Child marraige?

The groom doesn’t seem to think so. What can I say? It happens only in India!

Technorati : child marraige, india

Yawn! More broken promises

So what’s new? Plastic bags continue to flourish. More hutments will come up along arterial roads, the CM will change the next time around, the new CM will also make promises and break them like this one did, Mumbai will pay the maximum tax yet again and remain the most sorry city again.

Just another day in the life of Mumbai. Maybe it’s time to stop paying taxes and instead adopt a stretch of road to fix, eh? That way, maybe more could be done…

Puneri Hindi

Could not resist this. The best part is, I have heard a lot of these and more!

Puneri Hindi. Matlab Pune cha Hindi

• Pahili baar, pohne gaya to kya hua maloom? Pahile paani mein shira, Phir Poha aur baad mein buda.
• Ghai karo Bhaiyya, Nahi to Bus Jayegi aur humaari Panchaiit hoyengi!
• Sarbat Mein Limbu Pilaa Kya?
• Itna Mahaag kaise re tere yahaan? Woh Kopre ka bhaiyya to svasta deta hai!
• Kaanda kaat ke, Chir ke mast omlete banane ka, aur upar se thoda kothimbir bhurbhuraneka!
• Arre Baba, Gaadi savli mein laga
• Eh Bhai, Medu Wada shepret laana, sambar mein budake mat laana!
• Kes ekdum bareek kaapo bhaiyya!
• Khao Potbhar khao, laazo mat!
• Dhaavte Dhaavte girya to kaadkan haat ka haad tutya..
• Aisa karo pahile aage jao phir davikade walo aur badame phir davikade walo..

I’ve been robbed

Late last night (so I assume), my car window was broken (smashed) and my music player panel was stolen. The perps decided nothing else in the car including deo, sunglasses or even CDs were worth their time or effort. So here I am at 7.30 am with a nice hot cup of tea when the building guard notifies me “Sahab, wo gaadi ka kaach toota hai”. Incredulous as my look may have been, he did not even blink and proceeded to report that the said panel was also missing.

Now I have a question as to whether he took it and then reported the break… it’s possible, eh, that only the window was broken and he made the most of an available chance? But then I also found out that another 3-4 cars had suffered a similar fate. Hm. Theory 1 stands unsubstantiated.

Despite all that, the fact is that I have to spend about Rs 1,500 to get the window replaced and get a new panel… that I guess would cost another 2-3 thousand. What a waste.

P.S.: Last year on June 17, my car had an accident (I was driving) that cost me about Rs 10,000. It’s July 20 today. Any ideas? Should I visit an astrologer?

60 to 70K per DAY!

This is one rich guy. Considering Rahul Mahajan has not had a sustained career to save up the kind of money he spends, one would have to question where the money came from. Did daddy-dearest leave behind a huge trust fund? Or is it a result of the public secret called 'favours'.
There are also rumors that Mr Mahajan owned a huge amount of shares in Reliance companies. Hm. Maybe the dividend is enough to support this lifestyle.
About his income, this is what the police had to say:

About Rahul's earnings, police officers said that he worked as aco-pilot with Jet Airways for two years and after that did consultancy work with an American  company for some time. During the tenure of the NDA government, he had also set up a company, Integral Productions, and obtained a contract from Doordarshan to produce a programme called Tak Dhina Dhin.

Read the whole thing here.

Technorati Tags: raul mahajan, drugs case, cocaine, india

Pune In A ‘Top 10′

 

Bring out the champagne, for Pune has featured in a Top 10 after a long time. This, of course, not counting the top 10 cities or whatever surveys within India.

The reason to celebrate is Pune featuring in the top 10 (at 3) of the “World’s Top Emerging Cities for Business”. The survey by Forbes, no less, pits it just above Abu Dhabi and Warsaw, but below Tolouse at No. 2. But guess who’s at No. 1? Chengdu, China.

Even in the ‘emerging’ lists, there’s no respite. Perhaps this is a clear sign that anything Indian would perhaps remain #2 to China for a long, long, long time to come.

The way I know this city, there has always been potential, but the attitudes of the people, local government and “leaders” has been worse than apathetic. I love Pune, lived there for the best 22 years of my life and would give anything to see it do better. In all aspects. This is a promising start and I can only imagine how many people/agencies/associations would clamour for the credit. End of it all, those who have actually made the difference would be forgotten and the issue would be politicised.

Pune would lose again. I am not normally a nay-sayer, but I have seen this before. And I have the feeling that this would happen again. Check tomorrow’s papers and it would be made out to be much bigger than it is.