Life is easy kya karein

Uber rides have added a new dimension to my life. Most drivers are relaxed and willing to talk. They are not complaining or cribbing about the traffic or the weather. They seem to be enjoying their work. From our end, we seem to be treating them better. That seems to be the case when we pay more money for a service which we got cheaper earlier. Is this a combination of  better customer service and well behaved customers? This ride was in the evening to collect my child from a birthday party. Traversing the Mumbai evening traffic and keeping your calm, is the stuff legends are made of. The driver, Altaf, said he has seen very rich days. They had the largest bungalow in Mahim, near Mahim Dargah. His grandmother used to sit on a mattress which was lined with bundles of currency notes. The drums which we use for storage of water, they had it full of 'chillar' i.e. coins. In today's currency value, their income was two lac rupees per day. They lost it due to some reason. H...

It was my youngest niece's birthday. The celebratory lunch was at a restaurant in Powai. I have always had a problem going to this far flung suburb of Mumbai. I have traveled there when I was working and the first of the offices were moving to Powai. We, in hotel sales, full of our uppity attitude, were scandalised to the core of our crepe sarees and block heels. Powai was where IIT and Powai lake was. This was our knowledge of Powai. Hiranandani building flats there never mattered to someone living in a hostel. I never ever dreamt of buying my own house. A house, a foreign holiday or an SUV or a high end watch were never in my purview of things.  I do not think the word SUV was prevalent in those days. I only knew Jeep and Gypsy. Jeep was a police vehicle for me. Gypsy was made by Maruti, the coolest automobile car manufacturer, during my teens. A Gypsy ride was 'the' thing to happen in life. The foreign cars which people owned were bought from some crooked agents or sec...

We are seeing the new generation being so tech savvy. They know everything to do with gadgets and are so good at adapting to newer versions of gadgets and apps. I have that kind of adaptability to kitchens. I can cook comfortably in any kitchen. It has to do with me visiting relatives as a child with my Dadi, Grandmother. When we visited people, it was natural to help them in the kitchen or in chopping vegetables or folding clothes or cleaning wheat and rice. Yes, we had unpolished grains which were not branded as 'organic' and we had to remove little mud and small stones from the grains. First the lady of the house used a tray called ' Soop' pronounced as 'soup', to clean the grains. Around half kilograms was taken in the 'soop' and the grain was thrown up in the air and collected back in the soop. This helped in removing the dirt from the grains. The dirt fell back from the air in the front portion of the 'soop' and the grains came back. Wome...

In Jharia, all our rooms had ventilators. The way the houses had doors and windows, similarly it had small square openings high up in the walls, closer to the ceiling. The ventilators provided air in the room even if the doors and windows were closed. The ventilators were like a little box window with a pattern which was a part of the wall. The pattern were not checks or stripes but usually floral or paisley. Every house had a different pattern depending on the mason who made it. The ventilators on the outer walls of the house, had birds making nests there. During winters sometimes people covered the pattern by stuffing old newspapers in it, to prevent the cold draft from coming in the room. Our Jharia house had ventilators in the inside facing walls of the house too. Usually the ventilator was made above the window or the door but in some cases, it was on the opposite walls to allow cross circulation of air. The ceilings were much higher in the old bungalows and houses. Some of our ...

The Uber cab driver knew the road to my house. Whoah! These are the little joys of my life. Fed up of the Uber/Ola fleet drivers who do not know proper driving and have absolutely no sense of Mumbai roads. The other day, my cab had reached Khar, the driver got a call from his next customer. He told the customer that he is in Kharghar. The two places are 35 kilometres apart. It was hilarious watching him talk on the phone. The lost soul had no clue how Bombay hits a newcomer. Not to worry, Dear Cabbie, it is the most welcoming place on this planet. One becomes a Mumbaikar very easily. The city is like a fat Grand Ma with a big bosom, who includes all the kids in her bear hug.  Coming to my current driver Anil, he has been driving a cab since 1998. Anil was wearing a Rakhi with golden tassels like rays of a sun. When I was young, we only got those Rakhis shaped like a sun with bright gold, silver rays around the red or pink cotton like centre piece. In Mumbai, I keep looking fo...

I don't know if I have mentioned this here before that I have an aversion towards long weekends. I do not mean the usual excuses which I have heard from others, about husband being at home or children being demanding or loads of cooking or maids taking leave. I do not like going to hotels and staying for long weekends in Mahableshwar, Matheran, Lonavla, Alibaug type of places. I do not have a bungalow in any of these places and may be that is why I am not inspired to go. I can't imagine the traffic, the hotel rooms having the rainy musty smell and the Bambaiyya tasting sweet food. Basically, I don't want to see the exodus of Mumbai people, when I go on a holiday. I also strongly believe Maharashtra hardly has any good hotels to stay or may be I do not have the exploring streak in me.  This long weekend I chose to go walking to Siddhi Vinayak temple on all three days. Siddhi Vinayak temple is a very auspicious place. Most tourists coming to Mumbai will want to go there f...

Time had no meaning to me when I was a child. There was a time to eat and sleep. Food was always given before we actually asked for it. I don't know how my Mom and Aunt managed cooking meals so fast for six children and four meals a day plus some knick knacks. There were all the projects to be made, needlework, knitting, home work, house work, people coming home and social visits. We always had a string of visitors at home. Actually 'visitors' is such an 'English' term. We had people coming home and each person was connected to us in some way.  Apart from friends and relatives, there were Saints, Swamiji, Gurus, Pandits, Vaidhs coming home. Fresh meals were prepared for them as they had no place to cook or they were travellers. They ate huge quantities of food. Mom and Aunt would have to start the meal from scratch like right from lighting the chulha/ fire. My grandmother Gauri Bai used to talk to them and make them comfortable as the meal was being prepared. ...