20 minutes at Churchgate Station

Sitting at Churchgate staion is an experience. Varied people. Varied Situations. TC's. Gaurds. People of foreign origin. People wanting to go outstation. What a melting pot



Last weeend, I was to meet up with a friend near Churchgate. Since I came in early, I decided to spend time at the station itself.

I took up a vacant seat at the of a platform and began observing.

It was very interesting. First the symchronisations amongst gaurds. They arrive well before the local arrives. Then they wait pateiently for the motorman gets down and then get in and take command. And when the big digital clock at the strikes time , they blow the whistle and set off the train. Some dont blow whistles though.

People coming in are also varied-some ask the gaurd where the is going, some ask the motorman who bought the local in. Poor guy looks at the indicator and tells them.

Saw a group of woman who loked like have come from the Middle East- asking if the train went to bandra. Problem is she asked the gentleman next to me in English and that guy had no clue. I intervened and helped them. :)
Next came along a young man wanting to go to Valsad. We (me and that other gentleman who doesnt know English) told him that train doesnt go directly and he will have to go to Mumbai central and get an outstation train.

Two young women who just got down from an incoming train were caught by the TC and asked for tickets. As it turned out these girls did not have valid tickets or their pass had expired. They were trying to convince the TC and trying to wriglle out of teh situation without a fine by smoothtalking. I wanted to watch what happens further, but just tehn my friend called up and I had to go. It would be interseting to see what finally happened. maybe they asked the TC to overlook their mistake as it was Women's Day that day...

Ganguly's swansong

I really liked the way Ganguly celebrated after he got his 100 in the 2nd Test at Mohali....The joy of the man who knew that he was not going as a sore loser but on his own terms.

He is certainly not the unfit (atleast not as much as Laxman and Kumble currently) but still he had so much to prove to all...and that he did

I read some days ago on how India lost out on 3-4 years of Javagal Srinath in his youth, just because Kapil wanted to retire after getting to Hadlee's record...that is still happening with the current Inidan team...I only hope the careers of people like Mishra, Gambhir and Co go don't go that way.

Most memorable train ride of my life

I was waiting at the Thane railway station, for my train to Mangalore. It was the start of a 1 week break from my work, and i was eagerly waiting to meet my friends in Mangalore and kickstart the vacation. Only one thing was in between - the boring train ride.

What??? Boring train ride does not match with the title of this post? That's cos even before I could settle down in the train I heard a voice call out ''Hi, are you Gary?". I saw this pretty bespectacled face look up to me with a kind of unsure but friendly smile. The face was partially hidden under a fat book (I am not quite sure- I guess it was a non faction book on Ratan Tata) she was holding unto her face. I was quite unsure how she knew my name , and asked if we had met before. She smiled back at my seemingly ignorant question, saying that she and her sister (who had come to leave her on the train on the earlier station ) had read the reservation charts. I later came to know that they had imagined my as a 80 year old man ! (c'mon, girls - I am sure that an age column would be around somewhere :)

Anyways, I introduced myself back and then settled down on my seat. The next 5-10 minutes were spent in knowing each other's backgrounds and instantly I knew that there was some kind of 'Kismat Konnection' between us. There was definitely some chemistry between us (she had done her Grads in chemistry). We were both kind of very happy to have found just the right kind of company in that train. She soon put her book down and got lost in our conversations.

It seemed we knew each other from kinder garden and not from a few hours. She shared with me many stories from her college days, about her family, her hobbies. She was quite different in the sense that she wasn't a TV or movie freak, she spent her time developing other skills like cooking, driving , teaching ...the list is amazing.

I was amazed by her personality and various instances she narrated about her life. The journey I wanted to get done with earlier - now seemed like i wanted it to last a little longer. Her love for food, her phobias of public restrooms, her limited knowledge of the Indian railways, her anxiousness about getting a return ticket back to Mumbai ...everything was so cute.

We exchanged numbers and mail ids promising to get in touch later. We are to let each other know if the return journey was as exiting (both of us are travelling alone by train ..again...but from different locations on different days) I am sure there would be more meetings . talks and interactions with her, but am sure it will be difficult to beat this experience of the first meeting.

The Dark Knight - A review

The Dark Knight

Rating 4/5

One of the best superhero movies recently made (sorry for putting Batman in that genre - as Batman has no superpowers), this one is a thrilling ride all the way.

The opening few minutes , where the Joker and his bunch of cronies are robbing a bank is just the perfect setting for 2 1/2 hours of great entertainment. The script is the real winner - the characterizations of the major characters - specially Batman / Bruce Wayne, Harvey Dent, and the Joker are so detailed, that you actually feel like you are sitting inside the mind of these characters - as they go about their business on screen.

This is a Batman movie, and as in most Batman movies, the bad man (Joker) gets the meatiest role. The way the character is portrayed by the late Heath Ledger is simply remarkable. His interaction with Batman - in the interrogation room and with Harvey Dent = at the hospital , are scenes which are simply out of this world.

The movie is a bit long by Hollywood standards, but you wont get bored even for one bit. In fact the intermission, a sad compulsion in Indian cinema - was the only point when i got irritated.

The Dark Knight has already set records for the opening day in the U.S., with some predicting that this movie may well turn out to be the highest grosser of the decade.

