Dahi Handi!!

I landed in Mumbai during the rains. Having lived in Bangalore all my life, I am used to heavy rains. However, rains coupled with dirt, muck, slush and hoards of people was a complete new experience. Regardless of this, one of the things that I really admired about Mumbai was their enthusiasm for celebrating various festivals. The festive season started with Rakshabandhan in August, and went on till Diwali in October or November.

During the monsoons just like the rest of the country, this city also celebrates Janmashthami. However, the highlight of this festival in Mumbai is the breaking of the famous Dahi Handi.  The breaking of the dahi handi or the pot of curd hung high up in the air is a big attraction every year in Mumbai. There are competitions arranged each year with prize money of over lakh rupees.  Troops train for months before the festival and compete fiercely to break this pot of curd hanging mid air.  However, my experience of these competitions is limited to seeing pictures in the newspaper and I have only seen the breaking of the local neighborhood handis. And what an absolutely lovely experience this is!!

We lived at Prabha Devi.  Arpita and me. Watching the local people celebrate the festival in this area was a new experience all together. Local societies have groups and they start dancing on the roads the previous night. The whole area is filled with the song “Govinda Aal Re” on Janmashthami with people dancing and celabrating. The first time I saw it, I was surprised at watching people come together and celebrate on the roads. Usually in Bangalore, people just celebrate festivals in their respective houses but here everyone was out on the roads. The music and dance started at nine and went on till twelve midnight at which time the trained troop arranged themselves in the pyramid formation to brake the dahi handi. As August is usually when the monsoons are on in Mumbai, this entire celebration happens in the rains. Arpi and I must have been the only ones wearing jackets and carrying umbrellas to avoid the rain. Everyone else, men, women and children, old and young were openly dancing in the rain with absolutely no inhibitions and having a blast. For two consecutive years, we went to watch the breaking of the Dahi Handi. But we never danced with them. Years of living in Bangalore had made us shy to dance on the roads.J  After these two years, we moved houses and I missed out on watching the festival.

Now, sitting in Gurgaon, with no trace of Janmashthami celebrations here, I realized what fun Mumbai was and how much I actually miss the vibrant city.

The Quest for a New Phone

When cell phones first became affordable, I was in college doing my B’Com. It must have been around the year 2002 or 2003. Those days there were a few Nokia models which were affordable. The most popular were the Nokia 3310 and 3315 and most of us had them as our very first phones.  Heavy competition between Airtel and Hutch (the current Vodafone, was called Hutch then and used to have a nice orange logo) ensured that SMS was completely free on most basic plans. This made sure  that we used to have an absolute blast in college. We used to send each other messages sitting on the same bench. The days of writing notes to one another on pieces of paper and stealthily passing it around were long gone. We now sent an SMS to even the person sitting next to us. Of course, cell phones were banned during class hours and we had to hide them in our bags or be extremely cautious while using them. If we did get caught, which happened to me just once, we had to pay a fine of 200 bucks and write an apology letter.

Anyway, those were the simple days when phones were used to just make calls and send SMSes. Now there are umpteen things that the phone is used for. And sadly, each new feature seems to have become an absolute necessity. Internet is a must. When I was in Mumbai and used the train extensively, internet was an absolute must to keep me occupied. Even if I had to stand in an extremely crowded train, I could log on to some social networking site and amuse myself. Music and radio is the next absolute necessity. And now GPS. I need Google maps to help me find my way around the city.

Coming back to my present dilemma. My current confusion stems from whether to buy an Android phone or a Blackberry? The Android will have real cool features but it will again be a touch screen phone and I am bored of touch screen phones and the need to look at the phone even to make a call. However, the Blackberry won’t have the cool games and Aps of an Android, but it will let me chat endlessly with a nice key pad.

And my confusion continuous. Sigh! Whatever phone I chose to buy is going to be outdated as technology catches up and comes up with something new over the next six months. I really wish I could meet the guys who think of all these things. It must be so exciting to come with these new features and see them being used by millions of people.

When I got my first touch screen phone two years back, it was the coolest thing in the market.  Now it is just another outdated phone. So I guess I should not put in so much thought and just buy whatever phones takes my fancy.

Rants from a suburb

I had a nice comfortable set up in Mumbai. I guess I never appreciated it enough when I was there. Everything worked just fine.  There was a continuous supply of electricity courtesy Reliance, ample water supply courtesy the monsoons, and uninterrupted cooking gas, thanks to Mahangar Gas Palika which has smartly installed gas pipe lines in every house. (Aah! the pleasure of not having to call an agency and beg for a cylinder every few months)

Anyway, no point reminiscing about the past now. I just have to learn to live and manage like the rest of India, in this small town.  L

To begin with, we have smartly taken care of the water and electricity problem by paying a lot of money to stay in a DLF construction which promises us these basic amenities if we are willing to shell out the money. Maybe we should refuse to pay taxes for the time we stay in Gurgaon. The state government anyway provides nothing here and we have to pay private agencies for basic amenities. There aren’t even street lights on the road just outside my house and I live in one of the supposed better locations in Gurgaon.

Nevertheless back to my current problem. The gas connection is the only thing we are stuck with. I have been trying to get a new connection here for a month now and I have never come across such a tedious process.

First, I need to go to court and get an affidavit on stamp paper worth 20 bucks that we are new to this place and need a new gas connection. Apparently the court is at some place in Rajeev Chowk and as my luck would be, I can’t seem to find it on Google Maps. Sigh!

Once this is done, I need to have an address proof and an identity proof which has to be given at the local gas agency.  I am still wondering how someone who has just come into the city can have an address proof. Am I expected to buy a house and get it registered in my name to show them proof every time I move cities?

Moving on, once I can manage to get these documents I have to apply for a new connection at the local gas agency. Apparently there is a waiting time of 4-6 months because the agency does not have cylinders right now!!! I was stunned. How can we have a short supply of cylinders? How are people expected to cook without LPG?

I know I ought to stop ranting now and find a solution. My existing cylinder (courtesy my Sister in Law who gave me one before I got here) will get over in no time and I need to find some way to keep the stove burning… Sigh!! Any suggestions or solutions to this problem are always welcome.