But what to do. The only loo they have. Happy World Toilet Day!

And you enter the loo. And it is small. And the light is dim. Most of the flow finds it way into the hole in the ground, rather than the porcelain cavity.

Elections

Never have I missed the opportunity to cast my vote. General Education Academy plays host on election day, be it central or state. And dry days begin a couple of days prior. Oft, I’ve run into neighbors at the polls. I met Dr. Akshay in 1999, the first time ever that I’d voted. “Hello, Geoffery, have you come to vote?”

Yesterday, I met the Gautam mother and daughter, strong supporters of the RSS. And Mr. Jay; a Congressman.

Memories of the game between Somerset and T&T

Somerset and T&T in the first ever Champions League T20 on the 12th of October 2009.

Seamus’s theater debut

“We had some very good rehearsals, bugger. We worked very hard. But people must have been nervous. I was.”

Seamus’ debut performance was insane. Here are a couple of photos. Can you spot him? If Seamus becomes famous, these photos might fetch plenty money. Might even be in a museum some day.

the Cityscape at Lalbaug and Ganesha

The tempo of falling rain often tells us how long it’ll last. It rained steadily all night &continued to rain on the morning of the 3rd of September 2009. It was the final day of the Ganpati festival. Large idols of Ganesha would be trolled along the streets of Bombay amidst song &dance to be immersed into the western waterfront.

There are multiple facets to this photo. Let us dissect it:

Lalbaug Ka Raja &others in 2009

Scenes from 2009 are unlike yesteryear. Ganesh Immersion Day for the first time since the bridge at Lalbaug was torn down. I parked myself on the terraces of Shroff Building, diagonally opposite the gates of the Raja.

Others +the Ganesh Gully Ganpati passed by &finally, through the gates, Lalbaug Ka Raja. Thousands had gathered already &thousands more were on their way to catch a glimpse of Raja.

It is the first time that I’ve seen Raja.

I shot briefly from the terraces of Shroff Building &thereafter, joined in the procession. I reached close to Raja who had taken a U-turn. Raja was on his way to Bharatmata Theater.

It took a while, through crowds of impatient devotees to find stable footing. By then, the crowds had grown. I walked to Curry Road Railway Station &head home.

I’ll post the photos soon.

Next year, I hope to catch Raja near the mosque @Byculla. I heard that Muslims join Hindus in festivities for a bit. Apparently this has been tradition since the past 25 years or so. Anybody knows anything about this &at what time does Raja reach the mosque?

Click here for photos of the festival at Lalbaug in 2009.

13000

It could have happened three months ago. Maybe four. But I slowed down. Considerably. In that time, I started several other blogs. On different subjects. But going slow.

Whilst at peak, I had 3-4 dedicated readers, and I’d have 3-4 comments waiting for a few hours after every post. But of late, I haven’t had a comment in months. It sucks.

As the charts suggest, hits’ve gone down. Posts too. Comments’ve dried off. Completly. I haven’t done a blog on Aniyan Kutty, Seamus, Ronald etc. in months. Readers loved these posts, about these people, characters inspired by real life people. Semi-fictional essays. Of events. Could I interest you with some of my best posts at http://shaaaks.wordpress.com/best-of/?

“Slumdog Millionaire” in real life

“I have come from Uttar Pradesh. I came here in 1997, ticketless, by train. Some people from my village were here before me. They’d made friends with the local slumlord and acquired a portion of this pavement, for business.”

Sachinder and his friends run a juice centre on a pavement at New Bombay. Flies, mosquitoes galore! He lives in a 10 feet x 10 feet pigeon-hole like space, that he shares with thirteen others, bachelors, like himself, from Uttar Pradesh, at New Bombay.

The State of Black and White Photography in Bombay, India

Paritosh and his brother are poor. But they have a skill, one skill. Paritosh and his brother are darkroom experts. Black and White. Processing and prints. Paritosh and his brother as as good as the best photo labs in the city. Times before digital photography. Paritosh and his brother’d rent a one room apartment at Prabhadevi, a relatively expensive neighborhood in Bombay that’d serve as their darkroom. Digital photography’d be a thing of the future. Black and white photography’d be a niche but popular art. Paritosh and his brother are simple and honest, very likable gentlemen. Client’s love them, and, their work, that compares to the best in the city.

In came digital photography. Paritosh and his brother’s business suffered a setback. Clients had taken to the digital scheme of things. Media, print and online switched to the digital scheme of things, for obvious reasons. In the months to come, Paritosh and his brother’s business suffered further setbacks. Paritosh and his brother have no other skill, remember. No capital to invest in a digital lab. Paritosh and his brother left their apartment in Prabhadevi and moved their darkroom to a slum, in Mahim. Loyal clients continued to patronise them, at the slum, at Mahim, but the numbers reduced, at a steady pace.

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.