startling banals

It was a night to remember. Had Bombay Duck at home. Called up Kaa, Santo & Vijay. Fixed program. Marine drive in the evening. We met Vijay after his office at VT who made us eat vadapav near New Excelsior. Walked to marine drive - ate Kala Jamun and Bong sweets at Mathura dairy opposite Asiatic store. The monsoon had started with a bang and half a dozen people had been fried by lightning just the night before. It was the perfect storm to have a chilling near-death experience at Marine Drive. The night was day! A huge and thundering bolt striking every 4-5 seconds. As we walked towards Charni Road, the lightning seemed to get closer and closer till we were about sure to be hit anytime! Called up Sanober - the lady with a sher ka dil, caught a taxi and took a wine bottle & a litre of vodka. It was nice to meet her and Neeraj (FTII cinematographer works with Rajat Kapoor's troupe) again after 6 months. They helped me a lot in Dec 2005 and living with them kept me normal for those 2-3 weeks. Then we finished the wine and vodka, had food, said bye and whooshed back to Powai gaon the place where we belong. Kaa had written about it back in July.

Bombay Duck (quack quack)

The Three Amigos on last local

Ghost train - Arey bhai koi hai!


Strictly prohibited!


2 AM - the long walk to hostel

I have never seen this place so deserted before. No one on the streets, shops closed and no traffic too. Just when I was in the shower, the fire alarm started screaming and I had to come out, wait outside and buy food outside although we had lunch warm & ready at home.

Yesterday night was wild. Tenzin was here and TD, him and I spent half the night cracking PJs, playing great songs and laughing insanely till out faces were red (finishes the jumbo vodka bottle)! Earlier we went to Susmita's home to eat Tuna pattice where we met a senior from IITB (2001 passout mech H4) and started taking his intro :D He was quick to realize that he was in dangerous company and tried to make himself invisible.

Two days back (23rd) TD & I went to Watertown - 1/2 hour train, 1/2 hour bus to watch Bhagam Bhag in a very old cinema theatre - nowadays you don't see such theatres even in India. On the way back by bus, it had turned dark and in almost all the homes by the road, people had turned off the electric lights and had lit candles in the windows and indoors. I didn't know about this Christmas custom and I still don't understand the meaning. It looked beautiful.

Reminded me of the rare power cuts back home. I used to go to the terrace to look at the stars. Feels so cool and soothing - no lights. Once upon a time in 1995, my cousin bhai was at our place & my mom made biryani in the dark. It was delicious. I think people concentrate on their food when the light is dim.

Then once about 6 & 1/2 years back I had gone to a village near Chiplun-Dabhol-Ratnagiri with Nissim, Manu and her mom. We reached there very late - around 11 PM. It was a nice fishing village with really big houses built on different levels cut out of a hill facing the sea! The roads in this region are really fantastic - go up and down on hills covered with forests/ mango/coconut groves - run parallel to the coast - so you get to see some breath-taking views of the sea when the road brings you on a cliff. We had to hitch a ride on some transport rikshaw also. Got off - it was pitch dark on the road (no moon too) - and looked up. It was unbelievable!! I had never seen so many stars in the sky! Khachaa-khach! I couldn't even figure out the regular constellations like Orion, Cassiopeia or Great Bear. The estrellas kept on increasing the longer you looked. It was too thrilling - almost terrifying. Although she was not expecting us, our host was so happy to see Manu's mom that a Rooster was sacrificed :D of course there was infinite fish (slurp!) - we were too hungry to care for etiquette or political correctness and devoured the ceremonial rooster raw. Hehehehe .. but we really ate like crazy that night.

The most genuine & human environmental statement ever made. This version is supposedly the fictionalised one but its really nice. Enjoy! And Merry Christmas! Feliz Ano Nuevo! This one is the authentic version.

Last year when I came here I used to study in the library on the 4th floor. Nice glass windows and since the buildings are mostly shorter, one can see quite a long distance away - almost to the horizon. As is always the case, any grad student if kept in a library for a long enough time starts getting melancholy & comtemplative and starts longing for a better & independent life.

Brings up several questions. Stirs up a lot of shit in one's mind. The condition of Public Health Centres, Rural/Civil Hospitals, quacks, ultra-expensive private hospitals, the 'cut' practice and general hopeless scenario.

On the other hand, there is the US system of Health Insurance- pay an annual premium and receive almost all possible health care. But the amount is not small. About 10-15% of your income.

Who would be able to afford this kind of system in India? More and more people will be left out. Maybe insurance is good for middle class people but it is not a solution to the health problems of everyone. Definitely not an excuse for the govt to avoid its duty of providing health facilities to everyone.

People used to fall sick 50 years back. But the general quality of life was better. Cleaner food and environment. Now we create the problem and give money to insurance companies and pharma companies with the hope of better health.

The invention of new and more effective treatment/medicines has been more or less offset by the degradation in quality of life which creates new diseases which in turn drives the demand for more medicines.