Auto-rickshaw ride in bombay

Narial Poornima and the new fishing season

I identify myself as a lad from the West coast of India. Our histories are etched along National Highway 17 that extends from Panvel in Maharashtra to Cochin in Kerala via. Goa and Karnataka. Our ancestors and extended family always lived close to beach i.e. along the Arabian Sea in all of the four Western states of Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka &Kerala – the Konkan.

Fishing &farming are the primary occupations of the people of the Konkan . Curry fish +rice is the staple diet.

It rains between June and September. Or used to.

The West coast of India, the Konkan region, and fish

It is unfortunate that land is divided politically. Into countries, states, districts etc. It is unfortunate, that, there are all these different languages in this world. And castes. And sub-castes.
Nevertheless.

High tide in Mumbai 2009

It’d been said that these were to be the tallest waves in over one hundred years. It’d been warned, by the civic body, the cop, etc., “..stay indoors if you can. Stay back at office, at night, should things get bad. Do not venture out, during the 23rd, 24th and 25th, of July, 2009.”

“WOW! High tides! Waves! Let’s go!”

I reached Marine Drive, downtown Bombay at ~ 12:15 PM. A small crowd had already gathered in anticipation of gigantic tides. By 1:00 PM, over five thousand people had assembled along the two or three kilometers between the National Centre for Performing Arts or NCPA and the Marine Drive flyover, close to the gymkhanas. In time, the tides got wilder, and taller. Winds were strong.

“Do not stand along the edges. Step down. Down, sir, not along the edge..”, were the continuous warnings by cops, strolling up and down in their cop mobile, sounding warnings aloud, over their cheap portable public address system. But Mumbaikars ignored them, as usual, and instead, mocked’em, the typically fat, out of shape cops, cops who’re seldom capable of avoiding crime and terror.

I’d thought that their warnings were necessary, I thought that it was very dangerous to stand along the edge’of the waterfront, the slippery granite bordered western waterfront. But Mumbaikars, old, fat, unhealthy, uncle &aunty availed of the free entertainment that the polluted seas had to offer.

In time, the waves got taller, and stronger. The five thousand strong crowd grew, they’d come from all sides, extended lunch breaks, students took leave off college.

A group of women caught my attention, they’d strolled down from their work place, their identity cards hanging around neck, LIC i.e. Life Insurance Corporation of India. “Ah!”, I said to myself, “it is no surprise! they’re known to play more, work less.”

Waves’s be over five meters tall, maybe even ten meters, I’m not sure, but they’d be strong and splash twenty odd feet into land:

“HA HA HA HA HA HA AAAAAAAAAA HA HA HA..”

Smiles all round, everybody was very happy. Seldom does one smile on the streets of Mumbai, unless intoxicated. It was an awesome sight, thousands of residents, packed together along the western waterfront, drenched to the bone, smiling and cheering. It takes a tragady to bring the people of this city together, nice, for a change, to watch’em all, and participate in joyous festivities, not affiliated with religion or history.

I’ll have photos for you in two or three weeks time.

FIN

Mumbaikar residents of Mumbai

Fact had it rained during these three days, things’d be bad, perhaps, floods and stuff. It hasn’t rained much over the past week, I hope it rains a’plenty yet, but the good thing is that lakes in and around Mumbai has accumulated water, to levels unlike any before.

On return home, my facebook status update’d be yesterday was one of *the* most enjoyable days of my life. I was one of the many lunatics who’d assembled along the waterfronts, at Marine Drive to check out the waves. It was a carnival, everybody smiled, in joy, at everybody else. Detailed reports later. Also, lakes in and around Bombay have filled to levels higher than ever before. It has been a good couple of months.

Have you seen this man? Sure you have!

Beachboy Peedrooo, of Portuguese descent. You have seen him, for sure, seen him in sunny Goa. Welcome to the Peedrooo Appreciation Forum. If you have photos or videos of Peedrooo, please post the link as comments, and a bit about your interactions with, this evergreen fisherman. He’d said to me:

I am known far and wide, in the land of the King, as Pedro from Goa. I am always here, this, is where you’ll find me, for I have called you. You want to see dolphin? Dolphin?

A couple of my links, of the past:

http://shaaaks.wordpress.com/2009/01/06/my-friend-peedrooo-from-goa/

and

http://shaaaks.wordpress.com/2009/01/13/formula-goa/

Tarsi, Maravanthe, Murudeshwar, Goa Roadtrip Video

This is the video of a road trip through National Highway 17 or NH-17 in India. The NH-17 runs from Maharashtra to Kerala, all through the Konkan along the west coast of India, the Konkan is, by far, the most beautiful stretch in the entire country.

Photos from Kerala

Six years ago, I’d gone backpacking through the south of India, alone, for a month. I shot photographs ‘aplenty with my Canon AE 1P, 1981 model, back in 2003, no digital SLR cameras, remember. Some twenty odd rolls of film, I got them developed, printed out contact sheets and got the good ones scanned. In time, they’d be seen gracing the pages of travel magazines.

Valentine’s Day, 2009

Gorai. Gorai Beach. We went to Gorai beach. Over the past three weeks or so, I’ve been going through the Carpenter’s syndrome or blogger’s block. The Carpenter’s syndrome = blogger’s block. Good. I just came up with that. This is the first time that this syndrome has hit me, since Adam. The blogger’s block. I’m struggling to come up with decent original content in blog, image and video. Guess what, this video ain’t no different:

The Carpenter’s syndrome is terrible. I feel like an out of form batsmen struggling to get one off the meat of the bat, score that single, time it to the boundary. I have no idea as to when I’ll break out of it, soon, hopefully.

terror attacks, Bombay, India

This afternoon, I was going through photos, there are these, just after the recent terror attacks in Bombay:

GENTLE MAN KINDLY LIFT THE SEAT COVER AND AIM STRAIGHT

“Let’s go to Good Luck shack, bugger Duncan.”

“Cool! Let’s give him full business! I’m going for a swim. I’ll be back.”

“Cool, bugger. I’ll be here getting drunk!”