Mumbai under Terrorism

The city that welcomes everyone with open arms need to be careful now. 11/26 terrorism has changed the face of the city. I saw silence in Mumbai for the first time in that last one year. There was no rick or taxi on the road. Everyopne was home with the television on.

It was around 8 when I left for the club. Had a nice time in water; nothing seems as good as swimming to me these days. I was supposed to go to Bandra after swimming for dinner. But Jiya , the three yrs old friend of mine , didn't lemme go. She kept insisting me to stay back for a sopu with her. As a matter of fact, I could not say No to the sweetest swimming champ and stayed back. I called up my friend Ram and informed him that I would meet him the next day. We had dinner and I started. I reached home around 10:30pm. My Didi called me up and she was sounding very tensed & restless. Asked me where I was. I told her that I was just reaching home. She told me to go home immediately as there was terrorist attack. It was sort of unbelievable to me. I just came back and everything was so normal, how could there be terrorist attck. I told her it might be some local fights and not something so serious but she kept telling me NO. I went upstairs and told this to my friends. Immediately there was call from home asking if we were safe. In next two hrs we heard about the ATS Chief, ACP and Eccounter specialsit were shut dead. This was really shocking. We could imagine the degree of fearfulness in the city. We got calls from collegues saying that they were stuck up in the office and some on roads as there were no modes of transport available. I was glad that I didnt go to Bandra. Thanks to Jiya.

We were watching news the whole night. Friends from all over the world calling us to confirm that we were safe. It was hard to see the city under terror. It was so hard to take that Taj and Oberoi were the targets. People at Cafe Leopard and Marine drive 're the victims. We were thankful that it had not happened the last weekend when we were hanginmg around in Inercontinetal till 3am and then in the coffee shop on Marine drive till 5am in the morning. It was scarry to think about the attacks in the places where we go very often. The city that never sleeps was so silent that night.

Next morning we got calls from office to avoid travelling and to work from home if possible. But we preferred watching the condition of the city rather than working from home. By morning there was hope that NSG Commandos would do wanders and save all hostages. With all their expert skills also it took them nearly 60 hrs to release all hostages. They were greeted by Mumbai ki aam janta after the operation was over. I had always read about bomb blasts and attacks at different places. This time I was the part of the city where such attacks took place.

Its nearly 15days after the attack but we can still see the sign of fear. The malls are not as crowded as before. The city is less crowded in the late eveninngs. We took part in the silent prayers held all over the city. We still read the terrorism attack news in the paper and listen to the same lines on FM radio "Mumbai will not sleep this time". We are hoping that this time things would be taken care of and we would not see any such day in this lively city.

Thing that brought me lots of compliments- Chocolate kheer

The Swiss kheer that made me famous in Patni for my culinary skills that I had to put it on our site… People started complimenting each other with regards to this kheer ...and not to forget that my Boss started mentoring me saying, “Gargee, do this assignment as good as your chocolate kheer.” God! I was amazed with these compliments :-) . Finally, I thought that it deserved place on my blog. So folks, lemme know after you try this out.

· Take a liter of milk and boil till it becomes half. Add 100gm sugar.
· Take a small cup of warm water and add 50 gm coco powder to it. Add 50 gm of chocolate powder to water of equal amount. Add it to the milk and let it boil for some time. Keep stirring.
· Boil very little rice (50 to 100 gm for thickness of the kheer) till it softens. Add it to the chocolate milk & let it boil for half an hr to 45 mins more. Add milkmaid and keep stirring.
· Fry 100 gm of cashew nuts in ghee and add it to the kheer. Add 100 gm of almonds.
· When it’s properly cooked, take it out of the gas stove. Garnish it with choco chips and refrigerate it. Serve it cold.
Hope all of you enjoy both cooking and eating it:-)

Few Tips for me!!!

There are a few tips that we should learn rather I should learn to avoid getting bankrupt!!

1. Live a balanced life and avoid overspending

2. Don't buy things we don't need.

3. Don't buy Branded goods.

4. Don't buy excess Food, Cloths, Cosmetics, Footwear, electronics and Fashion accuracies just think before you buy.Tip: World still has a lot of growth ahead and the future holds immense opportunities for us. Let us make the most of it and save and invest it wisely instead of wasting our precious little on things we don't need.

5. Try to balance life with work (No one is happy to work in their professions).

6. Don't stress out yourself, after work try to do some extra activities like swimming, yoga, walking, running where you can divert your mind from stress. A thumb rule: Health is more important than money.

7. Try to understand each other (Wife and Husband) in financial matters and help each other.Tip: As soon as you get your monthly salary, set aside a fixed amount, usually 35 per cent, for insurance, savings and investments. You can then spend the rest.

8. Not all loans are bad. Loans that are 'need based' (home loans, education loans) can always find a place in your finances against those that are largely 'want based' (Credit cards, personal loans, car loans).

9. Borrow only if repayment is financially comfortable.

A thumb rule: Keep EMIs within 35 to 45 per cent of your monthly income.

10. Health is Wealth and Its Tax Free...so do take good care of it.

Recent Economic Crisis

One of the simplest and nicest articles I have read on recent Global Economic Crisis!!!

