Fantabulous New Year..

Well it was a rocking new year for me.. Actually the end of 2009 and start of 2010 was awesome.. 3 days ago had decided to go to lonavala (the favorite destination of Mumbaikars).. Friend had informed that the climate was awesome out there.. :) Phir kya sirf saman baandne ke deri thi.. By luggage I mean winter wear.. :)

So after some negotiations with my friends (who had office on 31st and 1st Jan) we set out on an exciting trip to lonavala.. On the way we picked Sam (as usual an IT worm slogging for deadlines even on 31st :) )

Phir kya, we anticipated some traffic at the lonavala entry point, but to our surprise there was none.. something strange during that time of the year.. we waited for our friend near kumar resort and then straight away went for Tiger Point.. We could lots of camp fires and people enjoying out there and even planning to stay out there the entire night.. That was at 8 pm.. It was not that cold but hello it was still evening time.. :)

We waited for 1.5 to  hrs with garma garam bhajiya.. :) Then off to friends cottage (its rented), which is just half a km away from the Aamby valley.. He works in one of the many Aamby valley projects as a supervisor.. 

After we reached home we were starving for food.. Then after some refreshments we headed straight away for the restaurant.. The food was good, It was a small restaurant but instant menu.. :) thats when the clock struck 12 and the day that we all wait for had just started.. Thats when I get busy with my phone.. :) Duh its my birthday.. ;) 

Raat ko phir at 1 AM, we decided to ho to Aamby valley main gate.. There was a royal party inside but we couldn't go as the security was very strict (matlab ki we had passes, which my friend had arranged for all of us).. But the decoration was worth watching.. after some photo shoto, time tha ki ham room mein jake baithe.. Camp fire jalaya and phir mast mein thande climate ka maja utha rahe the.. :) And we were all eagerly waiting for our Aamby valley trip in the morning.. :)

But itni jaldi kaise sote, aur mujhe frineds sone bhi nahi de rahe the.. Not the one on the room but the ones who were calling.. :) So we started playing "UNO".. it was 3.30 am and we decided to sleep.. But one of them had already slept and his kharratte were not letting us sleep and so we enjoyed some jokes on those kharratte.. :) Finally 4-4.30 ko sab so gaye.. 

Morning got up at 7 am (u heard it right, 7 am).. I know how is that possible.. But it happened.. But we took actually 4 more hours to get out of our beds.. :) 12 noon we left his house on the exciting 3 hour journey to Aamby Valley.. Why was this exciting is because of the scenic beauty the place possesses among 4 mountains.. All this is evident from the below mentioned links..

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=135712&id=509457452&l=951bf7e9fd

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=134839&id=509457452&l=457e546187

I think pictures say a 1000 words.. So I wont describe my experience and waste your time.. Just flip through the album and you will know.. :)

Let me know how you like that place.. Its worth visiting that place, of course for free or if your are rich you can shell out 4500 bucks for a visit.. :)

Time for me to stop this ramayan.. HAPPY NEW YEAR to you all.. Hope you guys have a rocking year ahead.. :) 

And KEEP READING.. :) Chao.. 

Christmas, Anniversary and 3 idiots...

Last post mentioned about the double treat.. Well its triple treat, not double..

First of all MERRY CHRISTMAS to the readers.. Hope you all had a gala time.. :)

Next it was my mom-dad's wedding anniversary.. Their 31st.. Had a private moment with them with lunch in their favorite restaurant in Malad, Landmark.. It was good..

Then the real party time for me.. We 4 idiots going for an evening 6.15 show of "3 Idiots".. :) What to say about the movie, you must have seen it by now and mind it the critics must have found a fault even in this master piece.. :)

So keeping aside the critics, the best moments of the film:

1] Rancho's famous comment on the pen invented by american for space in front of ViruS..

2] Not to forget the hindi speech of silencer (chatur)

3] Virus asking him to teach engg subject and invents 2 words.. Farhanitrate' and 'Prerajulisation'

4] The hair roti prepared by Raju's mom whilc farhan and rancho were enjoying their mutter paneer.. ;)

5] All izz well song..

6] The definition of book by Rancho..

7] Presentation of Raju's house in black and white scene induces some comedy..

8] The climax is ultimate jab "Fhunshok Wangdoo" Chatur pe bomb daalta hai.. :)

There are many more scenes.. I found a nice review of the movie.. Check this link -> http://www.salmanmania.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=29&p=27158#p27158

A must must watch.. Don't miss even a single minute.. :)

December 26 - 24 hours of non-stop entertainment..

