Skyrocketing rents. Glad I moved to Bangalore

Boy am I glad I moved out of Mumbai! Not that I could have afforded any of these places, anyways! Still.

Note to self: Start saving to buy property in Mumbai. At the current rate of interest, the amount I may be able to save and inflation, I should be ready to buy my own shanty in Dahisar by 2030, i.e., when I hit 50. Good plan, mate, good plan!

Technorati : bandra, bangalore, cuffe parade, mumbai, rent

Diarist wonders…

Interesting column in the Mid-Day by their ‘diarist’:

THE DIARIST IS WONDERING

Whether Mumbai will sprout a new worker – the street dentist who works on filling the craters on our roads.

Whether we will soon see cars suspended on chains from buildings as vertical parking spaces get more ingenious.

Whether Kiran Desai has spent any amount of the prize money she won from the Booker this year.

If Brangelina, Tom Kat, Bennifer and other terms will be added to the next edition of the Oxford dictionary.

What Gandhi would have to say to the controversy over the remix of his favourite Bhajan.

Whether Anant Gupta will grow up to make a film about his three-day ordeal with his kidnappers.

Whether Non-Governmental Organisations should advocate a Keep Mumbai Green day where every citizen must wear a green haired wig on the day.

Whether Mumbai’s roadside bhajia and wada pav wallahs will one day fry the bhajias and wadas in olive oil given the increasing health consciousness of customers.

Whether Mumbai’s male actors who wear hair bands nowadays might start sporting those baby hairpins that women use currently.

Why are you reading this tripe, anyway?

So what do you think about the Anant Gupta question? I think he will!

Technorati : mid day, mumbai

Rahul the destroyer

So Rahul Mahajan is having a bad year. Maybe that’s an understatement. As Mid-Day informs us, he has now taken to physically abusing his wife. After his father’s death, his drug problem (alleged, mind you) and a score of other problems that have seen his perfect world fall apart, one would have thought, he would take time and recover. But obviously not. And it does not sound like frustration either. There’s a “manic edge” as his wife Shweta puts it:

Apparently, Rahul was full of remorse later, but even this had a manic edge. He told Shweta to ”take a hammer and finish him off”. Terrified, Shweta asked him to stay away from her. Shweta’s mother intervened, and Rahul left for Mumbai, sources said.

Technorati : domestic violence, rahul mahajan

It’s Bangalore

Or is it? Some have started referring to it as Bengalooru. Variants of that spelling too! But name notwithstanding, the city is the same. Lovely weather, great places to eat, good place to work and a rotten place if you don’t know the language. Why?

As anyone who has moved to a city that primarily speaks a language you cannot will vouch, life does become tough. So much so, that you walk up to Auto rickshaws gingerly and ask if they will go in the direction you are headed in. In Bangalore, though, auto drivers have a rulebook entirely their own and they will travel only if there is no traffic on the road. Or so they have me believe right now. I’m open to being convinced against that one!

Auto drivers, who I have always believed are equally bad no matter what city you are in, are a grade worse in Bangalore. I have lived in Pune for 20 years, Mumbai for 6 and been here for about a month. I have also been to Delhi umpteem times and to Chennai, Ahmedabad, and Kolkata recently. Nowhere are they as bad or conniving. Ask the locals and they would mumble their agreement.

There are plenty of adventures and episodes to be narrated here. More as one finds more time.

Cheerio.

Technorati : Bangalore

Harmison’t fit!

It’s Ashes time and while the ‘mind-games’ have been on for a while, the biggest piece of news has been Marcus Trescothick pulling out (rather suspicously, if you ask me) and Steve Harmison declaring himself fit. I mean, isn’t someone else, like a doctor, supposed to do that?

The other good thing to have happened of late is that cricket season is well and truly underway. West Indies struggle against Pakistan, India wait for the clouds to clear so they can take on South Africa and the Ashes is just around the corner…

Fun shall be had!

Technorati : ashes 2006, cricket, england v australia, harmison

Perhaps that is me

Wonder why this artwork appeals so much to me… Those who know me, any suggestions?

(+) Click to enlarge

(c) Hugh Macleod

Technorati : me

Testing new tool

Got another upload tool for the WP blog. And yes, this means that I shall write more frequently now.

Cheerio for now.

[Blogcamp.in] Goodbye

It’s time to leave and as the event winds down, one can’t help but feel that this event will only evolve with time. This year’s event should be considered a rousing success for more reasons than one. I would not want to say that some things may have gone wrong because this was the first event. It’s not fair to the efforts put in by Kiruba and gang.

Great venue, super participation and very enthusiastic organisation ensured a good and educational time was had by one and all. Have to admire the efforts of people like Kiruba, Dina Mehta, Peter Griffin, Jace, Ravages, Neha Viswanathan, Syed and all the others who put in endless efforts into making this a success.

See you next year!

[Update]: As we were leaving, we bumped into Peter and Dina and were really pleasantly surprised to hear that Blogcamp may just happen more often… like once a quarter. That does sound exciting. Hope it does work out. More details as they become available…

Technorati : Blogcamp.in, chennai, india blogging, unconference

[Blogcamp.in] Sunny was here!

The Great Man of Indian Cricket made his presence felt and got a rousing reception from Bloggers at the Blogcamp in Chennai. Speaking on podcasting among other things, Sunny also said that he would start blogging soon. Wow! Moreover, he was thrilled about the way podcasting has become a main method of communication and he himself is keen on exploring the possibilities of taking this forward.

Take a look at more posts about it here.

Technorati : Blogcamp.in, Blogging, Chennai, Cricket, India, Sunil Gavaskar, Unconference

When I had breakfast with the Indian cricket team…

I am currently in Chennai and living at a rather nice hotel. Our flight landed about 20 mins late last night and so we were even later in hitting the bed. So when I woke up this morning, I was a bit groggy and thought i saw Mohammed Kaif walk out of the lift when I descended the stairs. Hm.

For a split second, I wondered why I imagined I saw Mohd. Kaif and not say, Catherine Zeta-Jones. Good question, na? That’s because I did see him and not just imagine. And in the rest of the split second (I managed to split the second into two ), I gathered my thoughts, composed myself and managed a “Hey, Hi!”. Not very eloquent, I agree, but given my state of mind, I think I did well.

The next shock was when I saw Suresh Raina at the breakfast spread getting some juice. Hu? Yes him. And then just after him came Harbhajan Singh. So I decided to look around. And lo and behold! There sat the Indian cricketers. M S Dhoni, Ajit Agarakar, Dinesh Mongia, Irfan Pathan and even Rahul Dravid.

A colleague claims to have spoken to Dravid and told him about the work we do (:)). But I could not stop gasping and staring thorugh breakfast. After messaging everyone who I knew would appreciate the gravity of the event, my life seemed set.

Never have I looked forward to breakfast more (except of course when… )

Technorati : blogcamp.in, chennai, cricket, harbhajan, india, irfan pathan, m s dhoni, rahul dravid