These days the most talked about news is the current financial crisis that has engulfed the world economy. Every day the main headline of all newspapers is about our falling share markets, decreasing industrial growth and the overall negative mood of the economy. For many people an economic depression has already arrived whereas for some it is just round the corner. In my opinion the depression has already arrived and it has started showing its effect on India.
So what has caused this major economic upheaval in the world? What is the cause of falling share markets the world over and bankruptcy of major banks? In this article, I shall try to explain the reasons for recent economic depression for all those who find it difficult to understand the complex economics lingo and are looking for a simple explanation.

It all started in US…
In order to understand what is now happening in the world economy, we need to go a little back in past and understand what was happening in the housing sector of America for past many years. In US, a boom in the housing sector was driving the economy to a new level. A combination of low interest rates and large inflows of foreign funds helped to create easy credit conditions where it became quite easy for people to take home loans. As more and more people took home loans, the demands for property increased and fueled the home prices further. As there was enough money to lend to potential borrowers, the loan agencies started to widen their loan disbursement reach and relaxed the loan conditions.
The loan agents were asked to find more potential home buyers in lieu of huge bonus and incentives. Since it was a good time and property prices were soaring, the only aim of most lending institutions and mortgage firms was to give loans to as many potential customers as possible. Since almost everybody was driving by the greed factor during that housing boom period, the common sense practice of checking the customer’s repaying capacity was also ignored in many cases. As a result, many people with low income & bad credit history or those who come under the NINJA (No Income, No Job, No Assets) category were given housing loans in disregard to all principles of financial prudence. These types of loans were known as sub-prime loans as those were are not part of prime loan market (as the repaying capacity of the borrowers was doubtful).
Since the demands for homes were at an all time high, many homeowners used the increased property value to refinance their homes with lower interest rates and take out second mortgages against the added value (of home) to use the funds for consumer spending. The lending companies also lured the borrowers with attractive loan conditions where for an initial period the interest rates were low (known as adjustable rate mortgage (ARM). However, despite knowing that the interest rates would increase after an initial period, many sub-prime borrowers opted for them in the hope that as a result of soaring housing prices they would be able to quickly refinance at more favorable terms.

Bubble that burst…
However, as the saying goes, “No boom lasts forever”, the housing bubble was to burst eventually. Overbuilding of houses during the boom period finally led to a surplus inventory of homes, causing home prices to decline beginning from the summer of 2006. Once housing prices started depreciating in many parts of the U.S., refinancing became more difficult. Home owners, who were expecting to get a refinance on the basis of increased home prices, found themselves unable to re-finance and began to default on loans as their loans reset to higher interest rates and payment amounts.
In the US, an estimated 8.8 million homeowners - nearly 10.8% of total homeowners - had zero or negative equity as of March 2008, meaning their homes are worth less than their mortgage. This provided an incentive to “walk away” from the home than to pay the mortgage.
Foreclosures ( i.e. the legal proceedings initiated by a creditor to repossess the property for loan that is in default ) accelerated in the United States in late 2006. During 2007, nearly 1.3 million U.S. housing properties were subject to foreclosure activity. Increasing foreclosure rates and unwillingness of many homeowners to sell their homes at reduced market prices significantly increased the supply of housing inventory available. Sales volume (units) of new homes dropped by 26.4% in 2007 as compare to 2006. Further, a record nearly four million unsold existing homes were for sale including nearly 2.9 million that were vacant. This excess supply of home inventory placed significant downward pressure on prices. As prices declined, more homeowners were at risk of default and foreclosure.
Now you must be wondering how this housing boom and its subsequent decline is related to current economic depression? After all it appears to be a local problem of America.

What complicated the matter?…
Unfortunately, this problem was not as straightforward as it appears. Had it remained a matter between the lenders (who disbursed risky loans) and unreliable borrowers (who took loans and then got defaulted) then probably it would remain a local problem of America. However, this was not the case. Let us understand what complicated the problem.
For original lenders these subprime loans were very lucrative part of their investment portfolio as they were expected to yield a very high return in view of the increasing home prices. Since, the interest rate charged on subprime loans was about 2% higher than the interest on prime loans (owing to their risky nature); lenders were confidant that they would get a handsome return on their investment. In case a sub-prime borrower continued to pay his loans installment, the lender would get higher interest on the loans. And in case a sub-prime borrower could not pay his loan and defaulted, the lender would have the option to sell his home (on a high market price) and recovered his loan amount. In both the situations the Sub-prime loans were excellent investment options as long as the housing market was booming. Just at this point, the things started complicating.
With stock markets booming and the system flush with liquidity, many big fund investors like hedge funds and mutual funds saw subprime loan portfolios as attractive investment opportunities. Hence, they bought such portfolios from the original lenders. This in turn meant the lenders had fresh funds to lend. The subprime loan market thus became a fast growing segment. Major (American and European) investment banks and institutions heavily bought these loans (known as Mortgage Backed Securities, MBS) to diversify their investment portfolios. Most of these loans were brought as parts of CDOs (Collateralized Debt Obligations). CDOs are just like mutual funds with two significant differences. First unlike mutual funds, in CDOs all investors do not assume the risk equally and each participatory group has different risk profiles. Secondly, in contrast to mutual funds which normally buy shares and bonds, CDOs usually buy securities that are backed by loans (just like the MBS of subprime loans.)
Owing to heavy buying of Mortgage Backed Securities (MBS) of subprime loans by major American and European Banks, the problem, which was to remain within the confines of US propagated into the word’s financial markets. Ideally, the MBS were a very attractive option as long as home prices were soaring in US. However, when the home prices started declining, the attractive investments in Subprime loans become risky and unprofitable.
As the home prices started declining in the US, sub-prime borrowers found themselves in a messy situation. Their house prices were decreasing and the loan interest on these houses was soaring. As they could not manage a second mortgage on their home, it became very difficult for them to pay the higher interest rate. As a result many of them opted to default on their home loans and vacated the house. However, as the home prices were falling rapidly, the lending companies, which were hoping to sell them and recover the loan amount, found them in a situation where loan amount exceeded the total cost of the house. Eventually, there remained no option but to write off losses on these loans.
The problem got worsened as the Mortgage Backed Securities (MBS), which by that time had become parts of CDOs of giant investments banks of US & Europe, lost their value. Falling prices of CDOs dented banks’ investment portfolios and these losses destroyed banks’ capital. The complexity of these instruments and their wide spread to major International banks created a situation where no one was too sure either about how big these losses were or which banks had been hit the hardest.

