Mumbai Mumbai Moments Captured people's experiences people's perceptions perceptions random rambling random thoughts restless thoughts

I’ve been quite restless the past week or two.  I’m drowning myself in a sea of knowledge in an attempt to ‘learn more’ .. and every day the learning curve goes up a notch.  Being a perfectionist is proving to be my downfall right now.  I can’t keep up with all the learning !

I’ve been wanting to go out .. party – dance – socialize .. but at the same time I don’t want to do that.  I reckon its because I’m missing being in Dubai … or maybe it’s the empty vacuum of not being around my boys *sigh*

I didn’t go out the entire weekend.  I’ve been reading, researching, learning, creating … I’m trying to let it all sink in.  Went out on Sunday to a boat party – which was fun.  But it was so hot.  Its about 34 degrees out here.  And trust me – you don’t want to be outdoors in this heat.

I’m working on a series of posts on Social Media Marketing that I’d like to put up .. but I’m not sure whether they would be better in the form of a SlideShare presentation or just as text ? I’m quite comfortable with my Blogger Voice – I suppose I just want to let more be heard now.  I’m still figuring it all out – but at least I’ve got my thoughts out in the open now .. right ?

There’s so much going on in my life .. more than I even realized .. and to try to find the time to do it all is proving almost impossible.  For every hour that I spend on one project – it’s an hour less that I’m able to give to something else .. and that’s eating at me.

I read a really great post the other day by Joanna Penn over at The Creative Penn titled What Do You Want To Write In Your Lifetime ? Reflections on Morality. .. and it got my mind into a hasty overdrive mode ! I’m working on that right now.

Until then …. thanks for swinging by =)

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It’s my first Wordless Wednesday … decided to try it out whenever I can since I’m such an obsessive camera-holic !   This was the sunset view yesterday 16.3.10 from Dome at the Intercontinental Hotel on Marine Drive in Bombay.

 

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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 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 …

After 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 …

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 !

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 …

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

Soon 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 …

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 !

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In continuation to my last post - the Mumbai Attacks are still taking place - 39 hours and counting as of right now when I write this.

It's heart wrenching to watch the current news coverage - the fact is that neither the media nor the police force is able to give an exact indication of how many people are currently held hostage, how many people are just trapped inside the hotels and how many terrorists are actually within the two hotel properties ... The media has been continuously changing its figures over the past 24 hours and it really puts a damper to ones' spirits to know that the news we are getting - is not even up-to-date.

It frustrates me to see things like policemen preparing for a show-down in completely inadequate protective gear - let's be honest - they had NO protective gear ! A flimsy so-called bulletproof sleeveless jacket that flaps around with a helmet does not account for protective clothing. As per news updates - anyone with common sense (or perhaps it's just my own perception) can tell that the attacks to the senior police officials on the first night of the attacks were in fact targeted. The aim of a terrorist is to instill fear amongst society - and what better way to do that than by provoking a large scale attack such as that taking place in South Mumbai and by targeting the country's most embellished police officers ? The media spent a fair amount of time focusing on how there was stunned silence amongst the police forces on hearing of the loss of lives within the department. The country's senior most Encounter Specialist was killed within a few hours of the start of the attacks.

These officers died in the line of duty and they will be remembered - today, tomorrow, a week or a month from now .. but what about 3 or 6 months from now ? What about the families they leave behind ? How does the family feel knowing that had their husband / father / brother had 'better' protection - there just might have been a chance for them ? It breaks my heart to think of what those families must be going through.

The media has talked about the entry of terrorists into Mumbai via the sea route ... Considering that we are a city surrounded by water - you would think that the Marines or Navy Officers would have a better command and knowledge of those entering our shores. We can't blame them - they may not have the facilities to keep track of every entrant - but we can't help but wonder 'how' was it possible for unidentifiable vessels to enter the waters and reach the shoreline.

