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Showing posts with label real life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label real life. Show all posts

Talk about a wicked excuse ! Ladies and Gentlemen – watch and learn =P

I came across this video on FaceBook that a mate of mine had put up and I just had to share it with you all !

What do you think ? Could you ever come up with such a wild story ?

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 … =)


Imagine this ... You've been having a relatively typical week, the same routine; not too many changes to your schedule; you get home - have dinner, chill out; catch up with friends on the phone; and eventually go to bed and pretty soon you are fast asleep - possibly for at least 2-3 hours .... a sharp sound pierces your ears; shaking you up ... your body has turned towards the sound, your mind fuzzy with sleep ... finally acknowledging the sound of that very unexpected late night phone !

With double vision, you barely register a familiar phone number and name and proceed to answer the phone with a very groggy 'hello' ... that silence of two seconds is all to much and you find yourself saying that person's name trying to get a response out of them ... at last they speak ... and it's never good news is it ?

I found myself in this situation the other night .. I am generally a light sleeper - but for some reason that night I just couldn't find myself able to sleep - I kept tossing and turning in bed, I was feeling hot & bothered, but couldn't quite put my finger on the problem ... eventually at about 2:30 - 3 a.m I fell asleep. My phone rang just before 5 a.m and it was my cousin ... At first I thought, 'shit did I oversleep and late for work' and then instantly my next thought was 'something is wrong' ...

My cousin had rang me to inform me that our grandmother who lives in her house, had a bad fall and was in an unconscious state and that I should inform my father as her father was out of the country. The next few minutes that followed was in an unknown state ... I went into my parents' room, woke my mother up and asked her to speak to my father since this was his mother who had suffered an injury.

My grandmother had just turned 83 years old on 26th January .. for her age - she was a very independent lady who liked to go out to the club and play cards - and with this one phone call - she'd become this helpless old lady and there was nothing I could do to change that situation ...

The next few hours were a bit of a blur ... I obviously couldn't go back to sleep ... All I could do was lie awake ... wondering what would happen next ... what would the doctors at the hospital say ... would my grandmother be alright ?
As a pre-note, I must add that I had been meaning to post this prior to 31st Dec '08 - obviously that didn't happen …. Now we can continue …

Wow – 2008 is at an end .. only a few more hours to go and the world shall be welcoming in 2009. I had thought about what I wanted to write today – and in my head – I saw the many things I wanted to talk about … after dilly-dallying on that for about an hour – I realized there was just SO much to pen down and that I'd probably not have the time to finish it off.

It's been a really interesting year so far for me … I have now been in Mumbai for just over a year – but I like to look at my stint here from Jan '08 till Dec '08 and just recap my experiences. (As an added FYI – I moved here Sept '07 but was working on a client wedding till Dec '07 and really had no life what-so-ever). January was a great month for me – I finally got relax after the wedding season got over – and I was going to be travelling to South India (first time!) for my current boss' wedding. I managed to wear a typical South Indian Sari, took a coach ride across cities, spent a blissful 24 hours on a house boat (the irony here is that I'm a vegetarian who doesn't eat seafood, and my boat comprised of another colleague from work and me – who also happened to be a veggie – the poor chef on the houseboat didn't know what to do with all the lobsters & fish he had planned for our meals!) … Once we got off the houseboat it was followed by a getaway at the lovely Estuary Island. I never thought I would celebrate my 26th Birthday in an unknown city with people who I had just come to know and were within my work environment. It was actually a lot of fun ! I got thrown in the swimming pool as the clock struck 12 and my birthday began.