Nothing happened in the history on this date, it was very special day for me.. To tell what was special, i will have to tell you the itinerary..

I all started the previous day when we (those who went for 3 idiots) decided to go to Dahanu and then for a midnight buffet.. The set out time was decided to be 10.30..

Too excited i got up at 9 am.. as usual I was ready very early because i hate getting late.. But then apne Sid bhaisab late ho gaye.. then he was caught up in some urgent work.. So the start up time delayed to 12 pm.. :)

But after reaching malad east (my pick up point) I got a call that others were still in khar.. So I and Karan met up at kandivali CCD and decided to do time pass.. But then I realized that they had gone home again to pick up Sid's sister (not complaining, but the fund doubled because of her)..

Finally 3 hours later we all met up at kandivali and started our journey to dahanu.. But bhagwan ko kuch aur hi manzoor tha.. We were stuck in a heavy traffic at Dahisar which took around 2 hours to clear.. Finally we took a halt at Kamat's hotel (some 50 kms left for Dahanu).. Neha wont forget the schezwan Pav Bhaji out there.. :)

Finally at 5.15 we reached Mahalaxmi temple.. We prayed and spent some moment out there.. Then we set out for the dahanu beach (still 25 kms from the temple but in the village).. I actually went with them only hearing that we are going to dahanu, not knowing the exact location.. By the time we reached dahaun beach it was 6.40 pm.. it was dark as expected.. Spent about 45 minutes out there and then we started our return journey..

Return journey was exciting with some games by Rishi.. We reached kandivali by 10.30.. It was late for me to go home and come back so decided to go to Sid's house directly.. Karan got down and brought his car later along with 3 clothes for me to change (that was so kind of him).. Saroj and Rumi (Rishi's brother) joined us for the midnight buffet and we left Sid's place at around 12.15 am..

The venue decided was "Le Meridien".. Its on the airport road.. 5-star hotel and its default that the ambiance is ought be the world class... But we had gone there for food and specially deserts..

For non-veg the special dishes were Chicken 65, Chicken biryani, some dish in beef and starters in all possible variety.. Not to mention the free beer with the menu.. :) I also ordered a Dry Martini, tried it for the first time.. Was worth the 600 bucks (plus taxes).. There were 15 different varieties of desserts.. everything was just awesome and mouth watering.. :)

Then was the time to play cards at sid's place.. It was 4.15 am by the time we reached there.. Played cards till 7 am and then was the time to say alvida..

So it was 24 hours of non-stop fun, entertainment, joy, no sleep and yet exciting.. Not even for one moment i felt sleepy.. Thats the benefit when you are with your friends.. :)

Cia soon with some new adventure.. :)

31st is coming soon.. so buckle up.. :)

Rajmachi Trek..

This was a fun fille, tiring trek that we 6 guys enjoyed some 8 kms from Karjat.
Place: Rajmachi
Date: 14-15 Oct 2009

Let me tell you something about the place.. Rajmachi is a small mountain with two hill forts "Shrivardhan and Manaranjan" with magnificent scenic views. There are two routes that lead to Rajmachi, one is from Lonavala(roughly 20km flat walk) and the other is from Karjat(Gradual climb of around 4km). We choose the gradual climb. Along the route you will find rich variety of plants and herbs..

We started our journey by catching the last Karjat local from dadar.. There were 4 to climb from dadar.. Me, ashish (CA), karthik and juna (oops sorry his name is anuj).. Sachin climbed from Kurla and finally tejas (the lucky one, because he got ample time to sleep at home) from dombivali..

The journey was long and we were expecting to catch up some sleep in the train, but the reverse did happen. We played UNO and did a lot of chit chat.. U now know why ashish has started becoming a champ in UNO.. Later on once we reached karjat (at 3.30 am) we decided to have a 2 hr nap at the nearby ST stand because the first bus was at 5.45 am.. Somehow we reached the ST stand only to find some 50 odd people already sleeping in the ST stand.. Somehow dejected we found a lamp post and sat on the stairs of the shop nearby the lamp post..

Now guess what did we do out there??.. Of course we did not sleep.. We spoke about ghost stories.. bhoooooootttttttt.. Guess what each of them had an interesting story to tell, always better then the previous one.. Wonder who of us is going to be the new script writer for RGV.. Under the company of the all the future script writers we spent our 2 houras and then caught the first bus the Rajmachi..

