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Showing posts with label classic moments captured. Show all posts
Showing posts with label classic moments captured. Show all posts

As some of you know, I have been inspired by Al Pitcher (a comedian who uses day-to-day photographs as a part of his comedy act) to come up with the Mumbai Moments Captured series (the first post being The Motorbiker Series)  as I too have quite a few ad hoc images that I feel can only be seen in Mumbai (and around India) .. Now it’s time for the next instalment …

Drum Rolls …. Raising Curtains ….

It’s A Sign

I’ve come across quite a few funny signs and notices and thought it would be cool to share them with you all …

Earlier in January this year, I got a group together and headed off to Lonavala for my birthday.  We were 3 cars who drove out together and we had so much alcohol between the cars, that honestly if there had been a road check at any point – we would have been stopped and questioned for hours on end !

On reaching Lonavala, we realised that we’re gonna need Ice Sold HereICE for the drinks – and started asking around where we could find some …. An old man on the road pointed us into an alley / side street and we saw this sign ….

All of us must have pissed ourselves laughing … we could see the sign board for ice but there was NO ICE to be found anywhere ! Eventually, we found some men who were sitting by the first telephone pole behind the red cart who told us that they could send the ice over to the bungalow where the party was …

P1240146After receiving the ice, we were a bit too  scared to actually use it for any sort of drinks as it arrived on this ratty truck on some tarp and had black bits all over it …. So ended up using it for chilling the drinks and spent more money & petrol sending my driver to the nearest hotel and taking coolers full of ice to use for the drinks.

The next few months were spent attending birthdays and weddings – so I didn’t focus too much on random photography however one sunny afternoon in May – I was hanging out in the Bandra area with my mate SG and we went for a walk on Bandstand.  I’ve been in Bombay for 2 years now – and never realized that ‘dog parks’ exist in the city … Considering there are ‘barely’ any parks in the city – this one was a total surprise for me … and as a dog lover my curiosity got peaked and I had to check it out …

P5170093

Aww doesn’t that look nice … a park for the doggies to play in :) Typically anywhere in the world – it’s quite common for pet owners to have to clean up after their pets when in a public area.  I wasn’t quite sure how this would work in Mumbai considering that there is never a garbage bin when you need one !

Indians being the way they are – probably would never pick up after their pets because 1) the house-help is likely to be walking the dog 2) they are used to throwing garbage on the streets and with so many stray animals on the roads – what difference would it make if THEY cleaned up after their pets ?

So the dog parks came up with these nifty signs which I think should spread the word and make the message quite clear !

dog park sign

Dogs Business Your Business

Then a couple of weeks ago, I ended up going for a drive to Khandala (which is on the way to Lonavala) with a mate of mine and came across these two very interesting signs on some passing trucks … I wonder who does the artwork and text copy for these sort of signs and why the hell they don’t bother with a spell or grammar check before sending their vehicles out …

Milk not for sell

Milk not for sell closeup

This is of course of a milk truck … not the milk man van but a container or sorts …. I’m guessing the milk is getting sold to somebody since it’s being transported around – so why on earth does it say ‘MILK NOT FOR SELL’ …. Grammar check … ‘Milk Not For Sale’ …. I did have visions of how milk must be splashing around inside the container … and what if the inside had not been cleaned properly ??? I don’t even want to think about what happens to the milk in there …. Doesn’t milk have to be kept at a certain temperature ?  That particular truck doesn’t exactly look like it has internal temperature control or nice fridges inside to store the milk ! Ewwwwwwwww

Too many partnersSoon after passing the Milk truck – we got caught in a slight traffic jam … actually more like a truck jam … and I came across this at the back of a truck … when I first took the photo I couldn’t really tell what was written on the sign …. A little bit of zooming and hanging out the window of the car and I finally got what I wanted to see …

too many partners close up

Can you believe what you are reading ??? ‘Too many partners will take you to sorrowful life’ … now that’s just way too funny considering that the Indian society is all about monogamy and the sign on the truck in one way implies that ‘from experience – too many partners make life difficult’ thereby crossing out the notion that the Indian society is about monogamy !

That’s all from me folks – I’m working on the next piece for Mumbai Moments Captured – probably on animals and will share that with you very soon !

Have a great Sunday !

Further to my last post about how Al Pitcher uses photography of day to day things found in whichever city he is in … I reckon that I too have quite a few ad hoc images that I feel can only be seen in Mumbai (and around India) …

Drum Rolls …. Raising Curtains ….

The Motorbiker Series

It’s quite rare to see ‘just’ two (yes the number 2) people on a motorbike in India … I’ve travelled to Bangalore, Delhi, Calcutta, Kerala, and Goa .. and everywhere – it’s the same ! You get more Bike for 5than 2 people on a motorbike !

Here’s a classic that I captured with not 1 or 2 or 3 but FIVE passengers – of which only ONE was wearing a helmet !

Talk about recklessness !  The traffic out here alone is enough to worry me from ‘inside’ a car !

I can’t even imagine how people on motorbikes feel !

If that’s not bad enough – traffic in Mumbai especially - is so haphazard – no one believes in indicating; the horns are used as naturally as we breathe – it’s deafening ! 

Whilst driving to Pune one weekend .. but before that I will digress as there’s a fab joke that Al Pitcher did on this .. Pune a city about 180 kms away from Bombay is pronounced Poo-neh, also be known as Puna.  Al was talking to one of the reporters and said how he was looking forward to coming and performing in ‘PUNE’ – pronounced ‘pyoon’ but meaning ‘peon’ as in attendant / messenger in India …

So anyway going back to my drive in Pune – I came across the rare sight of just two people on a motorbike … Woman Reading Book on Bike

Seems alright doesn’t it … two people, both WITH helmets as well … quite an smooth looking road and quite empty as well from this angle … Now take a closer look at them ….

Woman Holding Book closeup

yup … that’s right … She is READING a BOOK whilst sitting as a pillion passenger !!!  Damn and I had thought WOW – I have found the model motor biker couple who could inspire and influence others to wear helmets and ride around safely !  But seriously – hats off to this woman for being brave enough to read whilst on the back of a motorbike ! Don’t get me wrong, I love reading but not at the risk of my life !

And on that note – if you don’t find multiple riders on a motorbike … you will always find the solitary hero riding around like there’s no care in the world … Man Holding Helmet

… and it’s because he knows that he’s going to be safe on the roads leading to Chandigarh because he’s got his HELMET tucked into his ARM ! Man Holding Helmet closeup copy

That’s all from me on the Motorbiker Series … I do have many more funny moments captured and will share it with you all over the next few weeks … After all can’t give you all the photographic evidence I have managed to acquire in one shot now – I got to make sure you come back for more … =)