The rest of the year has seen me travel a lot .. something I didn't get to do and that I was missing when I was in London (there's another whole background on that) … 2008 saw me visit : Kerala, Delhi – work related events – and the highlight of that trip had to be the 'oily food'; Bangalore – to visit my maasi, my cousin & his wife & my niece – and surprisingly also got reunited with a university friend from Montreal who I hadn't seen in about 6 years either; Goa (6 times !! and really it's a bit over rated but the only place in India where you can go and chill out on a good beach – that I know off!), Israel – now that was a craaaaaaaaazy trip with a girlfriend of mine (Ghulan, Rishon, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa, Caeseria, the Dead Sea) and then the to the island of Mauritius where I went twice – both times was work related. In one of my earlier blogs – you'll notice that I've written about a whale – yup that whale was spotted out in Mauritius. All of these travels in some way or form have seen me form relations with people and in some instances also come to value some of the relationships we take for granted.

Goa ..the first time I ever went there was earlier this year in February – with my younger sister – it was a time for both of us to do some sort of sibling bonding – how well that has worked out – you'd have to ask my sister – but it was a lot of fun – we actually didn't kill each other over 2 days ! The next few trips to Goa were a bit scattered – in May, I flew there for a day to meet a friend who I hadn't seen for 6 years which was really nice – however sadly this person has now been cut out from life.

In June – I was back – this time with my work colleagues for a bit of team brainstorming and a day full of presentations … Tongue of Fish is all I have to say to that trip !!!

I went back there towards the end of August for an events related conference – and my girlfriend had flown in from London and she joined me for it – it was one of the best conferences I have attended My last trip to Goa for 2008 was with an old high school friend of mine who I hadn't seen in 10 years but have been talking to over the past year online – and that was quite a lot of fun as well.

Israel … I get goose bumps thinking about that trip … One thing about me is that I normally NEVER travel with people – I always make my journeys on my own and meet with friends in different parts of the world (the benefit of having attended an international school whilst growing up) … however there is a one young lady that I have travelled with to Italy back in 2007 and we linked up again to meet in her home town. The city is simply quite stunning – there are some fantastic beaches out there and it was just such a pleasure to sit out on the hot sands, watch the waves and then take a dip in the water to cool off.

Another thing is that the people – the bulk of them – are just so damn good looking !!! The women have near perfect bodies – and the men – oh lord help me – but the men are just FIT ! Everyone indulges in beach activities and sports – everyone has a tan – and they are just drooooooooool-worthy !!! Ok I must stop now otherwise my laptop will cease to work !

Mauritius … An island of pure relaxation … the lifestyle of the people here is so different to that of anywhere else in the world that I've noticed. It's nice to see such laid-back Asians – the predominant population of the country is Indian. The most amazing thing about the island is that there are barrier reefs surrounding the whole island which allows one to enjoy the waters without getting caught out too deep. There are some exciting things to do that I found out about – zip lining being one of them – where one is strapped onto a harness and just hangs off these lines between mountains and valleys. How wicked is that !!! I went snorkeling there for the first time – and the waters are just CLEAR and Blue – with a huge variety of fishes ! (oh and I'm super paranoid about fishes coming next to me!) My boss – yes – I mentioned this was a work related trip – threw breadcrumbs all around me whilst snorkeling so I was practically assaulted by these tiny fish and was pretty much jumping out of the water out of fear !!!

Just had a quick read of what I've written and damn it sounds like I had a complete blast all year around …. Then again I've not once mentioned any of the work related things that I have to get up to – so I rather you know just how much fun I had instead

But seriously – it has been a bit of a roller coaster ride this past one year – new avenues at work have been explored; the people who I have interacted with – some more than others – and the impact they have had in my general outlook; gotten to spend more time at home (considering I didn't live at home for 8 years) and that has been a test in itself ! I got to spend a lot of time with various members of my family (believe you me when I say we are a BIG family !!! 25 odd cousins on both my paternal & maternal side !!). As I mentioned earlier – I went down to Bangalore to visit my eldest male cousin and got to hang out with his wife and daughter as well as his sister – that was a fun filled weekend.

