South Mumbai Bound

17 Sept 09:
My new leg of the journey started on 17th evening. We were flowing against the traffic, still the flow was not very smooth. But it was a different experience to get onto the Worli Sea Link, for the first time. It looks majestic and was a great experience. I wounder why it took so long for Mumbaikars to come up with such a world class infrastructure ! Mumbai, like other major urban centers in India, desperately needs more such structures, quickly too.

On the Peddar road, with its usual traffic speed ( or lack of it), I saw a big poster of Jagjit singh! Needless to add, it usurped my attention! It was about a concert by the ghazal maestro at Nehru Center. Earlier I had the opportunity to listen to Dr Balamurali Krishna at the same venue. It was out of world experience! The venue, with its ambience and accoustics, complement these great talents. I made some checks and grabbed two tickets (self & wife) and rushed to the venue. On the way, while the yellow-blue taxi made noicy progress on the beautiful marine drive, we observed the date of concert was next day and I was moving to the venue exactly 24 hours in advance !!!  We were not very far from a small restaurant where I had many business lunches, with Jagjit ghazals in the backdrop !! 
There was no way we could make it next evening, as we were to be busy with a Self-development session!!! I missed the concert...During the next 24 hrs, tried few friends, but no one could make it due to their prior commitments. Essentially, the tickets went waste, I regret to add... But it was for a good cause, Human Rights, thankfully!

'Yeh daulat bhi lelo... ' !!! my mind played the song, as the taxi took a u-turn and moved towards our hotel near Gateway of India!

JOY of Vegetarianism

World over the month October is celebrated as the Vegetarian Awareness Month. It kickstarts with Oct 1 being World Vegetarian Day.
Started by a group of North Americans, this movement is picking up slowly and surely. The meat industry produces more greenhouse gases that all automobile, planes and ships put together ( acc to a UN Study in 2006). That is a strong reason for us to GO Green.... All the indirect cost and trauma of all the health problems/diseases are not even quantified. Let us save the Earth, save the animals ( for meat)... Let us spread the JOY of Vegetarianism
And... that is part of Living, Spiritually
Check out :http://www.worldvegetarianday.org/

This falls in the same month when world celeberates Oct 2 as International Non Violence day. Gandhiji deserves more than a mere token gesture. The world deserves more of that definitely !

Diwali Greetings

Happy Diwali.... Belatedly :)

Last year I had posted a belated greetings too (http://subublog.blogspot.com/2008/10/diwali-greetings.html). But things are quite same... the impact of global slow down continue to affect the common man. The impact of climate change, fear of epidemic swine flu, natural calamities, terrorist attacks, etc have only made the world 'darker'... Hence, the Festival of Lights more relevant now.

Personally, this Diwali was different for me... esp from a spiritual angle. So, the personal resolution is to retain the spirit of diwali for another year. Both spiritually and otherwise ( But then, 'everything is spiritual'). Tamasoma... Jyotirgamaya

Cars our cricketers drive- News- Zigwheels

Check out the cars our popular cricketers drive... Courtesy, Zigwheels-ToI

While we knew Sachin's preferred machine was his red Ferrari, MSD's passion is beyond his Hummer ( now bought over by a Chinese company!!!)... Gambhir is yet to buy his dream machine ( waiting for a 'gift' for a big performance...a la Yuvi's Porche ?!)

Cars our cricketers drive- News- Zigwheels

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Spiritual Re-charge

12 Sept:
India is truly a Spiritual Center ( want to actually write, Spiritual Capital – do not want to take sides!). There are some spectacular places in Incredible India !
I am at Prashanthi Nilayam ( abode of peace) for my re-charging my spiritual batteries.

16 Sept:
Five days … great experience. Feel light and Free... Though the soul is reluctant to leave, just as mind, body and spirit gets aligned to the spiritual vibrations. Leave reluctantly, with a hope and prayer to come back soon and for a longer stay too.
If Mumbai airport was ‘better’, Bangalore airport is very good. From a common man’s perspective, it looks well-designed and spacious, though the connectivity from city is very poor. Food court in the departure launch is good, though it seems to add to the crowd and clutter. Of course the surprising element of the air travel was the professional service of Go Air Business. They were courteous and professional to the point, I did not miss my favourite brand, Jet Airways ! I am sure, jet will have to work a bit harder to get more customers back, after their strike.