Mayhem in the banks….
The effects of these losses were huge. Global banks and brokerages have had to write off an estimated $512 billion in subprime losses so far, with the largest hits taken by Citigroup ($55.1 billion) and Merrill Lynch ($52.2 billion). A little over half of these losses, or $260 billion, have been suffered by US-based firms, $227 billion by European firms and a relatively modest $24 billion by Asian ones.
Despite efforts by the US Federal Reserve to offer some financial assistance to the beleaguered financial sector, it has led to the collapse of Bear Sterns, one of the world’s largest investment banks and securities trading firm. Bear Sterns was bought out by JP Morgan Chase with some help from the US Federal Bank (The central Bank of America just like RBI in India)
The crisis has also seen Lehman Brothers - the fourth largest investment bank in the US and the one which had survived every major upheaval for the past 158 years - file for bankruptcy. Merrill Lynch has been bought out by Bank of America. Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, two giant mortgage companies of US, have effectively been nationalized to prevent them from going under. Reports suggest that insurance major AIG (American Insurance Group) is also under severe pressure and has so far taken over $82.9 billion so far to tide over the crisis.
From this point, a chain reaction of panic started. Since banks and other financial institutes are like backbone for other major industries and provide them with investment capital and loans, a loss in the net capital of banks meant a serious detriment in their capacity to disburse loans for various businesses and industries. This presented a serious cash crunch situation for companies who needed cash for performing their business activities. Now it became extremely difficult for them to raise money from banks.
What is worse is the fact that the losses suffered by banks in the subprime mess have directly affected their money market the world over.

Now what is a money market?
Money Market is actually an inter-bank market where banks borrow and lend money among themselves to meet short-term need for funds. Banks usually never hold the exact amount of cash that they need to disburse as credit. The ‘inter-bank’ market performs this critical role of bringing cash-surplus and cash-deficit banks together and lubricates the process of credit delivery to companies (for working capital and capacity creation) and consumers (for buying cars, white goods etc). As the housing loan crisis intensified, banks grew increasingly suspicious about each other’s solvency and ability to honour commitments. The inter-bank market shrank as a result and this began to hurt the flow of funds to the ‘real’ economy. Panic begets panic and as the loan market went into a tailspin, it sucked other markets into its centrifuge.
The liquidity crunch in the banks has resulted in a tight situation where it has become extremely difficult even for top companies to take loans for their needs. A sense of disbelief and extreme precaution is prevailing in the banking sectors. The global investment community has become extremely risk-averse. They are pulling out of assets that are even remotely considered risky and buying things traditionally considered safe-gold, government bonds and bank deposits (in banks that are still considered solvent).
As such this financial crisis is the culmination of the above mentioned problems in the global banking system. Inter-bank markets across the world have frozen over. The meltdown in stock markets across the world is a victim of this contagion.
Governments and central banks (like Fed in US) are trying every trick in the book to stabilize the markets. They have pumped hundreds of billions of dollars into their money markets to try and unfreeze their inter-bank and credit markets. Large financial entities have been nationalized. The US government has set aside $700 billion to buy the ‘toxic’ assets like CDOs that sparked off the crisis. Central banks have got together to co-ordinate cuts in interest rates. None of this has stabilized the global markets so far. However, it is hoped that proper monitoring and controlling of the money market will eventually control the situation.

