Your drenched lips...my thirsty heart

My gang of cousins decided this was the song to be played when the bride & groom entered to greet the guests for the first time as bride & groom....:-)
Love the "mod" or modern gujjus...needless to say it was serious culture shock for some of the oldies he he "-)
All lovers of any thing Indian - listen to this song " Bheegey Hont" from the film Murder. Trust me you'll love it.
Lyrics below...the English translation may seem corny, cheesy but the actual lyrics just like in Spanish mean a lot more...you can feel the sensuality oozing through the song.
Enjoy!

Bheegey hont tere, pyaasa dil mera
Lage abra sa, mujhe tan tera
(your wet lips & my thirsty heart...to me your body seems irresistable)


Jam ke barsa de, muhj par ghatayen
Tu hi meri pyaas, too hi mera jaam
Kabhi mere saath, koi raat guzaar
Tujhe subah tak main karoon pyaar...
(drench me in your clouds...you are my thirst, you are my drink...
some time...spend the night with me so I can make love to you till morning)

Sansen aach teri, tan aag tera
Chhenain neend meri, loote chain mera
Kala jadoo kare lambe baal tere
Aakhen jheel teri, dore laal tere
(your breath & your body are like fire..they steal my sleep, rob me of peace...your hair is like black magic, eyes like the sea...)

kabhi mere saath koi raat guzaaar
tujhe subaha tak main karoon pyaar
(spend the night with me....and let me make love to you till the morning)



Aakhen keh rahi jo na hum kahain
use sun le tu jo na lab kahain
Tu na soye aaj, main na sooun aaj
Tujhe dekhoon aaj, tujh main khoyun aaj
(our eyes are saying what we aren't....listen to that which words cant say...
you wont sleep today and nor will I...i'll see you...and I'll be lost in you)

Kabhi mere saath, koi raat guzaar
tujhe subah tak main karoon pyaar
(spend the night with me...)

Mumbai Madness

The weekend in pictures


With the bride just before the wedding


With Cuz Sis & her hubby


Hot Jalebis & Rabri (cream)...ummmmmmmmmm...


Parents of the Bride


I love my nieces!


Just Married!

Whooooosh!

If I could describe the last 2 days in one word it would have to be "whoosh!" Lots happened. And everything seemed to happen at breakneck speed. A situation very likely to occur if you are doing anything in the crazy, speed of light atmosphere Mumbai always seems to conjure the moment you breathe the salty air & soak in the humid warmth of the place.

Some highlights:

Friday:
The wedding in court followed by the reception in the evening.

Driving cousin's car in one of the toughest cities in the world to drive in. Running over a curb with a carfull of relatives ( they were a bit shaken but no significant dent in the car)

The same fawning, sycophantic reactions from all & sundry at the reception on seeing me.

The same inane questions with the same mumbled responses delivered with a plasticine smile for 3 hours straight. (how do these celebrities do it?!)

Incredibly gargantuan food orgy at the reception - Gujjus sure know how to tuck in.


Ridiculous but expected comments from equally ridiculous relative- 2nd cousins on how I am "fairer" now than a few years back. (Gujjus in general love to discuss skin complexion...the fairer the better, the fact that most of their behinds rival the Erasmus Bridge in size doesn't somehow come up for discussion....)


Saturday:
Watching treason being committed by the Kolkata cricket officials & fans alike. Open one line letter to all the people who perpetrated what happened at Eden Gardens:
" You and the likes of you make me ashamed that we 'support' the same cricket team, please do go ahead and form an independent country with Ganguly as your King, Monarch, President, Prime Minister and of course your cricket team's captain."

Driving around in Mumbai at peak hours in a car without a horn. (many may think this hardly calls for comment, those who have ever been to India know what I mean)

Rodas & Vikhroli

Sameer & Sathe on the phone

Rowdy, bhangra -pop - bolly remix house party to celebrate the "shaadi"

2 hour long auto rides - Kandivli to Mulund. Mulund to Bandra

Bandra!!!!!!!!!! ( aaah I can just see every true Mumbaikar's smile at the mere mention of Bandra :)

Carter Road, bandstand, Bombay Blues, Linking road Barista, Prarthna, Natty & Sam

Now at the spanking new departure terminal in Mumbai - at least one city seems to be getting its act together. This place actually rivals Pudong Int'l airport...no kidding!

Pictures to follow soon.

V & L

Background: I'm currently reading the celestine prophecy, trying to understand coincidences that occur in our lives & how they're not coincidences at all

So I get to office yesterday morning and pick up the economic times. A little snippet on the front page catches my attention: "Cadbury Schweppes to sell off European beverage business to equity consortium"

I immediately think of VM all those miles away in Amst. & make a mental note to give him a call later in the day to see if everything's ok...you know with his job n stuff.

