Just Random Things

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6 common traits of a true Mumbaikar

- February 28, 2019

Mumbai is more than a city- its a feeling, its an emotion. It has everything your heart desires and more (except maybe snow). You may think I’m exaggerating here but if you are a true Mumbaikar, you’ll know this could not be any truer. People of Mumbai are bound by many things – experiences, pace of the city, its culture, its never-ending traffic etc. And we may be in millions, but there are a few traits that are common between us. It is very easy to spot a person born and brought up in this magnificent city. For example, every Mumbaikar has a romance with the monsoon season. We love it, we hate it, we enjoy it, we despise it; its just the matter of timing! Capeesh? Here are few more things that are common in every resident of this beautiful city- 1. Mixture of language Mumbai embraces people from all walks of life, the result of which is a beautiful symphony of cultures, food, and languages that blend together. We have a unique way of expressing things in a mixture o...

Just Google it!

- October 04, 2018

'I think it's called bottle gourd' said the husband non-chalantly. 'No! Lauki is called bottle gourd not Turai ' I exclaim, twisting the cloth in my hand as I try to think hard, in the middle of a squabble with the husband about the English name of the vegetable - Turai . The word is right there on the tip of my tongue, but is not coming to me. It has to be some kind of gourd - but which? I wish I could google it ; And for the hundredth time, I pick up my phone and see the no network/service sign. We are in the interior part of the country side with little to no signal. And as I try to plug my phone to the charger, I wonder for probably the first time, whether it is a good idea. A feeling of frustration starts creeping up inside me. When did I start depending so much on Google that not having internet for one weekend is making me feel helpless. Hasn't Google become synonymous to internet? We hear people casually saying why don't you just Google it...

The pressure cooker we all live in

- September 24, 2018

( This post is dedicated to all the millenials out there. Hope you like it.) Unlike many, I like cooking in the pressure cooker. Just chop a few things, add a few ingredients, put them together under high pressure and you are sorted (with a delicious meal at that). When you think of it, isn't society much like a pressure cooker? Since the time we are toddlers, we are surrounded with pressure. 'Has he started teething yet?' ' Oh! He hasn't started walking?' 'Are you giving him enough calcium?' And this is just the beginning. Then we are enrolled in school and are expected to be the best in studies as well as extra curricular activities. If not the best then atleast better than the neighbours/relatives son (The Sharmaji ka beta syndrome). Image Source Then comes the pressure of doing well in exams, because God forbid if we get lesser marks, then how are we going to pursue the only two careers in our country - medicine or engineering. Later on...

What is Success?

- September 17, 2018

Its 6 pm and we are stuck in the usual, unforgiving Mumbai traffic when my daughter suddenly asks me, 'Mamma what is S-U-C-C-E-S-S? (Now that she is learning to spell words). I take a quick look outside our Uber and spot a big hoarding of a well known Tutorial with the tagline 'path to success'. I promptly reply 'success'. In a flash comes the next question, 'Mamma what is success? What does it mean?'. My mind goes into overdrive. How do you make a kindergartener understand the concept of success? For those who are not around kids or do not have a daily rendezvous with them, let me tell you that kids are complex characters. They have a very inquisitive mind. You tell them one thing and they will ask you ten in return. image source ...

4 Things Indian schools need to teach but don't

- September 10, 2018

( Disclaimer: This post kind of got out of my hand and is a little lengthy but i hope you will stick around and read it till the end) School days are the most memorable part of our lives; notwithstanding the trouble our parents had to go through just to enroll us into good schools (standing in long queues etc.). Today, we all want our children to get the best schooling and have big hopes and dreams for their future . But education in the present scenario is more like a rat race mostly based on rote learning. Little kids are asked to learn big nursery rhymes which do not have any meaning and are difficult to comprehend for us adults, let alone children. I mean – Pussy cat went to London just to frighten a little mouse. There is one where a piggy is on the railway line picking up stones and is apparently hit by an engine whose driver doesn’t give a damn about it. Looking back, it always makes me wonder if we are ever going to use the formula to find the area of a trapezi...

Not exactly the best thing about Mumbai!

- September 04, 2018

There are infinite things that make Mumbai one of the best cities in the world. Its people, its culture, its history and most importantly its spirit. But you’ll forget all this once you become a part of an epic adventure that is Mumbai’s traffic. I think almost all Mumbaikars are accustomed to the torment of being stuck in traffic for hours on end. If you are travelling in the morning – everyone is in a rush to reach their workplace on time, and if you are travelling in the evening everyone wants to reach home as soon as possible. It’s almost like a competition to see who is going to reach their destination first, and rainy season provides no solace whatsoever to the average Mumbaikar; with potholes that greet you at every 10 feet, water logging, and the general idea of ‘Road tere baap ka nahi hai’ (this road doesn’t belong to your father). When we were watching the movie Mission Impossible and I saw Tom Cruise riding his bike towards oncoming traffic on the streets o...

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