How it has affected India?
In the age of globalization, no country can remains isolated from the fluctuations of world economy. Heavy losses suffered by major International Banks is going to affect all countries of the world as these financial institutes have their investment interest in almost all countries.
As of now India is facing heat on three grounds: (1) Our Share Markets are falling everyday, (2) Rupee is weakening against dollars and (3) Our banks are facing severe crash crunch resulting in shortage of liquidity in the market.
Actually all the above three problems are interconnected and have their roots in the above-mentioned global crisis.
For the last two years, our stock market was touching new heights thanks to heavy investments by Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs). However, when the parent companies of these investors (based mainly in US and Europe) found themselves in a severe credit crunch as a result of sub-prime mess, the only option left with these investors was to withdraw their money from Indian Stock Markets to meet liabilities at home. FIIs were the main buyers of Indian Stocks and their exit from the market is certain to wreak havoc in the market. FIIs who were on a buying spree last year, are now in the mood of selling their stocks in India. As a result our Share Markets are touching new lows everyday.
Since, the money, which FIIs get after selling their stocks, needs to be converted into dollars before they can sent it home, the demands for dollars has suddenly increased. As more and more FIIs are buying dollars, the rupee is loosing its strength against dollar. As long as demands for dollars remain high, the rupee will keep loosing its strength against dollar.
The current financial crisis has also started directly affecting Indian Industries. For the past few years, the two most preferred method of raising money by the companies were Stock Markets and external borrowings on low interest rates. Stock Markets are bleeding everyday and it is not possible to raise money there. Regarding external borrowing from world markets, this option has also become difficult.
In the last fiscal year alone, India borrowed $29 billion from foreign lenders and got $34 billion of foreign direct investment. A global recession has hurt external demand. International lenders who have become extremely risk aversive can limit access to international capital. If that happens, both India’s financial markets and the real economy will be hurt in the process. Suddenly, the 9% growth target does not seem that ‘doable’ any more; we should be happy to clock 7% this fiscal year and the next.
However, one positive point in favor of India is the fact that Indian Banks are more or less secured from the ill-effects of sub-prime mess. A glance at Indian banks’ balance sheets would show that their exposure to complex instruments like CDOs is almost nil. In India, still the major banking operations are in the hands of Public Sector Banks who exercise extreme cautions in disbursing loans to needy people/companies. As a result, we are not likely to see a repeat of sub-prime crisis in India. Though there have been a presence of big US/European Banks in India and even some Indian banks (like ICICI) have some foreign subsidiary with stake in the sub-prime losses, there presence is miniscule as compare to the overall size of Indian banking industry. So at least on this major front we need not worry much.
However, a global depression is likely to result in a fall in demand of all types of consumer goods. In 2007-08, India sold 13.5% of its goods to foreign buyers. A fall in demand is likely to affect the growth rate this year. Our export may get affected badly.
A negative atmosphere, shortage of cash, fall in demands, reducing growth rate and uncertainties in the market are some of the most visible aspects of an economic depression. What started as a small matter of sub-prime loan defaulters has now become a subject of global discussion and has engulfed the global economy scenario.

Greed of some…woes of billions
If you think about this with a cool mind, you will find that the underlying cause of this depression is the greed of those who failed to anticipate the consequence of their actions. On a more ideological front, it is high time to have a rethink on the very idea of free markets and capitalism. I think the time has come to evolve a capitalism where everything works under a broad regulatory framework and we do not see a repeat of this condition where greed of some people can affect the lives of billions.
So here concludes my attempt to explain the current economic crisis which has started to affect the lives of all of us. The above explanation is very simple and by no means it presents an accurate picture of the crisis.

Reasons....

Abhishek- the name that you find one in every ten Indians; the name by which I had friends in all my classes even if the schools were different. Time changed and I came to college; there also I found friends by the same name. Joined CTS and found a friend; Oh my God! Again the same name. Shifted to Patni, Mumbai and found a friend…no not again; as if someone by this name has to be there in my life. But this time I found one of my best friends. I bet it’s not that easy to find good friends in a new city. But may be “A” is the friendship letter for me. Three of my friends out of five have their names starting with A- Aarti, Anup, Abhishek; Madan & Chitra are exceptions.

But life is not that easy; looks like its time to say goodbye to two of them Abhishek flew to UK and Aarti is getting married. It definitely calls for a toast but at the same time the Gang is broken. In this wireless world where distance doesn’t matter, we believe that a telecom between five of us is not as a big fun as it is when all of us are sitting together at one place.

My last weekend was absolutely dedicated to Abhishek. What to do...after all friends are forever. So have to look after all his shopping, all his packing. Not that he could not do it alone but by default girls are good at shopping, packing etc. In the last nine months, I bet I have thorwn the maximum attitude at him. I kept consoling Abhishek last-night when he was getting senti. I was sure that I would not feel low at Abhishek’s shifting to London. But I was so wrong; the moment he checked in, I could feel someone's really going away. Then there was no control over the wet eyes. Even if just one friend is missing from the group, it matters a lot when he adds a lot yo your life in a unknown city. Shall miss him in all parties, picnics, dinners and movies; and I am definitely gonna miss his morning wake up calls along-with “go home ...its getting late” calls in the evnings. Hereafter I’ll have to set my alarm everyday, shall have to look at my watch while I am working late in the evenings. Now nobody would stay awake the whole night just to search a song online, just because I love it and finally gets it downloaded from some paid site. Not just these few things, many things which I do not remember right at this moment will remind me of him ; rather a lot of things that I have to do alone in Mumbai going forward will ensure that I miss him. I am finding it weird to have lunch at home in a Sunday afternoon, I am home and not in any mall or theatre- these are enough evidences that Abhishek is not around.