As an FYI – the majority of my cousins are older than me and married with kids – and it's been a busy baby season for my family between 2007 and 2008 !! My cousin, PCH, in the States had a baby girl – and she's already 9 months old as of today. In September – my niece ZG turned a year old ! In October my two nieces in London turned 2 and 1 respectively! Then my other cousin RM and his wife BRM in Mumbai had a baby boy in November. For the duration of November – my cousin RC & wife SC from Spain were down with their three kids – and I just got to spend a fair amount of time with my nephews and baby niece. December was super exciting : my nieces AD and RC both turned 1 year old; my cousin MC & wife DC from New York had twin boys in December !





Not to mention that another cousin of mine got engaged in August – and another one got married in December ! In addition to all of this – I have gotten to hang out with another cousin NC for the past 1.5 months as she's recently started working with me. If it wasn't for her – I swear I would forget to eat every day ! And she also reminds me to constantly drink water as I barely get through a quarter bottle of water a day !! She's now helping me get back into yoga (I only got into because of this mad woman – she bugged me for 2 years to join a particular course and I finally did!) and hopefully get me back into shape in time for my birthday (ok so it's a bit farfetched since my b'day is in 3 weeks).

I've always believe that people are not what they seem to be – the way one might be within a work environment is completely different to the way they are in a social setting … so where's the brain wave in that thought you might ask …. Well over the year I have come to realize that the majority of people are just too damn scared to actually let others know who or what they really are and what makes them tick ! I've been a part of a predominantly expat society within the city – that doesn't go to say – I don't mingle with the locals either – in fact some of my best times have been with my more 'localized' friends – who just happen to be on the same sort of mind-set as me.

This city is a hub for millions – to come and make a name for themselves – from the local shop vendors, to aspiring models – people flock to Mumbai to explore opportunities. I'm fortunate enough to be here with my family – and have opportunities come to me on a plate as opposed to me hunting them down. As the opportunities grew – I saw the drawbacks to it all … the stress; the laid back work ethics; the inability to work to deadlines; the constant battle of egos within the same company; the 'motivational' talks that go nowhere; even those who aim for perfection start to show a 'whatever' attitude because the network of those around them can't understand perfection.

With all good things – the year 2008 also comes to an end – and as I wait for the clock to strike 12 and bring in the year 2009 – I can only look back at the past 365 days and smile - I've thoroughly enjoyed all that the year has brought me and can't wait to find out what 2009 has in store for me :)
Last night, Wed 26th Nov was like any other day ... I went to work as usual, left work slightly early for a change and actually made it home by 8 p.m .. Instead of staying home, my adhoc plans took me back towards work and to my cousin's place as she was flying out and I was gonna give her a lift to the airport .. Normal right ?

No such luck ... sometimes I really feel that only I manage to end up in some very unusual situations ! My mother rang me around 21:50 and told me to take my time coming home as there appeared to be some sort of commotion near my house and that if I wanted I should stay at my grandparents place .. I didn't take this too seriously - as you can imagine generally how paranoid moms can get ..

I ended up at Hard Rock cafe for dinner and noticed the news ... CHAOS .. the Taj Mahal Hotel and the Oberoi Hotel in South Mumbai were under attack by terrorists ! People were being held hostage and the police were rounding up the properties ... I was in shock .. my apartment is about 200 feet from the Taj Mahal Hotel .. my whole neighbourhood was under-seige and I had no way of getting near my own home !

Having spent the night at my cousins' place - I have been receiving messages all night just checking if I was okay ! I've been watching the news almost shell shocked (1) how did such an attack happen ? (2) weren't the intelligence officers intimated about the attack as would be typical of most terrorist attacks ? (3) how is it possible that sufficient ambulances, fire brigades and cops weren't at the scene of attacks earlier than they were ?