Reached the spot at around 6.45, the time we started out ascent.. It was a long and steep ascent of about 3000 feet from sea level (the point where we started).. So we started slowly and steadly towards our goal enjoying the awesome dew on the grass along the route.. You can notice all this description in the pictures on my facebook profile (will give u the link at the end of the post).. The mountai is awesome with all the bushes and the trees.. There was a small temple just before the fort at the height of approximately 2500 feet.. The fort is huge and considered to be a startegic fort by Shivaji maharaj.. More info can be found here -> http://deepabhi.tripod.com/rajmachi.html

I cannot describe the entire journey. you ahve to experinece on your own to get a sense of it.. Might plan another event in the future.. For now enjoy the pics of our trek out here.. Of course you will have to become my friend (if you r not) to watch the photos.. A necessary ans sufficient condition. :)

Facebook Profile

Missing my dear friend..

Date: 6th August'09, Thursday
Venue: International Airport, Mumbai.
The occasion was to C off my dear friend Siddhesh. He is off to US for his Masters.

It was a long day for me as the college was from morning 9 am.. 3 lectures and plus some assignment work. Then down to studies for mid terms.
Reached his house at 9 pm and thereafter to the airport at 11.30 pm.. What happened in between was time pass with Rishi, Karan and Sid's sister in karan's car (from sid's house till the airport)
Had a good time with all of them, specially those 2.5 hours at the airport with lots of snaps and some food.

But what will I surely miss is the midnight buffets and birthday parties where there used to be some common faces every time..

There was something else which I also missed. This was part of NMIMS. It was Freshers party organized by the seniors. Venue: **SUTRA**, The Lalit Intercontinental. Airport Road.

I hope Siddhesh has an eventful life in US and achieve what he desires. ATB Sid. Take Care.

6th July, beginning of new day as a student life..

This day 3 years back I started my career in TCS with some new friends and some old ones.

I still remember 4th July as the day I set out from Mumbai on Jet airways flight. It was raining cats and dogs out here. My first flight was directly to Trivandrum and an awesome experience. In Trivandrum it was a dry weather. Sun was shinning bright out there.

This was the first step for the 3 years journey of my corporate life. I still can't remember how these 2 years have passed. That too in the same firm and in the same project. I am no longer a part of that company but still I cherish all the moments I spent out there in a small cubicle.

I don't have time right now to update about the 3 years journey. But I promise i will do so in the near future.

Time to go now. Lots of work to do. Take care. Cia soon.

Trip to Lonavala - July 4, 2009

Sorry for posting so late.. Sunday did not come online and then was too busy.

Well to start with the timings did not match with what was given in the itinerary. We were suppose to leave Mumbai by 6 but instead left at 8. Then there were many halts in between, so by the time we reached there it was already beyond 10.30..
The first destination was Bushi Dam. And it was the last one also. Well you know how difficult is to manage 80 people specially when many of them are first time visitors. We spent 3.5 hrs at the same place and almost all of them went up the mountain for the waterfall.

Let me talk about the climate. It was mind blowing. Visibility was very low. Not only near the mountains but also in the actual city. That was something new for me even if I have visited that place for almost 20 times. That made my day.

Then at around 2.30 pm we left bushi dam to fill our stomachs. We went straight to Ram krishna restaurant, the most famous in that hill station. Then waited for nearly 2 hrs for others to finish their lunch. Set out from lonavala at around 6 pm and stopped in between, before expressway, for others to enjoy the near zero visibility on the road. Some mumbaikar even mentioned it as Khandala. :-D

Forgot to mention that all this time it was continuously raining out there. And the same thing was happening back home. So that took time for us in reaching back home. Took some advice while return journey and instead got down atBandra as it was raining heavily and all over the western expressway there was major traffic jam.

In the end nothing was planned as per the itinerary, but I enjoyed the best climate in Lonavala. Not to mention making some cool friends on the return trip and the heated discussion among we lukkha's about one year planning in NMIMS. This discussion might seem illogical for the others in the batch but mind it, hearing the discussion could have given the greatest scholar/nerd the shock of his life.

Cia folks. Will post about new adventure soon, only if it happens.