Today morning, I was finding it difficult when went to see him off. It’s a part of life, people come and go; but not everyone makes such a big difference.

Thanks Abhishek…thanks so much for being such a nice friend :-)

Sometimes words are hard to find for someone like you !!

It was 2002 when I met this special friend for the first time. First time I was away from my parents; surrounded by the group of new people. First month in the hostel was very difficult for me. I took more than a month to start gelling with these people. I met this friend on the badminton court for the first time and enjoyed playing with him. Then in lot of projects we worked together. Started knowing each other more & more every time we met. Now it’s more than 6 yrs since we know each other. We have been best friends for all these years. Now guess who this guy is!! Yes, you are right. I am talking about Prawin.

We know each other in & out by now. The day I went to watch Jaane Tu yaa Jaane Naa, I missed nobody but Prawin. I could actually see Prawin & myself in the place of Jai & Aditi. We have made each other’s birthdays, New Year parties special; watched movies, go to concerts, go to every eat-out and classy restaurant in Bangalore together. Shall never forget my surprise Birthday parties that he had organized every year in a different way. There are only sweet memories when I look back.101 reasons of friendship are truly meant for him.

Things have changed after he met with a bad accident, after I shifted to Mumbai. We do not do everything together as we use to do earlier, yet we do most of the things in our old ways. Friends are forever- we are true followers of this. But we still believe that everything has to have a happy ending; if the ending is not good then it’s definitely not the end …picture to abbhi baaki hai mere dost :-)

Prawin I donno what to write about you, jitna likhoon kamm hai….I can only say that you are the person I know with strongest will power, honesty, sincerity and who values relationships more than anything else. Too much to add to this piece of blog ; not sure where to start and where to end. Can only say that its great to have you in life :-)

Mumbai ke rickshaw-wale bhaiya

It was the worst rain that I had seen in life. My alarm kept ringing. The moment I opened my eyes, I thought that I had set my alarm for some different time. But no, it’s ringing the regular time; I realized it when the clock phone started screaming again in next fifteen minutes. Then I bothered to see the time. Oh my God, I screamed, its 7 :30 in the morning. How do I catch the bus at 8. Got ready in next 15 minutes and started from home. It was raining as if it would never stop. The sky was dark like 5 in the morning. As if Indradev had cursed Mumbai again and this whole city would be flooded in next few hrs if it continues pouring like this.

I felt pity on myself as I had to go to office in that weather. It happens in everyone’s life who is in the IT industry and especially if he/she is in some Indian IT firm. Unfortunately my internet connection at home was not working that day. Patni has a strict rule of not allowing people to work from home (I still could not understand the reason behind this!!Anyways, it’s not a great idea to talk about this openly on internet). Though I have never regretted of accepting Patni’s offer over Capgemini; that day I definitely felt crazy abouit why we could not work from home at least during the rains. “Some major deliverable to onsite team, so I have to be at work”, that’s running in my mind then. Finally I put a full stop to all these complains and started for office thinking of the golden principle of my life. One of them is, “you should never regret of what you have done” and I didn’t want to break my own rule. Then suddenly I started feeling good about joining Patni as I could learn a lot here and as I had people like Vir , KP, Gita, Boss, Aarti, Anup, Chitra &Madan here. Ritu came to send me off till the gate. Her company- Mphasis was kind enough to declare it as a Rainy day.

I walked down the steps and stood in front of the gate in that rain for at least 4/5 minutes till I could manage to board a rickshaw. I had decided that I would sit inside the rick till my bus came. There was more than a foot of water standing on the road. I was amazed to see the crowd. People were still going to their offices (All those people might be from Indian IT companies). The rickshaw driver was really efficient to drive on the road with that kind of water-log. It took around 20 minutes to reach my office instead of 5/7 minutes. I finally reached my bus stop. I didn’t dare to stand outside the rick, just kept checking if bus had come. I waited for nearly half an hour in the rick and asked him to keep the meter on so that he would not feel bad about standing at the same point for so long. What amazed me in that half an hour, was this rickshaw driver. One of the sweetest rickshaw-walas I have met till date. While waiting there I saw him laughing again and again seeing the people on the road. I could not stop myself from asking him what the reason behind his smile. I finally asked him, “kyon itna has raheho bhaiya..?” Then he started laughing even louder and replied, “Madam, ye log saal bhar itna accha dress karke office jaate hain aur aaj dekhiye kese sab bhig bhig ke marte hue office jaa rahe hain, aaj main bhi inh logon se achha lag raha hoon, mazaa aaraha hai” (“all these people on the street get ready and dress up so smart everyday and go to office. Today all of them are so ordinary looking, clothes are drenched out in rain and I am looking better than them”). I was surprised at his answer but what he was looking was definitely right. He had got more liberty in driving his rickshaw over what liberty we have got at our work place. Then he started telling about himself that he his TY in B.Com this year and found this as an independent occupation than working in some small office. Then he told me “Madam main aap ke ghar ke paas hi rehta hoo, bas aap flat main rehte hain aur main chaali main. I am from UP but I am born & brought up in Mumbai”. I was listening to all that he was talking though I was busy checking if my bus had arrived at the stop or not. Looking at my restlessness he said, “Madam, aap baahar mat nikliye, hum dekh ke batate hain ke aapka bus aaya ke nehii. Bas aap apna bus number batayiye”. I told him my bus number and sat inside the rick little peacefully, thinking that this guy would lemme know.

