Got this email forward. Reaffirms my belief in the Mumbaikar's spirit & attitude


Exact Narration by an auto-rickshaw passenger,

Suvendu Roy of Titan Industries, who shares his inspirational encounter with a rickshaw driver in Mumbai:

One Sunday, my wife, kid, and I had to travel to Andheri from Bandra.
When I waved at a passing auto rickshaw, little did I expect that this ride would be any different...


I looked in front and there was a small TV. The driver had put on the Doordarshan channel.



My wife and I looked at each other with disbelief and amusement. In front of me was a small first-aid box with cotton, dettol and some medicines.
This was enough for me to realize that I was in a special vehicle.
Then I looked round again, and discovered more - there was a radio, fire extinguisher, wall clock, calendar, and pictures and symbols of all faiths
- from Islam and Christianity to Buddhism, Hinduism and Sikhism.
There were also pictures of the heroes of 26/11- Kamte, Salaskar, Karkare and Unnikrishnan.
I realized that not only my vehicle, but also my driver was special.

I started chatting with him and the initial sense of ridicule and disbelief gradually diminished.
I gathered that he had been driving an auto rickshaw for the past 8-9 years; he had lost his job when his employer's plastic company was shut down.
He had two school-going children, and he drove from 8 in the morning till 10 at night.
No break unless he was unwell. "Sahab, ghar mein baith ke T.V dekh kar kya faida? Do paisa income karega toh future mein kaam aayega."

We realized that we had come across a man who represents Mumbai – the spirit of work, the spirit of travel and the spirit of excelling in life.
I asked him whether he does anything else as I figured that he did not have too much spare time.
He said that he goes to an old age home for women in Andheri once a week or whenever he has some extra income, where he donates tooth brushes, toothpastes, soap, hair oil, and other items of daily use.
He pointed out to a painted message below the meter that read: "25 per cent discount on metered fare for the handicapped.
Free rides for blind passengers up to Rs. 50.



My wife and I were struck with awe. The man was a HERO!

A hero who deserves all our respect!!!

Our journey came to an end;

45 minutes of a lesson in humility, selflessness, and of a hero-worshipping Mumbai, my temporary home.

We disembarked, and all I could do was
to pay him a tip that would hardly cover a
free ride for a blind man.

I hope, one day, you too have a chance to meet Mr Sandeep Bachhe in his auto rickshaw: MH-02-Z-8508.

Be a Reason for Million Smiles….But Never be a reason for even a single Grudge

Mumbai's taste buds

Whether it's a holiday or work related travel, food always stays at the top of the agenda. Being a foodie I love to try out different cuisines and I research quite a bit before I venture off on a trip.Googling on local food specialties helps tremendously. Sometimes the excitement does get washed down when the taste buds do not seem to agree with the "local speciality" as being tasty. In one grooming class I attended they taught us a term to express such distaste for food politely. Call the item you have tasted as " interesting" so as to not sound rude. So there you go, next time you have a guest at home, especially an international guest and they were to say to the dish you've served or ordered. "Oh, very interesting" you know what they're tying to tell you.

So coming back to the usefulness of googling about local food stuff before your trip. Well for the uninitiated it's a get a headstart on what to expect from the dish they have ordered and what it would be made off. As I write this, I am recounting my experience in Germany where a poor vegetarian friend who has grown up in Hyderabad was craving for spicy food & on chancing a Pepperoni Pizza instantly ordered and devoured one without the slightest of knowledge that Pepperoni does not mean Red Pepper Pizza but Beef & Pork.Poor soul refused to eat out after that incident.


So here in this blog. I'm putting down a few must-eat food items when in Mumbai and adding a little bit of my own description. The average Bambaiya or Mumbaiya louvessss these and relishes them ever so often. Hope you'll do enjoy them as well. I'll add a link of the recipe and a photo as well.

Bon Appétit!



1. Vada Pav : Most people like to call this one the burger of Mumbai. It's one of the cheapest food items available at almost every corner. It's a ball of mashed potatos,green chilies,ginger & garlic paste and deep fried in Besan Flour. You could eat it as a Vada, which is the potato ball or with Pav, which is a bread.
To add more taste to it...you can have it with a spicy or a sweet chutney (sauce).




Here are some places where you must have a vada pav:
1. Outside NMIMS college try the maska vada pav...it's addictive
2. Incase your at Dadar you can try the one right outside the station





2. Chaats-Bhel/Sev/Dahi/Dahi Batat puri- These are great snack items and personally I can eat them at anytime of the day but yes mostly they're eaten in the evenings. They normally taste spicy and sweet and the taste can be altered according to your liking.

Take a look at the recipe to know more about this appetizer http://www.tarladalal.com/Bhel-Puri-2795r


Where to eat it?
1. Gurukripa, Sion
2.Juhu Beach
3.At the food stalls outside Vile Parle Station
4.Jhama sweet shop Chembur Camp
5.Vittal's opp. C.S.T. station











3. Pav Bhaji: This food item cannot be categorised as a meal or a snack.It's essentially bread served with a vegetables.It's normally pretty high on the calorific value, because there seems to be a general consensus that the more butter there is in this dish the tastier it will be.








