Things that suck about Mumbai - I

In spite of being a 'metro' and a 'cosmopolitan' city, there are several things about Mumbai that suck big-time!

Let me mention a few here.

And yes, this list is not-at-all exhaustive!

The Mumbai Traffic :

You plan your day and leave with great spirits, wanting to do everything as per your plan.And guess what? You end up spending more than 50% of your time in this Mumbai traffic!

Mumbai traffic is pathetic, to say the least.May it be a weekday or a weekend.May it be morning or evening or even late night.There are these places(roads) in Mumbai that are always congested and full of vehicles ,virtually in stand-still mode for hours together.

You think you would enjoy the joyous ride of your bike on the Eastern Expressway to reach Dadar and you are bound to stop at the SumanNagar crossing by this shocking long chain of vehicles in front of you.You end up being stuck in this large pool of smoke and dust.You(or at least me for that matter) feel like "OMG! what place is this !!"

Then you think 'Let me go to Inorbit Malad today, from Ghatkopar and, all is smooth till you cross Aarey and reach the Western Expressway.But then you encounter this worst traffic signal ever.It has 'Green' for 7 minutes for 1 direction!So if it is 'Red' for you, then it would remain Red for next 21 mins! Can you believe it?

I am fed up of this Mumbai traffic and it is one thing that can surely make you think when do you wanna leave this city.

The Mumbai Rickshawallas :

'Kaminey' is the only word I can think of when I want to write about them.They suck man!

You ask them to go to Hiranandanani and they say No.You ask them for Chembur, they say No.You ask them for Mulund, they say No.And worst, in Ghatkopar,if you are dressed in formals and stranded on the road, these sick autowallas actually 'Ignore' you as if you are a roadside beggar.They assume you are in  formals, so u must be going to Hiranandani and obviously, they don't want to go there.As if it is Hell.

This is sometimes (or shall i say always) so much frustating.Imagine you are stranded on the road to go to some place urgently and no autowalla is ready to go!With continuous exposure to dust and Mumbai's humid conditions, it is such a bad feeling to face such a scene-Beyond description.

The 'Shopkeeper is the God.Not the Consumer' theory :

The mool-mantra  of any trade, they say, is 'Consumer is the God' and this should be never be forgotten by any businessman anywhere,anytime.However, all such theories are defied , totally, in Mumbai.

I faced this many a times here in Bombay- from a small road-side kiraana store to a reputed Dadar restaurant to a Yamaha Showroom.Everywhere the consumer is treated with such low-importance that you immediately notice the shocking difference between demand and supply in Mumbai and, how the shopkeepers are making the misuse of it.Just Imagine-when I warned the Yamaha showroom person that I would buy the bike from another showroom if they don't pay attention to my queries, he said " Go ahead sir!".I was like what the hell! I know this is not a point that I should include about 'things that suck about Mumbai', but to be really frank, I cant imagine such a thing happening anywhere else apart from Mumbai , and so ,I feel this holds a place in my list of 'dislikes' of Mumbai.

Will add more such things whenever I remember more.

Cheers

KU

In the middle of office

Posting in the middle of a working day in office can be fun as well as can be embarrassing.Embarrassing in the sense it can make u feel something in ur conscience that you are doing something other than your 'official' work.

Ok.Leave it.

Today we (my cousin and me) plan to have a call for our much desired project 'Eureka' :)

I had feared this earlier too that after our very excited discussion on the eve of CAT, this thing can go into quarantine.and here it is..we are already 1 week late for our discussions and 10 days from now i wud be on a weeks trip to Nagpur.So I just hope it doesnt happen that we forget it. We have to take it seriously.

It is our dream and we have to pursue it.

I want to get out of this office job man.I want that freedom of taking leaves whenever I want,of working at whatever time I want to and of doing my work in whichever style I want to.

Hence I seriously want this thing to take off.

I know that sometimes I have been doubtful of this idea but more often than not, I have seen these really positive pathways that this idea can take.It has tremendous potential and so many verticals to expand into.

Considering all this I truly believe that if at all we do it wholeheartedly, we can do it.

It is our roadway to freedom,to happiness!

KU

Why Vibes?

'Vibes' is such a common word and one can really wonder( well I hope one does ;) ) what made me keep my blogs name as 'Vibes'.

While thinking of what to name my blog as, I was mulling over names that could really do justice to posts that I would author and at the same time not be boring.Like say, a name like "My Views" or a typical "Maverick Me" were a kind of names I would have loved to not-have.So I was looking for something not so out-of-the-world and meaningful at the same time.

I don't know what made me think of that way but yes, two things made me zero on 'Vibes'.

It came to my mind about me talking to my cousin about the positive vibes that I used to feel before CAT last yr and (the lack of it) this year.Then ,'Vibes' also came to my mind as the name of our office group of  friends with whom I go out for picnics and lunch.

So I gave this word a serious thought and concluded that indeed this can be the word that can stand for my posts here,as vibes can be positive or negative(or may be zero/neutral too) and so, can best describe what type of feelings I am having in my mind and what tone or with what energy I am blogging about things.

I know it was not that exciting description of the genesis of 'Vibes'.

KU

Not my first blog!

Well this is certainly not my first blog.

In college only i used to think that blogging could be real fun.Especially when u live in a hostel, away from family, you do feel to share or if not share, at least express your thoughts to someone.That loneliness can be felt many-a-times when your mind is filled with a lot of thoughts and you don't have that one person whom you can talk to.At such times , a computer can really be your buddy.So, seeing my friends blogging about different things, on different topics and with different views, used to make me think " When will I start blogging?".

In 2008 December, means during my first yr in office( I know it sounds pathetically late), I finally thought of giving it a try and started with writing about my daily thoughts on a word doc. It was a mix of Hindi and English and had plenty of patois.It did used to make me feel a little lighter.But as many happy things come to an end(or a pause), it so happened that I gave in that habit and again, that phase started where, I actually used to feel like blogging things but didn't actually do it.

Now that finally today I have entered blog-spot, let me just hope I continue with this consistently and keep sharing things I want to share.

So, I want to say 'Touch Wood'! 

Or may be 'knock of wood' (the new word I came to know about today).

Later.

Cheers

KU