I knew that my bus might get delayed because of the rain but I never thought that it would be late beyond half an hour. He immediately told me that Madam, aapki bus aagayee, the moment it reached the stop. By then I knew quite a lot about him and I knew that this guy definitely deserved a place in my blog. I handed him over a 50 rupees note. The last question I asked him was his name ; he replied Neeraj Mishra and I boarded the bus.

Sometime we just like some people; this likeness may be beyond our work or friend circle. But still we remember them. This guy probably belonged to that category. The next morning was better in terms of rain. I got ready and started for office, the moment I reached the gate, someone said Good morning Madam, it was not the voice of my watchman. I looked up; it was Néeraj who had again come.

My First B'de in this Fast city

Like most of the other Arians I am also crazy about Birthdays. Even when I am in a a restaurant and they play a Birthday tune, I go and wish the Birthday girl, no matter I know her or not. So when its my own Birthday I definitely want the whole world to wish me to make my day. I was not sure how my birthday would be celebrated this year as I was hardly six months old in this city. I had not a huge number of friends but I definitely had the best of all.

I went out for dinner in the evening and came back around 11o’k. Neha and Ritu were there at home. Both of them are younger to me so I definitely had not expected anything from them. But these two proved themselves two big Chhuparustams when Ritu kept me engaged in the bed room till 12 in the midnight and Neha decorated the hall. Exactly at 12 both of them gave me two big hugs and dragged me to the hall. I was amazed – almost in tears for the first few seconds when I saw dark room decorated with candles, cake, balloons. God !! that was just amazing. There were Bde gifts around. I got back another Pink teddy which I had left in Bangalore. Later when I saw my pictures taken during that moment, I could only remember the picture of Susmita Sen when she won the Miss Universe contest. It was definitely not some contest but both these girls had touched my heart with these sweetest gestures which was far beyond my expectations. Abhishek joined the celebration then. Of course these people are the part of my life in Mumbai. All of us had a gala time till morning 3 o’k. We clicked lot of pictures till we looked sleepy and decided to take a nap for sometime so that we look fresh in the party. Obviously I dint get break from the calls the whole night so I didn’t have a chance to sleep. This time Prawin wished me late as he was traveling that night. My sweetest Sheila, Rila, Mona wished me first. Then I spoke to Mamma. Didi, Jiju, Rili, Rosy, Vikash, Meenu, Chhottu, Jyoti, Pallu, Prithwi, Aakanksha (she ditched me & went to Pune though she played a major role in planning the whole event), Aarti, Lucky , Anup occupied the rest of my night. To avoid the late wishing punishment Ram had called me before he boarded the flight from NY to Mumbai. All the calls from my cousins helped me staying awake the whole night. That’s one advantage when you have 20 cousins like I have; you get lots of wishes on your B’de :-) .The maasis and mamis' turn came during the day.

In tye morning I could manage to get some sleep. Got up around 10 am and the best part was the excitement on Ritu and Neha’s faces. They were more excited than me on my B’de. God till this year I had always seen Prawin who was more excited than myself on this day. This year for the first time Prawin was not around but Ritu & Neha ensured that I didn’t miss him and that was well shown in their gestures.
Not only this phase with my friends but at office also I have the best of the people around. Boss remembered my B’de and kept asking me about the B’de treat since 1st April. My Bde without Vir & KP- not possible; they were definitely invited to the party. In this fast city when people have hardly time for each other, it definitely feels great when someone travels all the way from Thane to Andheri to attend the Bde:-)

In the afternoon I had all my favorite people sitting around me. That made me feel like a Princess. A big thanks all these people- they really made my day :-) All of us went to Pop- Tates where we had the best of our time. We sat there till evening 6 when Vir remembered that he had some other work and Tejal called me to say that she would meet me in Red Box in the next an hr.

The first phase of party got over and we went to Red Box where we met Tejal & Dhara. Red Box is one of my most favorite hang-outs in Mumbai; they play very good music and lots of Page 3 people come there too. There I had another cake to cut and all these people to celebrate my B’de together. We sat there till 11, till Ram’s flight landed in Mumbai. Then started another round of celebration. Most of the other friends were back home by then except Abhishek. We met Ram and went to Leela. We went to Citrus; had nice food, played Truth & dare and lot of other games the whole night. It was morning 5 o’k when we decided to go for a long drive. I had never seen the crowded city so silent anytime. Mumbai was beautiful in the early mornings. We went to Iscon temple, then to Juhu beach and then to Ban stand. Finally we were hungry. The next best place to hit for an early morning breakfast was The Hyatt. The breakfast went on till 12 noon. And we remembered that Ram had to catch his flight to Bangalore. We went to the airport to send him off and after that there was no energy left in either Abhishek or me. The 36 hrs B’de celebration had finally come to an end.