There are dozens of questions running through my mind ... My cousin and I watched the news unfold before us for about 5 hours and as members of the public - I'm sure other viewers were just as confused about what was going on ! The news channels have been updating the viewers about what is going on - however there isn't much information on the 'progress' reported or about 'how' the attacks actually took place ... I watched the magnificent structure of the Taj Mahal catch fire on the top floor after a series of small blasts and it took over 2 hours for the fire brigade to get there and control the fire ... What I fail to understand is why weren't the fire brigades called on-site when terrorist activites were discovered ? It's only common sense that the basics such as ambulances and fire engines be on-hand shoud they be necessary. How often do you hear of a terrorist attacks and 'no casulaties' ? Shobha De, a reknowed columist made a public statement on TV about how it took over 2-3 hours for fire brigades to reach the scene of attacks.

The Indian Army was called in to rope off the two prominent hotels that were under attack - with over a dozen hostages held at each hotel. Without disrespecting the news crew and media present on-site - shouldn't they be updating us more on what is going on at the scene instead of actually disclosing what the police, army and navy personnel are planning to do .. there were numerous times that a news anchor actually stopped reporters mid-sentence and asked them not to publicly announce what the plans were to control the situation at hand ... I'm surprised that the reporters hadn't thought of that - especially since we, the viewers were already informed that guests trapped in the hotel were communicating with those outside the hotel, were trying to get out, had been eye-witness to some of the shootings -but had no access to TV in their rooms - and the reporters weren't sure if the attackers had access to TV.

Frustrating as it sounds - even more so is the fact that the news channels are not giving any further updates on the 'email' that was sent to the media or to the police (not quite sure who it was sent to!). There were also unconfirmed statements made about how the Pune Police Department knew about the attacks 2 days prior to the actual attacks ! It's sad to know and hear about how unprepared the police officials and government is with regards to potential attacks that could take place. Whilst waching CNN now, there are statements made about how the Deccan Mujahideen (the group that has claimed to take responsibility for the attacks) made a public announcement to release all the mujahideens in order to release the hostages ... where the hell was this news last night ????

Despite security measures being taken over the last year that I have been in Mumbai - those measures are really a 'formality' and don't actually enforce anything. Seriously - how effeciently and effectively can 2 security guards at any entry gate of a hotel perform checks with the number of vehicles and people entering hotels and public spaces ? e.g. at most of the 5* hotels I visit, at the gate, there are 2 security guards - one who checks the front hood of the car and one who checks the underside of the car with those floor mirrors and the they check the boot of the car. NOT ONCE have I ever had any of these guys check the inside of my vehicle nor check the boot properly - what if I was carrying something on my person or in my hand bag ?

How does it make you feel knowing that you are entering a public property and there are half-hearted security measures in place especially after seeing what happened last night ?? It could have been you or me at the Taj or Oberoi hotel last night on a normal evening out. It appears that Mumbai is unable to react quickl enough to the attacks that have taken place over the years - there is no emergency or contingency plan in place ! Throughout the course of the night - there was not one reassuring voice or statement made on TV to calm the public down. Where were the people of authority to tell the people of Mumbai on how to proceed and to tell them what to do ? It was the common man and the quick thinking of the people at the hotels informing people on what to do and how to proceed.

The scary thing about the whole incident is that my younger brother was about 300 meters from my house and was walking back home when he heard or saw the first blast of gunfire and ended up taking shelter at my dads' brothers' place which also happens to be about two streets away from the Taj Hotel. My sister luckily was at my grandparents home - close by to where I have been all night. During the course of the night - it got worse for me as I kept discovering that some of my friends were in the vicinity - and had been trapped at the local bars and restaurants as they had been out ... I've been hearing from them but it's actually scary to know that your friends and people you know are caught dead center at the scene of the attacks ...

The news states that this is 9/11 taking place in Mumbai and it does appear to be that way. The locations of the attacks have been in prime areas - targeting a large number of tourists, HNI's, and corporate individuals. There have been about 200 fatalities and over 300 injured - the fatalities include some senior ranking members of the police force which indicates a targeted attack.

I just hope that the communication between the police and the media increases and we, the public are better informed about the situation at hand. My heartfelt wishes go out to all who have been involved in the attacks of last night and to those who may have lost a loved one.