Go catch it before it is taken out of the cinemas to make way for some mediocre Bollywood movies.

yesssss...We won the world cup !

After a long wait of 24 years...India are world champs again...Words won't capture the emotions..nothing can...its a great moment for India and Indians....

Headlines of Major Dailies

Times of India - We are the world
Hindustan Times - Top of the world
DNA - we won

there was this great sense of positiveness in todays day..whether it was in the local train or at office or out in the streets..just amazing

will leave you with 2 snaps that will be embedded in history forever

1st one - Misbah, Jogi , asif and the umpire watch as the ball is in the air off Misbah's scoop shot. (look on Joginder's face : priceless)
2nd one - Victors and the Vanquished - Indian team crowds around Joginder and start celebrating even as Misbah is down in despair (reminds me of the opening scenes of Chak de India)

Oh Captain my captain

Captaincy blues haunt the Indian cricket team as Dravid resigned even before India had played a match in the T20 world cup (the match against the scots was washed out)

Dravid, the captain over the last 2 years or so, has put in his papers saying that he wants to concentrate on the game.And now the selectors are making a mockery of it by trying to reinstate Sachin at the top...Hello..this is the same sachin who resigned from captaincy cos he wanted to 'concentrate on batting' just like Dravid. And now you want to put him back in the same spot? Sachin has just started playing freely (the England tour was great for Tendulkar)and now the selectors want to put teh crown of thorns on him again.I am a critic of teh way sachin has approached batting in recent years , but the England tour was a pleasant exception.

Who are the alternatives then? Dhoni, ganguly and Yuvraj.Ganguly - dunno if he wants the job. Dhoni - OK choice, just like Azhar was made captain when there was problems with the senior players in the early 90's. But can he take teh pressure? Maybe the T20 world cup can answer that. Yuvi ..well he is not even a regular in the Test side...

I quite like the approach some teams have taken in recent years to Captaincy. Lee Germon was made captain of a Kiwi side in his 1st one dayer, and Greame Smith took over as S.A. captain even as he had played just a couple of tests and one dayers..

Waiting for the drama to unfold at the nautanki called BCCI

Sanjay Dutt

On 31st August 2007, Justice Kode sentenced Sanjay Dutt to 6 years RI. I don't know but i have this gut feel that Dutt, even is he has to undergo the sentence (if the SC turns down his appeal) will come back a stronger man, and will continue delivering hits.In the past he has risen like a phoinex when industry experts gave him no chance.

Lets look at his past comebacks.

Naam (1986) : after his debut in Rocky (1981) he seemed to fade away before getting back to teh box office with a bang in this movie.

Khalnayak (1993) : Released when Dutt was in Prison, this movie again established the fact that he could play Grey shades with ease, perhaps the first of the A grade stars of his time to attempt a negative character and be successful.

Vastav (1999) : after releasing from prison , Dutt starred in several unsuccessful movies and was declared a spent force when he came back with Vastav.


Munnabhai MBBS (2003):again to put a rest to the doubting thomas of the world, here came a rejuvenated Dutt , with his producers laughing all the way to the bank.

i wont count Lage Raho Munnabhai (2006) cos i won't classify it as a comeback film.I was itching to include Saajan (1991) but its just missed my cut.

Work and Home

One should keep his tensions of work away from home and vice versa.....easy to say, but so hard to achieve :)

News !

Well I was just watching the India - Ireland ODI when my dad asked me to switch to a news channel to catch the news.Well i asked him if i could switch to a news channel after 2-3 overs.

I can switch back to the scene about 10 years ago.people would still want to catch the 7pm 'Batmya' or Marathi news on DD1. Now they are spoilt for choice. At least 10 news channels...24*7...

But, is it that the frequency of significant events has increased in the last 10 years.I don't think so.Then how come there is enough news for these channels to showcase.how come 10 years ago all the news could be fitted into 30 minutes a day, and now there is enough news to last 24 hours?

The answer is repetition .The same news on all channels with little diffrentiation. also the same clips repeating again and again.Any stupid niche news becomes 'BREAKING NEWS'. Also put an astrologer here, a tarot card reader there...and hey you managed to create content for a 24 hour news channel.

Heartless Mumbai

A recent incident in the Local train has left me speechless about the heart of the city.
I was traveling in a local train in the morning.Although it was peak hour, since it was a Saturday, there wasn't much rush.I boarded at the starting station i.e Borivali and sat down.At Kandivali, some people got in.Just as the train was about to start, someone noticed a pickpocket trying to flick a purse.he was caught, although he tried to get down before the train started.The people started abusing him and then started hitting him like he was some punching bag.Thy hit him without any mercy.I was totally stunned by this misbehavior.The crowd then stripped him of his garments ad threw him out of the train at Malad, the next station.
I think that even if someone would have tried to stop the crowd, they would have hit that person too.It seemed as if the crowd was just channeling their everyday life frustration on that pickpocket, be it their boss, wife or someone else.I know the pickpocket was in the wrong, but did he deserve all this? when one old gentleman told the mob to stop and hand the person to the police ,he was asked to shut up, and told that the police is hand in glove with such guys.

Is it that Mumbai has lost its heart?