I was under the impression that this year I might have had the simplest of my B’des as I didn’t have too many people around in Bombay. But believe me or not I had the best of my B’des in this city. Thanks to all these people who made my day so special and rememberable. Now I absolutely agree the fact that, “It’s not the number of people who make life good but it’s the quality of people who make it so special.”

Mumbai ki pehli baarish!!!

Everything has a first time for me in this city… pehla friend group, pehla birthday and now pehli barish :-)

I am so fond of rain but somehow very scarred of the rain in Mumbai. I had watched on television before three yrs in 2005. Other than the Mumbaites, not everyone would remember the 25th July’s rain that continued for more than 24 hrs. But the new comers in Mumbai are definitely apprehensive about it. We have been complaining about the summers for the last there months. Now another session of complains begins- but this is not about the heat- this is about the rain.

Sometime I find this city really crazy. But the best part of the city is its crowd that keeps moving 24/7, 365 days a year- no matter its April’s summer, August’s rain or December’s winter. But one thing I must admit that Bombay grows over you. Once you area apart of Mumbai, you would not like any part of the country, for that matter any part of the world. I see lot of people in Patni, most of them prefer to live in Mumbai over Chicago and New York. I have come across many people from south as well as from the north part of India who would aspire to go to USA ansd settle down there. But I have never heard it from a Mumbaite. They love the city the way it is.

This year monsoon was supposed to hit Mumbai on 10th June but it started raining five days before it. 5th June ’08, in the morning when I started for office, I could feel the cold breeze. I was sure that it had drizzled in some part of the city last night. The day went on fine with a great weather. I remember talking to Anup in the early evening on the pleasant weather. In the next hour when I boarded the bus, it was cold outside. We have crossed most of the distance when it started pouring. For a moment I was so happy; after all saal ki pehli bearish aur uss main taazi mitti ki khushboo.

But in another few minutes looking at the speed of the rain, I was thinking why it started raining. Most of the folks in the bus were not carrying umbrellas. When we crossed Powai, I was actually waiting for the rain to stop as my house was another 15 minutes distance. There was water running on the new fly over but there is no difference in the no. of people traveling on it. Not everyone was in a bus, car or rickshaw but everyone was welcoming it. In fact the people on the bikes & bicycles were enjoying it in true sense. What impressed me was that Bindaas attuitiude – as if this heavy rain doesn’t make any difference to their lives.

Today morning it started again - guess the rain in Mumbai follows the official timings; it starts the moment we start going to work and again when we come back. But it hardly made any difference today. I had seen the bindaas attitude of Mumbai crowd yesterday and probably I had adapted it too. I got up in the morning and saw it was raining but I knew that it’s not gonna stop any of the activities in my whole day’s to-do list. I reached office and checked my emails and the first thing I did was writing this blog :-) another work got added to the to-do list of this Friday. So the morale of the stroy is that Mumbai is a Great City with Great People and Great Rains :-)

Happy Birthday Rohin :-)

Its 9th April. For everyone its just another day but for me its my Best friend's birthday. One of my most sweetest friends whom I came to know just before a year. Spoke to him first on my own B'de. Happened to be one of my friend's friend, stayed in the city which's most close to my heart. Thansk to my friend who sent me his email id and asked me to keep in touch since he was new in the city.

I think its enough of confusion by now. Me, my friend , his friend who becomes my best friend. Too many twists and turns right...?

Okie lemme make the puzzle a little simpler. Debashish is my friend and his friend is my Best friend. Rohin- the guy who is taking an entry in this post like Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible (Take any part-1/2/3 , for that matter) :-)

Rohin was shifting to Bangalore when Debabshish gave me his email id and asked me to keep in touch since he was new in the city. But I never bothered to either say him a Hi or talk to him, at least to know his haalchaal , may be I was too busy in my own life!!

It went on till 3rd or 4th Aoril '07 (Sorry Rohin... to check when we spoke for the first time over internet , I'll have to check my gmail history or check all your emails :)) till we spoke for the first time. That night, I was not feeling sleepy and saw all my friends offline on both yahoo and gmail other than Rohin. Thanks to Debashish for introducing us to each other. Finally the conversation started and I conveyed the first message "Hi" (No wonder Arian women are the most friendly of the 12 signs). It took me hardly any time to understand that the person on the other siade was an Arian too. But it was late for me to ping him. He was not in Bangalore then. He was in Singapore on some official trip. Felt a bit guilty. Thought that I would have asked his haalchaal when he was in India but he was quite friendly not to take all these things into consideration. The first time I sopke to him, I knew that I had made a friend but in couple of more discussions I understood that I had made a friend for the lifetime. One guy who loved everything that I loved and thanksfully not as confused as I was then. Then the exchange of mails were very frequent. Everyday I go to office , I have an email from Rohin, thankfully Singapre time was 2 hrs 30 mins ahead of IST. Gradually, more than anything else, it was a habit to see Rohin's email first as soon as I raech office. Lot of times when I used to think that Rohin had not mailed me since 3 hrs, a mail would hit my mailbox. It felt nice when he called me on my B'de. We spoke for the first time. Then we used to talk almost everyday. Thanks to gtalk. But yes, we had not met till then. We met sometime in August. He flew to USA , just before I shifted to Mumbai, so had hardly had any time to spend with my best friend. But all of us knew that world 's too small for friends like us. We knew that we would anyways meet up.

