineer chu, ane mara ----- shoak che ---, ohu ishu chu ke mari bahiri ek house wife hoi”
(My name, is -----, am from amdavad, and am a mechanical engineer, my interests are --- and I would like my wife to be a house wife)
Host will ask more questions, like which sub caste you are from and what your parents do etc
After his intro the boy gets off the stage, and the host tells the crowd, those interested in candidate A, can tick in the book provided and can meet him after the introduction. As soon as the candidate steps down from the stage, sometime eager parents would go and even approach them immediately.
In a similar fashion girl candidates arrive on the stage, and give their introduction and list down their expectations, for e.g. they want an Engineer husband etc

After this ramp walk is over, the parents of the potential brides and grooms aggressively set out to meet the candidates they have listed out. To me its sounds so awkward

The father of a potential bride goes to potential groom and says
"Amne tamara sathe vaat karvama interest che, amari chokri tya bethi che, so tamne yogya lage to agal vaat kariye, ane profile page ---- per che"
(We are interested in you, my daughter is sitting over there, pointing at the daughter, you can look at her profile on page- and if you are interested we can talk further)

Anyways our friend attended over 5- 6 Samuh milans, but nothing seemed to have materialized. It was almost more than 2.5 years now, and he was frustrated considering the dedication and hard work he had showcased in finding a bride. Finally what seemed like the last trip for him to Ahmedabad, he meet his wife, who was dressed in the most homely attire, to provoke the candidate to reject her, however the tables turned when they meet, and destiny brought them together.

To conclude,he said that the journey was although frustrating but, looking back it was indeed a learning experience for him, coz he got to meet different kind of people, learn about different kinds of human behaviour, and also got to visit places and people in the distant villages of his community, which he otherwise would never have got a chance.

The Wedding Weavers

A ground in Shivaji Park is getting ready to weave another Wedding, just like a studio getting ready for another shoot. A zillion men and women would have weaved their lives with each other in matrimony on this very soil.The atmosphere at the ground is calm, devoid of the burden of anchoring the zillion marriages it has witnessed so far.

Its about 1am in the morning, but it seems like a normal working day, for the workers at the ground. Some of them are busy unloading the carpets from the little tempo (referred as baccha) in their terminology, others are trying to sort the bamboos and tie them up in the prescribed manner basis the design which their absent minded supervisor seems to have told them. The supervisor Ismail is new, and is particularly known for giving filmsy excuses.

The owner of the decorator company,arrives to take a stock of things, and to ensure that the work on the site is executed in the right manner,he immediately notices the missing pillar at the gate which was part of the design and remarks

“Ismail, Gate pe pillar nahi lagaya, design maih tha na”
Absent minded Ismail, tries his antics with the boss
“Pillar to laga hai na, dekho na sahab”
The Seth is quite patient and calmly asks Ismail, how come he cant see the missing pillar,trying to fumble again for excuses, he says he didn’t see the design or forgot, in no mood to argue, the Seth tell him to refer the design and ensure the pillar is constructed.
“Chandni aagayi kya”, the Seth remarks.Relax Chandni is not the Chandni from the Chandni bar, instead Chandni is what is referred to the colourful or design cloth which is used around the tent.

Kailash is a worker from UP, he is busy setting up the frame of pipe for the tent. He lives in one of the slums in Lalbaugh. He has been suffering from Hernia, but refuses to get himself operated, as he thinks getting him self operated will harm him. Probably unaware or simply ignorant of the danger he is living in by breeding a disease in his body,he continues to work relentlessly to feed his family.It is people like Kailash, who make me realize, that lack of health awareness is such a big problem in our country.Thousands of people in our country die because they are unaware of the disease they are suffering with or they hold some pre-conceived notions related to surgery.The cities today are full of people like Kailash who leave their villages and families behind to earn as little as Rs 125 a day and an inch of place in some crowded slum for shelter. But since the wedding business is a seasonal affair, a lot of these labourers go back to the villages during the monsoon for farming, to get whatever they can make from their land. Sometimes I really wonder what will happen to our cities, with so many laborers, I guess it is time to urbanise the villages.

Its only a couple of hours for the morning, the section for the wedding ceremony is almost ready,the chandni (cloth) is put up around the vidhi section.The hustle-bustle at the site also increases, as more bachas (small tempos), tempos and more workers arrive with furniture and godhris (carpets) after winding up another reception site, the previous night. The bride and groom who would be tying the knot the next morning, would probably be taking their last nap as bachelors, unaware of those dozen hands who would have worked meticulously the entire night towards making it a picture perfect wedding for them.