Yeh Hai Mumbai Meri Jaan !!!!

Recently T-Raj, decided to tackle his pet issue of Mumbai being off-limits for non-Maharashtrians by chairing a secret high powered committee to lay down the rules for a new and more Marathi Mumbai.

Fortunately for us, yours truly managed to sneak into the meeting and prepare an exclusive and explosive report on what was actually said. Here is the list of rules that the committee decided to lay down for us Mumbaikars.

------------------------------------

1. Mumbai IPL/ICL & Ranji teams shall only feature Marathi players. It's time we bid adieu to Jayasurya, Pollock and the talented Rohit Sharma. The committee was of the opinion that with Sachin still around, Mumbai does not need anyone else. The Mumbai Indians team will now be re-named the Mumbai Marathas.

2. Bollywood movies shall feature only Marathi actors. This means that, all movies henceforth will star either Ritiesh Deshmukh or Shreyas Talpade and will be directed by Amol Palekar. Pros: There is no shortage of gorgeous Marathi actresses (Madhuri, Sonali & Namrata). Cons: The item girls (Rakhi & Mamta) were banned by the other Sena for vulgarity.

3. Dalal Street will be renamed as Pandurang Marg and will rid itself of all Gujjus & Marwadis. The Stock Market itself will be closed for a couple of hours in the afternoon so that the brokers can get a poli-bhaaji lunch and catch a well deserved afternoon nap. Needless to say, the market will be closed for 10 days during the Ganesh festival and on both days that Shivaji Maharaj was supposed to have been born.

4. The Tatas, Birlas and Ambanis will have to change their surnames if they want to continue doing business in Mumbai. The Ambanis will now be the Ambekars, the Tatas will be the Thattes and the Birlas will be Birladhyakshas.

5. Udipi restaurants shall serve only Thalipeeths, Sabudana Wadas and other delectable Marathi delicacies. Dosas and idlis are henceforth banned in Mumbai. So are dhoklas and Undyu. Punjabi and Chinese restaurants will be given special permission to stay because the party bosses are fond of Mutton Biryani & Chicken Lollypops.

6. Outsiders will be allowed to reside in Mumbai only if they successfully clear a TOMFL (Test of Marathi as an Foreign Language) and TSM (Test of Spoken Marathi). These tests will be offered at centres all over India, except in UP and Bihar. Permanent non-marathi residents will be required to memorize and recite the complete works of Pu La. People who do not know who he is, will have their faces blackened and will be forced to leave the state on a donkey.

7. The dress code for men in Mumbai will be an ironed Dhoti and an immaculate white long-shirt. This can be topped off with a colorful pagadi. Women should wear the traditional navvari saree. "Ram Ram" is now the official greeting of the state and people are requested to use the same to greet each other.

------------------------------------

People who do NOT follow these rules will be forced to watch 5 back to back Dada Kondke movies with English subtitles AND/OR be forced to get down at Andheri station from a Virar fast at peak time. Repeat offenders will be forced to travel in the maal-dabba of the local train with the macchi-waalis every day for the rest of their stay in Mumbai.

Any satire detected in this article is completely un-intentional and is but a figment of the reader's imagination.

Jai Mumbai !!!! Jai Maharashtra !!!!

-----------

Shop till he Drops

I was chatting with my bud from college today and we got talking about how his life has changed since he got engaged some time back. I am desisting from mentioning his name in this public forum for if his "fiance" comes across this blog, there would arise the need to say a silent prayer for both him and me. Evenings and weekends had drastically changed for him ever since his engagement. Earlier he would be watching cricket on his LCD TV or having "Life ka baat" sessions out with his friends at Bandstand, now he invariably ends up going out on shopping trips to the mall with his fiance. Life has taken an about turn for him.

For most guys shopping is a chore that they try to avoid as far as they can. They only grudgingly venture out into the mall if a friend tells them about a cool deal on an Express sports jacket, or when Apple comes out with a new IPhone that washes, irons and folds your laundry for you or if they need to replace their old shoes that have completely disintegrated with time. It is the complete opposite for girls. Shopping for them is a hobby, an obsession, an art form that was ingrained into their DNA during conception. If only a baby girl could communicate, she would probably tell her mom to take her to a Baby's fashion store so that she could check out the new diaper summer collection.

For most guys trips to the mall would get over in around 15 minutes; 5 minutes to find something he likes, 5 minutes to actually try it on and 5 more guilt ridden minutes to get in line and pay for it. But shopping with a girl is more like a day long outting, guys go there in the morning fresh and eager, hoping that it ends before lunch but by the time they are done they are completely exhausted, their legs hurt, their wallet is completely empty, they are struggling with heavy loaded bags that have been completely packed to the brim and when they walk out of the mall they realize that the sun has long since disappeared. The girl on the other hand still looks completely fresh and has an expression of absolute content on her face. For her its like they have just come out of a one day trip to Disney Land. The only thing going on in her mind, "Darn, I still haven't found that red party dress that the girl on the train was wearing last week, the main reason that we came shopping for. We'll go to a different mall tomorrow."

Yet another day shopping day has ended.

PS. I just realized this is my first blog ever not related to either cricket or politics or movies.

Existence amidst complete Chaos - Independent India

CHAK DE INDIA

Its 15^th August tomorrow and we celebrate the 60^th year of our independence. The only memories I have of this day is waking up early in the morning going to school, singing the national anthem, pretending to listen to a chief guest, eat some sweets and be back home for breakfast. The evening was spent playing a fine game of cricket. More often that not, Doordarshan would play Richard Attenborough’s Gandhi or one of the many patriotic Manoj Kumar movies. Rangoli and Chitrahaar would play an hour of patriotic classics. These days my independence day means marching thru the heart of Manhattan as part of the India day parade. To see so many flag waving Indians lined up in the streets of Manhattan is a great feeling. The NY parade is the largest one outside India.

Being born in free India post emergency, I can probably never understand the importance of freedom since it’s something that I have always taken for granted nor can I possibly imagine the scale of sacrifices made by people.

In spite of all the imperfections and problems that besiege us, from corruption in all places to religious extremism and terrorism, from poverty and farmer suicides to lagging infrastructure, from proliferation of slums in cities to the mockery of justice for the rich and mighty, from traffic chaos to a pathetic record in international sports and chaos which reigns supreme in almost every facet of life, the very fact that we still continue to make great progress and flourish is a miracle and a tribute to the people. We are second to none and proud of that. Mess with us at your own peril. After all we are a civilization that has thrived for more than 5000 years and we plan on being here for a long time. We are the future and we better be, since 1/7th of every person in the world is Indian.

So a Happy Independence Day and a silent prayer to all those who made celebrating this day possible ;)!!!