Rohin, today its your Birthday and I am miles apart to celebrate your day with you organizing a party with a big cake, baloons, b'de songs and b'de bombs. Needless to say that my best wishes are always with you. I just wanna dedicate this one blog to you telling you that you are my best friend and one of the best persons I have met; one person who has the anwers to all my questions, who has the solutions to all my problems, who has always made my life easy whenevere I have difficulties and who has always helped me in making decisions whenever I am confused. You are the sweetest the sweethearts :-)

Thanks for being there for me, thanks for being my best friend!!!

Happy Birthday Rohin...May you be blessed with all the best things in life !!!

CHALTE CHALTE !!!!!

Some changes in life leads to changes in few things very close to me. I changed the name of my blog today. It feels a little weird to read a different name, from We Four to Chalte Chalte. It’s We Four, since the day I started writing. Definitely feels a little odd !! But one lesson I have learnt over a period of time that Change is the only constant in life. So its time for me to change the name of my blog too. When I had started writing, Meenu, Jyoti, Tejal and I were together in one flat. The site was dedicated to we four so the name was relevant but now it’s different. Its not like the rebranding that Hutch did last year after Vodafone acquired it. I remember the lines by Sam- the Director, Hutch that an old brand had to be burried so that a new brand could be born. It’s definitely not the Rebranding that I am doing for “We Four” but it’s a definitely a Renaming. Now its not about just the four friends, rather four best friends who were staying together, away from family and away from home.

Chalte Chalte- the name I chose. I really don’t know if I mean it; may be Yes. Is it because its’ the movie of my most favorite star- Shahrukh or its one of the most famous songs of Kishore..
"Chalte chalte…mere ye geet yaad rakhna, Kabhi alvida naa kehnaa…Kabhi alvida naa kehnaa" We come across so many people who become a part of our life, some get apart, some get added. But over a period of time we start accepting things the way they are. No matter we like it or not the journey never ends. Every time I am depressed I console myself saying , “life has just begun” every time I am happy, I say what else I need in life…though I need a lot in true sense:-)

The name of the blog looks germane to me at this point of time but I may think of changing it in the future. May be then something else will sound more logical to me. May be some more changes, some more people, some more places and again a different life.

But when I am posting this on the site I just wanna repeat the same line
Chalte chalte…mere ye geet yaad rakhna, Kabhi alvida naa kehnaa… Kabhi alvida naa kehnaa!!!

Mumbai rocks :-)

Now in Mumbai, in the city of dreams :-)
Left Bangalore long time back in last Sepetemember though I keep telling that I belong to Bangalore. When I was there I never realized thatI belonged to that place. Could not sleep the last few nights before I left the city, was not sure if I really wanted to leave it at that point of time..Was not sure if I wanted to leave everything behind..the friends, parties, everyone and probably everything. Every morning when I used to get up my pillow used to be wet. Never wanted to come here leaving everything behind but there was nobody for me in Blore then...everything was over for me.

Just kept convincing me that its a new start and new life, kept telling myself that things 're gonna be better in life. It was raining heavily when I was leaving home. I told my mami that the city's crying as I's leaving and our eyes were moist. Chintu, Babbloo, Nipoon came to send me off. My last look at Blore- the city where I have lived life in true sense, every First thing I had understood in this place, but I would not be called a Bangaloroian any more. It was one of the weirdest feelings I had ever experienced..just told others that Never say good bye and didnt look back.

Reached Mumbai. It was raining here as well. My red-blonde hair helped my friends to recognize me when I landed here. Reached my guest house and saw nothing familiar. Everything was so new and different to me. The only thing I could remember was my friends, my folks in Bangalore.

Got used to the guest house and joined office after a day. Completeed the HR formalities with Deepa and she accompanied me to the QDI practice. I met my Boss Venkatesh. His first line was Welcome to QDI and start your day with Chocolates:-) There was a party that day and Boss took the whole team out for lunch. Felt like my first day in the alst organization. Though I had the least of the expectations from Patni. Boss introduced me to the team. I met Gita, Veer, Abhijeet. Gita is The Sweetheart, Veer is another , so as Abhijeet. And KP was the icing on this cake. I met him late since he was in USA when I joined Patni. He is so systematic and disciplined that I feel its great working with him. Thank God!! what I had heard was right, Mumbai ke log bahot acche hote hain :-)

That's how life started in Mumbai. After that I met Aarti, Anup and Abhishek. Shifted to a nice flat with Shweta and Ritu. All these people have become a part of life. Gita is more like an elder sister so I love everything about her. I love the way Veer says "Tu suun meri baat..." and Abhijeet says "Let me take the exapmles- a, b, c " Boss's approach towards work has probably helped in bringing in a bit of perfectionism in life.

Its almost three months in Mumbai. Everytime I think of writing, I think what to write , about whom to write. I know some day I have to start. Since I have few good friends now, since I know good eat-outs now, since I know the city , since I know the people and most importantly since I belong to the city now, its time to start a new life now :-)