Vilasrao 'finally' reaches the Trident hotel ... where was he on Wednesday evening or even Thursday morning - why bother making an appearance on Friday morning ? Really he shouldn't have bothered and just made a TV appearance wherever he was.

I have barely slept more than 4-5 hours in the last 40 hours or so - my eyes have been glued to the TV ... my house is around the corner from the hotel - and it would be 'great' to actually know what is going on ... And it's absolutely mind blowing to watch the members of the general public just wander across to the sites of the attacks to 'watch out of curiousity' and basically just get in the way of the police and NSG that are trying to secure the area ! What is wrong with the public - are they just stupid enough to go and make themselves obvious targets to terrorists who are firing indiscrimanatorily !

Even more frustrating is the way information is being provided to the public - in little bits and bobs - that are hardly clear ! I watched the Taj Hotel - a hertitage structure - BURN for over 2 hours on Wed night before fire engines got around to putting out the fire ... and I watched this magnificent piece of architecture BURN AGAIN over and over - whilst our firemen made a feeble attempt to try to put the fire out ! Guys come on !!! Use your initiative and brain cells !!! Even I as a layman can see - that if there is a fire on the 4th floor window on the side of the hotel, and there is a partial wall between the two partitions of the hotel - instead of standing on the wall and trying to put the fire out - (which was a highly pathetic attempt since the water from the fire house was barely reaching the base of the window!!) - why not get on the fire engine, use the damn ladder that is there for such situations - take the ladder to a height and start dousing the fire out !!! I was soo distraught by this feeble attempt that I had to keep yelling at my TV screen for the fireman to point the hose 'UP' instead of at 'chest level' !!

The media keeps stating that the 'operations will be over in an hour' - they've been repeating this for over 15 hours now ... what progress has been made ? We had NO news updates until 4 a.m earlier this morning - I succumbed to sleep by that time and woke up early again to find out what the latest scenario is ! The information provided by the press is quite contradictory - on one hand as of yesterday almost all the terrorists were killed and hostages released ... this morning - there are still a 'few terrorists' in the Taj and Oberoi hotels with more hostages ! The press is telling the public that the terrorists have been eating dry fruits, carrying foreign currency (USD $) and credit cards ... give me a break !!! Of course they will have the bare essentials with them !!! Money, credit cards and some sort of food ... are we that clueless as a society not to realise that if a full blown attack is taking place - the attackers won't have some sort of food with them ? It's not like they will tell the chefs of the hotels under seige to go and cook them a meal !!

And on that note - how on earth did the terrorists get INTO the hotels with bags full of weapons ? Does that mean that they had checked-in to the hotels a few days prior and set those rooms up as control rooms ? The hotels don't exactly screen the luggage coming into the property - they just check the exteriors of cars and hand bags (hmmm maybe now they will think of tightening security measures) ...Could it be that the terrorists actually booked rooms and came in with such advanced weapons and camped out at the hotel before meeting their comrades ?

It's logical enough to assume that the reason we didn't get any news updates last night was due to the fact that perhaps (for a change) the media was laying a false trail in case the terrorists were 'watching the news' ... as much as it has been said that the TV's and telephones at the hotels are not working .. these guys must have an outside counter part - perhaps in the city - perhaps in another city or even another country - watching the news and giving the attackers updates. It's a fact - they have more ammunition and explosives than the NSG, Army and Police force could imagine them to have ! One of the NSG reps has just said that the terrorists had over 700 rounds of bullets with them including spares !! jeeeeeez !!

This situation is not just a crisis at hand - it is a chaotic crisis ! As a society, as a city and country we must learn to manage unforseeable crisises and have a contigency plan ready and on hand should we ever need. There was a gentleman on the news - with salt & pepper hair - who was very vocal about his thoughts and it was good to hear that - finally - somebody went on national and worldwide television and publicly stated our pros and cons ! We need to stand up in a united front instead of this divided culture the politicans pave out !

I could go on and on ... so will stop now ... until later .... but think about it !

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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.