A couple of hours later my phone rings and the person on the other line says:

"Listen you ass, I'm in Bangalore with Lon. We are meeting tonight. Give me a call when you're done with work"

I'm left a little spooked & very pleasantly surprised. :-)

So last night was awesome meeting VM & Lon, whats more there was also Vijay & Challa both of whom were recipients of the special VM Amst. tour last year, not to mention a warm couch & coffee thanks to Lon.

All we needed was a dart board & we would have been back at Coco's Outback.

Hey & I also met a cool cricket journalist & got the number for a classmate who's also a budding cricket journalist. All in all, an evening well spent. The only missing element was RS.

Coincidence? Intuition? Method...?

Change

15 years where a state was turned into a vast, lawless jungle.
Will things finally change or will the jungle remain, only to be replaced by a new chief?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------


A more pleasant change however also came about today... All the best mate!

Wedding Bells

I was watching Harry Potter & the goblet... last night (which you should give a miss unless you know all the names of all the shops in Diagon Alley, that is to say unless you are a die hard HP fan), when my phone rings. I let it buzz on vibrator & someone leaves me a voicemail. So when I check my voicemail the message is from my cousin in Bombay:

"Hi, I'm giving you 5 days' notice so you better be here. I'm getting married on Friday. I'll see you here then. Call me"

Ummm so yeah I'm flying to Bombay Thursday night. However, a word of caution to my dear brothers & sisters around the world: do give me at least a months' notice before the nuptials.

In other news this weekend:

- I'm turning into a right art afficianado. More on that in a separate post
- Watching India KICK ASS live, especially in a day night game is special. Watching it with colourful, pretty, drunk people is even better
- Season Finale of "Lost" left only more questions. When does Season 2 start n India??!!
- Its fun needling old school mates when you meet them after a gap of 6 odd years, especially when they, for the life of them don't know who you are and you greet them with their full names
- The Aussies continue to be my favourite cricket team to watch
- Pizzas taste real good *sigh*...

Game Day!

70 Thousand Spectators
Over a Billion fanatical supporters
1 Uniting Passion

Go the Men in Blue!

Safe sex & the inevitable fundamentalists

This posting was supposed to be about the game tomorrow & me gloating because I got a ticket. However, it was interrupted midway when a friend told me that the fundamentalist clowns were at it again.

So India's top woman's tennis athlete was at a leadership summit & she was asked her views about safe sex. She said this,"So there are two issues here, safe sex and sex before marriage. You don't want me to tell you that you have to have safe sex, whether it is before or after marriage. Everyone must know what he or she is doing."


So from this statement, the Mullahs contrived in their twisted minds that she was degrading Islam and had this to say:
"Fornication is a major sin in Islam. A Muslim man or woman can't even mingle freely before marriage, not to talk about having sex. If a Muslim promotes fornication, he or she is considered expelled from Islam,"

Wha...???! This particular Mullah needs to step out a little more & learn he lives in India: the world's largest liberal democracy.

That not being enough, the same Mullah stoked the flames further by adding this:
"When we asked her to follow the Islamic dress code many people criticised us but today even those people are not happy with her statements. This is because pre-marital sex is not only against Islam but also against Indian and Asian traditions. If you promote sex before marriage there will be no difference between a man and an animal,"

So what exactly are you saying Mr. Mullah? That the athlete in question should

1) Play tennis wearing a burkha?

2) Not promote safe sex when several prominent MALE athletes, one of whom happens to be Muslim (apart from being my favourite cricketer) in India are promoting the use of a condom?????? Jesus Christ! I am shell shocked by the kind of hypocrisy that exists in my country! Not to mention our darling media actually going out and printing the gibberish these fundamentalist clowns spew at every given opportunity.

Here I must stop:If you think I am deriding Islam: far from it. You can sit back & relax. I have posted about my feelings on fundamentalist clowns earlier. I shall do so again. Religion has nothing to do with it. Let me proceed to prove that.

Coming back to this tennis athlete, several "protesters" from the ABVP (Akhila Bharatiya Vidya Parishat - a puppet youth organisation for one of the many political parties & again a fundamentalist HINDU organisation) burnt her posters in public and said this:

"She has hurt the sentiments of Indian people. She should tender an apology for the comments,"

Yes she should definitely apologise for trying to prevent more young people from contracting AIDS....

In addition, what saddened me further were comments from supposed lay people who said this:

"Her statement is uncalled for. We are a closed and traditional kind of society. Such statements will only send wrong messages to the youth, who are already exposed to many kinds of media like Internet and films,"

Wrong messages? Promoting safe sex is a wrong message? India has 5 MILLION HIV POSITIVE CASES & is slated to be next in line after Africa in terms of AIDS related deaths. So yes I agree, let us coach & promote abstinence instead of wearing a condom. Abstinence is so much easier than safe sex.