Midnight Buffet - 28 June, 2009

I had only heard of this concept before this day. Tonight I actually became a part of this magnificent idea.
Place: Marine Plaza
Location: Churchgate, queen's necklace (marine drive)
Time: 1 AM

It started off with the cutting of the cake on the previous day at around 11.40 PM at Karan's place. Yeah it was Karan's birthday. We 5 of them celebrated with his family members and then drove off to Marine drive at around 12 AM. The weather was awesome as it was raining.
They say time flies very quickly when you are with your friends. I have always supported this quote. We did not realize how fast we reached.

Let me tell you about the food. Its just really awesome. The best part was non-veg. Fish curry and mutton biryani with parathas. Then came the best part, DESSERTS. :)
8 different type of desserts, can you ask for more. I went up for the second round even when my tummy was full. All this for only 350 per head. Isn't that really cheap.
It's night time and you cant really expect us to miss the glittering night sky of marine drive. We took snaps in DCH style at 4 AM in the morning. The scenic beauty of marine drive in the night sky is really adorable.

On our way back I requested my friend to take a turn from the reclamation. It was only 2 days left for launch of the India's largest suspension cable bridge. Yes I am talking about the Bandra-Worli sea link. They were practising the light show which they displayed it on 29th June. We had a chance to sea a first glimpse of the extravaganza. Its was simply mind-blowing. I hope I get a chance very soon to drive on that historical structure.
Reached home at 5AM in the morning, but with a sad mood. I hope I had enjoyed till the dawn. Never mind, maybe next time again.

Cia guys and please try to plan for a midnight buffet with your friends in the marine plaza. I bet you wont forget the moment. :)

Post 26 Jan one week of lazziness - Feb 01, 2009

Well, this week was the laziest ever. Week starting from Jan 26 to Feb 01. After the incident on Jan 26 (i have already narrated it in the previous post), Tuesday I went to doctor to find out what exactly has happened (Jan 26 was a Monday).. I knew the result beforehand, but got a confirmation at 11 that it was indeed a hairline fracture. Returned home dejected with the report and some medicines. Called my workplace to inform about my absence.

Day passed by with lots of pain. The next day the pain subsidized like the width of a hair, I mean same as it was on Tuesday. Called up workplace again to inform about my absence for the whole week. They took it pretty well considering the amount of work pending. But the question on front of me was how to spend the entire week sitting at home?.. Wednesday somehow managed to pass by, but before that I took 2 novels from Sameer.

The first one "If God was a Banker" was completed within a day (on Thursday). Excellent piece from Ravi Subramaniam. Narrating about the corporate culture and the boom of the Retail banking scenario in India with 2 IIM grads in picture. Well time went like a fly.
Friday was no different, completed another novel "5 Point someone" by Chetan Bhagat. Another master piece narrating the life story of 3 guys from IIT, their experiences to go against the IIT culture.

Saturday and Sunday was as usual. Nothing gr8. Time flew by my face like a wind. :)

Republic Day, Hair line fracture - Jan 26, 2009

Well to start off today is India's 59th Republic day. The day started with flag hoisting at 10 am. Then it was snacks time, idli sambar was served. After that there was sporting events, as it happens every year. I took part in the running race. The first qualifying round was good.. Came joint first.
Well the final race was not good for me, perhaps the title of this topic will give a more insight into this.. :)
Yes, in the final race I came joint second but at a price. The left hand which had a ligament problem, became even more severe, now with a hair line fracture. I won' describe it much, as I'm still in pain as I'm typing this post. But in short it was a painful day for me. :(
I wont forget this Republic day. That's it guys. Cia.

New Cell, Society day - Jan 25 2009

Finally I decided that today is the day when I change my cell phone after 2 and a half years. Of course I had decided it to be the latest Nokia phone on the block, 5800 Express music, a touch screen smart phone. Morning 11 I went fishing for the store which is offering it at the lowest price, The Mobile store, an Essar company. Picked up Sameer and Piyush and went away straight to the store. My family had kept a condition, dispose off the previoud cell before buying the new one. The Mobile store offered me 2800 for the previous cell, which was decent enough. But still Piyush insisted that we should check other store also. So went to Goregaon and checked out 3 more stores, but one among them offered 2700 for the previous cell, which was less. Do we decided to move back to the first store, meantime lalu called up and on the way back we picked him and returned back to the Mobile store. Happily payed by CC and returned back to our building.

