Life is easy kya karein

I knew a girl Julie at my first job at a travel agency. She was the receptionist and the only sane one around. I met her again when I started working at Nariman point. Now she was the receptionist at a petrochemicals firm. One day when I visited her office, she introduced me to all her colleagues and boss. All were young and very jovial. So unlike the earlier place where Julie and me had met. The boss was young and dashing. I thought only fuddie duddies got a chance to head an office. Then came the invitation to have dinner with their office colleagues. Julie was all excited and said all of them want me to join. We went to the Garden Cafe at The Ambassador hotel. I had changed from my work clothes. I was excited to be in Garden cafe though I had been there earlier. I didn't understand much about office politics those days. This looked like one small happy family. All were cracking jokes and most were related to their office which I did not follow. I tried to give a few witty ones m...

I have a strong opinion on divorce. I am always pro the ditched party. For me, the one ditched is always the first wife. The bad one is almost always the man and not the other woman. This is the case even if I read of Mona kapoor, Boney Kapoor's wife passing away. I am writing a very filmy example as by the grace of God, amongst the people I know there are not many divorces. God help me. These days I am scared to utter a good thing with the fear that it may soon become untrue for me.I thought that a certain film actress took away the producer husband from his wife. I thought of the children from the first wife. Even after her death, I think and feel bad for the children. I am not linked to films in any way except being an occasional film viewer. I do read a lot of Mid Day and Bombay Times. In case of Dharmendra and Hema Malini, I always felt she was short changed. He married her but he was always with his first family at all public functions. I have no business of judging people ...

Since my maternal instincts are n a high, let me share the kind of mistakes moms make. this is after having two children and making my own mistakes. I have always written grudgingly about the force feeding parents do to their children. Each Mom thinks, the more my child eats the healthier or stronger he will be. I think more food will make my child grow faster is what the moms are thinking. These new age Moms are so happy that they can make cakes and tarts and pizzas at home. So this is what the child eats...everything with high sugar and fat content. We as children did not know what is fat and sugar content. That's also because in small towns we played a lot and ran around. There was enough physical exercise. If you wanted potato chips, Mom fried them at home. Each family made their own potato chips for the year by washing, peeling,slicing potatoes and then soaking them in salt water, washing it and drying them in the sun. You could store it for a year. Actually in our town Jhar...

The swimming pool at Shivaji Park which I go during ladies time has an interesting mix of people. The ladies timing is 3.30pm to5.30pm. The pool is near the sea on the western side. The sun sets in the west and it is hottest at the ladies time. What the people at the BMC were thinking when they decide these kind of timings. Even twelve noon as ladies time would be cooler. So now with the sun up, there are some women who dont care much about tanning and come to swim. I am one of the few exposed bodies at the pool in the water. Most women have swimsuits with half sleeves and frills covering the bum. Then some wear cycling shorts inside their swimsuits. Almost all women wear their undergarments along with the swimsuit. Some have suits matching with their daughters so it is easy to locate each other in the pool. They do not have the rubber swim caps but the fabric ones made of the swimsuit fabric. There was no coach for the last two months. The mothers and kids did whatever in the pool aft...

What is this Me time all the women keep talking about? The working women talk about it and the new mothers also. There are reams of paper spent on this Me time. I think the spas are churning out lot of this Me time thing to increase their business. Its become like a movie promotion. First they will talk about an alleged affair, then an alleged showdown. Earlier it would be how the actor shared his ghar ka khaana with the whole unit and now it will be how the actor cooked for the whole unit. Then there will be those accidents and how the stars shot in spite of a crack in the bone and high fever. Can't the PR companies come up with some innovative stuff? All these promotions are so cliched. Now the star just picks up a fight in a five star hotel or a pub and gets the required mileage. Its become boring reading this kind of stuff. They say paparazzi and in India that's a joke. These people clicking are paid by the star's PR machine. If a poor photographer tries a personal pi...

There seems no connect between the topics I write. I cannot follow one trend of thought and hold on to it. Its like we do different activities and think of different things and people all the time. My writing follows my thoughts. My commitment to you is that I write truthfully from my heart.I write to you and I write for you and me. The shops opposite Kasarwadi have their own peculiar way of functioning. Every evening when the working mothers return home to Kasarwadi, they give their kids five or ten rupees. They are tired from their work and have no energy to produce an evening snack as the house work is pending. So all kids buy a lot of junk food. The water comes in the area after 7.30pm and then start the washing of vessels, clothes, sweeping swopping and cooking. Dinner is around !! pm in most households and then utensils to be washed. The women then come out of their households and sit on the pavement opposite. They are chatting till one am or more. The shopkeeprs sell the wors...

There is a chawl opposite our building and today I am very tempted to call it a slum. The people work for the Municipal Corporation. They are garbage cleaners or garbage pickers. They get this house by the BMC. Once the person working for BMC retires, he gives the job to one of his chosen sons. They do have more than two children. The boys or sons are jobless. The father supports them till he dies. The sons wait for the job.The father can give the job to any son and most likely it is the youngest son. Till then the mothers work as house maids. These sons hang around the full day. They do not study and they do not want to take up a peon s job. They will not work as waiters. Lots of them are good musicians so they get orders to play in the weddings. Each wedding baraat earns them around three hundred Rupees. They are very happy with that money. This business is seasonal. They get the festivals and the visarjan band bajaa too. Lot of these boys are alcoholics. The parents do not consider ...