"Her comments are highly condemnable. This is not only against Islam but also our Indian traditions based on high moral values"

What Indian traditions? Once again the hypocrisy engulfs me in a wave of nausea. Half naked girls constantly dance out from my TV screen in every single Bollywood & regional movie that is aired in India and here we are talking about morals & values when a 19 year old is mature enough to know that safe sex is smart?

Oh guardians of Islam, Hindiusm, Indian Traditions and any other protectors of what is righteous and true and pure as the driven snow:

Please use your righteousness, your traditions, your morals, your religions to better yourselves & those who subscribe to your views first.

Please first learn that blowing up people with cars, burning people alive or killing them with forked spears has left the likes of you with no credibility, no sympathy & no understanding from most Indians & most rational people around the world. Understand that the likes of you can spew gibberish but the ones who hang onto your words are diminishing & will one day soon disappear, casting you out & exposing you for the clowns you are.

And lastly...lets just let the girl play tennis, shall we?

music? I don't think so Tim

Thanks to the telecom revolution & increased purchasing power, everyone seems to have cellphones.

When I was in China, everyone seemed to have a cellphone.
Now when I'm in India, everyone seems to have a cellphone.

So now mothers can know where their daughters are, (or at least where the daughters tell their mothers they are, which at most times is fictional), the vegetable vendor knows when the wholesalers open & incidentally, in an unrelated development it unleashed the hellish scourge of ringtones unto the earth.

I began noticing this in China. We had a nice spacious office in Shanghai without cubicles, which I really liked. But, then the ringtones took over. We had about 30 people in my section and all 30 had a ringtone. Not one of them had a normal "ring ring" or "beep beep" of a telephone. Each one's desk would periodically explode in a joyous expression of individuality manifesting itself through a chosen tune. The especially irritating ones were the polyphonic ones: loud, raucous & often cheesy.
You get the point: it grated.

So when I came back to India I thought Aha! I've left the scourge behind, little did I know...the fascination for being ostentatious coupled with the presence of Bollywood in every Indian had escaped me. Whether in the office, in a cafe or in the dang theatre, the ringtones are hunting me down, pushing me over the screaming edge of insanity.
Oh no...and I think Indians have just discovered "Caller Tones" as well....there is no escape...there goes my colleague's "rapture" ring tone again....& I put my earphones on.

Desi Food on the South Beach

"In general, Indian food is a fine choice for South Beach Dieters since the cuisine is based on the right carbs, such as chickpeas and lentils, and nutrient-rich vegetables like spinach and eggplant. However, some Indian dishes are cooked using bad fats, and in combination with starchy carbs like white potatoes and rice. Your best bet is to stick to items that are not deep-fried, cooked with cream, slathered in sauce, or accompanied by processed carbs. Good choices include dal (lentils), tandoori meats, raitas (tart yogurt side dish), and chana (chickpeas). Enjoy!"

Muahaha!

seasons in the sun

Meeting up with old classmates from school is often an exercise fraught with danger. Old bonds have been broken, people have moved on, people have changed, wavelenghts just aren't the same anymore.

But I was soon to realise I was worried without justification. It was one of the most fascinating, humbling & fun evenings I have had in a while. There were about 6 of us who came together at Raghava's place, him & his lovely Fiancee Nethra playing impeccably gracious hosts.

Among the audience we had an investment banker & securities analyst in Adarsh, a doctor soon to be entering into the Priesthood in Rahul, 2 inevitable techies in Chetan & Sudeep, a medical student in Kumar & an entertaining host who also happens to be a much sought after artist & painter.

The highlight of the evening was listening to Raghava's rendition of all that goes on in the art world in India, some of which had us all in splits. How his works first sold in the States, his move there & now his move back again to India touched a common chord...we're all nomads & staying put is never easy but has to be done for better things that will surely come as a result of that patience. I am not an art connoisseur by any stretch but I do find Raghava's work quite fascinating.

You can view some of his works here.

All told, a wonderful evening; extremely humbling to learn the paths we've all chosen, the successes that have already come our way and the many that are sure to follow. Puts things in perspective and just reinforces my belief that most guys who come out of this school end up all right. The kind I'd like to call my friends, the kind I'd like to be able to call home for a drink, the kind whose houses I'd like to send my kids over to play.

vuelva a la clase

Brush the dust off the books, the pen & the dictionary because we start the classes soon! Yessir! Weekend Intermediate Spanish classes begin again in 3 weeks. Just enough time for me to brush up on all the material covered in the first level.

Back to the verbs...ar, er, ir, indefinite, infinitive, gerunds, modismos...lock, stock, the *&*%in' lot!

Mera Bichraa Yaar

Listening to "Mera Bichraa Yaar" ....by Strings...