Evening time was awesome, we had our society day. Some skits and dance events, in between some spiced up event by Amit Abhyankar. Finished the buffet dinner organized and then went to CCD for a coffee with the building friends along with a pan. :)

Ghajini launch & Mom-dad's wedding anniversary - 25 Dec, 2008

The most awaited Indian film, another Aamir khan hysteria. Booking started a week earlier, I could see the mad rush, but thankfully I had the internet. :D You can beat technology, Anyways cutting the long story short; ticket was booked on Monday as a present to my mom-dad.

The day arrived; we reached early by about 15 mins. I expected the theater to be empty, but it was the other way round. There was Aamir's statue in the centre after the entrance. We could see the vogue of people of all ages clicking pictures with that statue. It was a treat to watch. :)

The screen in which it was filmed was jam packed. The movie was too good.. Not for the story but for the actors. For the story and for a better version please watch Memento.

The movie was long and the seats were bad. We returned back kind of exhausted and tired. Dinner back at home and then some time spent with my colony frnds.. That’s how I enjoyed my Christmas.. :D

That’s it for this day.. and its Christmas, So Merry Christmas to all.. :)

The memorable day of my life - Jan 04-05, 2009

Well I have given 2 dates because the day extended from evening 8pm to next morning 5am :)

Place: Pooja Joshi's place, Mahalaxmi
Occasion: A get-together of all childhood friends - a type of warm farewell to Pooja.
Source: Of course Pooja. It was her idea.
Attendees: Pooja, Mrudul, Mandar, Ketaki, Sujith, Nikhil, Vidhata, Vaibhav, Me :)
Start time of the event: Approx 8pm
End time: Cannot be defined, Memories still fresh
Events: Eating, photo sessions, card games, Monopoly game, some short naps, siddhi vinayak temple visit (i missed it, had to go to office) and lots of talking with some masala of jokes.

It all started when Pooja called up the day before and asked what time was feasible. Then on common consensus, the day was decided. Just had to meet to start it all.. Guests (we :D) started arriving by 8pm. Of course it took some time before we all could assemble, after all we are celebrities. By the time all came it was 10.30 and we all were dying of hunger. Pizza was ordered. By the time we could finish our dinner, a day was passed (I mean it was 12.30am) This is the time when all the fun started.

I can neither describe what was spoken out there by everybody nor can I describe the importance of the time spent. It was just awesome, overwhelming or all the synonyms attached with this word.The card games were funny, because Mandar was at his best during that time as I have seen him since school days. Sujit's expert comments were welcomed, except by girls.. :-P

It was just spoken words that were floating in the room all throughout the night, the d form of jokes, chit chatting about any non-sense thing in this world, cribbing about something else, etc...Then the moment came when all were a bit exhausted, some had a small nap. All got prepared to walk down to Siddhi Vinayak temple, except me and Vaibhav. Goodbye and Take cares were floating at 5.30 am in the morning. Vaibhav and I were ready in an hr to go to office.

That's it, the memorable day of my life. I know I haven't described anything, but won't you be doing the same thing. Because some things are never spoken, they are just felt by your heart :)

World celebrates my Birthday – Jan 01, 2009

Hello all, I am back.

Was a bit busy with the work and office. But that couldn't stop me from enjoying my birthday. 40 hours of celebration, where the world unanimously celebrates my birthday.. You might be wondering y 40 hrs.. Well if you count the new yr starting from Auckland(NZ) to the west coast of US it comes to around 40 hrs.

My birthday started the way it has always been from the past many years. But this time it was a bit quiet. No music, but chatting continuously wid frnds and family.. Had dinner at Inorbit food court, a mall you shud be on new yrs eve.. Celebrated the moment in the mall and then left for Sanjay kulfi wala.. Took parcel of falooda and reached our fav destination(my colony).. We(of course colony frnds) had a gr8 time with falooda in one hand and lips continuously uttering something or the other..

Not to mention the continuously ringing of the phone.. I should have joined some call centre that day, must have picked more calls then a normal call centre employee cud pick in a single day..

The whole day was a moment to cherish.. Of course without sleep it was going to be a hard day, courtesy my frnd who never left me alone (I mean colony frnd were there when I was outside my house and distant frnds on phone when I was in the house :D).. Enjoyed awesome brownie point cake, twice.. :)

To sum it all enjoyed I enjoyed the best day of the yr.. Of course can't forget the bitter memories of 2008.. But hoping for a good 2009, I wish all a Happy and Prosperous new year.. HNY 2009!!! enjoy :)

Indian government’s jeopardy - Dec 5, 2008

I came across this interesting article. Have a look at it. It is similar to the condition of our Indian government.