Though I was forced to cancel to avoid the uncertainty of the flight status ( on 12 Sept), when I called them they said they would not make full refund. That is unfair. Strike was not called off as of 12th morning, though things were limping back to normal by the time I returned ( 16th). Back at Mumbai and its traffic jams and also sultry weather !

Homebound...

10th Sept 09

Homebound… few hours away from amchi Mumbai, as I wait for boarding…
A local friend/colleague mentioned he just finished a book, Gandhiji’s autobiography. He comes across as one of the few who has read a lot on Bapu and appreciates/respects and is inspired by the teachings and life of Gandhiji. I was wondering how many of our own young Indians, both resident and non-resident, share that kind of respect and awe for him. I am reminded… ‘For generations to come…’ that seem to be already happening already !

Against this backdrop, it was great to hear President Obama’s response to a grade-9 student – given a choice, among all the greats who are alive/dead, the President would opt for a dinner with Gandhiji. The influence of the non-violent movement on their own civil rights movement was highlighted. If the most powerful man on earth is inspired by Gandhiji, world has hope…surely…

Always aim at complete harmony of thought and word and deed. Always aim at purifying your thoughts and everything will be well - Mahatma Gandhi
Very recently, there was another report how youngsters would go to any extend to get a dinner meeting with a top-notch CEO. But the Chinese are going a step further. The young Chinese students, yet to enter the corporate world, are already going for plastic-surgery to improve their marketability ! They don’t want to lose out in a close race… We were complaining about excess focus on grooming, metro-sexual , et al. While the world is already going crazy to ‘look younger’, these developments are quite surprising !

In the final analysis, all aspire for success and peace. Bapu’s advise on the spiritual peace is: Always aim at complete harmony of thought and word and deed. Always aim at purifying your thoughts and everything will be well

Too lazy to continue…. Signing off for now ( will ‘post’ later though!) Next post will be from Amchi Mumbai!!!

TO BE CONTIUED

Vacation, at last...

Sept 11
It was great to land at Mumbai, though on Sept 11...( a day, few years ago, the world made a paradigm shift, for the worse!)
The trip was comfortable, no sign of any extra-security at Mumbai airport. Thanks to the projects to upgrade airports in India, finally things are moving in the rifht direction.

But only for the air-travelers, and not for the common man on the street, not yet!

Sad to observe the state of our road infrastructure. On a personal level, the western express highway, for last 9 years has failed to clear the bottlenecks. While few overhead bridges for pedestrians were a welcome sign, the traffic moves at snail's pace. The bridge at ToI, Malad may enter guiness books, for the sheer delay. And at what cost !!! Central and state govts have been unfair to Mumbai by failing to provide the transport infrastructure. In spite of the spirit of mumbaikar, these gaps add to loss in productivity.

It is election time... Once again time for politicians to make empty promises. Mumbaikar's life will go on as usual, with all its inherent struggles !

At 8 AM, the city was bustling with energy. Even after 9 years since making Mumbai my home, the spirit of mumbaikar continues to inspire me. Mumbai rocks...

Nobel Peace Prize for President Obama

The Committee definitely surprised all by conferring this prestigious prize on Prez Obama. The doubt people have 'was it too early? '

Going by his track record as President, perhaps it is too early. ``His extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and
cooperation between peoples,'' the Norwegian Nobel Committee said, citing his outreach to the Muslim world and attempts to curb nuclear proliferation. That is very fair.
He is one of the few real hopes among the contemperory world leaders...He could make a difference to our generation, and thus may be for our children.
He has inspired many people to dream big. You can not forget that big contribution...He will continue to inspire many underprivileged to work hard to join mainstream.
For us Indians, he may not be the most India-friendly president. But, his belief in Gandhian values shows his character and value-system.
Lastly, this will inspire him to look beyond mere American interests and work for the larger interests of humanity.

PS: He may have to talk to fellow Nobel peace winners, such as Dalai Lama. :) Also, just read a report,A Failure to spread wealth by Tony Allen-Mills on another laureate's efforts to 'improve' lives of the poorest through micro-finance