4. Gola: Beating Mumbai's humidity and heat is best done by slurping on a Gola. Gola is an ice candy made of crushed ice and flavored syrup, not very different from an American Snow cone.One of the popular flavors is Kala Khatta





Where to eat it?
1. Juhu Beach/ Chowpatty
2. Gogola at Phoenix Mall

Whose road is it anyway??

Recently, I joined the bandwagon and took to owning a vehicle and even driving it myself. This is one of the most perilous decisions I've taken. Why? Simple, in our country the onus of the pedestrian safety lies on the vehicle driver. Check the recent and significant judgement, the Bombay High Court has held that in case of an accident even if a pedestrian is negligent while crossing road, the driver of the vehicle is liable to pay the compensation to him or his family members.

Fraught with the fear and burden of being responsible for some strangers lives apart from the co-passengers whom I put under great duress. I drive only in the first or maximum second gear. Now this maybe civil in a crowded area which constitutes most parts of the city. It also makes me realise that pedestrians walk alongside my car and maybe move faster ahead.Maybe it is because they are carefree and even if they bump into strangers, at best they would apologise and move on. But if my car bumps into another car there will be an ugly spat,abuses will be hurled,etc. That's still a very acceptable situation god forbid if I slightly brush against a human I'd could even get beaten up,I would be asked to pay an unreasonable compensation even if it wasn't my fault and people were almost climbing on top of my car to get ahead.

One would reason that in crowded areas, narrow alleyways there are no pedestrian pathways. Why blame people when they are also subjected to risking their life and taking to the roads. All right, I cannot blame pedestrians here. Afterall I've been there not too long ago. Between the perennial construction work in Mumbai, hawkers and innumerable rickshawallas elbowing each other and other vehicles the poor pedestrian finds a place and squeezes himself/ herself to continue moving ahead.

But then what about wider roads, national highways, traffic signals etc. Do pedestrians follow the signals that have been made for their safety? Not always, many times even after the signal has turned green people continue to run like lunatics to cross the road.On national highways it is common to see people jumping from nowhere onto the highway to cross over. In a free country like ours, Jaywalking is not just restricted to humans. One could even encounter a herd of cows, a stray dog, maybe even an elephant who hogs the road ambling away at it's own pace(which is better than the elephant running amok anyways)...

So do we accept that Jaywalkers are here to stay or is this going to change? Well the good news is that there are awareness drives that the traffic cops have conducted one of them was outside CST where people who were crossing the road outside CST station, unmindful of traffic rules and were penalised for it. More such awareness drives need to be conducted across India, especially with the vehicular traffic growing faster than the infrastructure itself. I for one vouch for such a drive because until I took to the wheel I pretty much was clueless that such a word "Jaywalking" even existed. To make these drives successful there could be a PPP (Public Private Partnership) where the Traffic police jointly with auto companies create an awareness building campaign. This could be a great Branding initiative under the Corporate Social Responsibility angle. Are any Auto companies listening??
A few other things include signages which markout the vehicular traffic area from pedestrian walkways.Going forward one could also consider implementing a law that would compel people to follow the rules for their own safety and that of the vehicle driver.


Sources:http://www.zeenews.com/news566854.html
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/35-jaywalkers-end-up-in-fine-trouble-outside-CST/articleshow/4979622.cms

The Flight for survival

Mumbai is an overcrowded city, but not just because of it’s people. It plays host to other thriving species that spans its skies, scooter seats, offices windows, residential buildings etc. Here I refer to crows and pigeons & in the minority & conitnously diminshing are our sparrow friends. Mumbai’s skyline is more often than not dotted with our black feathered friends and they seem to be the only birds one imagines to exist in this cemented jungle, apart from the pigeons which seem to blend into the buildings. Sparrows seem to have relocated altogether.

If it’s your lucky day you could spot a flock of parrot and maybe a mayna or two but that’s how far it goes. Most times you have to wake up to the cooing of a pigeon, and if your unlucky like me, a dozen pigeons. Normally the Mumbai skyline offers an overhang of pollution, an entanglement of wires, the bright lights of hoardings, a flight of our feathered friends and sometimes even a beautiful sunset that makes you feel hopeful about the next day is what keeps us going.

But today im not here to tell you’ll what you all already know. What I want to talk about is how Mumbai’s politics isn’t restricted to just it’s people. The fight for calling Mumbai home isn’t just an issue with us humans, even our feathered friends fight over it tooth and nail or should I say feathers and beaks.

It was well known that Mumbai had many visiting birds of different variety. Then suddenly with the turn of time crows grew and came to power. Their population itself made them daunting enemies that little sparrows were forced to keep a low profile. The power equation seems to be increasingly in favor of the new entrants & now permamnent residents- Crows. Yes, blasphemous according to the city's political environment. They are the new owners of the skyline and my guess is that their sheer size and might has made them fight the incumbents.

Everyday I’ve been noticing them in becoming more and more bolder as compared to other birds. This crow mafia fears nobody & they have aligned themselves to the national agenda of becoming the country with the higesht population. The drama it seems to be unfolding right here in front of us…