“Imagine your pocket has been picked. You see the young pickpocket running away but can't chase him down with a sprained ankle. There's a constable on the other side of the road but he's got a potbelly and you've heard that he is mixed up with criminals. Just then a police officer you know is driving past.

Seeing you're crying yourself silly, he stops and listens to you sympathetically. "I've has been summoned by the boss," he tells you. "If I find the chor on my way, I'll catch him and get back your purse," he adds helpfully. Meanwhile, the constable on the other side has vanished.

It's a wretched situation. You can see the thief and yet can't do anything about it. You only have a number of non-options and this leaves you virtually paralyzed. You curse your luck that the purse contains the month's salary. Now magnify this crime a hundred times over.

It's not just that you've lost your money. It's a matter of your life and security. The killer has already mowed down hundreds and is coming towards you. You may have ways of stopping him but each option will come with scary side effects. You face the same paralysis-inducing dilemma, leading to a sense of helplessness.”

That's really the predicament of the government in the wake of the Mumbai carnage — it knows the killers, knows where they were trained, who were the trainers, their links with sections of the ISI, and much more. Yet it doesn't know what to do next. Funny isn’t it, but dangerous. Because the more time they take more are the consequences. Who knows the terrorists might have even shifted their base and moved somewhere else or even to some other country, guess the neighboring Afghanistan. Time to act is now.

I updated this idea first and will then focus on the steps that can be taken to prevent another massacre.

Finally its over.. 60 hrs of epic battle.. – 29 Nov, 2008

This was the morning I was waiting from the past 2 days. As it is a Saturday, I am a lazy bump and waking time gets delayed by atleast 3 hrs. 11 am I switched on the TV and saw the breaking news: “Taj siege ends. All terrorists killed by the NSG”. Bravo NSG. You have made us proud by saving innocent lives.

I gave my doctor’s appointment a miss and was glued to the TV set. Later by the day, as they started to sanitize the Taj palace, the number of people who were killed in the firing increased enormously.

Considering my last statement in the first para (Bravo NSG), I am still thinking whether I should be proud of them or I should first think of the root cause of why this whole thing happened. Not because they were better then us, definitely not. But because we ignored the intelligence thinking it was some hoax call. Maha police couldn’t do much because imagine what will happen when u fight an Ak-47 (600 rounds/min) with a lathi. Forget it, don’t even think.

The casualties list is even more dangerous. Officials claim that its under 200, but the fire dept said that they removed 160 bodies from Taj alone. Who is saying the truth? But whatever the case be there were many foreign nationals among them, and from different countries including Israel, US, UK, Canada, Australia, Japan, Thailand and others. Who will reply to their families when the root cause lies in Indian government’s failure?

There was one terrorist captured by the police on Wednesday, while the other 9 were killed. The lone terrorist revealed their entire plot and the newspapers were filled with his stories on Saturday. My point does it make sense to reveal what has already happened? We should interrogate him about his origin, the groups plan and other terrorist already present in India.

Whatever happened should not be just buried under the books of history. It’s high time to respond to such tragic incidents will unity and give the current government a run for their money. Next edition I will focus more on the steps we all can collectively perform to make India a better place to live.

Black Friday – 28 Nov, 2008

After a terrible yesterday for Mumbai, when I got up early morning I was expecting some news of relief that the siege is finally over. But before going to office, to update myself about the siege I switched on the TV to get same bad news that the firing is still in progress.

Later on in the day I was closely monitoring the news channels and found that the commando’s were air dropped on the terrace of the Nariman house. I wondered why not they used this tactic the previous day itself. We could have saved more lives. Was it a delay on our part?

As the day progressed I was receiving the same update until at last I heard some good news. There was this update on the Times of India website at around 8 pm:

“The terror war on Mumbai is on the verge of ending with security forces securing the 5-star Oberoi hotel and a Jewish Centre (Nariman House) but gunmen (numbers unclear) continued to hold out inside the Taj hotel”। Some signs of relief at last. But of course there was still a bad news attached to it, the Taj was still under attack.

The death toll was rising continuously (I wont mention it here because it’s still unclear of the exact number). Quite a lot of them were foreigners, which is a shame on the government that we cannot protect our tourists. There was also some confusion as to how many hostages were still held up in the Taj. The government confused the media in morning that there was a lone terrorist in the Taj, but later in the day they changed there statement and increased the count to 6. How can the government be so careless releasing unconfirmed statements to the media and creating more panic?