Made me instantly think of my bichraa yaar...the Legend all those kilometres away...this one's for you dost. Sun le yeh gana agar ho sake to...teri yaad di la di mujhe



PS - notice whose photograph we are holding up above...:-)..tu bhi sheru

Par

Although I must have carded around 220 or above in the last 2 rounds, Golf is a game that gives you one shining light...one speck of brilliance in that day, whether it was that 200 yard near perfect drive on a 500 yard par 5 or sinking a 10 foot putt from the rough.
The game decided that I too would be allowed one sublime moment in 2 days...and those are the moments that any golfer lives for.

- The setting was the 11th hole at Bangalore Golf Club. A Par 4...around 380 yards or so
- For some reason I was feeling very comfortable with my 6 Iron so I tee'd off with the club. A perfect drive bang in the middle of the fairway.
- My 2nd shot was a 7 Iron which saw me about 80 yards from the green...a little too much to the left
- My 3rd shot was the sort that makes you want to wake up everyday at 5 & practise to turn pro. Pitching wedge...the perfect chip onto the green landing about 6 feet from the hole.
- I sank that putt for my first ever par

Aaah! What a feeling! Now...more practice...

Diwali, bombs, fundamentalism, gay rights et al

Seems like the recent lack of catharsis has been mounting pushing me to disgorge what is sure to be a load of well...mostly caustic observations about this place we call the world..this desolate, cynical, world. Yes this is going to be morbid..where do I begin:

- Fundamentalist Diwali: It seems like festivals in India are a good way for people to escape the essence of the places we live in & also for politicians to be seen distributing awards, handing out sops to the underprivileged & to be seen as noble guardians. Ok...lets put the politicians aside for now. Diwali for me has always been about renewing goals & a new beginning. But it wasn't to be this time around. For starters, my city lay literally in tatters before the start of the festival. Ravaged roads, chaotic traffic & a blustering, idiotic, bumbling old fool of a politician who the newspapers & media brand as a "supremo" ejaculating nonsensical opinions about one of the few things my city does right, only went on to increase my ire.

I digress now but bear with me. I have to date never voted in an Indian election thanks mainly to the fact that I have been abroad but I am sorely disappointed in the electorate of the state for having this clumsy, rudderless coalition government in place.

Coming back to the focus of my frustration - how can one celebrate anything when each time one ventures onto the roads, being seriously maimed is almost a certainty? What am I supposed to celebrate? The fact that every trip on these hellish roads for me is akin to Lord Ram's return on the dark night after having vanquished the demon Ravan? Some sort of divine message I am not sage enought to see?

Right, so as is evident my festive spirit was not at its best and to exacerbate matters came these other fundamentalist idiots calling themselves the Inqilab something or the other who decided that "Hey its Diwali & Eid next week...so lets give the people of Delhi a gift by killing a few of their friends & relatives".

After I hear about the fundamentalist idiots' vain attempt at trying to win whatever it is they are exploding bombs in shopping areas for, I call my aunt & uncle to check in if they're ok. My uncle laughs wryly and says "we're used to bomb blasts in Delhi now...we get at least one every few months..." and in the same breath he says "Happy Diwali"...I didnt miss the irony in that....Happy Diwali..? you bet!

So Diwali dampeners didnt enable me to go mad with joy at the coming of the new year. I probably ate a lot less "mithai" than I would have otherwise..so that's at least one thing I must thank the fundamentalists for...
Oh but I must say this...one bright spot was despite the acts of idiocy in Sarojini Nagar and other places, not many of the morons from the beloved fundamentalist faction that exist in our country stood up and made statements along the lines of "kill 'em all!" or brandished their trishools and caunchs echoing a battle cry. For this I thank you with my entire heart...maybe this country might just survive democracy without another Godhra.

Moving onto other news of irrational things lately which further dampened my festive spirit...a commission appointed to review the Indian Penal code of laws has recommended that a section stating that homosexuality is illegal be removed from the code. The section roughly states that homosexuality is an offence under Indian law and persons found indulging in homosexuality will be arrested, convicted, punished etc. (my first reaction was..."ok! finally Indian lawmakers are wising up! Note that there's no mention of stopping lesbians doing anything he he) but after the initial euphoria, I realised how archaic this law is, that too in a society where several prominent celebrities are openly gay and many ordinary people are "coming out of the closet" so to speak. Dont laws need to evolve with society? Laws are meant to protect society and not persecute it, correct? I'm sure my good mate Vijay could put this more articulately but to me as a layman..that's always been the understanding. But heck, in India we arrest young couples for pecking each other in public so why should homosexuals be treated any differently right??! Bring on the fundamentalists yet again...and add the moral police to boot...and lets turn the world into Eurasia & Eastasia....

Happy Diwali & Eid Mubarak everyone!