Evening as usual I visited my doctor. The anger and frustration among the Mumbaikars could be seen even in the small clinic among the patients and the doctors. They wanted a complete change in the political scenario. There I wished we had someone like Obama and his principles echoed in my ear, “Change We Need”.

Expecting the final good news on the next day I laid flat on my bed. I could not sleep for some time thinking what has happened to this country? Why only Mumbai for such deadly event? When will the politician realize that they rare not sitting in the chair just for the sake of it, they are there because we elected them. They should act strongly and think of our safety first.

Thursday’s Bloodbath – 27 Nov, 2008

Got up after a good sleep only to realize the TV in ON state. (PS: I did not have the slightest clue of what was going around me) There has some very rare situations when the TV in my house is in ON condition at 7 am. Then I realized some bad news should have been flooded.

I got out of my bed and while watching the TV I just unlocked my phone to realize 5 missed calls and 10 message all carrying the same message “Bomb blast and Firing in south Mumbai by terrorists. Please take care while going to office” I was stunned. I never imagined I neglected the news of terrorist attacks in the heart of Mumbai the previous day. The very next moment I called up all those who board the bus from Malad of their decision whether to go or not. It was a unanimous response “NO”. My decision supported them and called up my PL to inform of my absence.

That day I was glued to the news channel and Internet for all the latest update I can get. I got updates that the places attacked were Leopold café, TAJ Palace, Oberio-Trident towers, Nariman house, CST, Cama hospital and some firing outside CST. I was shocked about the magnitude of the incident. The death toll was already raised till 101 and injured list was creeping to 287.

A small Islamic extremist group, the Mujahedeen of India's Deccan region, claimed responsibility, but some media cited American sources who suspected the larger, Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist group or the Indian Mujahedeen may have been behind the attack. It doesn’t matter who it is, because we all know the origin of these attacks.

It’s the most barbaric incident happened in India and it was particularly targeted at foreign nationals (UK, US and Ireland). This signified their major intentions.

Among the people who were killed were some top cops like ATS chief Hemant Karkare (he was also handling the Malegaon bomb blast case), ACP Ashok Kamte and Encounter specialist Vijay Salaskar. This was a major loss of some significant people in the terrorist attacks.

I was somewhat relieved to hear that the NSG and Marine commandos were flown to Mumbai. But later on questioned, why was there delay of almost 12 hours? Then I searched the net to find that maharashtra police does not have its own anti-terrorism force. How can you guys even imagine fighting AK-47’s with lathis or 5 rounds rifle.

This is the day I mourned the most and criticized the government’s incapability of handling such attacks which already cost them hundreds of lives. :-(

In the morning I contacted my doctor about the opening timings of the clinic, and she replied its shut and might be open in evening. This signifies the impact of the attacks in Malad even tough it was some 50 kms away from the attack sites.

A Wednesday – 26 Nov, 2008

A usual working day for me. Completed my work on time and left office at 6pm in the so called star bus of TCS. From the past 10 days I have been undergoing a treatment for my left wrist, which is still in a bad shape after a little fall outside my house. So I reached the physio’s clinic at around 7.30 pm, administered the ultra-sound and TENS (Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulator) plus some exercises.

Reached home at 8.45, had some refreshment and then some time pass with my I-pod (I have been carrying that for more than a year but still haven’t lost craze for it :-), Apple rocks)

How can I forget, it was also a day for a day-nighter between India-England. An exciting one. Then suddenly in between the match I decided to switch the channel to DD News. (I have only 2 channels, DD News and DD National. I don’t have a craze for TV, so no cable TV at my home) There I saw some flash news showing some kind of shootout in Colaba region. I neglected it thinking that it might be some gangster shootout operation being carried out in south Mumbai. Had my dinner and slept at my usual time (11 pm).

Never in my dream had I recognized that I neglected the news about Mumbai attacks which shook the entire world. As I sleep like a kumbakaran (an ancient demon who was known for his sleeping style) I missed a lot of SMSes and calls from friends and relatives who wanted to inquire about the health of our family. I feel so embarrassed about my sleeping habit, which I realized the day after A Wednesday.

Start of a journey...

Decided to write a blog of the daily events happening in my life (a mumbaikar) after the recent massacre in Mumbai. I have another blog for the Global Warming tough, as I am an environmentalist. Of course I wont be updating my daily stuff out here, but some unusual events that altered the course of my thinking for that particular day or permanently.